I use to work in Kuwait where i took a large loan out. Due to family reasons i had to come back to the UK (Scotland) where i was unemployed for a while.

I told the bank this and offered to pay a smaller sum than agreed but keep paying. The bank wouldnt accept this and started sending me letters/emails and debt collector agencies stating to take me to court if i didnt respond to them.

Where do i stand on this?

Will they sell my debt to UK? Will i have to go to court?

Sorry but i dont know who to respond to when it comes to the threats and harassment.

Do i just ignore and keep ignoring or what action should i take? I dont want this to effect my credit history within the UK or my house to become an asset which gets tied into this mess.

Will it just be GCC countries that i wont be able to fly to or will i have flight ban on other countries?

I have to travel a lot with work and dont want to get arrested at airport.

Any help advice would be grateful.

No chance of them enforcing it here. Even though theyll say otherwise.

DCA's cant touch you. They cant "sell your debt to the UK" either. And flight ban? Is debt a crime in kuwait?

Thanks for your reply :-

I read that they can sell my debt to a uk debt collecting agency and then they can enforce the UK laws that we have, which i dont mind to be honest.

I just dont want my credit file being effected if a UK court does get in touch.

Can this happen?

I have offered to repay the bank in instalments (No where near the agreed) but they have ignored me and all i receive is letters from DCA threatening to take legal action on me.

I dont mind repaying small instalments and i am not trying to run away from my debt but i am not responding to the DCA and the Bank wont accept my repayment offer.

As i said its my UK credit file i dont want effected if anything does ever go to court.

Do you suggest i just ignore ignore ignore?

Thanks again for getting back to me.

I just want to know where i stand.

They could sell it to anyone. Doesnt mean they have a hope in hell of enforcing it. I think you really need to stop believing what they say as they would say anything to get you to pay. Theres very little regulation over there.

A UK court cant magically get in touch either. Theres a whole VERY lengthy procedure DCA's etc have to follow before court is even considered. Your UK credit file can only get affected if it goes to court, you lose and fail to pay within 28 days after the courts ruling. The chances of that happening are almost 100% unlikely.

RIght now, the bank is just saying whatever they want hoping to scare you into paying. Ignore them until something of actual tangible substance comes through the post.

Ok thanks for the info.

So worst case scenario the courts can get in touch.... If they do get in touch after a long process from DCA which you say is unlikely can i suggest payment plan to court so it doesnt have to go to court and my credit file doesnt become effected?

So i just ignore for now and what is it i look out for that i shouldnt ignore?

No uk dca has ever bought a uae debt

Its not enforceable in this country

What part of it wont go to court arent you understanding. Im not trying to be horrible, but DX's info is right on the money. And if a UK DCA did stupidly buy the debt, it wouldnt ever get past court

Guys thanks for your comments and advice.

Obviously i am just trying to find out what i should do and by the sounds of it i should just ignore everything they throw at me.

Much appreciated and if anything else pops up i need more information on i will let you know.

As for now i will just keep ignoring them

You ignore EVERYTHING except a pap letter. And block their email and bounce it back as unread. You only ever take notice of anything via regular post.

Is that a Pre Action protocol letter? Is the same type of letter for scotland?

Ok i will block them and do i take notice of any regular post from the DCA etc or just ignore that also?

Thanks again

You ignore EVERYTHING apart from a pap letter. Of course if you get something youre worried about, you can come back here and we will check it over for you.

But stop worrying about DCA's. They cant do anything.

Never seen a UAE Scottish claim

Their laws on jurisdiction are far far tighter than e&w

Forget about it

Are they aware of your Scottish address...??

If everything by email phishing.

Block and bounce them

Yeh they have my Scottish Address.

So you think it will be harder for them to get any action against me being in Scotland then?

Ok i will block there emails then

It will be pretty much impossible for it to happen. Banks and their silly DCA@s over there will threaten and harass peopel into paying because they know theres nothing the debtor can do. However, you can just block all emails and ignore them. If they try and harass by regular post, theyve just wasted money and depending on the content of the letter, you could get court action against them

Not sure where you are reading

But just read UAE threads on CAG

Not elsewhere

90% of other UAE sites are simply sc@m sites to frighten and make money out of you

Dx

Thanks for the info

I did read on another thread on CAG of a similar case where guy received DCA letters and then later down the line he then started receiving threatening letters from a UK solicitor firm. The thread stopped so i couldnt find out the outcome but the advice was still the same and to ignore the letters.

Exactly..they go dead..

Really annoys us 90% of people don't tell us nothing more happened

Go enjoy xmas

Thanks, if i have any more questions i will be sure to ask.

Merry Christmas and hope you are having a good one

Foreign creditors can issue UK court claims, but they don't bother much. Instead they pass to a DCA to harass people into making payment. Then later some debts are passed to UK Solicitors and again they create an impression that they might be considering issuing a court claim.

You don't respond until they send the Pre Action protocol letter where they state that they will be issuing a court claim. At that point, you would send a request for copies of all documents in English e.g. Original finance agreement that was allegedly signed by you, including full terms/conditions in English, copies of all statements of account in English, copies of all relevant legal documents such as any default notice issued, copies of any court documents issued by Kuwaiti authorities.

So if they do send a PAP and they do forward all the information you have stated can i still set up a payment plan before it goes to court so my UK credit file doesnt get effected?

I am presuming it is unlikely of getting a PAP letter though is it? I am willing to pay on a monthly basis a small amount if it comes to that as i told the bank this when i came back to Scotland but they never responded.

IF, and its a huge IF, they send a pap, then you come back here. However thats 99.99% unlikely to happen. So block those emails, ignore them and go enjoy your life.

You keep talking about things that will never happen. Theres only so much we can say without repeating ourselves over and over.

Remember, the bank would have to find a solicitor dumb enough to chase you int eh UK, get DCA etc involved, then be stupid enough to break Scottish law and regulation to harass and send you the pap, then be even stupider to go to court over it, where it would be shot down by any judge with a brain.

Relax.

Ignore them.

Block emails.

Get on with your life.

there is no such thing as a PAP letter under Scottish law.

as I said forget about.

NO Scottish court sheriff would ever entertain issuing an intimation for a debt not under Scottish jurisdiction. esp a UAE one.

court papers in Scotland, unlike E&W MUST [unless extreme circumstances exist] be served IN PERSON by officers of the issuing sherrif's court.

which is why I asked about your address..they know it, there aren't any...

in E&W lets say a statutory demand, which is quite common on these as it can be downloaded from the internet and can be sent because it hasn't been near a court at all at that stage ...are used by/for fake/tame paper only solicitors to see if a debtor will wet themselves and cough up,

then it gets to court and the court say no-no out of jurisdiction if its defended PROPERLY, as a thread running here already is.

sadly here and elsewhere you must seriously take what you read on some threads with a very large dose of salts.

many threads are started by bogus individuals here too, about supposed SD's,. claimforms, bankruptcy hearing...but none go anywhere when the creator of the thread gets seriously questioned...they run away...and that is what you are seeing..

dx

The only way they can enforce a Kuwaiti debt is if you are foolish enough to set foot in Kuwait again. Then your passport would be seized until you re-paid the debt.

This did happen to me fully aware it would happen when I returned to Kuwait in 1991 after the Liberation of Kuwait. I worked in Kuwait prior to the invasion and had a car loan which remained partially unpaid. When I returned to Kuwait my passport was held and I could not leave until the loan was paid in full - which I did quite easily and my passport was returned to me.

A word of warning - be careful even if you transit Kuwait traveling elsewhere. It is unlikely anything will happen in such a scenario but international laws will not protect you if you owe a debt to a company, bank or person in Kuwait as much happens according to what is called locally Wasta which roughly translated from the Gulf Arabic means influence. If the owner of the debt gets whiff that you are transitting he will use Wasta to get you arrested and held until the debt is paid.

The UK government would have something to say about the confiscation of a passport like that. Even if its kuwait law.

The UK government would have something to say about the confiscation of a passport like that. Even if its kuwait law.

I really do wish that was true!! In reality very little is done. You can complain but the assistance you get is minimal in such cases. My son was arrested in Dubai a couple of years back on suspicion of carrying hashish - he rolled his own cigarettes. He was there over a national holiday period so the Embassy was closed. The emergency number went to the Foreign Office in London who basically said he was on his own. Very fortunately I have some influential Emirati and Kuwaiti friends who banged the drum on his behalf - the British authorities did nothing.

The Dubai police held his passport - he was not confined to begin with - whilst they said they had sent the tobacco for testing. He was allowed to go off with me and my friends on a motor cycle tour of the UAE. We were told the test results and everything would be ready by the end of the tour. When back in Dubai he was re-arrested and held - no test results and no Embassy help. Without his passport my son could not leave the UAE - he had not been charged with anything. With the help of my friends we convinced the Chief of Police to deport him. By that stage anything to get him out was OK with us. We had to produce a valid air ticket - this was done - he missed the flight due to some contrived admin error. Another ticket had to be purchased - this time using all the influence we could muster he was taken to this flight in handcuffs and his passport was returned to him on the flight when the cuffs were removed. No embassy help at all!

Complained vociferously to my MP on return. My son got some message saying it would be looked into - unacceptable etc. etc. but nothing happened. I could not follow up as I was by then in Kuwait for a couple of months and my son did not want to follow through when I returned to the UK.

I dread to think what would have happened to my son if I had not been in Dubai at the same time and had my local friends with me as the Embassy were a total waste of time.

In Kuwait for sure and possibly other Gulf countries it is common for a passport to be held by the authorities until financial obligations have been settled. I have not heard of - and I worked in Kuwait for over 20 years - the British Embassy doing very much about it. I am not saying they do or did nothing but if they did it was never common knowledge yet it was common knowledge that some British Expats could not leave until their debts were paid off in full.