UK student loan, living in the US

[britxpat]

Hi!,

 

I have an income contingent loan from the SLC that hasn't been paid on for a few years,

when I left my job in the UK and moved to the USA where I'll soon become a citizen with no intentions on moving back.

 

Please know that this is an embarrassing situation for me but hearing past stories of how nasty the SLC can be with adding penalties, etc.

I was never in a good financial situation to be told I needed to pay in full or have the interest rates tripled.

 

I'm aware of several other threads on this forum from others in a similar situation,

but since they're either very old or left no follow up posts with success (or failure?), I'm creating a new thread here.

 

The current situation is not dire - I have recently received a letter simply asking to update my details for repayment.

I have parents in the UK which is my last known address for them, and it was them who actually received it and happened to forward this particular letter to me.

 

The SLC does not currently have my new address. I did send them an update via mail about a year after moving over but obviously it had gotten lost!!

 

I do not want my parents involved in any further communication, so my plan is to update the SLC with my new address. I'm unsure about giving them any more details than that.

 

I'm hoping I can work out a repayment plan with the SLC, but as some other OP's have described, it's easy to get thrown into a loop where the only outcome is "pay the amount WE tell you or face legal action, or a DCA". If this happens, I fear I won't be able to meet their demands and thus have the following concerns:

 

Have there been any changes in the law that would allow them to force repayment here in the US?

Although I have no plans to move back, I would still visit - is there anyway that future court action would cause problems at the airport?

 

As I said before, I'll try and work something out with the SLC first and foremost. I'll keep this thread updated with the outcome in case others also have the same concerns!

 

Thanks for the great site!

[unclebulgaria67]

You should get advice about foreign debts in the state where you are living. I don't believe it is generally possible for a UK debt to be enforced in a US court, but there may be different rules depending on which state you live in.

 

Best approach is to give SLC your US address, so your parents are not hassled. It is then up to SLC to send you a form to complete, so they can assess what you are required to pay. If you can negotiate an amount you can afford to pay, then you should do so. If you cannot gain agreement, it is up to you what you choose to do, depending on whether you are ever likely to come back to the UK to live.

 

All that seems to happen after a long period of non payment, is for SLC to pass to a debt collection agency to chase. But they don't appear to go beyond just sending letters and making phone calls. The UK government seems to write off student debts, with about £4.5 billion written off in the last year.

[dx100uk]

Hi!,

 

I have an income contingent loan from the SLC that hasn't been paid on for a few years,

when I left my job in the UK and moved to the USA where I'll soon become a citizen with no intentions on moving back.

 

Please know that this is an embarrassing situation for me but hearing past stories of how nasty the SLC can be with adding penalties, etc.

I was never in a good financial situation to be told I needed to pay in full or have the interest rates tripled.

 

I'm aware of several other threads on this forum from others in a similar situation,

but since they're either very old or left no follow up posts with success (or failure?), I'm creating a new thread here.

 

The current situation is not dire - I have recently received a letter simply asking to update my details for repayment.

I have parents in the UK which is my last known address for them, and it was them who actually received it and happened to forward this particular letter to me.

 

The SLC does not currently have my new address. I did send them an update via mail about a year after moving over but obviously it had gotten lost!!

 

I do not want my parents involved in any further communication, so my plan is to update the SLC with my new address. I'm unsure about giving them any more details than that.

 

I'm hoping I can work out a repayment plan with the SLC, but as some other OP's have described, it's easy to get thrown into a loop where the only outcome is "pay the amount WE tell you or face legal action, or a DCA". If this happens, I fear I won't be able to meet their demands and thus have the following concerns:

 

Have there been any changes in the law that would allow them to force repayment here in the US?

Although I have no plans to move back, I would still visit - is there anyway that future court action would cause problems at the airport?

 

As I said before, I'll try and work something out with the SLC first and foremost. I'll keep this thread updated with the outcome in case others also have the same concerns!

 

Thanks for the great site!

 

 

quite honestly I'd do bugger all.

 

 

theres nowt anyone in the UK or the US can really do to you at all in reality..

 

 

your debt I bet is not even owned by SLC anymore

 

 

and has been sold to arrows/link/thesis/Erudio or one of the other fleecers now.

 

 

dx

[britxpat]

hi there,

 

Thanks for your responses! I figured I would provide an update on this thread.

 

I did update the SLC with my current address in the USA,

after which they promptly mailed out their request for "Overseas Income Details"

so I know they have my address now!

 

I'm choosing to decline this request as their monthly default repayment amount is lower than what they would most likely end up calculating

if they saw my income (it's higher, but my problem is that I still live paycheck-to-paycheck from other more important family circumstances!).

 

Also, I may regret this later..

. but I did make monthly payments for the amounts that I could afford over the past 2 months using my US credit card and the SLC website.

However, those payments were lower than the monthly default repayment amount requested by the SLC and will likely go unnoticed.

 

Following unclebulgaria67's advice,

I've tried to get information about the state that I live in (Maryland) with regard to UK / overseas debt.

This is proving to be ridiculous.

 

 

.. I'm usually pretty good when it comes to Google-Fu skills, but I can't find any conclusive information on this.

I've even tried calling some credit / consumer hotlines for debt help,

provided and funded by the state, but no one has a clue about overseas stuff!

 

So I'm still very nervous about the outcome of all of this, in particular:

 

- if when I miss the repayment date the SLC decides to take action, could they get a CCJ using my last known address in the UK

(i.e. my parents house) or would they HAVE to use my address here in the USA seeing as they now have it?

In order to be prepared, what should I do if my parents receive claims forms?

 

- if a DCA here in Maryland acquires the debt and contacts me,

could they affect my credit rating here in the USA?

I'm wondering if they would need that CCJ in order to do anything and "prove" the debt first?

 

Hopefully I'm just worrying over nothing... I'll keep looking, but any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks again!

[dx100uk]

 

So I'm still very nervous about the outcome of all of this, in particular:

 

- if when I miss the repayment date the SLC decides to take action, could they get a CCJ using my last known address in the UK

(i.e. my parents house) or would they HAVE to use my address here in the USA seeing as they now have it?

In order to be prepared, what should I do if my parents receive claims forms? - no they cant go/get a CCJ, they know you are abroad and have ack'd as such.

- if a DCA here in Maryland acquires the debt and contacts me,

could they affect my credit rating here in the USA?

I'm wondering if they would need that CCJ in order to do anything and "prove" the debt first? - a USA DCA can do bugger all on a UK debt CCJ or not.

Hopefully I'm just worrying over nothing... I'll keep looking, but any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks again!

 

 

dx

[unclebulgaria67]

So you either pay what you can afford, just in case you have to return to the UK or you don't bother, as there is not much they can do about it.

 

If your income means higher payment than the default amount, then you could say that your living costs mean you cannot afford the amount they would require and just pay the default amount or less if you cannot afford that.

 

It is your choice. Student loans issued between 1998 and 2010 don't get written off within 30 years like the ones issued since 2010. So you could be chased for a very large debt if you returned to the UK in decades time.

[britxpat]

Hi all,

 

I have another update to give on this thread with some questions.

 

A few months ago, I received a letter at my USA address from the UK-based CCI Legal. It requested payment for around 6% of my total outstanding balance, and I decided to ignore it because my financial situation has remained unchanged.

 

It looks like they may have sold or passed on this loan/payment to the California-based Caine & Weiner, because I received a letter from them claiming "Your account has been listed with our company for collection" and that I owe a slightly lower dollar amount of what CCI Legal was asking for. It appears to be a kind of phishing letter, so I'm assuming they've bought it as "junk debt". I can't be certain though.

 

What I'm unsure of, is whether or not the SLC have given up on the entire loan or if I should expect another one of these ~6% payment bills in another few months. If this is indeed the last one, I would be more than willing to just put this on a credit card, deal with it that way and put an end to all of this worry.

 

As far as Caine&Weiner is concerned, they have given me the option to dispute the validity of the debt within 30days - and that they will "obtain verification of the debt or obtain a copy of a judgement". I'm still under the impression that getting a judgement from the UK is practically impossible, considering that I'll never return to the UK again. So I'm not sure what they can do there?

 

I'm assuming the best thing to do is dispute it rather than ignore, and see what they come back with. My biggest fear right now is that my USA credit score is affected and I can't for the life of me, find anyone who can confidently tell me whether a junk debt collection agency who've bought overseas debt (requiring judgement) can legally impact my credit score due to non-payment.

 

If you have any thoughts or comments on the above, I'd really appreciate hearing it!

 

Thanks again for all your help, and Happy New Year!

 

-britxpat

[dx100uk]

its junk you ignore the lot of it

 

 

they can do nothing to you.

 

 

phishing letters

[unclebulgaria67]

its junk you ignore the lot of it

 

 

they can do nothing to you.

 

 

phishing letters

 

Agree. I would do nothing for now. They cannot affect your US credit record, unless they take it to court in the US and gain judgement. If they threaten issuing a court claim in a local US court, get local legal advice.

[britxpat]

Thank you for the quick responses!

 

The total amount owed is relatively small, so I'm not convinced that they would want to deal with any court action.

 

I am a little concerned about not sending the dispute letter, as according to C&W not doing so means "this office will assume this debt is valid". Simple fear tactics? I guess sending a letter can either squash their assumptions or make them think I'll respond to other letters.

[britxpat]

Another update, in case it's useful for others.

 

I decided it was in my best interest to send out the dispute letter, since it's a right given to U.S residents under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). I based it on a sample letter from the creditcards dot com website (google CFPB, "show me why you think I owe this debt").

 

It was modified slightly and includes a bullet point asking them to verify any outstanding CCJ's in the UK, adding that they would be contested on the grounds of no longer being a UK resident.

 

Hopefully it will be enough to simply discourage them and they'll leave me alone, but that sounds almost too good to be true

[dx100uk]

oh well invite letter tennis why don't you.

 

 

dx