offshore bank accounts - can creditors freeze them?

bluepanda

Hi everyone

I have some creditors that I am in dispute with owing money to. I constantly worry about them freezing my bank account and always race to withdraw my salary as soon as it's paid in each month.

My friend suggested that i open an offshore account. She said that creditors couldn't touch that even if they wanted to as its in another country. Is she right? From my googling it seems like she is wrong in theory, although correct in practice as they wouldn't pursue the funds due to the high cost of undertaking legal action in another country.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Blue

izools

They can't touch any bank account be it inland or offshore without a court order, unless you bank with the same financial institution that you owe money to.

Debts don't work like this. If you don't pay, it defaults. If you continue not to pay, a debt collection agency harasses you. If you still don't pay, the debt may turn into a CCJ.

In the unlikely event that your debts to get to court (you'd have to be REALLY MASSIVELY IGNORANT and not even offer £1 a month for this to happen!!) these are the possible outcomes:

1. You are made bankrupt
2. A Garnishee order is granted and your salary is "Garnished" before it hits your bank account
3. An order of executioon which allows baliffs to enter your property and cease your posessions
4. A charging order against your house

Freezing bank accounts doesn't really happen.

What's your debt problem and what are you doing about it?

Let's tackle the cause of the problem and not the symptom eh? How much do you owe? How much do you earn? What have you proposed to your creditors?

bluepanda

Thanks for taking the time to reply Izools.

My situation is very complicated. I have basically been keeping my head in the sand after the credit card company I was disputing charges and payments with acted totally unfairly then constantly harassed me.

For all I know i could have CCJs against me. I have never looked up my credit report as i'm worried they'll disclose my new address and the harassment will start over. The credit report agencies also are involved in debt collection I read on their website, which puts them in a conflict of interest situation in terms of offering free checks to people with problems.

To be honest the trouble and pain the credit card company i owe caused me i don't want them ever to receive a penny from me again. I know you'll think that is stupid but that's how i feel. I was just interested in the law. From what you've said they can freeze my bank account with a court order which is not good news.

Do you know if they could get a court order to freeze an offshore account?

hullight

The credit referencing agencies are information sharing companies - if they have a new address for you they will disclose it to a creditor.

Depending on when you last paid you might have many years of burying your head in the sand. In the six years after you last made a payment if you let a company do a credit search and disclose your previous address the calls may start again. If you withhold your previous address it looks too suspicious.

Why not see if you can offer them a full and final settlement or something - that way you get a small victory in paying less?

bluepanda

hullight wrote: »

The credit referencing agencies are information sharing companies - if they have a new address for you they will disclose it to a creditor.

Depending on when you last paid you might have many years of burying your head in the sand. In the six years after you last made a payment if you let a company do a credit search and disclose your previous address the calls may start again. If you withhold your previous address it looks too suspicious.

Why not see if you can offer them a full and final settlement or something - that way you get a small victory in paying less?

Thanks for taking the time to reply Hullight.

I haven't applied for any credit for a long time. When you say credit referencing agencies will disclose my new address if I apply to a company for credit, is it also the case if I just want to check my own credit report? Will they report that to other companies? How do credit agencies verify you are who you say you are when you check your credit report? I have very little idea how they work, and i'm kind of suspicious of them.

Thanks again for your help.

Inactive

Your best long term option is to take your head out of the sand and face reality.

You owe money, you are rightly worried about it, just contact the company that you owe money to and sort out an arrangement to repay your debt.

It will not just go away.

missile

Not clever to ignore money owed to a credit card company. You will be racking up charges and interest and a small debt can quickly grow. Eventually when your debt has grown to an ammount where it is worth their while, they will take you to court. If they sell your debt to a debt collector, they can get very nasty and you will learn what harrassment really means.

Please don't think you can simply hide your money overseas.