uk debt problems

[daftlamb]

Hi can someone help advise me. My daughter and I have been living in Spain since February. I am working on a commission only basis and have not really been earning very much at all. As a result, all my savings have gone and I am unable to pay my UK debts (loan and credit cards). Seeminly I have problems as I am not resident in the UK, no one there can help - so I don't know what to do. Any advice is appreciated. I do not wish to return to the UK.

[spanish hopes]

As sad as it may be, and meant in the best of ways.

Get a job with a wage and stop spending until you can afford to. Otherwise you will have no alternative but to return to the UK and join all of the other multinational benefit scroungers.

[daftlamb]

I have always owned my own house and never been on benefit of any description, and I do not intend to be one! However, I am working all be it on commission only and have some potential deals to come through - in the long term i would earn more doing this than working for a minimum wage which would not cover my rent and food. Also, I have not been spending recklessly - only to survive. As I say, it is only my daughter and myself, so I have no one else to rely on. I am simply looking for the correct way to pay these debts. I am only saying that I cannot afford to pay the full amounts each month at the moment, so am looking for legal ways to pay less or something until such times as I can increase the payments. The problem seems to be that the debts are in the UK and I am in Spain, so there is no simple procedure (at least I don't think so). Seemingly as I am not in the UK, I will not be able to make lesser payments - so they will try and make me bankrupt. Again this seems to be a problem as they cannot do it in the Uk, but will try it in Spain. I have no idea how this will affect things I am doing or trying to do in Spain, or if I ever go back even for a visit to the UK. Any help or advice as to the way forward would be appreciated.

[katy]

Not really sure what you are asking Best way forward is to speak to your bank/lender. There is no financial help in Spain.

[daftlamb]

Hi I am probably not 100% sure what I am asking either! I am not looking for financial help, other than a constructive way to keep paying something to my creditors until such times as I can afford to pay the full amount again. There doesn't seem to be any way of doing that however as the companies just want to take procedings to make you bankrupt. I know that might sound like the easy option as it would wipe out the debts, but there would be longer term consequences I would assume. However, even that doesn't seem to sound as easy as you might think, because the debts are in the Uk, and I am here. I really don't know what the best option for me is. I am not trying to bury my head in the sand and just ignore the debts, but don't know how to tackle things the best way. Thanks

[rafiki]

Have you approached your creditors to let them know you are unable to pay the full monthly repayments? In situations like these the first thing to do is to notify them of your difficulty. You may already know this but most of the CC companies and banks have debt management departments specifically there to assist people who want to reschedule their debt. Are you saying they will not hellp because you are not resident in UK or that you have just heard this is the case?

[fizzbang]

Surely you need to speak with the people you owe money to..It is in there interests aswell as yours to understand what the situation is...i am sure they want thier money..and seeing you go bankrupt is not ideal for them also...Both parties are responsible for resolving the situation..

I am no expert on international/European law, but surely, If you own assets anywhere and you go bankrupt..then they will surely be seized to pay off the debt.

As noone knows what your sistuation is in Spain...it is hard to comment.

[gus]

Daftlamb,
Forgive me if I am being thick............but you say that "you have always owned your own house".....and have been here "since February".

Did you sell your house before you came to Spain? If so, why didn't you clear any debts with the proceeds of that before coming to Spain?

Or did you, as so many do, get as much cash as you could get your hands on, consider this to be "your savings" and assume you would be able to service your debts from Spain?

As a matter of interest, what does this "commission only" job you are doing involve?

Gus

[daftlamb]

Yes, I did own property in the Uk, but did not have much equity on it at all. My debts are high, but I have always earned enough in commissions to pay my debts and I have been servicing them from here. I sell property, which is difficult everywhere at the moment, I think, although I have had some sales. So I suppose whether I was here or in the UK doing this job, I would be having difficulty in this current climate and would also be having the same difficulty if i had a 9-5 job with a normal salary as it wouldn't be enough to fully pay the debts each month either. Long story as to why i have the debts - but unfortunately i have them and that is that.

[daftlamb]

yes, I have written to the credit card companies and am waiting to hear what they say. I do agree, that at least i am willing to pay and not walk away from it all, so it would seem sensible for them to maybe freeze the interest meantime and allow me to pay something till i get back on my feet. ironically, it is northern rock who at the moment do not seem to accept that!! they actually seem to be in the same boat as me and borrowed too much that they couldn't pay! However I have heard back from the citizen's advice bureau and they are the ones that have said they don't think the above is possible. they think going bankrupt is the only solution but even they are not sure how it will work in spain.

[crazyred]

Hi Daftlamb,

Have you done a complete income & expenditure report detailing all of your debts for the creditors and offering them a smaller amount each month? I know from experience that they usually turn you down the first or second time. They are often more amenable if you set up direct debits or standing orders. Keep trying and writing letters and get some independant financial advice. I once got some duff information from the CAB and had to deal with it myself.

Good Luck

[maddy]

daftlamb.now you are livin in spain you could just forget the debts in uk and start afresh now.

[Lavanda]

Or get a cheap flight to Argentina. They speak Spanish and Buenos Aires is the new Marbella. They don't extradite people. I agree with Maddy. Learn from all this and start again. Life's too short for anything else.

[daftlamb]

thanks for your help. i was really upset and going into panics tonight the more i thought about it. i appreciate your help. i will keep trying to work something out with the creditors and hopefully they will agree. i just still worry if they can do anything to me here that means i can't look after my daughter. that is all i worry about really - i don't care if i have to pay it all off over the next 50 years as long as i can function and my daughter has a normal life

[campo babe]

Go to the CCCS website

http://www.cccs.co.uk/

There is a questionnaire to fill in online and when you submit this, if you have put you are not living in the UK, they come up with a phone number you can dial from abroad. 0044 1132970126. You can arrange to speak to an advisor and they will call you back.

Also, I believe that if you have no UK assets, and you are living abroad, you cannot become bankrupt. Also if you don't have a UK address your debtors cannot take you to court to enforce the debts.

You should be able to arrange to freeze the interest and pay off a small amount each month.

Search on the internet there are special debt forums which may help.

Good luck.

[sunkissed]

IMHP if you have used up all your savings living here for 8 months that should tell you you can't make a living in Spain. Those deals in the pipeline may not come through and or as with many, you may not get paid! The property crash has only just started and we're in for the mother of all crashes which will take years to recover from.

At least if you go back to UK you will get help and can look at all avenues of dept management . The longer you delay the inevitable the worse it will be and some here have got to the stage of not having enough money for the flight home.

In the past, many people were too proud to go home as it would seem like failure but the credit crunch at least gives people a legitimate reason to return home

[louise225]

daftlamb, I work in a University and its extremely difficult for us to chase students who live overseas for outstanding debts. Whilst we always follow up every email address, phone number and mail address that we have, I'm not aware of ever being able to take any of them to court. I am aware that we have written debts off as they have been deemed uncollectable.

Although I'm no expert, I think what other poster have said is true - i.e. that because you have completely relocated to Spain, it will be very difficult for UK companies to chase you. However, I also think from your post, that you probably don't want to just stop paying to find out if this is true! I would suggest keep paying what you are able and ensure this is spread across all the debts, as this will show each creditor that you are doing your best and are not trying to avoid repayment.

Louise

[Jool]

Well done Daftlamb for wanting to pay off your debts.............and I don´t agree with the posters who say you can get away with not paying your debts.......UK and spanish banks are in touch with one another and they will find you as they have access to info that iuniversities and other bodies don´t.

Your only safe, stress free and responsible action is to reach an agreement with the creditors and follow Campo Babe´s advice. I posted on here months ago about a situation my friend was in who wanted to re-locate to spain. That person is now here and the credit card companies are accepting payments of 1GBP a month in some cases as they were unable to pay off all their liabilities, others wrote off a good half of the debt and allowed a cash immediate payment (it seems you get a few weeks to meet this but a 70% reduction in a debt is worth doing if you can find the funds) .

Good luck and don´t rely on the Estate Agency business to keep you going, its getting worse everywhere and there are loads of cases of Agents not getting paid commission due........

[karandjon]

....UK and spanish banks are in touch with one another and they will find you as they have access to info that iuniversities and other bodies don´t.

I am an ex Manager from a UK Bank and just want to point out that the above statement just is not true! Banks forward their customers with debts at a certain stage to IDRD (Insolvency and Debt Recovery Department) who then deal with the customer direct...if the customer is still around!

Even the Banks who have sister Banks in Spain are not "in touch" with one another!

[Jool]

Sorry but to my very recent knowledge it is true these days, things have changed a lot in the last year as the new money laundering regulations have required much better communication between banks within the EU. Its true it may not be the most efficient but Equifax, Experian and other credit reference agencies in the UK and Spain are now routinely accessed by spanish banks...I know as I was asked to help a bank manager understand the english on one so was there when it happened. I asked if this was a normal event and I was told they had so many problems in the past with bad debtors simply re-locating that now spanish banks will check credit references in the UK before lending. Of course a UK bank refers debts to credit departments but that does not mean there is no access to information re banks internationally......