Oh man....I usually sit here reading but I cant resist typing.... Firstly, how dare anyone judge how any other person lives their life, they have no knowledge of their circumstances personal or otherwise. I personally had a divorce, ivf, premature baby, redundancy, depression...need I go on... I previously felt a moral need to pay back my original lenders and to do the "correct" thing. However, I feel absolutely zero moral compulsion to pay back the whole grubby collection of bottom feeding DCAs who mostly operate above the law. Their letters are hysterically funny if you sit back and ignore them and realise they do nothing to enforce them. But the pain they cause to people who do get scared is unfathomable by these small minded jerks who work in these places. Every single DCA and fake solicitor and real solicitor feed off other peoples problems. Link financial are total **** along with the rest of them. As other people have said if the OL knew they could reclaim the debt they wouldnt sell it on. What a wonderful group of people running these companies must be whose business plan is based around extorting as much cash as possible from people having problems. If the wonderful UK government took their fingers out of their..... and regulated the problem of consumer credit so that if you were in problems you went through a regulated DMP route there would not be this problem. And finally, apologies for the rant, who is the cause of this mess, the consumer the banks of the government? In number 1 place, which these idiots who work for DCAs would be well advised to remember is the wonderful labour government and the idiot Brown who has based his entire economy around us the public spending more and more money in the shops to keep the economy going. The government has wanted us to keep spending which has trickled down to the banks handing out credit left right and center and eventually comes down to us, who may borrow when times are good and then run into genuine problems in bad times. To anyone who feels guilty, dont. If you feel like telling them to f&&k off then do so, their house of cars is falling down and the consumer is getting hit by the fallout but the only people to blame are the banks and government. Anyway rant over, excellent board great information, but something needed to be said, and my advice would be a lot more simple, CCA the buggers and thats it, dont call them , negotiate, talk to them, write to them except with legal requests because most of the time they are full of hot air, most of which is contained within their "pre-litigation, pre-gas, pre-load of a** department! Good luck everyone and dont let the Bas&&&&s grind you down!

Hi Well, put it this way, I dont want to return and have no plans to, but I dont know what is going to happen in the next few years with work or visa status. Thats my big problem! If I were in the UK I would probably have done BR by now as the pressure would have been too much. But as I am not, if I dont come back, I can either do BR, do the CCA thing or more easy than the UK just ignore them! Although they could get CCJ by default on my old address, I could turn it over in 10 minutes, and they are completely unenforceable outside of the UK and Europe. Problem is, I dont know what I will be doing in even 1 year so if I chose the ignore them router as actually CAB and CCCS suggested then I may come back, they start chasing big time again and I wish I had just gone bR! What you you think>

Oh forgot to add, whats the opinion on the advice I saw another poster had from the CAB and I had as well from CCCS to basically ignore them for 6 years?

Thanks for all your help and words, I really appreciate it. Would I be correct in thinking that the two reasons people go down the CCA route is a) as you said embarassment and fear of losing their home and/or b) they want to take on the OCs and DCAs and prove they are in the wrong and get their debt reduced or wiped out. I am presuming reason a) is the primary motivator for most people and b) is a hard slog but ultimately worth it. I am beginning to think BR is my best choice because in the absence of a), I have no assets anywhere here or the UK and not worried about any embarassment it would seem foolish to spend years trying to wipe them out through CCAs when some may have valid agreements and I would still be stuck with those. Am I correct with my assumptions on why people chose the CCA route instead of BR? Your credit file is presumably just as bad for 6 years as it is with BR as with fighting the DCAs with CCA requests? Thanks

Been doing a lot of reading and desperately need some help. My story is long but in a nutshell I started having problems paying debts over a year ago, I then owed in unsecured over £100K I wrote the companies a letter with explanation and an offer of token payment but due to the number of companie 10+ the letters quickly swamped me and I became very depressed, lost my home and family. I should add I live in Asia now but am British. I basically had debt from my previous marriage, had a premature son, got divorced and lumbered with all the debt and none of the equity. Made redundant with decent pay off so tried to start a new life abroad. Didnt avoid my debts and kept paying them back while trying to start a new business abroad and failed. I've buried my head in the sand since January as I've been so depressed, not working and living in a tiny studio sleeping on the floor. I am literally sick with stress, stomach and gastric problems but am trying to find some teaching work and also do some IT work, my old profession with a friend. My income is non-existent, no assets anywhere and I was about to do bankruptcy before I came across this site and thought about questioning the validity via CCAs So now I dont know what to do, CCCS said either ignore them for 6 years or do BR. Thought about the 6 year thing, but worried they will just spend 6 years chasing me all over the world. I also know that I have 3 years of being non resident to file a BR application, that time runs out either in July or October depending on how it is calculated. I have no idea what happens after those 3 years, I do know I would have to file bankruptcy locally in Asia and not the UK but what happens to the debts if I dont do it. Have I just lost my BR option by being +3 years but they can still chase me. I presume if I cant make myself br they cant do it either, but can they get CCJs if someone is non resident and non EU This is such a complicated situation and I just feel that yes this is partly my fault but I remember the credit card I had from Amex that had a limit of £30,000 on it and think it wasnt all my fault. I've had so little luck for so long, lost two families and so depressed I dont know what to do, I think Im impaired from making the right decision now. My credit record is stuffed for 6 years minimum anyway so with no assets why not do BR? I've seen that attitude so many times on other web sites but not this one so much so interested to hear your opinions. Thanks and sorry to go on...