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??

unless he's stealing or committing large scale fraud, I think debt is a civil offence and not a criminal one - so Im not sure they could execute any 'arrests'

The British courts do not issue arrest warrents for debt.....

The debts he leaves behind will stay on his credit report for 7 years then be wiped out.... it would only be if he returned to the Uk and tried to get credit that they might trace where his is in the Uk....

The Credit companies can not come looking for him in the US...

The Customs and Immigration at UK POE do not check to see if you have debt in the UK before they let you in....

hope this helps


Kezzie

How about making arrangements to pay it off from across the ocean? That would leave one worry-free, no?

I paid my debts from the US. Why can't he do that? Better than fretting all the time. Contact the lenders and let them know what is happening. I know some people can manage to run away from their debts but that was something I just couldn't do. It's a question of where your situation and morals lay!

I also left debts unpaid back in the UK; an unsecured loan and a credit card. Before I left the UK I worked for a law firm and asked one of the lawyers the same question. He assured me that debt is not a crime and the creditors can not come looking for me, nor will they 'arrest' me if I ever went to the UK.

I would do whatever I could to pay it back after I moved. Not paying back a large (or small) debt feels like stealing. I wouldn't want it hanging over my head for years.

Im with you on this one

Why is this a discussion? If you have financial obligations meet them no matter where you go.

I agree. Immigration is not get-out-of-debt-free program.

Hear hear! And you never know what is around the corner. What if you had to return to live in your home country for whatever reason (death, illness etc) and you couldn't get credit? It's a big question of morals and ethics...some have more than others I guess...In my opinion it's pretty disgusting to leave unpaid debts unless you are in extreme poverty.

Hey, hey guys - the OP didn't say that there was no chance of this debt ever being paid off, I think we may have jumped a little unfairly on the moralistic bandwagon here.

I also suggest that unless you've ever been in a position to not be able to pay your debts, you reserve judgement. It's not always a "morals and ethics" call.

I have been in that position on more than one occasion in my life but I always managed to pay them off even if it meant deferring payments until I was in a position to pay, ie with a job again. I wasn't in a position to just run from them by leaving the country. It is still about morals and ethics. You don't lose them just because you're not in a position to pay.

I wasn't inferring that the OP was going to run from their debt. I did suggest that they should contact their lender to sort an arrangement out or that if they could they can arrange payment from the US.

Guess I got confused with the part about getting arrested, etc. That seemed to me that there was some consideration about not paying the loan.

Spot on.

People in life are different, and have different morals on different things. If the OP CANNOT pay the debt, then, they cant pay the debt. Simple as. Personally, I dont see the point in calling a cc company and saying, 'i've left the country please can i still pay you back, from America'!

Again, the OP has asked a question, and once again individuals, as happens in other forums, choose to give their own moral opinion on what the OP should do.
The OP didnt ask for a moral opinion, just possible consequences.

In short, there are pretty much nil, and that is a fact.....unless you should return to the UK and apply for credit straight away, which I wouldnt advise!!

I have a "Line Of Credit & a Credit Card that I pay from here.
They can mail you your statement to your new address. They can also make arrangements to consolidate them if thats what the OP needs.
All We do is buy a money order for the monthly amount I owe and send it to them. Easy peasy !

Actually my Hubby sends it cuz I don't have a job as of yet. Once I'm working full time then I'm hoping to eventually pay off the total amount owed .

Well its very good to be able to pay off every penny that you owe.... but not everyone is in a position to do that.... when you are in the situation where its food or pay the bill what are you ment to do???

At no time did the OP say that they were never going to pay them just what would happen if he did not pay just now and wanted to return on vacation to the UK....

The Information I gave is correct and accurate.... does not mean that I approve of not paying your debts....


Kezzie

this is a sensative subject to be because if someone defaults on a debt with a company that I do business with I end up paying for it one way or another. 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 never said anyone wouldn't pay. SOmetimes people just can't pay and if we wait until it's completely paid off he'll never get here. You people are all just jumping to conclusions. I'm sure not all of you are so moral and ethical either in certain situations so don't pass judgement.

Bankruptcy is always an option as well.

...The again, if banks and CC companies didnt throw money or cards at people, then demand such ridiculous rates of interest, maybe these situations wouldnt arise in the first place?

They're more than willing to give families or whomever, credit, even though they can see that they arent in a situation to be able to cope with repayments. The onus of responsibility lies with the lender, in MY opinion.


I wish you luck...and to be honest...if I were you, Id place that worry WAY down the list!

Sorry I strongly disagree. Say someone in the US agrees to support you. I know people that have left with NOTHING, left debt behind and are doing just fine. Very happy.
One may question a conscience.....does the lender have a conscience when it sends threats and/or demands?

Doesnt wash with me at all. I have sympathy for people in debt. Been there myself. Do I have sympathy for a major financial corporation?

Do I hell.

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 ...

No my dear, It's not that people in debt have no priorities. Millions of people are in debt and many times it comes from unforseen circumstances such as job loss, illness, death in the family, and etc. You cannot judge people without knowing why they are in debt. Yes if you spend thousands and thousands traveling the world and buy frivolous things then you are irresponsible.

So tell me what you do if you cant pay things like the rent?? and it still costs money to buy potayoes and noodle soup...

You are luckey that you are in a possition to pay off anything you own.... but not everyone is.....

As for if you can afford to immigrate the you can afford to pay your debts.. that is pure Cr**... there are thousands of Immigrants who come here with nothing and spend many years trying to put a little something away for that rainy day.... I for one am worse off living here in the states than I was in the UK and I dont have any debts....

Kezzie

It amazes me how many people take the moral high ground and give lectures on 'how it should be'.
We all know credit is not free money. Sometimes there are exceptional circumstances that cannot be controlled. The lenders then jump on these people and offer them money repeatedly, well, they do in the UK.

I dount the OP will lose sleep thinking about what the do-gooder's of VJ think. Possibly instead of lecturing, people may stop and think before they type and consider WHY people get in a mess in the first instance. I suppose these individuals think that the third world countries should pay back their debt too....as they've been 'irresponsible'!!!!!!!!!!

The mugs are the banks etc.....but they're wealthy mugs.

I've worked with Citizens Advice and have seen it many times, but yes'Waiting in Vancouver', it does depend on what you're comfortable at the end of the day.

[RANT]



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]

They can't flag his passport just yet -- there's no passport database at POE to check against (yet - it's in the works).



Immigration is one way to avoid paying your bills.

ROFL ... Your post isn't even worth responding too

Why not, Waiting?

Tell me. Tell me what I should be going without to pay my student loan? Tell me where I find $14,000 from. Tell me what you know about predatory lending and what it's doing to this country's economy and financial demographic.

Until you can, I will consider you both ignorant and rude for that response.

I wouldnt even rise to it clmarsh.

Let those, who can afford to pay their bills, be...and those who cannot, be, also.

You'll always get judgmental fools on here who have no idea of how life is in the real world.

Along with the money lenders....they're the mugs!!

Well I guess I never got myself in debt with student loans so you got me there I no nothing about em ... And before you say it Yes I did go to college and yes I paid my own way through it ...

Like many others on VJ I too am leaving a very good paying career here to move to the US ... But that is a choice that I have made .... Just like a choice if I choose to pay my debts here or not ...

Like I said earlier it's all comes down to what you are comfortable with ... As long as you can sleep and night and not worry about it then it really doesn't matter what myself or others here on VJ think ....

Btw I appologize if you felt that I was ignorant and rude ... I just felt that you were saying that it is okay to walk away from debts .... People may be able to walk away from debts without consequences but does that really make it right ??







I am starting to get the impression you hate banks

You're dead right. If one can sleep at night without worrying, then its all good.

Me, hate banks? Nope, but I'll always fight the corner of the underdog!

Your funny !!

There are very few UK students who don't have a student loan, because of the structure of higher education. University education is very different in the UK than it is in the US and Canada - we don't work on credit hours which you can build up over a course of many years. Part-time university courses are a downright lousy way to get your degree, because they haven't really designed them to be run that way. But since you bring up working your way through college, I was in school for 40 hours a week, I worked 20 hours a week at one job and anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a week at my other. Just to pay my rent and keep myself in food, and close out some debt.

I left a lousy-paying job in the UK to work on a cruiseship. That was an extremely well-paid job, and I used a lot of what I earned to pay back debts which I had left in the UK. That was my choice - and an easy choice to make when I had the money available. Now that I don't, it's a case of priorities. With the limited resources I have, my priority right now is not paying back my student loan. They are, as I said, keeping a roof over mine and my husbands head, making sure we get fed, and paying the electricity bill.

And no, I don't for one minute consider it to be right to walk away from one's financial obligations - when I had serious debt issues (which were of my own making and I did pay off) I couldn't sleep at night. It made me physically sick, and eventually was a very large contributory facter to my nervous breakdown.

It matters not to me what you think, but it does matter how you treat people. Tearing strips off someone who has merely asked a question based on assumptions and no facts is, in my opinion, unfair. Which is what I said; let's stop with the moral judgements and answer the question.

Apology accepted, thank you.

Just as an FYI re the bankruptcy comment. If that is a route you're investigating (rather than deferring the payments/working with the creditors for a longer term plan), make sure you know the laws regarding when and how you can file. I understand that depending on the amount and/or where you're from that you may not be allowed to file bankruptcy in a country of which you're no longer a permanent resident....so that option may not be viable once he's in the US.

In Canada there are non-profit agencies for confidential credit counselling (i.e. your creditors don't know). Often accountants will do a free preliminary assessment and offer options. I don't know if there are similar in the UK but if there are it might be worth it to have a chat with them and find out what can be done.

I guess to answer the OP's original question -- I would be with those who suggested making arrangements to continue payments from the US, and then the possible worries may be lifted for you. With online banking and all that good stuff, it really is much easier these days to arrange repayment. When I left Canada, I had credit card debt, and a fairly substantial student loan amount, and there was NO WAY I could have paid it off before leaving. So I consulted my bank and set everything up to continue payments online, and my husband and I have worked together to keep them up.



Well, I can tell you what we are doing without in order to pay back my student loan and credit card debt back in Canada ($15,000+):

We haven't bought new clothes for ourselves for a year.

I haven't bought books (reading is one of my big passions) for full retail price for a year.

I cut coupons and search for sales at the grocery store, and rarely buy brand name stuff (the last time we bought ice cream was in November for our anniversary -- it's just way too expensive).

We've had 2 big yard sales, and planning to hold a third one in the spring (we've made almost $400 this way).

We don't eat out much, and when we do, we try to keep the final bill low.

We made a lot of our Christmas presents, and kept to a strict budget when buying for each other.

We've put a hold on minor repairs, etc on the house, and put my plans for a garden on hold.

Our income tax return is going directly to reducing debt.

We don't have a new car, by any stretch of the imagination.

A good chunk of the money we received at our Canadian wedding reception went towards debt.

Jerry's working on some side jobs, and I am working on starting my own business that doesn't require a lot of start up money to generate extra income.

etc etc etc.

By making this list, I am in no way suggesting that you are not doing the same, if not more. What I am saying is that Jerry and I have made the concious decision to cut way back and squeeze all the pennies we can to pay off our debt as soon as possible.

Jerry makes decent money -- it *just* covers our monthly bills, so it makes things interesting, but we're doing all we can to get out from underneath our debt. Not paying back my loans was not an option for us -- we plan to eventually move back to Canada in a couple of years, and we didn't want to have that hanging over our heads and possibly affecting things, like re-establishing credit. I have been paying back my student loans for a number of years, and I never missed a payment, despite periods of unemployment, so going without stuff (like food on occasion) to make my payments is something I have lived with since getting out of university. I guess I am just used to it now.

Just my 2 cents plus interest.

One debt I never worry about is my student loan.....I have never earned enough to have to start repayments...which I think is 12,000 pounds pa. I don't see that changing when I move to the US.

Cassie, those are some great ideas for people on here looking to save some money. I'm not going to go through the list piece by piece, because it's starting to feel a little personal here and I don't want to be upsetting people by getting defensive of something I really don't have to defend.

clmarsh, I'm sorry you are having troubles with your student loan.

I am assuming you used the Student Loan Company? Well, the good thing (there's nothing nice about paying loans back of course) about the SLC is that you only have to start paying back the loan after you make a certain amount of money.
Say you make the equivilent of 15,000.00 pounds per year (which is about $28K give or take) you don't have to pay back any money. If you earn more than that then you start paying back the money, and even then it's not very much money per year at all (unless you personally are earning a good deal more than that amount, in which case you should be okay to make a contribution anyhow).

What you do is send them a letter to let them know you have left the country and your new address. They will send you a very short form that you fill out so they can assess your payments.
I did this, though admittedly the idea of just leaving and not doing anything was very tempting...I just didn't like the idea of the law changing and then being saddled with a huge amount of debt. I also plan on having a good international job and don't want this coming back to trouble me in the future.

In my opinion it's far better to let them know what's going on and to pay a small amount back, than to leave them in the dark and potentially open yourself up to troubles in the future. That's just a personal choice though.

I paid it whenever I hit the threshold in the UK, right now I don't earn enough on base salary to be eligible, but come the end of the year I may well have earned enough to have to pay it. It's not that I object to the principle of paying it back, it's more that assessing my income doesn't assess my outgoings and to be frank, I can't afford to pay it even if I hit the threshold.

ppl dont pay off their loans and credit cards because of predatory lending practtices???? gimme a break!!!!

Im sure you thought of that when you charged that new washing machine at Sears, or bought that new outfit that you just had to have on you credit card.

I hope that the credit ratings of the deadbeats here catches up with them in the US when they try to qualify for a home loan. Im glad Im not the bank that is thinking of lending you money.

A very blinkered view, in my opinion.

That's risible.

You assume "new washing machine" and "new outfit". The vast majority of the clothes I have bought since I came to the US came from the Goodwill store. Why did I have to have them? Because I signed off a cruiseship, I didn't come in on a K1 with the ability to bring everything I owned. I arrived in the US with two short-sleeve shirts, three skirts, a cocktail dress and a pair of jeans. Washing machine, what a fcuking joke. Living somewhere where it would be possible to have a goddamn washing machine would mean paying rent higher than we can afford - because we consider our debts to be more important. I can't afford to do my laundry weekly, dude.

If you don't think that predatory lending exists, do your research and get your head out of your backside.

http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/buying/loanfraud.cfm
http://www.responsiblelending.org/abuses/evolution.cfm
http://www.blackcommentator.com/48/48_acorn.html
http://www.responsiblelending.org/pdfs/Quant10-01.pdf
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/st...1468689,00.html

There's a few places to start. I can recommend a very good book, too.

You know what, my credit rating here in the US is pretty damn good. My credit rating in the UK was, at my time of leaving, pretty damn good. The bank has offered to lend me money, I have credit cards which I don't charge on, and you know what, I qualify for a mortgage.

But then, everybody qualifies for a mortgage. The sub-prime sector is the most profitable one to lenders - especially if they sell you a mortgage THEY KNOW YOU CAN'T AFFORD, and they get to foreclose on your home as well!!! Oh wee, what FUN!!!

If you think it doesn't exist, go back and live with the fairies and elves at the bottom of the garden.

I'm out. This thread has brought out a lot of prejudice and ignorance from people who should know better.

Its a shame as the OP asked for advice and the so called 'do-gooders' have their heads up their arses I agree.
Still, I guess everyones entitled to their own opinion. Even the ones that are full of sh1t.

Some would say to me, 'you're getting personal'. I'm responding to those who CHOSE to judge in THE FIRST INSTANCE.

they should know better.....but they dont!

Once a deatbeat, always a deadbeat.

Wondering why you cant get a credit card, and then dont make payments once you get one. And then to justify it on the basis of some notion of predatory lending practices???

Dont go to predatory lenders....be responsible for once in your life!!!!

I could be down on my arse or have 800,000 in the bank, so dont judge me buddy boy.

You really are a waste of space with views like that. Its not even an opinion, its just, 'noise'.

I'd suggest that you remove your head from your president's backside asap.

Not that I've ever had one...but I wouldnt call having a student loan from the Gov't 'irresponsible', would you?

99.9% of students in the UK have one.......

Not that I've ever had one...but I wouldnt call having a student loan from the Gov't 'irresponsible', would you?

99.9% of students in the UK have one.......

Would you call a nurse a deadbeat for being in a financial mess?

I ran up debts in the move, so to say if you can afford to move you can afford to pay your debt is not always accurate. I did however pay my debt back once I got a job in the US for my own moral (and somewhat legal - fraud) reasons.

The point of this thread is about advice for the situation the OP is in, not a lecture on the morals of life or how wonderful hindsight is. I used to be the same, quick to judge, type of person.

It is funny how those with such high moral values on this thread would be considered by many ignorant people to have a 'mail order bride' or an economic reason for marriage; so don't judge! answer the question asked.

Oh - and yes, financial institutes should be ashamed with how they operate irresponsibly.

Coudlnt have said that better myself. There's a lot of truth in those words...
You've hit the nail bang on the head. A very sensible, honest and decent post.

Thank you!