Overseas and struggling

[Bandy75]

Hello

I've been living in Asia since late 2019, bringing some UK debt with me that I have been paying off with no problems. Due to the pandemic, my pay has been reduced, and my spouse has lost her job in the hospitality industry.

Due to this, the UK debts have increased and our income has significantly reduced. We are now in the position that if we continue to pay the UK debts at the full amount we will end up in debt in the country we now live in.

All payments are up to date (2 credit cards and 2 unsecured loans) as of the 1st March. My thoughts are to write to the four creditors and ask for a reduced payment plan. However, from experiences a friend of mine has been through, and the low amount we can afford to pay back, these will most likely be rejected and the debts passed to DCAs.

I have tried to get a loan to consolidate everything but no one will offer this as we are not UK residents.

I have informed two of the creditors of my current address overseas. One of the credit cards I haven't as you can only update a UK address in their system. The other loan currently still with our UK address is with the same high street bank as our residential mortgage. We have a long term tenant in our property in the UK.

I still have a UK bank account with another bank that the tenant pays the rent into, and we transfer money to this account  to pay the UK creditors each month. I also have a credit card with them that has zero balance.

I have mail redirection with Royal Mail set up and the tenant forwards anything they miss to my brother so I am confident that any communications would get to me in a reasonable time frame.

We want to ensure that nothing happens to our mortgaged UK property for obvious reasons. What is the worst-case scenario we are looking at here and what can we do to mitigate this taking on any advice this forum has to offer?

Thank you in advance.

[Bandy75]

Thank you so much

[Bandy75]

4 hours ago, unclebulgaria67 said:

Are you planning to return to the UK at some point ?

 

No intention to for many years if at all.

 

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It is important that you write to all UK creditors to confirm you live abroad. It is important that they know your finances have been impacted by Coronavirus and you are now in a financial hardship crisis position. This is so they can have no excuse of not trying to assist by not applying fees or increasing interest rate.

 

Ok thank you, based on the feedback on the following questions, I intend to write to them all with my current address informing them of this before there are any defaults.

 

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Your problem is that you own UK property, so you must remain in contact with UK creditors with them knowing you live outside the UK.  This will hopefully help to protect your UK property interests, by making it more difficult, as UK  creditors will know they have to follow correct legal process, where the debtor is abroad.

 

Ok, I can do this, but will this affect the statute of limitations?

 

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Are debts in one name only ? Or do you both have debts ?

 

Yes only in my name

 

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Approximately how much is owed for each debt and what type of account ?

 

Credit card - £16000 (taken out in 2014)

Credit card - £32000 (taken out in 2015)

Unsecured Loan - £22000 (Taken out in 2019)

Unsecured Loan - 21000 (taken out in 2018)

 

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Approximately when did you take out these accounts originally ?

 

Added above

 

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In regard to the mortgaged property in the UK which you have let to tenants, please answer following questions.

 

Is the mortgage on a buy to let basis or did you have permission from the mortgage company to let to tenants ?

 

Its not. It has 4 years to run on the existing deal.  I had a tenancy management company managing the let. I didnt realsie at the time that I needed to seek permission so haven't done that either.

 

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Was the property your main residence in the UK, before you moved abroad, therefore UK creditors will have record of this address ?

 

Correct

 

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Would you have any equity in the property after all selling costs if it were sold ?

 

The debts probably equal a similar amount as the equity. Forgot to mention, I do have a second charge mortgage which has £11,000 left which I intend to keep paying.

 

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Is the property in joint names of yourself and your spouse ?

 

Just my name.

 

Alternatively, I could continue to pay the loan that is with the the same bank as my mortgage, but wouldn't be able to make much if any reduced repayments on the other three.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Bandy75]

They are all owned by the original creditors. I have not missed any payments but this is unsustainable.

 

I mentioned DCAs as I fear the creditors will pass my debts on to them when I write to ask for reduced payment plans.

 

I need help understanding how to deal with this as I have a property in the UK.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Bandy75]

Mortgage with Barclays and second charge with United Trust bank. 
 

I was under the impression they could obtain a CCJ by default if I don’t know they served my UK address and then could apply to have a Charge against my property? 

 

thanks 

[Bandy75]

Yes that’s correct.  A secured loan not a mortgage. 
 

thanks for confirming original creditors don’t do court. But if they pass debts to a collection agency, can they apply for a CCJ by default as I’m overseas and then apply for a charging order against the property?

[Bandy75]

Ok thanks for sharing. Sorry to ask all these questions, just trying to unlearn things I had been told previously.

 

I've found examples on these forums of people that find CCJs against them when overseas for small debts as they didnt defend due to claims sent to their UK address which they then need to set aside.

 

This seems to contradict what you are telling me (I'm not implying you're wrong) that a DCA has zero powers. How do people end up having CCJ's form these companies?

 

Thanks as always

[Bandy75]

Thanks. I understand now. Sorry for being thick. Last question….. what do you mean by lucky or unlucky about having a UK asset?  Do you mean lucky that there is someone who can forward me any mail? What’s the unlucky part?  Thanks 

[Bandy75]

Ok thank you. So, am I implying correctly that even though I am overseas, and able to have any correspondence to the UK address forwarded to me, there is still a chance that bankruptcy proceedings could be brought against me?

 

Selling the property isnt really an option. 

 

Also I'm a bit confused. In reply ~12 the advice is to get the defaults and let them run their six year course, but if I make small payments wouldnt that keep the clock running?

[Bandy75]

Ok got it. Once the default is 6 years it disappears from the credit file. Once there is no proof that I have acknowledged or made payement on the debt it becomes statute barred. Understood. It took a while but I think I've finally got it.

 

Appreciate the reassurance on bankruptcy.

 

One, final question. Ratesetter have just replied asking for a copy of my local country bank statements and a high res ptoto of my face next to my passport ID page to confirm for changing their records to an internation address. Is this just to protect from fraud? Seems a bit extreme.

[Bandy75]

Thanks for the additional context. I'm ok with them sending me letters. No one ever died from receiving words on paper. And as I will continue to have mail forwarding in place, the letters will just make their way to me. If a recovery agent comes round I am sure the tenant will just tell them I dont live there and to sod off. 

 

I suppose the time I will need to actively involve myself is if someone issues a county court claim against me at the UK address when they know full well I am on the other side of the planet. On that note, is it possible to stop a claim like that in its tracks, or do you need to wait till the judgment and then apply to have it set aside?

[Bandy75]

Ok thanks. I'll stop worrying about DCAs if thats the procedure. Thanks again for all your advice.

[Bandy75]

Hi, I am drafting the pro-rata letters and putting a income expenditure sheet together. One question, as I am overseas the expenditure currency is different to the debts. Are they entitled to see pay slips (also in anther currency which isnt indicated on the slips)?

[Bandy75]

Hi

 

So I'm ready to submit my letter and income/expenses. I have a quick question. As I am only asking for reduced payments on some creditors but not all, how will it be received by the creditors I am asking for reduced payments for, when they can see I am going to continue paying others in full?

[Bandy75]

Thanks

Sorry one more. Do I need to list the names of the creditors or can I just refer to them as creditor 1, creditor 2 etc?

[Bandy75]

Ok thanks,. Whats the benefit of paying them regardless of if they accept?

[Bandy75]

Just received an email from one of the loan creditors. Asking if any of my other creditors are secured loans, if my circumstances will change in the next 3-6 or 6-12 months and to reconfirm my income. 
 

Is this a standard response?

[Bandy75]

Thanks for the quick reply. Rate setter.  So ok to confirm that one of the creditors is indeed secured. And do I need to declare my income?  

[Bandy75]

No Rate setter is unsecured who wrote to me. The secured loan is about 12k with another bank UTB

[Bandy75]

Ok thanks. I’m surprised they were not more aggressive. I’ll see how things go. Thanks again. 

[Bandy75]

Thanks.  I’m still paying the secured debt in full so it’s only two unsecured debts I’ll end up defaulting on. I’ll continue to pay them with what I can while I can and in the meantime ensure I have lots of evidence of informing them of my being overseas 

[Bandy75]

I replied asking for the bank account details so I can send the amount I can afford monthly from my overseas bank account and received this reply today.

 

Can you please confirm all of your creditors and the outstanding balances? Please also state which creditors are secure and unsecured. 

Can you please also confirm your income in GBP?

As we use pro-rata , we will need these figures to review an arrangement. 

 

The thing is, some of the creditors are not in the UK and some of them in the UK are still receiving full payment. Should I stick to my guns and state this is what I can offer, either send me details to make the payments or don't. 

 

Or is there any angle they can pull here if I don't give them everything they are asking for?

[Bandy75]

Awesome!  Thank you very much 

[Bandy75]

Well that worked thank you. They have immediately accepted my offer and placed me under 'COVID breathing space'

 

Thanks again

[Bandy75]

Hi sorry but I need some advice again. Amex have ignored the letter I sent at the beginning of March (tracked but not recorded) so I am not sure if I should make the reduced payment I can afford again this week as they are still applying interest and late payment fees.