Expat in Canada wanting to pay off UK Bank Debt efficently

walkeradf

Hi,
I'm seeking some advice as to how I might be best placed to pay off credit card debt left with HSBC in the UK. We moved to Canada 'for a year' in 2018 with the intention of returning to the UK and dealing with this debt, however, it's turned into a longer stay and we now plan to remain in Canada for the foreseeable.

With this being the case I'd like to figure out an effective way of paying off circa 15k GBP of credit card debt over the next 3-5 yrs - I had assumed that I'd be able to take out a loan with HSBC in the UK to service this (and lower my current APR from 19% to circa 3.5%) but it seems this isn't going to work given my expat status! I'm wondering if anyone has had success with other methods - e.g. loans from specialist expat providers, loans from their banks in their (new) resident country to pay off foreign debt, or even secured loans against a home (which we have in the UK).

Thanks in advance for any pearls of wisdom.

RAS

Have you checked your credit record? Are you currently servicing these debts or are they defaulted? 

Smashingitnow

Why can't you just pay them off monthly through your salary? It's what I did as an Expat. 

sourcrates

Why do you ned a loan ? ? ?

First you need to identlfy who now owns your debts, if they don`t have your canadian address, then you`ve got problems.

Maybe email or write to the creditor, payment arrangements are very easy to set up, I can`t understand why you are looking at a loan ?

walkeradf

Sorry....... there seems to be some confusion judging by the responses to my original post.
The debt is all associated with one UK HSBC credit card and is currently being 'serviced' through my minimum monthly re-payments - which ultimately isn't really shifting the amount due to the 19% APR interest. (I've had a letter from the bank to advise me that this means I've paid more in fees than I have off the debt). Therefore I want to try and lower the APR - if I was in the UK I'd do this via an unsecured personal loan (around 3-4% APR), wiping off the credit card debt and putting me into a structured and manageable timeline for repayment of the full loaned amount over 3-5 years. 

ryanm8655

Consolidating debts is usually frowned upon on here as it doesn’t solve the issue of overspending and people usually end up back here with double the debt at some point (guilty). I can see the logic in wanting to reduce the interest but I’ve been there and just built the debt back up again. In any case that doesn’t appear to be an option... How did you build up the debt? I assume you haven’t accrued more debt in Canada?

If you were in the UK I’d probably look to get some 0% balance transfer deals and then set payments to a level that clears them
before the offer expires.

Presumably you can’t get a loan at a great rate in Canada, plus you’d need to think about fx changes, with brexit and everything else making fx markets volatile. 

Personally I’d do an SOA and work out what you can reasonably afford to clear and set direct debits to that. Overpay when you can etc. At the least, I’d set the payment to £1 above the minimum, as then it won’t keep decreasing each month and at least you will be increasing the proportion of the debt you clear, even if it is only a little.

RAS

OK, so how are you funding the repayments, and how are you making them? Any reason why you can't increase the payments to above the minimum using the same mechanism?

Could you get a low/nil rate card in Canada, use that for living expenses for a month or so and then transfer the same amount as a lump sum to reduce the outstanding debt. If you kept the current payments going thereafter that would clear the debt over time.

Or is this a persistent debt letter, where the bank may agree an arrangement, reduce the interest and use your payments to reduce the capital? Will trash your UK credit rating but may be OK if you are not coming back in the next 6 years?