Leaving the country and cannot repay credit card

Moosejaw

Hi - I hope someone can help me please

I am emigrating from the UK in the next six months. I have a credit card balance at over £10000 that I know that I will not be able to repay. I was hoping to be able to cash in my pension and repay it but I've been told by my pension company that I cannot cash in my pension until I reach retirement age in 30 years time. I am trying to pay off as much as I can before I leave but with a young family this is not easy.

Does anyone have any advice that could help me with this. This is a very stressful position to be in.

Thanks for any help

Call_Centre_Monkey

You don't necessarily have to pay the balance off before you go - it's perfectly feasible you just change your address with the credit card company and continue as before.

techno_geek

Firstly, welcome to the MSE forums!

You don't necessarily have to pay the balance off before you go - it's perfectly feasible you just change your address with the credit card company and continue as before.

Exactly, i'm sure your card company will be accommodating!

Btw, before you emigrate, it might be worth applying for a Nationwide FlexAccount if you don't have one already (as they let you take money out and spend on your debit card abroad without charging you any fees... see the "Budgeting and Current Accounts" forum)

Decadent_Fool

Is it feasible to do a runner in this situation ?

No, don't flame me, I'm not saying it's right, but wondering what the legal implications are.

Or, how about becoming bankrupt ? How would this impact I wonder on life in the new country...?

Astaroth

I will let the others do the flaming rather than me......

Just because you are out the country doesnt mean that you magically become untouchable. It is more a question of how difficult it will be to touch you in your new country of residence and this depends on which country it is you are going to combined with which card issuer it is... whilst HBOS would probably not bother tracing someone who has moved to Sri Lanka because of the technology barriers HSBC probably would as they operate over there and so have an existing infrastructure they can use to find you.

Generally a bankruptcy wouldnt affect you in your new country to greatly but then your ability to get credit is going to be fairly stuffed anyway - obviously deciding if this is a good cause of action requires a lot more information that a simple statement of how much your debt is and the fact you are leaving.

Any attempts to run away from the debt though does of course cause signficant problems if things dont work out for you in the other country and you then have to come back to the UK