leaving debt behind and consequences?

[chris123321]

Hi guys, just having a bit of a wonder and was thinking, theoretically, if I have say £5k of debt via credit card, what would happen if I was to leave the country for 1-2 years and not pay any of it?

Would it be a CCJ and blacklisted for life or...not much at all?

Cheers

[Soovy]

chris123321 said:

Hi guys, just having a bit of a wonder and was thinking, theoretically, if I have say £5k of debt via credit card, what would happen if I was to leave the country for 1-2 years and not pay any of it?

Would it be a CCJ and blacklisted for life or...not much at all?

Cheers

If you ever plan to return do not do it.

[DoubleSix]

Pal of mine did this after Uni, went off to live in Thailand for 5 years...

He came back a few years ago and has had no end of trouble with anything involving his credit rating. APR has gone through the roof and got given kiddies banking facilities... no overdraft etc etc

Then theres the view that its just a stty, weasel type thing to do. If you cant pay it back then dont borrow it in the first place.

[chris123321]

Well thats the odd thing, my APR's are through the roof, no-one will entertain the thought of me having a loan and barclays have refused to give me an overdraft.

Never missed a payment and very good credit score with a reasonable amount of disposable income at the end of every month.


Was just throwing the idea around in my head to be honest!

[Mandat]

For only £5k surely it's not worth the future hassle. It is was £500k on the other hand ........

[chris123321]

Would the bank even bother chasing 5k?

[Soovy]

chris123321 said:

Well thats the odd thing, my APR's are through the roof, no-one will entertain the thought of me having a loan and barclays have refused to give me an overdraft.

Never missed a payment and very good credit score with a reasonable amount of disposable income at the end of every month.


Was just throwing the idea around in my head to be honest!

You know all the slating that the banks got for irresonsible lending. It worked.

!!

[DoubleSix]

No, it would be passed to third party collection agencies.

Seriously though, do you have no moral scruples about your financial responsibilities??

[chris123321]

No, I actually do suprisingly, I was just having a wonder in my head, nothing wrong with that is there?

There's no chance I'm going to go ahead and do this.

[chris123321]

Soovy said:

You know all the slating that the banks got for irresonsible lending. It worked.

!!

Yes, you have quite a point there.

[SplatSpeed]

Soovy said:

You know all the slating that the banks got for irresonsible lending. It worked.

!!

what he said!

[chris123321]

Well, apart from all the credit cards I keep being offered.

[tyrewrecker]

If you go away for 8 years to be sure and return it will be gone.

[Eric Mc]

Even saints have bad thoughts.

As long as bad thoughts just remain thoughts and not deeds - you'll be OK.

[nosittap]

chris123321 said:

Would the bank even bother chasing 5k?

Letters, phone calls and collections agencies definately. Legal action, maybe.

The finance company I work for take anything with a balance of £3000+ to court, but it depends on the leander.

You'd have to wait 6 years for the debt to 'dissappear' completely and have no liability. Stuff stays on your credit file 6 years, and there is a thing called the Limitation Act, where debts become 'statute barred' after 6 years, meaning they are unenforcable.

Or you could not be a scrote and actully pay the money you rightly owe, just a suggestion.

[tyrewrecker]

nosittap said:

Letters, phone calls and collections agencies definately. Legal action, maybe.

The finance company I work for take anything with a balance of £3000+ to court, but it depends on the leander.

You'd have to wait 6 years for the debt to 'dissappear' completely and have no liability. Stuff stays on your credit file 6 years, and there is a thing called the Limitation Act, where debts become 'statute barred' after 6 years, meaning they are unenforcable.

Or you could not be a scrote and actully pay the money you rightly owe, just a suggestion.

Yes but they need to have absolutely NO COMMUNICATION with you for this to happen. If they speak to you etc it is discounted, don't respond to letters etc.
Letters are no big deal if you have moved and dont go on electrol roll

[PurpleMoonlight]

tyrewrecker said:

nosittap said:

Letters, phone calls and collections agencies definately. Legal action, maybe.

The finance company I work for take anything with a balance of £3000+ to court, but it depends on the leander.

You'd have to wait 6 years for the debt to 'dissappear' completely and have no liability. Stuff stays on your credit file 6 years, and there is a thing called the Limitation Act, where debts become 'statute barred' after 6 years, meaning they are unenforcable.

Or you could not be a scrote and actully pay the money you rightly owe, just a suggestion.

Yes but they need to have absolutely NO COMMUNICATION with you for this to happen. If they speak to you etc it is discounted, don't respond to letters etc.
Letters are no big deal if you have moved and dont go on electrol roll

A common misconception.

The Limitation Act is all about the debtor acknowledging the debt. If they do the 6 your clock is reset. The creditor can write all they like, it makes no difference whatseover.

[essayer]

I think it can go something like this

1) credit card company tries to get you to pay
2) debt sold to debt collector (+fees)
3) debt collector starts court proceedings (+fees)
4) obtains judgement in default, because you do not defend it (+fees)
5) obtains Order to Obtain Information, which requires you to attend court

Now, we end up on a new road:
6) you fail to attend court so you are in contempt of court etc
7) A warrant gets issued for your arrest.

So after your little break.. you come back to the UK to visit family, friends etc.. 8) Your details are flagged up when you book a flight or pass through passport control at the airport
9) Plod wait for an easy nick at the airport and you get to see what cells look like before getting hauled up to court to decide how you are going to pay the accumulated debts

Of course it can stop at any of those points, but do you want to take the risk?

Edited by essayer on Friday 31st August 13:06

[rsv gone!]

PurpleMoonlight said:

A common misconception.

The Limitation Act is all about the debtor acknowledging the debt. If they do the 6 your clock is reset. The creditor can write all they like, it makes no difference whatseover.

An interesting distinction.

So what constitutes acknowledgement of the debt? A recorded phone call? A letter back from the debtor offering to pay over time, etc?

[chris123321]

Thats pretty interesting, so if your at 5 years having ignored it and you get a call where you acknowledge you had the debt, its another 6 years on the black list?


Cheers for the advice and answering my daily mind rambles, don't think I'll be taking any extended trips abroad anytime soon