Owe money but left the country a long time ago

MonkeyMehem

Hi all.

I have a Barclaycard, barclays account & sudent loans all of which I owe money to.

I have immigrated to the states almost 4 years ago.

I had maxed out my Barclaycard and was making payments online until I was no longer able to log in (for some reason it wasn't accepting my credentials even though I know they were correct). That was 3 years ago and I continued to recieve my monthly statement at my old UK address (I'm in contact with the tenant) but hadn't recieved anything from them in over 2 years.

My Barclays account has an overdraft limit of 1,200 GBP of which I'm 950 in. I've continued using the account while being in the USA (both depositing and paying from).

I also have a student loan which I never paid into. I left my course, moved to the states and got a job.

What I want to know is what am I getting myself into by not contacting/paying these off? can they come after me in the US?

Also, if I was to visit the UK, will I be arrested or somehow forced to stay there until the debts are handeled?

Thank you in advance for any insight

simongregson

The worst thing that can happen is you will have a court judgment recorded against you. This is a civil matter, so you won't be arrested or forced to stay in the UK etc.

You won't be able to get credit (easily) in the UK as you have probably trashed your credit report already.

They could contact you in the US but there is nothing they can realistically do to enforce the debt. If you don't intend to pay it then they will probably just keep phoning or writing to you and after a while sell the debt on for a few pence in the £ to another company who will do the same.

Be aware that if your current account goes into credit they will probably take the money and use it to pay the outstanding credit card bill.

That said, you should probably pay your debts. Barclaycard's telephone number is +441604230230

MonkeyMehem

Thank you very much for the quick reply Simon.

I fully intend on paying and closing both the Barclaycard & Barclays accounts, I just wanted some peace of mind as I was worried about visiting family in the UK in case I get arrested or something.

Once again, thank you