Worried about Parents .......!

[tr7girl]

Hi hoping you can help,

 

My parents now live overseas ( almost two years) , last week I received a very panicked phone call from my Father. They own a house in the country where they live ( EU) and my mother has just dropped a bombshell that for the last three years she has been in a DMP to pay of large unsecured personal debts (which she is committed to paying and will continue to pay as she works in the country she now lives in) of which my Father knew nothing about.....he was initially very angry that she hadn't told him, but now they are worrying together. They do not have internet access therefore I said I would try and find out a bit for them, and I have to say that this site is a godsend - thank you.

After going through many posts of others in a similar position could someone please confirm that my findings are correct, I can then hopefully get some positive information to them.

 

1. She has no court orders against her - now that she has no UK address this will be impossible to get, therefore no EEO?

 

2. I have read about a EPO - if any of her creditors tried this route she should contest amounts/ agreement etc and it then goes back to the country of origin ( UK) and without a UK address the creditor would be back to sqaure one?

 

3. As she has no UK address any bankruptcy order would only have effect if she ever returned to the UK?

 

4. If any of her debts were sold to local agents, although I have read that recovery procedures would be then under the law of that country they would first have to prove what steps they had taken to make a UK credit agreement lawful under there own procedures - I imagine this would be very expensive and quite unlikely?

 

5. As she is currently in a DMP with her mail being redirected ( this is what has brought this to a head as the limit of time of two years redirection is about to expire) would it be safe and sensible for her to give her current address abroad.

 

Sorry for all these questions, but we are all very worried about this, worried that everything my Father has worked for may be taken away from them.

 

Many Thanks to anyone who can help.

 

Regards

[debt4get]

have asked site team to look in for you

[tr7girl]

Thank you debt4get.

 

Regards

[cerberusalert]

If she is not a UK resident they cannot obtain a CCJ or Bankruptcy against her, if they did manage it by using previous addresses it can easily be overturned.

 

Is your mother in a EEC country, OZ, NZ?

[tr7girl]

Thanks cerberusalert

 

She is based in another EU country.

 

Thanks

[cerberusalert]

Some UK Debt Collection Companies may have Partner Companies in the EU. Any agreement regulated under the Consumer Credit act is only enforceable in a Britsh court.

 

The EU has agreed a procedure known as an EPO -European Payment Order which came into force in January 2009 and can be used to enforce collection of a UK debt without the CCJ. The European Payment Order is only available for cross-border cases. It allows for citizens and businesses to use a simple method to enforce uncontested payments.

 

A reciprocal agreement in the UK means a UK Court can enforce a CCJ using the legal system of the other country. If there is no such agreement in place, a creditor can sell a debt to an agency in the relevant country and debt recovery procedures will commence under the law of that land. A creditor may have their own office in that country, or relations with other credit companies in that area.

 

If a creditor has taken legal action on an account, the debt can be legally recoverable indefinitely. This means that someone could start a new life abroad and work hard for the assets they accumulated, only to find a few years down the line that a creditor has traced them. Everything they have worked for is put at risk and could be taken from them to repay their debt.

 

The European Payment Order is under PART 78 EUROPEAN ORDER FOR PAYMENT AND EUROPEAN SMALL CLAIMS PROCEDURES - CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES

 

Link here:

 

PART 78 - EUROPEAN ORDER FOR PAYMENT AND EUROPEAN SMALL CLAIMS PROCEDURES - Ministry of Justice

[tr7girl]

Thanks again cerberusalert

 

Based on your information above it would seem that it is a safer option that here creditors now know that she is abroad.

 

On that basis ok to go ahead and give her home address abroad to keep communication open?

 

Sorry for all the questions, but all the input is very much appreciated.

 

Regards

[cerberusalert]

I doubt whether they know she's abroad.

 

Even though there are reciprocal agreements in the EU unless the alleged debt is very large in most cases it is not worth the expense for DCAs to take the legal route.

 

Unless your mother has assets in the UK there isn't a great deal a DCA can do other than obtain a CCJ by using a previous address, but as I said this can easily be overturned as your mother is not resident here.

 

Personally I wouldn't tell them anything, let them do all the work. After all, why should people make life easy for those parasites?