Bankruptcy from Abroad

New_Kiwi

Help!
We have got ourselves into a bit of a situation and are 18k in debt to a single debtor. We were paying off the loan without problem but had our house on the market with the intention of emigrating. When the house eventually sold, it went for 50k less than it was advertised at, which meant we had far less than we needed to complete the move and clear our debts. We are now in New Zealand but have the 18k debt still outstanding in the UK. We have some small savings but what we have is only just enough to pay the debt but this will leave us with nothing. We both have jobs but pay in NZ is less than the UK and we have little spare income once rent, utilities, food, insurances, etc are paid. We have been out of the UK for 7 months now (6 months for my wife).

My question is this, what is best for our situation??

Should we try an IVA? (can these be done by non residents)
Should we declare ourselves bankrupt? (what is involved)
Or should we just do nothing, as they have yet to find where we are (we don't intend returning)

Any help and advise would be great......

New_Kiwi

Anybody???

Rossy.

A debt will never ever go away as such but if you don't admit liability or pay anything for 6 years then it becomes statute barred in the UK, meaning they legally can't chase you for the debt.

I know some countries have treaties with each other governing debt and it can follow you as such.. You're best off speaking with a institute that deals with debt in NZ. Only they would be able to help and advise whats possible as i'm not familiar with NZ laws

sorry i can't be of anymore help

nobla

If you have the money in savings then why dont you just clear the debt?

betterlatethannever

nobla wrote: »

If you have the money in savings then why dont you just clear the debt?

Sensible advice ^

You say you'll be left with nothing- but you'll be left debt free, and thats not nothing. You'll be able to save up again afterwards.

An IVA or BR wouldn't be accepted if you had the same amount of savings that could pay your debt.

I think what your really wondering is; what happens if we keep our heads down and do nothing- well, that would depend on who the debt was with (some debts aren't statute barred) and would stop you ever safely entering the UK again. Although you have no intention of coming back, you never know whats around the corner.

Personally, i'd pay off the money i owe, sleep better and stress less.

tiff

I cant believe you want to consider bankruptcy when you have the money to pay the debt. Pay the money and start fresh with nothing in NZ.

Manoona

As said above, If you have the moeny available I think the sensible thing would be to pay it. Although you could try your luck at negotiating a lower full and final settlement figure with the company too, that might even leave you with a little bit of savings...

debtinfo

can't agree move with the above if you have the money pay the debt

Doucam

I agree with the others as well, I think you are best off paying off the debts with your savings, ok so you won't have any savings but at least you won't have the worry of the debt either.

If I had had the savings to pay off the debts then I would have paid them off.

patman99

OP, you don't state what the debt is. But, try emailing them and making an offer for full and final settlement of £16k. This at least gives you a starting point. If it is a loan, then you should get back any interest you would have paid till the end of the loan period anyway.