Overseas without a paddle...

[Darkness falls]

I live overseas in Asia and I'm in trouble.

 

I'll cut a long story short and tell you that my business plans have failed, I now find myself living in a foreign country with my wife (who is native to the country in question) working for a local wage. I've been over here for almost 4 years and in January this year my bank a/c back in the UK finally ran out of funds and since February all my direct debits have bounced.

 

I don't own a house or car in the UK and neither do I here (foreigners are not permitted to own land/houses where I am). I have a few personal items in boxes at my brothers house, but nothing of any real value. I have no assets here either, what little I did have after I lost my "shirt" out here has been cashed in, it didn't amount to much and that pretty much went whilst I was out looking for work.

 

Anyway, enough of the hard luck story! What can I realistically do about this?

 

I've pretty much lost all contact with my family over this sorry escapade except for my brother who lives in the UK. He is prepared to help me. Friends have said to just forget about it, but I feel that somewhere along the line I'm going to have to face up to this, might as well do it now right? Who knows what will happen in the next 2 or 3 years? I could well manage to get myself on my feet again with a bit of luck and I'd like to be able to return one day to the UK without feeling like I'm some sort of criminal who will have people chasing him for money.

 

I owe about £15,000 to the Bank and Credit card companies. In the 12 months leading up to January this year I think I added about £500 to my credit card total, I certainly haven't been reckless with my spending and for the last 15 years I have never had a black mark against my name. I have no way of paying this off on the money I earn here, hell I can't really afford to buy a ticket home at the moment. I haven't had any contact whatsoever with the debt collectors who are chasing the debt, they don't know where I live. I don't want to contact any of them until I have some idea of how I'm going to manage this. I should add that I have a CCJ against me from last year (that's another story though!) that I only found out about recently, spilt milk now as far as I am concerned.

 

Is bankruptcy the answer? I see one firm offering to do it for overseas clients for £625, it seems ironic that it's cheaper than the flight home! One of the things that they mentioned was that you had to have been in the UK in the last 3 years, not sure why, but that doesn't really apply to me.

 

Any advice appreciated.

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Bump

[surfaceagentx20]

Ask not 'What can I realistically do about this?', ask 'What can they realistically do about this?' My answer - precious little in reality..

 

To pursue the various individual claims each creditor, that's each creditor, will necessarily have to pass each of the following hurdles:

 

[1] trace your current whereabouts

 

[2] begin proceedings either in England or in the jurisdiction where you reside. [if they sue in the jurisdiction where you reside I can't give any more advice since I know nothing of the laws of 'foreign' jurisdcitions.]

 

[3] If they sue in England, they will need to obtain the permission of the court to serve abroad.

 

[4] If permission is granted, service will be by one of a range of methods. The method will depend on the existence of a convention operating between the UK and the foreign jurisdcition. Conventions exist betwen the UK and Commonwealth countries but you (rightly) do not say which country you are living in. Papers for service abroad tend to go via 'diplomatic bags' to foreign embassies and so on. Either way, the procedure is expensive and time consuming.

 

[5] what happens after service depends on whether you defend the claim. Asuming you do not defend, the creditor will obtain a judgment.

 

[6] The creditor will then wish to enforce the judgment. If you have no assets in England or Wales, the creditor will have to transfer the judgment out to the foreign jurisdiction assuming the UK has reciprocal enforcement of judgment arrangements with that foreign jurisdiction.

 

[7] The enforcement procedure will then be in accordance with the law of that foreign jurisdiction and again I can't give any advice on foreign laws.

 

The major point I'm trying to get across is that the procedure is expensive. In all likelihood the creditors will not wish to invest this sort of money. They will not see a return on their investment.

 

On that basis, I would assume the creditors will not begin proceedings.

 

If proceedings are not begun within the time prescribed in the Limitation Act 1980 (for contracts it is 6 years from the breach), the claims become unenforceable.

 

As for your CCJ, again there is a 6 year limitation on bringing proceedings to enforce a CCJ.

 

There is no limitation for bringing bankruptcy proceedings based upon an unsatisfied judgment of the court provided the value of the judgment exceeds £750.00.

 

I wouldn't contemplate bankruptcy proceedings at this time. Review as and when and if you are ever served abroad.

 

Once those limitation periods are up you can return to the UK without fear. If you make your fortune over there you can pay them off and come back earlier. You can come back any time you like of course. Just make sure that if you're still owing when you do, no one drops a writ on you.

 

x20

Edited August 24, 2008 by surfaceagentx20

[Darkness falls]

I guess I just feel that I should deal with the issue rather than let it continue. I'm concerned that if I do manage to build myself back up that someone is going to come back and bite me later, most likely when I least want it or expect it.

 

I have no doubt that they will probably have a very hard time finding me, I doubt that they will but you never know. I don't want people causing problems for me where I live now either, I would rather put it all behind me.

 

My brother spoke to his Solicitor about this who said pretty much the same as what you did, which quite honestly surprised me. He pretty much said there was nothing that they could do about it and he mentioned the Statute of Limitations as well.

 

Call me old fashioned but I feel I should also be responsible in this. I do owe them the money, I did spend it.

 

6 years in an awful long time, I'm not sure I want to live in fear of these people should I return, I'd rather be done with it. From my perspective (and feel free to tell me if I'm wrong here!) I am already screwed. I have a bad credit history and it's about to get a whole lot worse! Why not just throw in the towel and "draw a line in the sand"?

 

If I declare myself bankrupt then I will have a bad credit history for 6 years right? Well I've got that already, how could it get any worse if I declare myself bankrupt?

 

Thank you for your reply x20, I appreciate you taking the time to type a response.

[Darkness falls]

One last question; are there any consequences for the family living back at home in the UK? My personal problems with the family stem from this very issue, they're concerned that they will be held accountable because I used their address for my statements and correspondence. Also the fact that DCA people turned up on their doorstep didn't help matters either... The general feeling is that I have screwed up the credit history for everyone who lives at that address, is that really true?

[BenjiBoo]

Can anyone advise me if there are any agreements in place with Brazil? What are the chances of a DCA or court proceedings taking place if I'm living in Brazil?

[BenjiBoo]

This is kind of related to a question that I have. Can DCAs go to previous addresses where you've lived while you had a credit card? Or will they only bother with your current address?

 

What happens if you abscond? Can they check previous addresses? Or are they not allowed to do this?