Moving to the US with outstanding debts.

danniboi_4

Hi,
I am getting married to a US citizen and will be leaving the UK within the next year. I have about £6000 debt spread over an overdraft, loan and credit card. I have known about this move for a while and have put every spare penny I have in trying to pay everything off. Unfortunately times are hard, my wages are pathetic, and there are many months where I cannot afford to pay more than the minimum balance on my credit card, and can only put a little money into reducing my overdraft. I budget carefully, but there is little extra left by the time all my bills are paid. I don't have anything of value I can sell.

I got into this mess my helping my mum with a string of financial problems preceding a heart attack, after which she was unable to work well over the time covered by her sick pay entitlement. She is still struggling herself and is unable to pay me back at the moment (if ever), so now I am treading water rather than making any progress. Basically I don't think I will be able to pay everything off in time before I leave. Once in the US, It could be up to 6 months before I can get a work permit, and then I will need to find a job before I can even think about sending money over to continue payment.

To top it all off, because of this situation, I am unable to save any money for my future move and will have to be supported entirely by my partner, who will also be paying for my flight and any shipping costs.

I was wondering if anyone knows if it is possible to offer a settlement on these debts or if there are organizations that offer advice on this sort of problem? (although I still don't know where I would find the money for a lump sum anyway).

Basically, I don't have any idea what to do and would appreciate some advice.:(

sourcrates

Hi,
Just because you are leaving the UK does not mean you need to settle your debts before you go, in this age of internet banking, its very simple to pay bills online wherever you are in the world, all you need extra apart from account numbers etc is the international bank account number for making payments from abroad, (iban), this information will be freely available on the websites of your creditors, simples !!

danniboi_4

I understand what you are saying, the thing is, I am worried about the fact that I will be unable to pay anything for a long time and then I might not be able to find a job right away I don't even know how I am going to find the money to put in my bank account to keep my loan payments up when I am gone. I still have 2 years of payments left to go. Last time I was unemployed, it was over a year before I managed to get anything, despite applying for everything I could. I want a fresh start and it wont be a fresh start if I take thousands of pounds of debt with me and use any spare cash I have paying it off instead of investing in my own future.

I really just want to get on with my life. I want to be able to start a family and save for my future and contribute financially, like normal people. I'm not young anymore and I'm running out of time to make those things happen. I don't want to be paying debts for years and years, especially as they weren't really my problems in the first place. I know my mum feels really bad about all of this, but there is no point in even asking her for help because I know she can barely afford to support herself, let alone pay me back. She has offered to take on the load repayments when I go, but I know full well she can't afford it and will just cause her more problems in the long run.

sourcrates

How old are the debts ? the loan and creditcard, were they taken out prior to April 2007 ?

danniboi_4

The loan is after 2007. I got it to pay off the overdraft and credit card debt, which was going great until Mum's next crisis followed by her heart attack.

The Credit card is from when I was a student back in 2002. Last year I looked into the possibility of being missold PPI for my Barclaycard, but Barclaycard told me that I hadn't purchased it. I was told it was better to contact Barclaycard directly rather than go through a PPI claim company because they take a lot of your compensation if you win. I don't have my original T&Cs to check, so when I asked for a copy of them from 2002, they just sent me a copy of my current T&Cs, informing me that they would be the same as in 2002. Didn't really know where to go from there.

sourcrates

Right, your credit card could possibly be unenforceable, you need to make a CCA request to Barclaycard, that's a request for an original copy of your credit agreement, if they cant supply it, or the one they supply does not comply with the "prescribed terms" then the account could be unenforceable in court, it will cost you £1 for this information, the loan you should CCA as well, the bank account unfortunately you can do nothing about, to be honest, if you cant afford to make any payments to these accounts, for the amount involved, six grand, I doubt very much they would chase you to the states, even if they did, they cant force you to pay, and they would have to find you first, and after six years of non acknowledgment, they would be statute barred anyway, so to be honest, I don't think you would have too much to worry about.

pleasedelete

Why ship your stuff so why not sell it? Will selling everything that you own get you enough to keep paying until you get a job?

ViolaLass

sourcrates wrote: »

Right, your credit card could possibly be unenforceable, you need to make a CCA request to Barclaycard, that's a request for an original copy of your credit agreement, if they cant supply it, or the one they supply does not comply with the "prescribed terms" then the account could be unenforceable in court, it will cost you £1 for this information, the loan you should CCA as well, the bank account unfortunately you can do nothing about, to be honest, if you cant afford to make any payments to these accounts, for the amount involved, six grand, I doubt very much they would chase you to the states, even if they did, they cant force you to pay, and they would have to find you first, and after six years of non acknowledgment, they would be statute barred anyway, so to be honest, I don't think you would have too much to worry about.

Morally, this advice is awful. "Don't worry, run away and hope they don't chase you."

OP, what can you sell? Can you arrange a payment holiday? Can you borrow the money from your fiance?

sourcrates

ViolaLass wrote: »

Morally, this advice is awful. "Don't worry, run away and hope they don't chase you."

OP, what can you sell? Can you arrange a payment holiday? Can you borrow the money from your fiance?

I was simply pointing out the facts, not debating the moral argument, if the OP cant pay, she cant pay, this would be the probable outcome should the OP not pay up, it was not intended as advice, more a statement of fact.

-taff

I personally know someone who ran up debts with CC, various loans etc, and left the country.
They are happilly living in another country with no intention of coming back ever and zero intention of paying any of these debts off - which all became statue barred 6 years after they left.....

Just a FYI......

nolongerindenial

I personally got myself in a whole host of mess earlier in my life, im only 30 now, I would never just let the debts get statute barred - I think it is a law that should be outlawed as if you have borrowed the money (and in essence enjoyed the use of it) then you should make every effort to pay as much back as possible or face bankruptcy