Question re Swiss credit card

[cerberusalert]

No foreign debts can be registered on a UK credit file unless they obtain a CCJ here in the UK.

 

Whichever CRA told you that are trying to mislead you and are in breach of OFT guidelines.

[cerberusalert]

It depends on the amount as to whether it will be viable for them to pursue. As for the DCA if they continue to make such threats or if they attempt to mark your credit file make a complaint to both Manchester Trading Standards & the OFT.

 

Out of interest who is the DCA?

[cerberusalert]

Maybe the sole director made a better car salesman than a debt collector http://companycheck.co.uk/director/906735143

 

As far as I'm aware there are no reciprocal agreements between the UK & Switzerland so they would have great difficulty in obtaining a CCJ here. Even if they tried you can contest the jurisdiction of the UK court as any agreement you have with the credit card company will be governed by Swiss law.

[cerberusalert]

He can't do anything, in all likelihood he is acting on behalf of the credit card company & given the state of his accounts isn't in any position to be buying debts anyhow.

[cerberusalert]

Creditors both in the UK & abroad tend to use their own 'in-house' collections who in turn farm out individual accounts to the bottom feeders of the collection industry who work on commission. Periodically the creditors put all their bad debts into portfolio of many hundreds if not thousands of accounts which are then auctioned for a fraction of the total debts then they claim tax relief. A company such as his is not in that league because they are sold for hundreds of thousands going into the millions of pounds.

[cerberusalert]

He will be acting on their behalf on a commission basis. Although it is a foreign debt he has to abide by UK debt collection guidelines, one of which is not to try and deceive or threaten an action he cannot legally do i.e take you to court, only the creditor can do that.

did you work in the industry in some form?

Six years of being on CAG & plenty of research + a PhD from the university of life.

[cerberusalert]

It will still be relevant as the credit card agreement is covered by Swiss law.. Even in the unlikely event that an action was brought here it would have to be heard using Swiss law.

[cerberusalert]

In the vast majority of cases unless they already have a judgment from the country of origin it is just not economical for them to pursue through a UK court. The time; energy & cost in the main is too prohibitive for them unless it is for a considerable amount. What makes it even more daunting for them is the fact that they would be unlikely to succeed & even if they did unless they can be sure of your ability to repay they would in all likelihood be throwing good money after bad. Even more so if there was any chance of you applying for bankruptcy.

[cerberusalert]

In Switzerland you have to BE declared BR by someone/thing, you cannot do it yourself (voluntary). Plus the law surrounding this is a nightmare.....

 

 

Bankruptcy in the UK would also usually include foreign debts.

[cerberusalert]

Before they could apply for a bankruptcy petition they would need to send you a Statutory Demand & even then it would need to be the owner of the debt & more than £750 would need to be owed.

 

It would be pretty pointless making a county court claim because bankruptcy would include the debt.

 

personally I would ignore unless you receive a SD.

[cerberusalert]

Unless you have assets or other means to pay it would be pointless for any creditor to apply for bankruptcy, it would cost them £1K+ which would be money thrown away.