What happens if you don't pay

alecpr

I know someone who is in denial, complete total and utter denial of his debt problem.

He is curently hiding at freinds houses to avoid his creditors and their balifs, all his stuff has been shipped out to the girlfriends leaving some very basic or very broken stuff at his own rented house. He has been unemployed for a while but is now, pr soon will be earning around 25K per year, my question is, how long can he keep up this cat and mouse game and get away with it?

I read so many stories of people trying to sort out their problems here, it annoys me that he appears to be getting away with it.

fivemice

Goodness me, has he not spoken to anybody about this? Is he really hoping to escape them, because it won't work

My husband "escaped" from Barclaycard at the tender age of 19. At 21 he came to live with me, no sign it of it for years and then somehow they managed to track my husband down when he was 24, after two house moves!!

Even if your friend managed to avoid paying off these debts, surely he'd still get CCJs and defaults left right and centre, ruining his credit rating? That is the one thing that really annoys me about my husband not having sorted it out before - that 7 years after he stopped paying it (and others), we still can't get a low rate credit card, a loan except from Black Horse (high rate) and we can't get a mortgage.

Would he come on here do you think?
You know, I suppose he could get away with it, but it would probably always affect his finances, and the risk of being caught is just too high, and it's sods law that he'd get caught right when he needs it least.

alecpr

Absolutely no chance of him coming on here, he has the attitude of he knows best and will not take advice from anyone, he had a debt management company dealing with his creditors for a while, but opted to go it alone after a few months and then failed to pay.

The situation is that they do know where he is though, he hasn't disapeared from view and it is multiple creditors, so I was wondering what creditors will do from a legal standpoint, I assume a summons and day in court with a court order him to pay a certain amount per month?

But what happens if he keeps screwing up as there is no sign that he is going to stop now. I don't think his credit rating could take much more of a beating than it already has.

fivemice

Ah, as for what they will do I guess it varies, but my husband offered to pay Barclaycard £50 a month, and others between £10-50 a month so it never went to court. I'm not sure if any of them ever threatened him with a CCJ, but AFAIK he doesn't have any CCJs.

From working in payroll, I vaguely remember quite a few people having attachment of earnings where what they owed was taken straight out of their paypacket before it even got to their bank accounts, but I don't know if they would do that in this situation.

It goes without saying though, that if he hides he won't escape it, and if he faces up to it he'll probably find it is nowhere near as bad as he thought it would be.

Also, I now refuse to deal with recovery agents if I miss payments on anything, and I go back to the people I actually owe and deal with them, I don't know what difference this makes, but I don't like dealing with third parties.

alecpr

I assume that is what will eventually happen to him, an attachment of earnings would make a lot of sense, maybe that would shock him in to a light bulb moment; when the money he earns doesn't drop in to his account anymore... I know I can't shock him in to doing anything :-(

... I just realised they put the thanks button back, I thought that disappeared a while ago :-)

Good luck with your your (husbands ;-)) debts fivemice and thanks.

southernscouser

If he has council tax arrears he could ultimately end up in prison if he fails to pay it! :eek:

GreyPilgrim

I left uni a year after a friend. We both got into horrendous messes with Student Loans and Banks. I too ran for ages - although I left uni I still lived in shared student type houses, and eventually they all caught up with me too. I made the conscious decision to face up to them and pay them off as soon as possible although it really did cripple me financially. My friend is of the opinion that I'm mad, that the debt's will eventually 'go'. He lives at his dads house (pretty much 'his' place, as his dad lives with a partner elsewhere but it's still in his dads name) but doesn't open the door unless he knows it's you (a bell on the mobile to let him know). It's impossible to get him on the landline because he simply never answers it. I couldn't live like that. It hurt like hell having to hand over big wadges of cash to the student loan company, but I feel safer, less paranoid that one day a bunch of gorillas are going to storm my house.

You need to try and impress on him that he needs to face up to reality, but don't press it too much - it has to be a conscious decision on their part and if they're not willing to face up to it, I guess anything you do will be seen as 'nagging' and could spoil the relationship.

fivemice

"I feel safer, less paranoid that one day a bunch of gorillas are going to storm my house."
I identify with that completely!