Carolina Tiger

What is a USC by the way?

NatashaB

Check on the MSE board I linked you to, but I believe student loans are considered an essential outgoing. I would therefore include these in your essential bills and suggest the remaining amount as a payment to HSBC. They might say no, but I would be inclined to pay that amount and let them pass it to a debt collection agency who might be more likely to accept the reduced amount. If you're paying by direct debit then obviously you'd need to stop that and set up a standing order for the new amount instead.

But then I have pulled myself out of a lot of debt over the last few years and it doesn't really scare me to say 'this is the amount you're getting, like it or lump it', I have realised there's not really that much they can do if you are genuinely paying all you can. One creditor took me to court and had their hands slapped by the judge as I had made a reasonable offer of payment which they refused to accept. I realise it's not that easy for some people to just not care when they have big debts hanging over their head.

USC = US Citizen.

Michael

They are normally scams. All they normally do is have you make the payments to them instead of to your creditors and then contact the creditors and tell them that you will stop paying the debt unless they renegotiate your debt. During that time, they stop paying your bills and typically after about 8 months, the creditor gives in and agrees to renegotiate the debt. They offer and counteroffer until you and the creditor sign an agreement for a new payment plan. Then the debt management company keeps all the payments made to them as a fee.

For US debts, all the defaults are recorded on your credit history. Also the credit report has an immediate notation that you are negotiating debts through a debt management company (I suspect this will occur whether the debts are US or not) and this is another major hit on your credit report.

You can do the same thing yourself by stop paying the debts. Either the creditor will renegotiate your debt or not and it doesn't matter whether a debt management company or you are doing the negotiations. The important thing is to stop paying your debt to try to force the creditor to come to the table.

Carolina Tiger

I realised the USC after I had posted.

As for the site you suggested I tried to register on their form to ask this same question and it wouldn't let me register.

I'm just afraid of some heavy going around to my mothers or it being passed to the US and scaring my family. I have done all that I could to pay the money back. I understand that I borrowed the money so have to pay it back but the numbers don't add up to anything less than a minus sign anymore.

I also don't want this to be hanging over my head for the next God knows how many years. As it is I still owe about five years on the loan and I had wanted to be free of it by then to start living again.

Carolina Tiger

So you are suggesting that I contact my UK bank and tell them I can't afford to pay them anymore?

Poppy girl

Umm nope not in this case they are legit.

Michael

Then how do they get the creditor to come to the table? The creditor has no incentive to negotiate if the payments are being made.

It is the same with banks who will not renegotiate your home mortgage unless you are underwater and stop making payments.

NatashaB

There are some legitimate companies that do this in the UK (I don't know whether the one posted is legit but if you search for it on the web or the MSE site I'm sure it will throw up some info. Payplan is another you may want to try, I know they have helped a lot of people and are a charity so do not charge a fee). I would not suggest you stop paying altogether but start paying a reduced payment and send them a letter notifying them that's all you can afford.

I don't believe that UK credit lines will report to your US credit report. I had a spate of late payments a couple of months ago on UK cards as my EAD took longer than I thought to come through, and my US record is still spotless (the UK cards send statements to my US address so it's not like they don't know where I am).

Michael

I suggest that you stop making payments for a month or two and then contact the bank and tell them that you can no longer afford the payment. Stop making the payments puts you in a better negotiating position since the bank now knows you are serious and tend to be more willing to negotiate.

However, make sure the student loan can be discharged in bankruptcy. In the US, certain student loans are government guaranteed and can't be discharged in bankruptcy so the bank doesn't have any incentive to negotiate since the government will pay back the loan if you don't.

Poppy girl

My mate who now lives in Aussie she used them and paid her debts off how beats me but I know Kate did it!!

Michael

There are a few in the US that are legitimate and non profit. CCS is the best known but I knew a guy that worked for them and he said even they a shady. For the very poor, the government may pay the fee but they charge everyone else for the service. Usually the people that use the service are already behind on their payments so the leverage is already with the debtor. They primarily give debt management advice and will do the negotiations with the creditors. The person that worked for them said that even though they were non profit, their bosses were alway applying pressure to increase profits so that upper management would get large bonuses.

I don't agree about making a partial payment. If you are already making a 50% payment, the creditor has no incentive to settle for a 50% payment. If you are making no payments, they will likely negotiate for whatever they can get even 25%.

Michael

They all produce results including the ones that have fine print in their contract indicating that their fee will be paid from the payments that you are making to them or the more honest ones that state their fee up front. But they do nothing that you can't do yourself.

Poppy girl

Oh WOW!! Thanks for that

Michael

I have never defaulted on any loan in my life so the information is not from experience but from information gotten from people that have defaulted on loans.

Poppy girl

Me neither have I ....but I have a Visa card in the UK that I would like to clear up once and for all. Thats why I kept her link.