Living in oz and uk home repossessed with huge debt owing now

[Mummyof6]

Hello, I hope someone can give me some advice we moved to oz 2 years ago as my husband and I had hit rock bottom, no jobs and cc debt from trying to start a business for my husband to be self employed as a trade. We left behind our life and moved for a simple life to oz with our children as my health was very Badly affected we also left our home as in neg equity and arrears with no way of selling.

 

 

We moved here with nothing and have slowly got back on our feet we pay cash for what we need and have a small surplus each month due to frugal budgeting, we our happy for the first time in a long time and kids our settled, we our now residents and hope to get our own home at some point.

 

 

I found out that our home was sold for £80 k less so we will have a debt the company have no idea where we are as we have had no contact since we left, the cc debts are with multiple cards ranging in amount but total I think about 35 k. I have read the cc debt cannot be enforced here but unsure about the mortgage shortfall. The only reason I am anxious is the home phone has rung a few times and I called back and it is a debt collection agency, I gave no details just hung up. I've not spoke to my husband as I know he'll start to worry.

 

I feel very ashamed about running away but had no choice and had to think of my kids and my health, I'm still on medication for anxiety but need to sort this out alone, sorry for the life story now do I file for bankruptcy and contact mortgage company?

 

I can't even remember who we owed money too:| thanks for reading

Edited February 18, 2014 by citizenB

[unclebulgaria67]

I am not going to add to your worries as there is no point in going through the what ifs. So what if they have traced you to Australia. Most of the time the people who have reported the same in your position, have not heard much apart from a few communications every so often. Just play dumb if anyone phones asking you for information or don't answer. Perhaps the debt collectors are chasing the people who have lived at your home in OZ previously.

 

At the end of the day, if you are staying in OZ, if UK creditors want to enforce debts in OZ, they will have to try the courts in OZ. But they would have to find you first and serve court papers.

 

If you want to look at UK 'bankruptcy from abroad', there is a company who specialises in that if you search for them. You have to apply within 3 years of leaving the UK. If you call the company that deals with bankruptcy from abroad, they are usually very helpful according to other people who have posted here.

[ozzyboy]

Stop worrying - Will post my thoughts tomorrow but you have nothing to lose sleep about.

 

In the meantime please read the sticky about UK debts being enforced here in Oz. I know it isn't totally on-topic, but it is a good background on what is and isn't possible and ought to put your mind at rest.

 

Just out of interest, when exactly is your 3rd anniversary of leaving the UK?

[Mummyof6]

Stop worrying - Will post my thoughts tomorrow but you have nothing to lose sleep about.

 

In the meantime please read the sticky about UK debts being enforced here in Oz. I know it isn't totally on-topic, but it is a good background on what is and isn't possible and ought to put your mind at rest.

 

Just out of interest, when exactly is your 3rd anniversary of leaving the UK?

it will be 3 years on 22 jan 2015, thank you both Edited February 11, 2014 by Mummyof6
Wrong year put

[unclebulgaria67]

it will be 3 years on 22 jan 2015, thank you both

 

If you want to look at declaring yourself bankrupt in the UK from abroad, then search for bankruptcy from abroad or contact Stepchange the UK debt charity and they will advise you about this. It would cost you a fair bit in fees to do this (don't know how much) , but with a mortgage debt being enforceable in a UK court for 12 years, you might want to get rid of all UK debts and enjoy your time in OZ without thinking about UK debts.

[ozzyboy]

Morning Mummy,

 

Looks like it's going to be another hot and sticky one today - Hope you're not affected by the VIC bushfires...

 

Did you take a look at that thread? If you did you'll know that whatever happened in the UK will have no impact on your Aus finances or credit files.

 

First things first. Apart from your mortgage lender, do any of your creditors know you're in Australia? If they do that's not a bad thing because it means they cannot legally try for a CCJ back in the UK. The only downside is that DCAs will be able to contact you but whilst very annoying, these can be ignored. (Trust me - I know!)

 

You say you haven't spoken to the DCA that has been calling you but it is quite possible that it is about your UK debt. Facebook and other social media make easy to track people across the globe and the larger DCAs have their own very sophisticated software to do the same.

 

That said, don't assume that every one of your UK creditors is chasing you. The most tenaciuous DCA I encountered (and by that I mean a couple of phone calls and one letter a year!) was chasing a debt for less than $2000 whilst I never heard a squeak from the one that was owed 10 times that.

 

Unless you want to speak to them, do NOT answer their security questions. Tell them you're not interested in anything they're selling and hang up. It is a BIG no-no for an Australian DCA to harass you for a UK debt but it is quite likely that the calls will be coming from a UK's DCA call centre in India

 

Although not exactly the same as credit cards or personal loans, your mortgage will be covered by similar UK legislation (FSA as opposed to CCA) which means that all legal actions your mortgage lender took to reposess your UK home would have been via the County Court system.

 

In theory, if they were granted a money judgement for the shortfall this could be lodged in an Australian court but if your lender knew you were emigrating, I would wonder whether they would bother seeking one. There would also be the question of giving the court your last known UK address which (from what your post implies), would seem to be at the house they had just repossessed...

 

By the sounds of it you're making ends meet but have no significant assets here in AUS so there is absolutely nothing to be gained by any of your UK creditors making you bankrupt.

 

If peace of mind is what you are after and have a spare $1000 or so, then maybe look at BR but it will impact upon your already secure position over here.

 

As UncleB says, you still have just short of 11 months in which to go down that route but that door closes for you (and your creditors) on 23 Jan 2016.

[Mummyof6]

Thank you ozzyboy I did read the threads we posted the keys through the door for the mortgage lender they don't know where we are nor do any of the card companies, my friend collected post after we left it was about 2 months later and I know I have a ccj for a cc but we had left by then so it's void I think, we hopefully would like to purchase a house in the next year or so and I'm worried about the mortgage company and what they could do, I eventually picked the phone up to the dca and it was lion finance and they said they were trying to trace a relative same surname but completely different first name so I'm wondering if it's someone here in oz and not us at all, still gave me a panic though, I'm seriously considering bankruptcy but will have to speak with my oh he's having it tough at work right now so don't want to add pressure.