Moving abroad - how to handle credit card debt?

ClaraSolis

Hi, I hope this is the right place to post this.

My husband and I are looking to move to an EU country in the very immediate future. He is being made redundant as his workplace is closing, and he has managed to secure a job in my home country. We have a 1 year old, so it seemed like the right time to move to be close to family. We only found out today he is being offered the job, and we'd have to move by mid-August, so it's a very short timespan!

One of the issues I have at the moment, is that we have quite a lot of debt, and I am trying to figure out how to handle this. Between us we have 3 credit cards with debt that we have built up over the past few years. One card is in my husband's name, 2 are in mine. These are all 0% balance transfer cards. If we are moving abroad, can I still keep repaying the cards as long as I keep our UK bank accounts open? We don't have a joint account by the way.

The 0% offer on one of my cards is expiring next month, so I need to move the balance to a new card. I was looking at the Virgin card of 36 months, but am unsure if I can open it. I've had a Virgin balance transfer card in the past, but I moved that balance to another card when the offer expired. The card still shows in the app actually, with a £0 balance. There's a balance transfer offer on that same card, but it's only until September 2027.

If I sign up through the eligibility checker (which says I am 100% pre-approved), will that work? Or is it likely to fail as I already hold a product with them?

The other cards don't expire just yet, but I am wondering how we can use balance transfer offers once we have moved abroad? Sadly, we do not have the money to pay off these debts so we just have to keep chipping away at it somehow.

Emmia

You might want to post this on the debt free wannabe board, to help you find ways to pay off your debt rather than shuffling it to 0% cards.

When you move, will you still have a UK address? That's now a usual requirement to keep UK accounts open - banks want you to be resident here, which you won't be if you're moving for your husband"s job.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe

ClaraSolis

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82033412#Comment_82033412

Thank you, I'll post it in there as well. Though it's too much debt to pay off in a short period of time, sadly.

We're not sure yet what will happen with our house. It's unlikely we will be able to sell it in just 2 months, so we are going to contact our mortgage provider and check if they could give consent to let.
As for bank accounts, we might have to switch our accounts to international accounts?

sourcrates

OP now posted on correct board, this can now be closed.

Thanks.