UK Debt (as in money)

[orangeneko 1]

My fiance and I are going through the K1 Visa process right now, and I expect that if all goes well, he'll be here by the end of the summer.

He's in the UK and has various debts, as do many people. I'm currently trying hard to pay mine down so we can balance out by the time he's here. However, I've been wondering -- what happens with this issue once he's here? Obviously he still has to pay what he owes, but does anyone have first hand experience of what happens? I'm trying to figure out what sort of saving plan we'll be doing at first so that we can buy a place of our own after a year or two. I'm also wondering if I should be keeping my bank account separate from his at first just in case there's any special issues that pop up with his UK debt that can come back later to bite us?

[Boiler 43,622]

Keep his UK Bank account open and then he can transfer money to pay off his debts.

[kzielu 1,147]

What exactly you are asking about ? What happens when he leaves UK ? What will happen is he stops paying ?

[N M 96]

It's very, very hard to collect debt incurred in the UK from someone who has moved overseas - so he may be tempted to just stop paying.

After 6 years, the Statute of Limitations expires anyway, meaning the debt can no longer be legally collected.

Two issues to be aware of though, should he choose that option - even though the statute of limitations will stop any further attempts at collection, the fact he defaulted may stay on his credit report for much longer - making him potentially a marked man (credit wise) if you ever decided to live in Britain.

Also, some creditors have a much more connected international footprint than you may realise. AMEX for example, can import your British credit history if you move to the US - great if you have a good score. Awful if you don't and were looking for a clean start.

[orangeneko 1]

Thanks for the replies thus far! Just to clarify --

As it stands now, I'm not in a position to pay off my fiance's debt, so unfortunately I can't just wave a wand and make all this go (much as I wish!).

He's not able to pay very much as it stands due to financial reasons, so it's slow going for him. I don't see this as being paid off for a number of years. Some of it I believe is student loans from 10 plus years ago.

For when he's here, once he's allowed to work, he's talking about keeping his UK bank acct to continue to deposit money into and pay debts with. He also was mentioning getting a US account for the rest....money which would be ours and go towards our needs, but that would be in his own acct.

I had envisioned his going right onto my bank account once he came over, but the debt (and the fact that it's UK based and I don't know what the implications of something this situation is) makes me wonder what's safest so we're not both screwed in the end. My biggest goal for us is for us to be able to be on our own -- as it stands we'll be living in a family house for at least a year or two at the start while we save up. I have some decent savings, but it's something I don't want to touch for security reasons. It's something to fallback on for emergencies. Financially wise I more than meet what's needed to bring him over here, but due to my own things in the past I've not been a great saver and don't have as much as I should.

I don't think we'd be going back to the UK as it doesn't look likely (long story related to why we chose for him to come here vs me over there).

[Boiler 43,622]

So he has a US Account for his US salary and transfers whatever to his UK account to pay his UK bills.

[rlogan 2,036]

Does he have default judgements, is he behind on payments, or are you just saying you can't handle both his payments and yours on your salary alone?

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

It's a good idea to keep a bank over there anyway, if you plan to travel back for visits especially. Dump dollars into the UK account and it can be withdrawn easily with his UK ATM card.

[Glyn and Kathy 288]

Definitely keep the UK account open...it will help if and when you decide to go back to the UK someday. As long as he is paying towards his debt and not ignoring it...I wouldn't worry to much. Also in regards to you having separate bank accounts, you could have two separate accounts, but BE SURE you mingle your finances some other way to prove your relationship further on down the line in the immigration process.

[orangeneko 1]

Thanks for the further replies!

He has no judgements against him, just money he needs to pay off. However, my guess is that he's got a terrible credit rating due to circumstances (very long story, very underpaid, hard luck, etc). I think that's my biggest worry because I don't want anything to affect our future.

My ideal would be to have merged our accounts straight off (and he can keep his UK account too), but I am worried about credit ratings and our future. I don't want to inherit any possible bad marks he has from the get go as we want to get things straightened out and settled so we can buy a place of our own eventually. I also would like any debt off our backs just 'cause! We've come up with some ideas about which salary will go to bills and which will be saved, and worked into this is the goal of paying off his debt in the UK from the US. If he gets the sort of job/pay I'd expect once he's able to work here, I think it could be paid down steadily while we save for other things.

I'm thinking it's safe to get him an ATM card on my account from the get go (and he'd do the same for the UK account for me), and then just wait a while till things are paid down for him till my account is made a joint one and till he's on my credit cards. Is this a reasonable sort of plan/worry, or does it not even matter? I'm pretty clueless about the ins and outs of these things, but again, my concern is the future and getting things squared away without anything that can cause hassles later on.

[GandK 168]

Don't know how they do things in the UK but as long as he continues to make payments for his debt as agreed with his creditors, there is no problem.

In Denmark, problems come when you are behind or unable to make payments, then first they will send you a lot of reminders and add ridiculously outrageous interest for late payment.

If you choose to ignore the debt and don't communicate with the creditors, your name will be added to the bad credit database, what happens after that depends on who you owe money to.

Private companies and banks usually don't collect debt when the debtor moves overseas because it is a lot harder to do so but it doesn't mean that they can't. There are international debt collectors and credit rating company that have linked database. If the debt is substantial and they deem that the extra cost of collecting the debt is worth it, they may do so.

If it is a public debt ( government debt), the government has several means to collect the debt overseas and resources to do so.

My mother went through a lot of financial problems three years ago when she divorced her ex-husband who was declared bankrupt. Her husband kinda kept all the financial issues from her and they had a joint bank account but my mom also had her own bank account. Her ex-husband confessed to her about the financial mess he was in 5-6 months before they got divorced. At that point, my mom started to separate her financials from his.

However, the bank did also come after my mom's money in her own bank account as well and she was also registered for bad credit even though she had nothing to do with the financial mess her ex-husband made.

I don't remember the details but she hired an attorney who helped her to claim the money the bank took from her personal bank account back and get her name off the bad credit database. It was a long case ( something about proving that the divorce was already filed at the time when the banks took her money and her ex-husband had concealed financial information from her)

I understand you want a joint account to prove financial co-mingle but it depends on your fiancé specific situation and his ability to pay off his debt, I don't know how it works in the US but I would definitely research it more.

[SapphireDreams 71]

Any debt that he has in the UK will not affect you or even his credit rating in the US. He basically starts fresh with US credit and will need to work towards building his US credit. It will almost be like a fresh start for him as his UK credit file does not follow him. But, he will need to keep paying back the debt from the US if he would like to avoid UK penalties.

You need to figure out what works for you both and how you'll make it work. Basically you can be as involved or uninvolved as you want to be with his UK debt but ultimately your name is not affected in the US.

You can most definitely have a joint account with him in the US and not be connected to the UK debt. I'd recommend keeping your own separate accounts and also having joint accounts (mingling of finances is important for immigration). You can both contribute a set amount to the joint accounts and also keep some money for yourselves to take care of your own debts. He can send money to the UK from his own account and not involve you OR he can send it from your joint accounts. Either way, it doesn't affect your US credit.

I would also advise him to have some savings for when he moves over so that he can continue to pay down his debt while he is not working when he moves. But again, you need to make your own arrangments and decide how to pay down his debt. Every couple has this own way of doing it, some share the burden, some don't.

[orangeneko 1]

Aah! We'd read things stating that about staring "fresh" when moving, but weren't sure. If it seems his past won't attach onto me/us, then I think I would put him on my accounts right off as I had wanted to, and turn it into a joint account -- and he can keep his UK account and add to that for debts there. He found some info on an account that he can use in a sort of dual way that I need to read more on, but that should kill two birds with one stone.

We discussed saving my pay and using his for his debts and for our bills at the start (assuming he gets a good job). And then later on we'd probably do something similar where one person's salary went for bills and the other was saved if possible (depending on what's going on after he's paid down and what we need). I'm hoping most of my debt will be gone by the time he's here, but his will still mostly exist at that point, which is why my focus is more on what to do about his situation and how it will affect us. I'm fine with his using most of whatever he makes towards his debt for as long as he needs to, which won't be forever. I just want it gone and done with!

This seems way less worrisome now -- thank you all!

[Boiler 43,622]

What does he do?

[orangeneko 1]

It's an office position that's specialised and should pay more, but doesn't generally in the UK. Very hand to mouth pay. When he's over here he won't be able to get the same exact job as they tend to deligate between people for the same sort of job here vs there. But he may be able to get something in a similar field or just go for some sort of office job in general. I'm pretty sure he'll make a lot more here than he has been in the past from what I've seen.