Hi all, My family are now living in Australia (aussie citz) after living in the UK for 12 yrs (UK citz too). Over the years my husband and I lived in the UK we bought a house and had good jobs etc but also got into credit debt referbishing a house and such (9 out of 11 debts are in husbands name). However After the birth of our children my health deteriorated I became registered disabled and we found ourselves unable to pay the debts (except essential ones) on just one salary so we sort and followed advice from national debt line to write to the creditors offering token payment (we had only £18 left after essential debts were paid each month) Only One of the 11 creditors accepted 3 token payments but even they turned around and refused in the end and refused to freeze charges and interest. We had never defaulted but were told to STOP payments by NDL as we couldnt afford them and we should not pay "one over another" that all debtors should be treated equally. Anyway.. we were eventually advised by an OFT agent who visited our home (when I made official complaint about Sandandars debt collection practises) that we should just move to Australia (my dad offered to pay our tickets) and ignore the debtors as they cant pursue us in Australia. National Debt line also confirmed UK debts would eventually be written off. We were adviced NOT to file bankruptcy as we had no assets other the house. We came to australia for health and family reasons and we handed our UK house to the bank on Voluntary Repossession - they have now taken full control of it legally and are selling it. But its still land registered in our name. We did NOT tell our creditors our forwarding address but had our mail redirected (this was OFT and debt councillors advice!!) Now Im pretty read up on things and know Supreme courts can pursue judgements in Australia. My husband now has 3 UK CCJ's against him for 3 of the debts and other creditors have sold on the debt to bizaar debt collectors. However two of the CCJ'ers who didnt get paid the judgement have also made application against the house and been granted the applications IF the house sells they will get a "dibs" on my husbands portion of the sale. We don't have enough finances to send money to the UK and can only just afford to live in Australia so we are concentrating on our Australian life. And have NO DEBT here at all (lessons WELL learned) However Im still trying to manage the UK financial plan of action based on advice and our rights. If we had stayed in UK we would have been forced to file Bankruptcy. The out come will always be the same - if we could pay them we would - but they all want FULL amounts now NOT payments. (The Credit card debts I might add were about 10 yrs old and paid several times over as it was just interest spiraling out of control in the end) What I ask is this: 1/ House now has negative equity due to global crash and is legally owned by the bank. The Bank are selling it at less than the mortgage owing even though technically the house definately WORTH the mortgaged amount. So If the house sells will these creditors who made application get anything from the sale? 2/ If creditors place applications on the sale of your house can they still pursue the debt in other ways? What happens if the house sells and they get nothing? 3/ Are county courts deemed "supreme" courts under the international law. Or do County have to apply to "supreme" before its eligible under interantional law. 4/ The debts total about £70k but the individual debts are for amounts between £300 and £23k so would the creditors deem these amounts worth the expense to chase in Australia 5/ If debt is sold to a debt collection company that have offices in Australia do the Australian office have legal rights to chase the debt. Sorry for all the questions but I cant find the answers in plain english on the net anywhere else. No TROLL posts please this IS NOT a moral issue but a business issue and my ethics are my business! xx

My theory is that more debts dont necessarily equate to a booming DCA industry as the current Global Crisis means the increased problems will be down to genuine difficulties and not bunkers so I would think they would be very selective which debts they buy. They don't want to take on debts that cost them too much time and money to collect. (ie CCJ action etc) so I Imagine they will cherry pick their jobs. just a thought.

My friends are got a Oz visa for residency and they are stuck in the UK as their house (which has no equity) wont sell. He has just been made redundent and they just racked up 10k credit to do a 2wk holiday to validate their visa. They have job offers and meet the points criteria but my understanding from their experience and other friends getting visas that your credit rating doesnt out rightly effect your visa and thus a ccj or other preceding doesnt make much difference to the visa being processed - it might impede your ability to raise funds to get there and maintain yourself until you are established which of course is a condition but the actual credit referencing information would not be of enforceable interest to them as its not a crime. So I guess what Im rambling about is that regardless of visa or passport entitlements Debt is about broken agreements involving money and is NOT about crimes being committed thus they dont apply outside the UK who are the only ones that can inforce CCJs (which are really in laymans terms the County courts mediation of agreements. the judge isnt punishing the debtor they are mediating and arranging fair and just agreements).

HI, NO they cant.. CCJ are only civil proceedings within British jurisdiction and they cant even issue a CCJ if you dont have a UK residence at the time. Reciprocal Enforcements only covers Crown issues and Criminal law.. CCJ are NOT criminal proceedings they are civil disputes. You cant go to Jail for a CCJ only a criminal action. Australia wont get involved and also can not enforce Consumer Finance Agreements made under British Law. (this is stated in another thread)

Thanks Huggy.. i cant wait.. just 3 sleeps before we hand our house back to Halifax (though solicitors work will take longer we believe) but we fly to oz Sunday.. cant wait!

For the record Im Australian.. with UK debt I was given the scare mungering "what if" outrageous statements about moving BACK to Australia WITH UK debt hanging over me (and Im not talking about absconding without a trace) I was told by someone at the countries largest Debt helpline charity that "they might not let you in".. Well when you are stressed out and upset about finding your family up to your eyeballs in debt and your parents have bought you a ticket "home" the last thing you need to hear is some numpty making outrageous statements. In a panic I rang the Australian High Commission in London and they put me straight immediately.. Australian passport holders will NOT be refused entry for UK debt or bankruptcy issues.. they said "none of our business". (debtline knew we were Oz citizens and UK citzens) Also CCJs are County Court and thus CIVIL court matters and NOT enforcible in Australia ONLY Crown Court issues are! Debts for small consumers like me (ie non business and accumulated debt made up of 11 credits rather than owing one big fish) wouldnt be worth the expense to each individual Financial Institutes OR uk debt collection agents they might to try and sell on or to an Oz collection agency (including passing it to an Australian office) as the laws in Oz are just as difficult in fact MORE so for them to collect. Their statutes of limitation regards to contacting people for debt collecting are strict and difficult. Oz might be the "lucky country" but there are just as many people facing exactly the same kinds of debt issues as in the UK (a lot of our debt problems were kicked off by the fact we emigrated 11yrs ago to the UK paying off tax and student loans so got in UK debt to restart life) We can go on and on about how companies use blagging and other underhand ways of communication or to "find you" but at the end of the day the Laws are in place to protect people from this. My final decisions have been based on sources in both the UK and Australia including people in business in Australia who know the laws. There is no need to hide from debt just let the laws in place protect you from unlawful demands. If you can pay off your debt you would.. if you cant and have made reasonable effort to do so then why let people bully you into getting blood out of a stone! Personally all mine will have a PO Box to write to and they know that is all they will get. We wont have phones and only best friends have any other contact details and all are in full knowledge about why we are going back Yes on here we might have to give a balanced "ever so British politically correct" debate on all issues on this forum but NOT one that is forgetting what we are on this site about.. empowering people to deal with debt fairly and within the law. If a company refuse a full and final payment offer and decide to sell the debt on.. let them.. just try and let it go to court. Australian courts would laugh them out of the chambers! Once I got sound advice I felt so much stronger to give my family a better future. Debt is not about moral or ethical issues nor about emotional angst but about business agreements that have come to an early end for a variety of individual reason and thus should be treated at face value.. - within the law! Just look at all the high profile business men hiding out in other countries etc with UK and Australian debt galore but untouchable due to the very fact that once they leave too bad! Extradition and enforcements ONLY apply to fraud and other Criminal offences.. and its NOT a crime to be in Debt! I feel lucky I have the choice and chance to deal with my debts in an empowered way with the added benefit of distance as If I had to stay in the UK we would have to file bankruptcy (at a cost to ourselves) and the out come would be still the same.. No Assets to sell equals debts written off. So eventually its in their best interest to settle with us as no UK company will try and make us bankrupt either.. it would cost more than the individual debts and after we hand our house back to the bank there are no assets. I am lucky actually; by having a chance to go back to Oz we can improve our finances with the support of our families, a more stable economy, a nice lifestyle (and believe it or not a higher wage for my husband!!) Just my humble opinion from an Oz in the UK about to go home with a combined outstanding debt of £72K!