Can My UK Debts be enforced in Aus

[unclebulgaria67]

Yep.

 

Aussie courts are not as helpful to foreign creditors.

 

 

If you reside in Australia and are threatened with a court claim, get local debt advice.

 

 

Such threats are probably just that and they would never bother.

 

 

If you leave debts in the UK and mive abroad, always advise creditors of your foreign address to avoid a CCJ by default in your absence.

Much easier to transfer a UK CCJ to a foreign court.

[unclebulgaria67]

Thank you Andy.

 

So it is very possible for them to take me to court over here? Sorry if it seems if im repeating myself, I just want to know possible outcomes to my situation.

 

Yes they could take you to court in Australia. There is a commonwealth debt agreement between UK and Australia. Australian courts will hear cases under English law, if your credit agreement does not restrict it to UK courts only. According to your first post, the agreement is non exclusive to UK courts, so can be subject to foreign court action, if the foreign court allows it.

 

BUT the more important question is whether it is likely. I very much doubt it. UK Banks have enough problems enforcing debts belonging to UK residents. What tends to happen is Banks go through their own debt collection for months or years. They then sell or assign the debt to UK debt collection agencies. These agencies might realise you have left the UK and you end up on a list of uncollectable debts. It might eventually end up being sold to an international debt company, but years later. By the time they get around to thinking about using an Australian company to bring proceedings there, it might be too late ( limitations act) or they decide it is not worth it.

 

Debt collection is not that efficient. What is possible, is not always likely.

 

Just remember to keep creditors informed of your latest address for reasons already mentioned above. At least they have no excuse not to write to you and you are aware of anything important.

[unclebulgaria67]

The applicable law is this

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/23-24/13/contents

 

This would allow UK court judgements to be transfered to Australia. Hence why you don't want default CCJ's in your absence because you never formally told creditors you left the UK. Keep creditors informed of an Aussie address and make them use an Aussie court, if they are allowed to go direct to an Aussie court. Not sure they can, but you would need to get advice in the Aussie state where you reside if this was ever attempted.

[unclebulgaria67]

Thank you again Uncle.

 

I have informed them im abroad as i was going to be away for a few months so now I just need to update them that I am remaining here permanently.

 

May i ask with them being aware I am no longer in the UK, would this not speed them up to just forwarding the debt straight to an Australian company or court? Does a Australian company have the right to take me to court because of the previous clause stated? And with regards to limitations act, would it be better to stop paying anything now or is it better to try give them a token to avoid court all together?

 

Sorry it just seems from old posts I've read it was...

 

Make creditor's aware of overseas address = no ccj

No ccj = unable to enforce debt abroad

Likely to sell on but dca in new country = no jurisdiction

 

But my situation seems to be different and I can't find any info relating to this anywhere else but this forum so thank you everybody for any info you have given or can give me regarding this.

 

Banks are not very efficient enforcing debts. The have thousands of debts. They write off debts against tax, they sell them on eventually. It is just a numbers game.

 

You would think they would just pass to Lawyers in Australia, but it does not work that way. A Bank debt collector has no authority to start doing deals on collection with Aussie Lawyers. It would be a decision for someone higher up the ladder, but i doubt they take decisions on individual debts and are just interested in top level stats.

 

If a debt buyer was to ever issue a court claim in Aus, it would be years into the future and they would get an Aussie law/debt company to take it forward if they thought it was worth it. I can't remember reading of UK consumer debts being enforced in Aus.

 

If you have left the UK and need to secure your future in Aus, you might decide to stop paying. From a limitation act point of view, this makes sense, as making payments just extends possible enforcement further into tne future.

 

All the people i have come across on CAG with UK debts, have only had hassle from communications to their Aussie address and no court claims have ever been made against them.

 

Make any social media such as Facebook or Linkedin private and only advise the current original credtors know your Aussie address. There are some debt collection agencies abroad, who will use Facebook or Linkedin to try to embarrass people into contacting them, where they will hassle them into paying. They will try to avoid using court and use other tactics which would not be acceptable in the UK, such as phoning or faxing pla e of work found on social media.

[unclebulgaria67]

Sorry one more question lol

 

They have my current Oz address but we are in the process of moving to somewhere bigger to accommodate everybody, is it ok to give them an Australian PO box number for correspondences?

 

Always provide a residential address, as a PO will be seem as an attempt to hide and you can't in a PO box.

[unclebulgaria67]

Ok thank you, that makes sense.

 

I was wondering can any of this affect your credit score in Oz? I've always had a great score in the UK and would hope to build one up in Oz..

 

Each country has a separate credit record, so UK record would not affect you.

 

The only potential issue is an Aussie Bank asking you to provide details of your UK history. If they did this, when you applied for say an mortgage, i would guess your UK record might not be helpful. But i have read that Aussie Banks are normally only interested in Aussie information e.g your Aussie Bank, Aussie employment. Australian Banks are currently lending excessively and property prices have increased more than many parts of the UK.