Like many others we (a professional couple in our 50s) have fled our debts in the UK.
Background:
We had a house with a $180,000 mortgage, and a personal loan of $14,000 both with NatWest.
We each had 2 credit cards -NatWest and MBNA. When both of us lost our jobs in February and March 2008 we tried to go self-employed, tried renting our house, tried pretty much everything.
To cut the story short, it was a disaster. We could not generate enough income; the property management company were useless. we ended up financing the mortgage and loan using credit cards and it all spiralle