OK thanks Brig.

p.s he said he had not come across a EPO either!

Another update-we have just spoken to a UK solicitor who deals in litigation and enforcement on persons in other countries. He has advised us that there could be issues of dispute around the amount of interest this company are whacking on, with the original contract as it is German, he asked hubby why on earth he signed it. He has advised we can send all our paperwork to work to him but warned us of the costs that could be involved, he was so very helpful, we are now discussing what to do next. He said he may be able to help us contest, but we are not sure what to do now is it could be very costly.

Hiya Brig, hope you had a lovely Christmas, to be honest, I really don't know what he will say, he said that the only advice he could give was to stop paying as we'll never pay it off, and its now come to this. Other than that he seemed pretty confused by what will and can happen. He said the enforcement order stands in Germany, nowhere else. Husband is scared to go back and see him now as he doesnt want them to start getting suspicious of our use of a German solicitor and start hassling us here.

Having spent the last couple of days fretting like mad about all this, my husband has spoken to stepchange today, they were very nice but couldnt help us and redirected us to community legal advice who couldnt help either on what will happen in regards to an EPO, I now have no option but to sit this out and wait and see what will happen. Because the whole mess is so confused between different laws etc, nobody in the UK can help us or give any advice. We have followed the German solicitors advice that he gave and can only go by what he said. I will update on here when we hear something again.

Hi Sirdrumsalot-how are things going, only asking as I am going through a similarish situation myself from a German company, please see my thread http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?333134-Uk-citizen-with-debt-in-Germany-please-help./page7 Its got to the point now where they are threatening an enforcement order, but that was just a few days ago, so will have to wait for the new yr to see what happens, hope things are going ok for you.

The EO for the smaller one as far as Im aware is still from the German court, husband was never served with any court papers. I really dont know if they will go for an EO in Germany or the UK. Husband was advised that the fact that they didnt send regular statements,(think we had 2 in the space of 5 years) is unfair on us as we never knew how much we owed. Think about 10,000 euros of interest has been plonked on top of original debt.

Thanks, luckily we have all the letters from him in English, stating what he advised. If it goes to a UK court, although its not good, at least we'll be able to understand. The fact of the matter is that we want to deal with this correctly and fairly. Before, we just didnt know where we stood, with it being German it makes it so complex, have found the Justice website with enforcement order details on it, will have to get reading although Im not legally minded, so find it hard to understand.

The German Solicitor advised us back in March to stop payments immedietley, and to not disclose our UK address. As husband is in the forces his parents address is down as his permanent UK address despite the fact that we own a property together there. Which again frightens us. The fact is that we were making regular regular payments but with interest we would never be able to pay this off. The letter we received the other day gave us until Christmas day to pay or to set up another plan! Although we were paying before, we used to get letters asking for more money, this led us to the point of seeking legal advice which was to stop paying. We asked time and time again to have the interest stopped, the fact that that they wanted bank details and payment through a bank transfer was awful, we couldnt afford to do it that way. We used to pay by cheque. Again, having letters sent to you in German is stressful, we have had enough of it all. All we want is clear cut answers where we stand and dealing with it in English would be less stressful. It is infuriating in itself that this wasnt actually brought on by husband but by his ex who defaulted on payments when he was away on tour. This all stems from 2004, and I just want an end to it all. I would rather offer them a settlement figure, but feel that they wouldnt accept it.

Additionally, letters are still in German so we have to rely on google translate to decipher what the letters say. They have added very nicely, that all all legal fees and translation costs will come out of our pocket in addition to the huge amount owed.

There is an EO on the smaller debt with which husband was never notified!, this was done in Coburg, Germany. First husband knew of it was when we saw the solicitor!. We don't seem to hear much about that, just this larger one, do you have any idea how we would stand if we offered a full settlement figure? As it stands, they still don't know where we are, it is only by chance that the letters are still going to in-laws address that we get any notification. What a mess.

Husband rang National Debtline who referred him to the Ombudsman! As you say we'll have to get reading up on the enforcement order process. But until we know which country holds jurisdiction we're not sure which way to go, its all very confusing, and my head is all foggy. But thanks for the advice

Just an update to people who were following this post-we have had contact from the german company again-letter went to my in-laws, saying that we have failed to make any payments and relunctantly they will now be taking legal action and going for an enforcement order?, whatever that may entail. We are awaiting the letter to come through from my father-in-law and we may possibly take it to the german solicitor that we saw. Husband spoke to an ombudsman in the UK the other day who said that the company were in the wrong to not send us regular statements and that could be used in any defence, as we didnt realise that such a meagre amount was going off the balance. So we face the New Year with all of this going on, not sure what the next step will be as we still have no defined answer on which law we will come under, what our rights are, or what this company can actually do to us. Very very scary stuff.

Thats true G, guess what I'll be doing in the morning? And thank you,

Cheers Cerbs-He said that they don't know where we are as they use his parents address for correspondance in the UK...I am keeping my fingers crossed that they dont look for us here. He said we are under no legal obligation to tell them where we are. Neither are our family. I asked him 3 times 'should we stop paying' he said 'yes immedietley' We havent made a payment since december 2011. We paid 20 to the smaller amount, this amounts to 2 euros going off it!, and to the larger we paid 50 GBP, which amounts to 10 euros!....my biggest question is; how do they ever expect us to pay it off?. We have just under 2 years left here, I would love to get an early posting out! If anything major happens I will let you all know, but for now I will stay in the background, as its just a waiting game now, or thats how it feels

Hello all, we have had legal advice on this matter from a German solicitor, unfortunately, the smaller debt has an enforcement order on it, passed in a German court. The larger debt, no enforcement order, but the total amounts is one that we will never be able to pay off. The enforcement order means that in Germany the amount owed stands for thirty years!. The statute of limitations in Germany is 3 years. We have been advised to stop payments immedietely and hope that we can avoid the debt collectors for 3 years,as after this time, interest will stop under the statute of limitations. I can only guess that they will obtain an enforcement order for the larger debt. I am not sure how we will stand legally in the UK on this, but I feel like my life is basically ruined. We will never pay it off, not with 3 small children. We are not in position to do anything about the fact that this is down to my husbands ex wife not paying as it was in his name. We now have to try and get on with our lives and let the chips fall where they may. I know it looks bad not paying, but we have already accumulated 20, 000 euros in interest, so the best option is to try and get this stopped after 3 years if we can avoid them. Will it go to a UK court? I dont know, our solicitor wasnt sure, but thought unlikely. I am petrified and we are now ensuring that most things are in my name for the sake of our 3 boys. There is nothing much more I can say now, other than thank you to all who contributed to this thread and provided support. Best wishes to you all.

Hi G, We are currently getting further assistance with this and I'll update on here when we have some answers..

If you havent paid anything to or acknowledged in anyway a debt since 2006 it will now be, you cannot be forced to pay, in principle. If you have people chasing you for debts before this time, there are lots of templates for letters on this site that you can send to them explaining this. There are also other letter templates you can use, but what you need depends on the nature of what each DCA is doing.

If you hover over the bold type, it explains it much better than I can.

You could look at your credit report, most offer a 30 day free trial, you just ring and cancel before the time runs out. That way you will know what is what. If you have debts going back to 2002, they will be statute barred if you havent acknowledged them for 6 years, so unenforceable. I am by no means an expert but the guys on here will be able to advise you better.

Well done Catherine, you will get there. Good luck with it all. You've just got to take the bull by the horns and put yourself back in control

Catherine1985-yhave you sought advice on here? You say some of the debts are old.....you may be paying more than you need to.....

Hi Penmarine, if there is anything you wish to ask me, then fire away. It was my thread regarding BMW finance that you read. Good luck with everything.

Ohhh, skimmed through bits of that civil code, doesnt look good to be honest. Doesnt seem to be any code for reclaiming of debts other than go for what you can get and slap as much interest on as you can!, But then Im not in the slightest legally minded, the wording has me all confused!

Just seen your post Brig, that would be a big help Cerbs, thanks. Will let you know the outcome of tomorrow Brig. Had good news on the 2nd Tranche today, so we have had some good luck ;-