Mercers & Uk Debt Overseas

welshgirlabroad_2

Hi there. I moved overseas about 9 months ago, and i have been paying off my MBNA card regularly at reduced payments. I also have a barclaycard which Mercers are dealing with. They have accepted reduced payments, but have said that I am never goingto pay the card off, and in the past have threatened me with doorstep action. I have advised them that I no longer live at the address they have, and as I am travelling around, I no longer have a permenant address. They know i am overseas as they have called me and spoken to me on an overseas mobile - but they still threaten to send someone to the old address !!! This was a house i used to own, and sold about 2 years ago. I am just afraid that they will send someone to my parents address as I used to live there, and they may track it on the electoral roll.
Can anyone advise on paying UK debt overseas - can they sell the debt to an overseas bailiff / debt collector ?? Can they send someone to my mothers home ??

Thomas99

welshgirlabroad wrote: »

Hi there. I moved overseas about 9 months ago, and i have been paying off my MBNA card regularly at reduced payments. I also have a barclaycard which Mercers are dealing with. They have accepted reduced payments, but have said that I am never goingto pay the card off, and in the past have threatened me with doorstep action. I have advised them that I no longer live at the address they have, and as I am travelling around, I no longer have a permenant address. They know i am overseas as they have called me and spoken to me on an overseas mobile - but they still threaten to send someone to the old address !!! This was a house i used to own, and sold about 2 years ago. I am just afraid that they will send someone to my parents address as I used to live there, and they may track it on the electoral roll.
Can anyone advise on paying UK debt overseas - can they sell the debt to an overseas bailiff / debt collector ?? Can they send someone to my mothers home ??

Just pay what YOU owe, job done.

NickX

welshgirlabroad wrote: »

and in the past have threatened me with doorstep action.

I am just afraid that they will send someone to my parents address as I used to live there, and they may track it on the electoral roll.
Can anyone advise on paying UK debt overseas - can they sell the debt to an overseas bailiff / debt collector ?? Can they send someone to my mothers home ??

OK, I have posted this several times on this board now. The Credit Card company or DCA have no right to send anyone to your home or your parents home. The DCAs particularly will threaten all sorts of nasty stuff to get paid, but in reality these are idle threats and their rights are very limited.

The correct procedure is that if they are not satisifed with your repayments, they can take you to court. However the general rule is that so long as you make some effort to repay what you can afford to, the courts are very unlikely to send bailiffs to your property.

In normal circumstances I would advice that you go to Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) who would negotiate with your creditors on your behalf and have access to professional legal advice. However, because you are travelling can you just arrange to make a token payment. This will effectively tell them that you are trying to make some repayments, and in reality it is going to be very difficuly to instigate court proceedings without having a fixed address.

Also, if the debt is yours, then your parents have no legal obligation to get involved, and certainly should not be approached by the DCA. If they do get approached, then I suggest they write to them and inform them that they do not accept any responsibility for the debt, and do not wish to be contacted again without a valid CCA (Consumer Credit Agreement) which of course wouldn't be valid with respect to your parents.

I have just read your post again, and realise that you are making token repayments already - this is fine, I suspect that they are just getting worried that they don't have an address for you and may not be able to track you down, but don't worry they are just trying to use bully boy tactics. If you are making some effort to pay them back, then I don't think there is much they can do.