Moving abroad, with UK Credit Card Debt...

Az0nic

Hello guys and gals.

So I'm planning on moving to Australia at the beginning of April, however I currently have about £2000 of debt on my credit card.

I cannot afford to pay all of this off before I go, I have to save some money so that I can afford to live when I get out to Aus. So my 2 questions are-

1. How easy is it to pay off a credit card from abroad? The money normally comes from a UK current account and gets paid each month on to the card- can I set up the direct debits to come from an Australian bank to pay off the UK card? If not, is it at all a viable option to send money home to my UK current account each month when the credit card debt is due to be paid?

2. I have a permanent skilled migrants visa, so if I were to get a full time job in Australia, does anyone have any idea if I would be able to get a loan from an Aussie bank so that I could send a chunk home to pay off the credit card debt?

Thanks very much in advance

CLAPTON

you can keep your UK bank a/c and keep the DD to make a monthly payment

you can transfer money from Aus to your UK bank a/c

no problem

zerog

1 - yes, but use a currency broker for this (some recommended on MSE)

2 - don't know how soon you'll be able to get a loan after you start working, but Australian banks are more willing to give out credit than UK ones right now. At least I have managed to open several credit cards but I only spend 1 month a year over there... and before you ask, no you can't do a balance transfer internationally - BUT in Australia you can BT to a card with no balance, and if the card you are transferring to has no ATM fee (only citibank now I think), you can withdraw the cash and send it to the UK to pay off the UK card, and pay off the balance slowly in AUD