rkl57
Feb 8 2006, 03:19 PM
It seems like the big problem with leaving debt behind is that you never know if you will ever have (or want) to return to your home country -- no one knows what life will bring -- and when you do you might want ot be able to get a mortgage, a credit card, whatever and you will have problems doing that.
Just sayin'
jkage
Feb 8 2006, 06:55 PM
http://www.bankrate.com/natl/green/chk/basics1-6a.asphttp://www.bankrate.com/natl/default_frame.../20060208a1.aspCheck this out..its about a company called ChexSystems that tracks your banking history at least between the US and Canada I dont know about international
J
Kotae
Feb 9 2006, 03:37 PM
LOL IM going to burn in hell im sure.
Im happily married to a wonderful American Lady now.
The cake of life is sweet but the cherry is the debt of 40k I leave behind.
Didnt know that was the bonus when I fell in love but hey I look on it as a wonderful Wedding present from the U.k. credit card companies.
Fret not Debt not happy life indeed.
X
Hey heres a thought in seven years when my debt in the U.k. is clear can I run up the debts here and then run away with my life to England Debt free ?
RichiJenny
Feb 9 2006, 04:14 PM
You're dead right there Mate. Why worry...its not your problem now.
Did you send your wedding registry to Am-Ex, Barclaycard, LLoyds Bank too?!! lol
VisagirlNJ
Feb 9 2006, 05:38 PM
QUOTE(Kotae @ Feb 9 2006, 03:37 PM)

LOL IM going to burn in hell im sure.
Im happily married to a wonderful American Lady now.
The cake of life is sweet but the cherry is the debt of 40k I leave behind.
Didnt know that was the bonus when I fell in love but hey I look on it as a wonderful Wedding present from the U.k. credit card companies.
Fret not Debt not happy life indeed.
X
Hey heres a thought in seven years when my debt in the U.k. is clear can I run up the debts here and then run away with my life to England Debt free ?

lol thats too funny. Good for you. If anyone wants to pay if from the US then go ahead. If you don't want to pay it then it's your choice too. This is why I shouldn't even bother posting because people always have to make the replies all about them. All I wanted was a simple answer and I don't need anyone's lectures. Do whatever you want with your debt as long as you're happy. If it means that you don't want to pay it once you move then don't worry about it. The world is not going to end because of it.
daisy16
Feb 9 2006, 08:54 PM

It's a sad state of affairs indeed when people feel it is okay to lie and cheat and steal. Because that is basically what you are doing if you reneg on paying off a debt you promised or signed, that you'd pay.
desert_fox
Feb 10 2006, 08:54 AM
Same people who will be crying is some other post that they cant get credit or get a credit card.
Anastassia
Feb 10 2006, 09:10 AM
I am paying from here too........
but the interesting thing was the reaction of the bank in Poland when I told them I was leaving... I thought it was the right thing to do, but I would not do it again.
I could have easily not say anything and keep paying. When I told them it got really nasty.. they acted as if I told them that I am leaving and won't pay anymore.
I just wanted to let them know that I am leaving in case they need to reach me for some reason. They demanded the whole amount right away in answer to that.
Ana
GalyasTorpedo
Feb 10 2006, 09:45 AM
I am amused that people are under the assumption that after 7 years that everything magically goes away. This could not be further from the truth. The credit reporting agency works off the last date the creditor reported the debt, not some magical 7 years.
So your account could sit idle for 5 years, the creditor could acquire a new processing system and report your loan again and the clock starts over. I'm afraid a trip across the ocean is not the cure all.
The 7 years for a chargeoff and 10 years for a bankruptcy are benchmark dates, not law. I am not passing judgment, just providing facts. For those that wish to continue to believe in the 7 year rule, go for it.
RichiJenny
Feb 10 2006, 12:20 PM
Here endeth the lesson!
Consider yourselves, told!
katheleen
Mar 18 2006, 01:18 AM
I have to admit to a level of shock at reading this dialogue
there is a native expression that many may be familiar of..." do not judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes"
until you have experienced life through anothers experience, please be cautious as to render judgements and expound on those judgements... from my standpoint, we all walk our own lives and what we can and are able to do in this forum is provide factual information and support for each other...
katheleen
brtlmj
Mar 18 2006, 09:03 AM
QUOTE(katheleen @ Mar 18 2006, 01:18 AM)

there is a native expression that many may be familiar of..." do not judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes"
...and then you can safely judge him, because you are a mile away. As an added bonus, you also have his shoes

After reading this thread I am coming to a conclusion that banks are bad by definition. They are big and rich, so they must be bad. If they lend me money and then I cannot repay it, it's their fault, they should have known better. If they refuse to lend me money... that's pure evil !
Bartek
flipside
Mar 18 2006, 10:22 AM
QUOTE(GalyasTorpedo @ Feb 10 2006, 09:45 AM)

I am amused that people are under the assumption that after 7 years that everything magically goes away. This could not be further from the truth. The credit reporting agency works off the last date the creditor reported the debt, not some magical 7 years.
So your account could sit idle for 5 years, the creditor could acquire a new processing system and report your loan again and the clock starts over. I'm afraid a trip across the ocean is not the cure all.
The 7 years for a chargeoff and 10 years for a bankruptcy are benchmark dates, not law. I am not passing judgment, just providing facts. For those that wish to continue to believe in the 7 year rule, go for it.
Hmm Is that how it is in the UK? In the US it
actually is very much a law. It's called the
fair credit reporting act.
Here's some highlights:
QUOTE
How long can a CRA report negative information?
Seven years. There are certain exceptions:
Information about criminal convictions may be reported without any time limitation.
Bankruptcy information may be reported for 10 years.
Information reported in response to an application for a job with a salary of more than $75,000 has no time limit.
Information reported because of an application for more than $150,000 worth of credit or life insurance has no time limit.
Information about a lawsuit or an unpaid judgment against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer
Also, according to the
law those negative marks can only stay on your credit report 7 years from your last late payment or when you defaulted. They can update all they want, but by law they have to remove it from your credit report 7 years from the last late payment or default date.
QUOTE
Also, according to the law those negative marks can only stay on your credit report 7 years from your last late payment or when you defaulted. They can update all they want, but by law they have to remove it from your credit report 7 years from the last late payment or default date.
Sorry, I couldn't edit again. It's 7 year + 180 days from the last late payment or default date. So no matter when they report it, the maximum amount of time it can remain on your report is 7.5 years.
Last year I had a ding on my report from from 7 years ago. I contacted all 3 bureaus and they removed it.
Angelica
Mar 18 2006, 10:27 AM
Debt is not a crime, most of us have credit cards , and lets face it stuff happens and circumstances change. What we are able to pay off today maybe we can't tomorrow....So I'd pay what I could each month, I'd speak to my bank/ credit card co or whoever and if the minimum payment was too high arrange a lower one. They'd rather get something than nothing...
Kim
JayJay
Mar 18 2006, 05:46 PM
The seven year rule is in fact law in the UK as well.
And even more strangely....if you file for bankruptcy, the ten year rule is bent more often than not, as well...
I personally VERY closely know two people who filed for bankruptcy within the last six years in the UK. The first person now has three credit cards again, and a bank account. All that came withing three years of filing for bankruptcy.
So amazingly enough, filing for bankruptcy DIDN'T mean he was hung, drawn, quartered, chopped into fillets and fried by the lending industry! He wasn't even buried alive, ten foot deep in clay...there was no man from the Inland Revenue sitting on his face in a garden chair either. Plus the baillifs didn't think that anything he owned was worth taking, as it was all either owned by someone else, electrical (they hate taking electrical stuff) or essential for work.
Fancy that.
Amazing what one finds out, having been through it twice over with two very close people. Nobody has to believe me, though - I could be lying - oooOH!! Then again, I don't lie.
flipside
Mar 19 2006, 12:05 PM
It just amazes me sometimes that people post such blatantly wrong information that could mislead others.
JayJay
Mar 19 2006, 12:51 PM
Well, I have a feeling it's because when some people believe they are morally right, they will say things to make them right every other way as well. It's pretty normal in many cases I suppose (and doesn't make them bad people of course) - but that's not to say it's the right way to go, because yes, the info is indeed wrong - and for someone in a bad financial situation, knowing the actual way things go (like with the immigration process) can save lives and rescue a bad state of affairs.
Thing is though, not every one's been in this kind of situation - on where bankruptcy is actually a good option. I think the whole bankruptcy issue is one of those "taboo" issues a lot of the time, and even when it isn't, there are so many myths floating around that is turns into the "bankruptcy legend" almost!
To me, family is more important than paying for some financial "mistake" for the rest of your life. Truths should be known, and the least amountof time possible ought to be spent on destroying your soul over financial issues, when what ought to be happening is that you're there for your family, and able to be loving and to concentrate on deeper, more meaningful, more spiritual issues thst this world is lacking an understanding of. The world has a lot of money, and a lot of things based around money - but not much deeply ingrained about what's really going on.
That's what I reckon, anyway.
meddykomp
Mar 19 2006, 03:04 PM
QUOTE(Waiting in Vancouver @ Feb 5 2006, 09:27 PM)

It's kinda funny how people have no problem spending the money but when it comes time to pay it back you end up hearing excuses like we are seeing in this post ... Maybe people shouldn't spend money that they don't have ... Credit does not mean you have extra money, believe it or not it actually means your spending money that you don't have ... It's pretty simple actually ....
I was always brought up that you pay things like rent, loans, credit cards first and if you happen to have some money left over then you get eat ... You know you can go many days on potatoes and noodle soup ....
I think many people that are in debt need to learn their priorities ... I am planning on paying off all of my debts before I leave ... and if I did leave with debts I'd make damn sure that I paid it off from the US ...
I know I will have to pay canadian income tax for 2006 yet I still plan on paying that off from the US ...
I gues it all comes down to what you feel comfortable with ...
Not everyone who cannot pay their debts are irresponsible. Also the people who collect on these debts are very lacking in ethics sometimes. It's very nice for you that you live in a country where medical care is provided for you. What are you going to do when you are here in the US where it isnt if something happens where you don't have medical insurance and you have to have emergent care. You should not make assumptions about other peoples situations.
Sorry if I offended anyone with that, but you never know what you will do in a situation until you are in it. When my daughter was 2 I took her to the ER. Got a huge bill I could not pay because her father had dropped insurance on her and I didn't know. Eventually I filed bankruptcy but that was not the option I would have preferred. While trying to recover the funds, one of the collection agencies had the nerve to tell me that if I could not afford it, I never should have taken my daughter to the ER. (I put that a lot nicer than she did)
PEGGY
Mar 19 2006, 03:15 PM
Well that women who told you that about your daughter shouldnt be working in that office.
To me thats just plain rude.
JayJay
Mar 19 2006, 03:25 PM
See - there we go - it's all about the money isn't it - crazy how someone at a collection agency could tell you that you ought to have basically let your daughter die if you couldn't afford the care...how disgusting! How can that be better than going bankrupt? Some people...I swear...leave it to karma, and they will get what's coming to them....

Bet going bankrupt saved you an AWFUL lot of hassle as well - your daughter was alive, you had a means of making a fresh start on your lives together. Only negative thing in the end, is the stigma still associated with it. The years of being "not eligible" for any new financial deal fly past anyway...as we all know!
On our death beds, we will all wish we'd been kinder to people, we'd spent more time with the one we loved, we'd let fewer people down. I guarantee that once life is done, we'll regret it mightily (and so will those closest to us who depend on our emotional support) if we spent our entire lives worrying about huge debt we could never have paid. I seriously dislike money - if Ben and I could be self-sufficient, live in a teepee and off the land, in the middle of nowhere, that would be just great

Anyone feelin' da teepee thing?
Happy Bunny
Mar 20 2006, 01:37 AM
Man, there is some drama up in here!!!! I just read this whole thread and all I can say is
Judging ppl is stupid.
On a funny note...sorry I had to do this, but it really made me laugh....
QUOTE(Waiting in Vancouver @ Feb 5 2006, 10:30 PM)

QUOTE(clmarsh @ Feb 5 2006, 07:09 PM)

[RANT]
QUOTE(jasman0717 @ Feb 5 2006, 08:02 PM)

We have become way to light on people not being responsible. If you can afford to immigrate you can afford to pay your bills.
I'm sorry, but that's not always the way it goes. I understand that there are people who genuinely are horrendously irresponsible, but for every one of them there are many, many more people who find themselves using credit simply to live. Not to live in a McMansion, but to get through their every day life. Do a little research into predatory lending, it will open the eyes of the self-righteous. As an interesting facet of that, did you know that Sears makes more money through it's policy of giving low-rating people a line of credit than it does from selling things? Check it out.
As for the "If you can afford to immigrate, you can afford to pay your debts", think again my dear! I left the UK owing a little on my credit card which I did pay back, but I also left over £7000 in student loans. There was no way I could have cleared that debt before I left - I couldn't even afford to move out of my parents house. Granted, I left to work and subsequently immigrated, but that debt is still sitting there waiting to be paid. My husband and I are barely making rent, groceries and his debts here in the US - what would you prefer I go without, Waiting in Vancouver; food, a roof over my head or should we ignore the debt that he has, or the utilities maybe? Sometimes you can't have it all and something has to give - in this case, my student loan was the one I could hold off on.
If you have been able to arrive in the US debt-free, that's wonderful. Congratulations. Here's my great big round of applause. It doesn't make you in any way better than the people who left behind debts though, and neither does it give you some kind of moral high-ground. The OP's other half is obviously not going to be able to clear their debts, and the reasons for it are, quite frankly, none of our business. The least we can do is to get off our damn soapboxes and answer the question based on the facts we have and not our prejudices.
[/RANT]

ROFL ... Your post isn't even worth responding too
Irony
iceyspots
Mar 20 2006, 02:05 AM
You wont be denied for the visa, but for the protection of your credit and things I'd recommend wiring a certain amount of money every month back to the home country to someone that you can trust to do your bills. Should work out.
mawilson
Mar 20 2006, 09:15 AM
QUOTE(JayJay @ Mar 19 2006, 03:25 PM)

Anyone feelin' da teepee thing?

I'm with ya -- I just need a roof over my head, broadband, and takeaways
Gwen666
Mar 21 2006, 11:22 AM
There was a really REALLY good article on predatory lending in Family Circle. I know that my University was also taking steps to educate the students about it. Some kids I knew were in $30,000 worth of credit card debt by senior year. One of my roommates owed about that much, not counting his car payments and student loans...he could barely make rent every month!
Seriously...credit is a scary thing. Now that I'm out of the hole, so to speak, I don't ever intend to get back into it!
Linababe
Mar 21 2006, 04:00 PM
QUOTE(VisagirlNJ @ Feb 5 2006, 01:52 PM)

Fiance will not be able to pay off all his debt before he gets here. It'snot a huge amount, but substantial amount. He is afraid that if he tries to go back to England for vacation that they will hold him at the airport and won't be able to come back to the U.S.
I dont know but he told me banks can prosecute if debt is over a certain amount and he's afraid hed get arrested or something at the airport because theyd flag his passport. I told him that sounds crazy.
Would they really do that??
Basically things like credit cards, I was told by my credit card company that I can still use my Visa card in the states and they can forward my statements to address in USA and I can carry on paying my card either via money order or if I keep my checking account open here with money in it - either pay direct debit or I also have online banking with my bank and pay that way. I will hopefully be lucky in a sense that I have a house to sell here and hopefully a very good profit on it and I am hoping to clear all my debts before I move to the states and also keep my credit card for emergencies.
Lina (UKC)
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