How to transfer Dubai cc debt to UK cc debt

TheEarman

My girlfriend lives in Dubai and has a £10k credit card debt with Visa (Dubai). She wants to come home to the UK but cant leave without clearing her debts. She cannot obtain credit in the UK whilst not a UK resident. The interest on the card is currently extortionate. There is noboby in the UK who can get the loan here and send it over. Any help greatly appreciated. Cheers

StuTheDon

TheEarman wrote: »

My girlfriend lives in Dubai and has a £10k credit card debt with Visa (Dubai). She wants to come home to the UK but cant leave without clearing her debts. She cannot obtain credit in the UK whilst not a UK resident. The interest on the card is currently extortionate. There is noboby in the UK who can get the loan here and send it over. Any help greatly appreciated. Cheers

Hi,

I have just moved back from Dubai so can maybe help out. I would question how she has managed to run up a £10k visa bill in a tax free country, but I guess its easily done with all the malls there.

Defaulting on debt in Dubai is a criminal offence - if she defaults she will be put in jail. My advice would be to take out a loan in the UK, transfer the money to the UAE and pay off that card. Then work through paying off the UK loan. The £ is very weak against the Dirham right now so this will cost a lot.

The other option is to leave the country without cancelling her visa - it is this process that alerts immigration. So, just get on a flight for a holiday and get back to the UK. The call the bank and workout a repayment plan from the UK.

She will not be able to run away from this though - she probably banks with a well know bank like HSBC and they are becoming very adept at chasing debtors back to the UK - a lot of people have lived the high life and are now running home. 3000 cars have been dumped at the airport in the last 3 months.

Best of luck.

StuTheDon

TheEarman wrote: »

My girlfriend lives in Dubai and has a £10k credit card debt with Visa (Dubai). She wants to come home to the UK but cant leave without clearing her debts. She cannot obtain credit in the UK whilst not a UK resident. The interest on the card is currently extortionate. There is noboby in the UK who can get the loan here and send it over. Any help greatly appreciated. Cheers

Forgot to mention - you can get a loan in the UK when abroad - I did it. I got one for a car upon my return and they only needed a salary letter from my employer. Best try her UK bank first.

never-in-doubt

StuTheDon wrote: »

Hi,

She will not be able to run away from this though - she probably banks with a well know bank like HSBC and they are becoming very adept at chasing debtors back to the UK - a lot of people have lived the high life and are now running home. 3000 cars have been dumped at the airport in the last 3 months.

Best of luck.

This cannot be done mate - debt is not transferable between differing countries let alone differing continents (certainly not unsecured personal revolving credit such as a CC)! You need to check up on this but think you'll find that the person can be in trouble in the host country should they ever return, but it will not and can not carry over to the UK. Likewise, the credit file would start afresh here in the uk as our DPA stops data coming in and going out to different non DPA regulated countries such as Dubai.

My advice would be to transfer funds every month to pay the balance, what is wrong with doing that? Am I missing the obvious point here?

Obviously if the OP did run away then they'd hardly walk into HSBC and open an account if that was who issued her Dubai credit lol - plenty of UK banks to pick from.

TheEarman

Firstly. Not everyone working in Dubai is on a big fat tax free salary. She earns about £3k/pcm as a PA and is a single parent. The cc debt interest is so high that her monthly cc payment doesnt reduce the balance.

Just leaving her job & house & the country will invoke her visa and prevent her ever returning to visit all the friends she has made out there.

Getting a £10k loan in the uk as a non-resident with no collateral seems unlikely.

Thanks for your help anyway. At least I know I am not missing some easy solution. I think she will need someone to lend her the money ie friend/family.

Lolas

never-in-doubt wrote: »

This cannot be done mate - debt is not transferable between differing countries let alone differing continents (certainly not unsecured personal revolving credit such as a CC)! You need to check up on this but think you'll find that the person can be in trouble in the host country should they ever return, but it will not and can not carry over to the UK. Likewise, the credit file would start afresh here in the uk as our DPA stops data coming in and going out to different non DPA regulated countries such as Dubai.

My advice would be to transfer funds every month to pay the balance, what is wrong with doing that? Am I missing the obvious point here?

Obviously if the OP did run away then they'd hardly walk into HSBC and open an account if that was who issued her Dubai credit lol - plenty of UK banks to pick from.

Hi,

Are you sure the debt from Dubai can not be transferred to another country, such as the UK? I have read articles online about how there are these international debt collection agencies who can collect debt across borders. With all due respect, can you tell me where you get this information from?

Is there a law or a website we can look at?

Many thanks

Lolas