I need help with credit card debt while living abroad

lan3com

After spending the last 6 years of my life in England, I relocated back home to Romania around 6 months ago. I have a few credit card debts totaling £11.5k, largest one of which is £6k and the other under £3k and 2.5k respectively, which i continued paying even after i left the country, but I have recently stopped my DD, due to inability to afford them. My wages are much lower than what I used to earn in UK and i feel that i am fighting a lost battle. Realistically, i can not spare more than £60 monthly, which is far from enough for any of my debts. I really do not mind if i am made bankrupt by my creditors, as it was something that I was considering before i left anyway. I do not possess any assets in the UK and it is not much different here at home. I only own a cheap vehicle really. What are the odds that this happens though? I am more worried that I will end up with a bunch of CCJs against me and I do hopefully intend to return to UK one day. Would writing to my creditors and explaining my current situation, as well as providing a foreign address abroad help anyhow? Would that ruin my chances of being made bankrupt? Would it stop CCJs being issued against me?

sourcrates

There are currently a few posts running on this forum with a similar subject matter.

I`ll tell you what I told the rest, consumer credit debts are not normally/never chased outside of the UK.
The cost and hassle involved in tracing international debtors is just not worth it, as they cannot be made to pay without taking further legal action in their country of residence, again, far too much hassle.

You don`t need to do anything, your creditors will continue to write to your last known UK address, they may or may not take legal action, if they do, the CCJ sits on your file for 6 years, then is automatically removed, CCJ`s over 6 years old are unenforceable.

It won`t affect you one little bit in Romania, life goes on regardless.

Should you ever return to the UK, it won`t be a problem, everything is wiped after 6 years, and creditors move on to the next account and so on, it will all be forgotten.

I`m not wanting to sound as though its a licence to borrow recklessly, but that is just the way the system works in this country.

Brie

I hope Sourcrates will agree if I add that should you come back to the UK before 6 years are up you won't be a good bet to get credit.  And should any of your creditors catch up with you at that point, and before the 6 years are up you might be advised to not start engaging with them in any way.  Certainly don't admit to the debt in writing or make any payments.

@sourcrates
please correct me if I'm wrong!!!

sourcrates

There`s always a down side to non payment, if OP stays abroad for that period of time, then fine, if they come back sooner, then collectors may be alerted to them, and collection activity start again.

Depends what the plan is really.

lan3com

sourcrates said:

There are currently a few posts running on this forum with a similar subject matter.

I`ll tell you what I told the rest, consumer credit debts are not normally/never chased outside of the UK.
The cost and hassle involved in tracing international debtors is just not worth it, as they cannot be made to pay without taking further legal action in their country of residence, again, far too much hassle.

You don`t need to do anything, your creditors will continue to write to your last known UK address, they may or may not take legal action, if they do, the CCJ sits on your file for 6 years, then is automatically removed, CCJ`s over 6 years old are unenforceable.

It won`t affect you one little bit in Romania, life goes on regardless.

Should you ever return to the UK, it won`t be a problem, everything is wiped after 6 years, and creditors move on to the next account and so on, it will all be forgotten.

I`m not wanting to sound as though its a licence to borrow recklessly, but that is just the way the system works in this country.

I thought that once a creditor obtains a CCJ against you, the debt can not become statute barred, so how come the CCJ is unenforceable and automatically removed after 6 years? Does the same apply to bankruptcy, if a creditor decides to go down that road?

Grumpelstiltskin

Your creditors are not even going to think about bankruptcy for those relatively small amounts of debt, it would cost them more than the debts so forget that.

cymruchris

lan3com said:

After spending the last 6 years of my life in England, I relocated back home to Romania around 6 months ago. I have a few credit card debts totaling £11.5k, largest one of which is £6k and the other under £3k and 2.5k respectively, which i continued paying even after i left the country, but I have recently stopped my DD, due to inability to afford them. My wages are much lower than what I used to earn in UK and i feel that i am fighting a lost battle. Realistically, i can not spare more than £60 monthly, which is far from enough for any of my debts. I really do not mind if i am made bankrupt by my creditors, as it was something that I was considering before i left anyway. I do not possess any assets in the UK and it is not much different here at home. I only own a cheap vehicle really. What are the odds that this happens though? I am more worried that I will end up with a bunch of CCJs against me and I do hopefully intend to return to UK one day. Would writing to my creditors and explaining my current situation, as well as providing a foreign address abroad help anyhow? Would that ruin my chances of being made bankrupt? Would it stop CCJs being issued against me?

Do you plan (although plans change) to stay in Romania for 6 years or more before considering coming back? Or is it a short term measure where you'd like to be back in a year or two?

lan3com

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Your creditors are not even going to think about bankruptcy for those relatively small amounts of debt, it would cost them more than the debts so forget that.

I thought that they only needed the debt to go over £5k and that it would be something that they would be willing to do.

cymruchris said:

lan3com said:

After spending the last 6 years of my life in England, I relocated back home to Romania around 6 months ago. I have a few credit card debts totaling £11.5k, largest one of which is £6k and the other under £3k and 2.5k respectively, which i continued paying even after i left the country, but I have recently stopped my DD, due to inability to afford them. My wages are much lower than what I used to earn in UK and i feel that i am fighting a lost battle. Realistically, i can not spare more than £60 monthly, which is far from enough for any of my debts. I really do not mind if i am made bankrupt by my creditors, as it was something that I was considering before i left anyway. I do not possess any assets in the UK and it is not much different here at home. I only own a cheap vehicle really. What are the odds that this happens though? I am more worried that I will end up with a bunch of CCJs against me and I do hopefully intend to return to UK one day. Would writing to my creditors and explaining my current situation, as well as providing a foreign address abroad help anyhow? Would that ruin my chances of being made bankrupt? Would it stop CCJs being issued against me?

Do you plan (although plans change) to stay in Romania for 6 years or more before considering coming back? Or is it a short term measure where you'd like to be back in a year or two?

No, it would be no earlier than 10 years from now. I am just considering retiring there. I would have never left, if I dis not have to take care of old parents.

sourcrates

lan3com said:

I thought that once a creditor obtains a CCJ against you, the debt can not become statute barred, so how come the CCJ is unenforceable and automatically removed after 6 years? Does the same apply to bankruptcy, if a creditor decides to go down that road?

I didn`t mention statute barred, that is covered under section 5, limitation act, 1980.

Section 24, of the limitation act 1980 gives a creditor 6 years to enforce a judgement, after which they run out of time.

"An action shall not be brought upon any judgment after the expiration of six years from the date on which the judgment became enforceable".

Forget talk of bankruptcy, it costs on average £1300 for a creditor to make you bankrupt, now why would any sane person do this when (A) they don`t know where you are (B) they are unsure of your assets (C)  they have no guarantee whatsoever of ever getting any money from you.

If you have no money or assets, all bankruptcy does is remove your debts, it does nothing at all for the lender, so why on earth would they throw good money after bad?

You are way overthinking your debts importance to your creditors, and there recovery capabilities.

You come back in ten years, non of this will be relevant any longer.