Can I just run away ?

ianian99

was the interest rate not 30% when you took the debt on?

sarahs999

I sense a reluctance from the OP to consider other ways of reducing this debt. If it 'hasn't diminished' then you're not paying enough off the debt each month. A 0% card would at least take some of the debt increases away for a while - leaving you to concentrate on clearing the rest of the 30% card. As for 'unfair', well, yes. So is redundancy, and and losing your home and all the things that people are facing today (including me).

Someone has to pay for it. Declaring yourself bankrupt just means we all pay for it instead.

TotallyBroke

please post up a soa. People can the see your disposable income and try and advise the best way of concentrating on these debts.
The obvious things to do are to compare the prices of the utilities, electric etc. Also food shopping, cut this back to the minimum. Cheap own branded labels and meal planning so you only buy what you need.
Mobile phone usage cutting it right back or getting a payg phone or changing the contract to suit your needs better.

There is a soa calc at the top of this forum. You maybe able to use it to do yours if you can convert the money correctly.

GeorgeUK

I'm not too sure he would be able to get a new 0% card as he is not currently resident in the UK. He may need to either negotiate either a freeze or reduction in interest, or take a hit on his UK credit file by paying less or only token payments to his creditors so that they pass the debts on to a Debt collection agency.

If you haven't already done so, i suggest you also look at reclaiming charges back for both banks and credit card debts.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/

montira

ianian99 wrote: »

was the interest rate not 30% when you took the debt on?

Well this is my main grievance. It was only 13.4% when I took it on. But most if not all CCC can change the T & C whenever they like. As I said earlier it was hiked to 30% when a letter arrived one day.

whats to stop them taking it to 50% - I dont know

RobertoMoir

montira wrote: »

Well this is my main grievance. It was only 13.4% when I took it on. But most if not all CCC can change the T & C whenever they like. As I said earlier it was hiked to 30% when a letter arrived one day.

whats to stop them taking it to 50% - I dont know

What's to stop you just stopping repaying the debt and running away - I don't know. As I said before, with the greatest of respect, people not repaying borrowing is part of the reason why the cost of borrowing has increased. You're asking if it's ok to to be part of the problem you're complaining about.

A few people have offered pointers to ways to help get to grips with the problem and you've scooted over them. When I asked if you'd tried concentrating on the worst debt first and things like that, which is really basic stuff, you just avoided replying to the point properly when you replied to my post.

Do you want help, want to moan, or just want permission to dodge the debt?

redsquirrel80

Rather than 'threatening' the companies, I would write to them explaining that you're having difficulty paying and asking them to freeze interest and/ or accept lower payments. I would think that trying to work something out with them rather than running away from it would put you in a better position if you ever return to the UK and want credit in the future. Like others have said, it would be a good idea to do an SOA (companies may ask to see this anyway) - can you not afford to make the payments, or are they just not leaving you with as much disposable income as you'd like?

PT66

Not totally agreeing with the proposal but here are some things to consider: Do the CCC have your address in Switzerland - if yes they will continue to hound you but I do not think they will (or can) chase the debt physically. If you run from the debt by changing address, it will show on your credit file under 'Gain' - the individual owes money and has not given a forwarding address. I know this as I was planning to do it when I lived in Spain, however my circumstances altered dramatically and I had to return to the UK. I had missed 14 payments over 3 cards but I spoke to the CAB, arranged a plan to payback my arrears and I am now building my history so I can take a consolodation loan to get them cleared quicker and free up some of my disposable income. Like you I felt very agrieved at the high interest rates etc and I thought I would see my life out in Spain but things change when you least expect it. My advice would be to consider all options.

MrsPitcher2b

Sorry to be harsh, but why should we all have to pay back our debt but you not.

When i took out my credit cards they too had a little %, but have gone up to over 30%. I have managed to clear them. you have stated you earn a good wage, so why can you not clear them?

Perhaps you chose not to cut back on other areas? Mayeb post an SOA so that people can help you to cut back so that you can clear our debts. As has been said, the interest rate keeps rising because so many people are knocking their debts, and then people who do pay their debts end up paying for it.

You say that they could track your bank account, but if you had no money to pay the debts then your bank account would be empty i assume? So it wouldnt matter if you declare yourself bankrupt?

Without knowing your income and expenses i know we cannot judge, but from what you have said, you earn a decent wage but dont want to pay back money you have borrowed??

Cannot understand how anyone can manage to do that.

truCido

MrsPitcher2b wrote: »

Sorry to be harsh, but why should we all have to pay back our debt but you not.

But you could argue he probably has paid the money he borrowed back and some, but due to huge interest rates its been impossible to pay what they deem you owe them?

The interest rates aren't going up because millions of people aren't paying back. It's going up because the banks have been reckless with there money and gave away billions that they don't have and this is there way of trying to claw some money back.

I don't at all agree with running away from it all and I know that there's a solution to it, there's many posts on this forum on people successfully clearing huge amounts of debt. It just takes a bit of effort contacting the right people and being a bit tight for a year or two but you can do it!