Old debts/Credit Rating/Moving Countries

googs

Hi there,

Whilst a few threads in this forum have answered several of my questions, there are a few things that I'm unclear of.

After hitting a bad spot in life I ran up some debts (~7k I think). I got a job abroad & moved away. Having just returned after 6.5 years, it's time to clear up the mess I left behind.

I can afford to pay off the debts (if I can find them!), but have been wondering:

1) I originally lived in England, but now reside in Scotland. Which laws would apply if anyone tried to pursue the debts?

2) If I did pay off the debts rather than claiming statute barred, would the fact I paid them off mean that a record of this would then reappear on my credit file?

Many thanks in advance for your help. This forum is a very valuable resource and I applaud you all for your friendliness and efforts.

Cheers.

G

Geebee

googs wrote: »

Hi there,

Whilst a few threads in this forum have answered several of my questions, there are a few things that I'm unclear of.

After hitting a bad spot in life I ran up some debts (~7k I think). I got a job abroad & moved away. Having just returned after 6.5 years, it's time to clear up the mess I left behind.

I can afford to pay off the debts (if I can find them!), but have been wondering:

1) I originally lived in England, but now reside in Scotland. Which laws would apply if anyone tried to pursue the debts?

2) If I did pay off the debts rather than claiming statute barred, would the fact I paid them off mean that a record of this would then reappear on my credit file?

Many thanks in advance for your help. This forum is a very valuable resource and I applaud you all for your friendliness and efforts.

Cheers.

G

Hi Googs,

Sorry i cant be of any help with this, but hopefully a bump up might pull in someone that can.

Good luck,

GB.

sofababe

If the debts were run up in England then English law would apply, though as its more than 6 years its irrelevant.

Depending on when defaults were issued the debts may not show on your credit file as they disappear after 6 years. Check your credit file, this will also help you identify who you owe. If you've been out of the country you may have had CCJs issued that you know nothing about. These will not become statute barred.

Sign up to the credit reference agencies, they do a 30 day free trial. But you should expect the creditors to get in touch once you do as they can tell when you've done a search and will track you down. This may be helpful if you are going to pay up, it saves you finding them!:)

Let us know how you get on.

fermi

googs wrote: »

1) I originally lived in England, but now reside in Scotland. Which laws would apply if anyone tried to pursue the debts?

Scottish law would apply, as anyone pursuing the debts would have to take action through the Scottish legal system rather than the English one.

googs wrote: »

2) If I did pay off the debts rather than claiming statute barred, would the fact I paid them off mean that a record of this would then reappear on my credit file?

No. Once they are gone from your credit files, they should never reappear. No matter what you do.

googs

Thanks for the replies.

Check your credit file, this will also help you identify who you owe. If you've been out of the country you may have had CCJs issued that you know nothing about.

Will CCJs still be on there after 6 years? If not, how would I go about running a check to see if any were issued?

If CCJs aren't on my credit file, but are still "in the wild" so to speak, are they a special case as far as reappearing on a credit reference agency report once paid off?

I plan on paying off any debts I find. I may change my mind if I'm due 6 years of credit hell for doing the right thing by paying.

I've only just got back to the UK, so will do the credit reference agency checks once I've moved into the new place & registered on the electoral roll.

Many thanks,

G

katu

Why did you not pay them when you were living abroad?

This might be something that I will do in the future but I will still be continuing to pay my DMP.