UK Debt Sold & Transferred to Australia - Help Please !!

[Pinky69]

I thought there would be an arrangement between Commonwealth countries. It's time to ask the agency in Australia to produce a copy of the credit agreement. I've had a copy of an MBNA agreement. It took them months to locate it and it was on microfiche. It was illegible and partially obliterated with a big date stamp covering half of it so it was goodbye MBNA and I never heard from them or anyone else again.

[babybear39]

Subscribing as I'm Australian by birth and am thinking of relocating there soon.

[dannyboy660]

Any Thoughts

 

Yes...you've been lied to.

 

Just stand your ground and see what happens.

You could make history by being the first to get an order to pay 5 dollars a week on an unsecured UK credit agreement. A UK court can't issue a CCJ against an address outside the UK - go to the HMCS website and take a look as if YOU were taking the action. It will fail at the first hurdle because there is no UK address to issue papers to...hold on and I'll try to find it for you.

 

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/ex350_web_0409.pdf

 

and MCOL says...

 

"Q. The defendant lives abroad can I still issue a claim?

A. No. They must have an address in England or Wales.

 

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/1051.htm

 

and CCA'74 s.141 clearly states -

 

141.—(1) In England and Wales the county court shall have jurisdiction to hear and

determine—

(a) any action by the creditor or owner to enforce a regulated agreement or any

security relating to it;

(b) any action to enforce any linked transaction against the debtor or hirer or his

relative, and such an action shall not be brought in any other court.

(2) Where an action or application is brought in the High Court which, by virtue of this

Act, ought to have been brought in the county court it shall not be treated as

improperly brought, but shall be transferred to the county court.

(3) In Scotland the sheriff court for the district in which the debtor or hirer resides or

carries on business, or resided or carried on business at the date on which he last

made a payment under the agreement, shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine

any action falling within subsection (1) and such an action shall not be brought in

any other court.

(4) In Northern Ireland the county court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine

any action or application falling within subsection (1).

(5) Except as may be provided by rules of court, all the parties to a regulated

agreement, and any surety, shall be made parties to any proceedings relating to the

agreement.

 

http://www.fisa.co.uk/downloads/CCA%201974.pdf

Edited May 21, 2009 by dannyboy660

[dannyboy660]

I thought there would be an arrangement between Commonwealth countries. It's time to ask the agency in Australia to produce a copy of the credit agreement. I've had a copy of an MBNA agreement. It took them months to locate it and it was on microfiche. It was illegible and partially obliterated with a big date stamp covering half of it so it was goodbye MBNA and I never heard from them or anyone else again.

 

Ask for CCA at the court stage - not before.

 

If you ask for a CCA and they produce at a later date, the automatic s;;t cycle starts again, because they think they might be able to 'persuade' you to pay.

Ask for the original CCA at court stage, they will not produce within time. Then quote the s.141 from your Oz address - bingo - kills it stone dead.

[dannyboy660]

Basically they told me YES the purchasers of the debt can Globally Chase it, however in Australia - Action has to be taken in the State that you reside !

 

 

Actually, reading your post again, you haven't been lied to, they have given you the perfect answer ..............

[Nicoblue]

Actually, reading your post again, you haven't been lied to, they have given you the perfect answer ..............

 

 

Now Really Confused !!!

 

The way I see it the debt has been bought by LINK Financial (A UK Company) I would guess for 5 pence in the Pound. LINK have then instructed an Australian DCA (Credit Mercantile) to chase who have converted the outstanding amount to Aussie Dollars, who would obviously work on a commission - if collected.

 

Credit Mercantile are in Brisbane - I am in another State of Australia - so would Credit Mercantile instruct Lawyers in My state or Pass to another DCA - starting the whole process again ??

 

As I said earlier - I only have a PO Box Number for correspondance - and I am told that under Australian Law (Data Protection) your actual residential address can be given out.

 

Guess I am very worried - I reckon there must have been lots of people of have moved to Australia with debts outstanding.......and I have not seen or read on any message board of Anybody being taken to court in Australia for a UK based overseas debt !

 

Thoughts ?

[Kraken1]

because whilst it is technically possible it is costly and difficult and so quite unlikely.

[miss muppet]

File under ignore, if they were going to come up with the CCA they would have done it before now. If they issue court proceedings then you can follow the procedures on here for information under the CPR rules.

[cerberusalert]

In theory the reciprocal agreements can be used to try and enforce debts, in practice it is extremely expensive and impractical to do. The agreements were designed to cover high end crimes not piddly little debts.

 

It's already been mentioned earlier, for a creditor to take enforcement they would need the permission of the Australian Courts & to have that they would need to have an England/Wales CCJ in place over here. They can't do that because under UK law a CCJ can only be registered against a England/Wales resident. Even if your creditor had managed to obtain a CCJ via the back-door, i.e having had the court papers served at your last known England/Wales address you would be able to have it set aside because you were/are not a resident here.

 

Any contract you signed will have had a clause in it stating something along the lines that it was governed by UK law so any subsequent action would have to be tried under UK law, all an Australian court would do would be to ratify any existing judgement. So now the wheel turns full circle and it ends up back at the CCJ stage which is needed before the Australian Courts can intervene....and the cycle continues.

[Pinky69]

I think it is refelection of just how desperate DCAs are for money. We are almost half way through the year and the prediction is that some will go out of business this year - CAG and other sites have really made an impact. There was a thread the other day on a DCA chasing £65 that they probably paid £2 for - sad. Do I think they will take you to court in Australia? No, I don't.

[dannyboy660]

 

The way I see it the debt has been bought by LINK Financial (A UK Company) I would guess for 5 pence in the Pound. LINK have then instructed an Australian DCA (Credit Mercantile) to chase who have converted the outstanding amount to Aussie Dollars, who would obviously work on a commission - if collected.

 

 

Thoughts ?

 

 

When you look at it from the international perspective, you begin to see it for what it really is.

If they gave you credit under a simple unsecured credit contract governed by CCA'74 - they took a risk lending you the money, hoping they would make profit from it, and you.

The fact you have now YouTube - Roger Whittaker - The Last Farewell can not be held against you, and you should be more worried about what the Queensland administration thinks of you.

 

In a nutshell, relax.

[dannyboy660]

Removed - posted on wrong thread!!! Doh!!!

Edited May 23, 2009 by dannyboy660
I'm a berk.

[northiam]

My situation is similar to the mess as nicoblue found this just to futher the confusion

Australian Forums - Being chased for a UK debt in Australia

[dannyboy660]

I'm not sure there is any confusion really.

 

Go through the process as if you were bringing an action against someone who has moved to Oz, and see how far you get.

 

 

 

"About 5% of accounts in the UK are

suitable for litigation. The point is to go

after can-pay or can-pay-more accounts,

says Locke, referring to debtors who

refuse to pay or who won’t pay an

appropriate amount relative to their

financial wherewithal."

 

http://www.credit-manager.co.uk/other/CCR%20May07%20UKDebtCrisis.pdf

 

If only a small percentage of UK cases get as far as the court stage (as anyone here can tell you) what chance someone in Australia on a contract signed under UK law??

 

People seem to forget that DCA's are businesses trying to make a profit - they are hardly likely to waste thousands of pounds/dollars on an international court action with no guarantee of a positive result - and the distinct possibility they may only get a fiver a week at the end of it if they do win. It's just not commercially viable.

 

Try to go through the process from the other side - there is no substitue for experience.

I think it's fair to say the general concensus of opinion is that although litigation is not absolutely impossible, it is highly unlikely.

 

Edited May 23, 2009 by dannyboy660
small addition

[zubrig]

Guys. Just come across this thread having now identified the bloke in Queensland who's been hassling me. Same organisation - Charter Mercantile - chasing me for a similar debt as Nicole's, very similar story - hard times, out of work etc. Very keen to hear where Nicole is up to in her situation.

[zubrig]

interesting too to note that they're chasing an Aussie Dollar equivalent of the claimed UK debt based on a conversion rate some 7 or 8 months ago. Wait long enough???