Credit Card Debt - Now living Abroad - What to do?

OldandBold

My daughter is a UK citizen ( at the moment ) , UK bank account, but has worked abroad quite a lot in recent years. She has a UK credit card, with not the best of rates.

She does 1-2 year stints as a nanny mainly working in the US & Canada depending on Visas.

She is now in Canada, still working as a nanny which is fairly low paid as accommodation is included.

The UK card she has currently has a balance of £7000. She has always paid the card each month, usually minimums, with just the interest being covered. She is not in arrears.

She is struggling with meeting the payments now, is settled in Canada and has applied for residency, which she should get within a year. She "plans" to not return to the UK to live in the years to come.

Whats her options?  She genuinely cannot afford the minimums without "Bank of Dad"
Would some sort of payment plan with frozen interest be permitted?
Or something like Step Change?

She has no assets in the UK, or savings.

Brie

If there is a default logged on her credit record there is the vague possibility of it being picked up by her residency application (apparently, I've heard this but have no proof).  On that basis I would suggest keeping somehow paying the minimum until such time as her paperwork is sorted.  

Once things are done and dusted and she's got some sort of naturalisation status for Canada she may decide to let the payments default.  This at least means that no further interest would be accruing.  If she then disappeared off the radar for another 6 years the debt should likely be statute barred and would fall off her credit file. 

I think that StepChange might advise something similar or at least letting the card default before making minimal payments.  But any payment even £1 a month is an acknowledgement of owing the money and effectively keeps the debt alive.  

Should she decide to return to the UK for holidays to visit family etc there's not going to be anyone at the border waiting to arrest her or anything.  It's just a case of her not re-engaging with the bank.  I'm assuming that her card may have your home listed as her address so at some point you will need to start marking the statements as "not at this address" or similar or even "left the UK".   If she is in contact with them by email she may wish to block them or change her email address to save being hassled.  

OldandBold

Brie said:

If there is a default logged on her credit record there is the vague possibility of it being picked up by her residency application (apparently, I've heard this but have no proof).  On that basis I would suggest keeping somehow paying the minimum until such time as her paperwork is sorted.  

Once things are done and dusted and she's got some sort of naturalisation status for Canada she may decide to let the payments default.  This at least means that no further interest would be accruing.  If she then disappeared off the radar for another 6 years the debt should likely be statute barred and would fall off her credit file. 

I think that StepChange might advise something similar or at least letting the card default before making minimal payments.  But any payment even £1 a month is an acknowledgement of owing the money and effectively keeps the debt alive.  

Should she decide to return to the UK for holidays to visit family etc there's not going to be anyone at the border waiting to arrest her or anything.  It's just a case of her not re-engaging with the bank.  I'm assuming that her card may have your home listed as her address so at some point you will need to start marking the statements as "not at this address" or similar or even "left the UK".   If she is in contact with them by email she may wish to block them or change her email address to save being hassled.  

Thank you Brie, that is really helpful.

RAS

She needs to take advice on whether UK debt defaults would affect her Canadian application.

If not, she can just stop paying. It'll take 3-18 months to default. I assume they do 't have a current email or phone number, so they can only write to her current address.