ozbound

I will shortly be leaving for Australia.

Has anybody ever left the UK without clearing all of your depts?

If so have you ever been chased?

Does anybody know if there is a legal way UK agencies can persue you in Australia.

sophia

I think you will find that different companies have different levels of debt they are prepared to write-off and a limit where they WILL try to pursue you.

What you will have to bear in mind is that Equifax and Experian (the UK's credit reference bureaux) are both global companies ie:they have offices and operate worldwide, so whilst Equifax and Experian are only the providers of credit history information to companies if Australian companies use these too you may find it difficult to get credit in Australia, especially if any company decides to check your UK credit history first. Which could happen if you have no history in Australia.

My advice would be to try and clear any debts before you leave, because if you are thinking of "going away" they may just chase you. hth

jopaulss

Hi all Well we put a question very similar to this one and it was answered by a expert on flying compass who said obviosly its not something that would be encouraged to leave bad debt,but as far as they are aware it is illegal for any company in australia to get in touch with a uk credit reference agencies about your credit status, as your history is done locally not globally.

Mallysutton

Hi there, another thing you should take in to consideration too is if you want to
become an Australian Citizen after 2 years they will contact the U.K and if there is
anything against you such as outstanding debts, they will NOT let you become one
until the debts are cleared, so i would certainly think carefully about it,

Regards Karen "ozbound" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I will shortly be leaving for Australia.
    >
    > Has anybody ever left the UK without clearing all of your depts?
    >
    > If so have you ever been chased?
    >
    > Does anybody know if there is a legal way UK agencies can persue you in Australia.
    >
    >
    >
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Jaj

I don't for one moment condone leaving debts behind in another country, but do you
know for a fact that they do something like that as a matter of routine. Because
non-payment of debts is generally not a criminal offence, rather than a civil matter.

Going back to the original question i would think it unwise in any case just to
abandon debts in the UK, as even if they can't/don't chase you for the money in
Australia, it would make things awkward if you ever go to live there again. Burning
bridges with your home country is never a wise step - if you have debts that are
really too much to handle there are legal ways, such as bankruptcy or a voluntary
arrangement, to rule off the ledger and start again.

Of course this poses the question if you are bankrupt would it stop you from
migrating and if it didn't, would the restrictions applying to an undischarged
bankrupt in the UK also apply in Australia.

Jeremy

    >On Sun, 14 Apr 2002 10:21:15 +0800, "mallysutton" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Hi there, another thing you should take in to consideration too is if you want to
    >become an Australian Citizen after 2 years they will contact the U.K and if there is
    >anything against you such as outstanding debts, they will NOT let you become one
    >until the debts are cleared, so i would certainly think carefully about it,
    >
    >Regards Karen "ozbound" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >news:[email protected]...
    >> I will shortly be leaving for Australia.
    >>
    >> Has anybody ever left the UK without clearing all of your depts?
    >>
    >> If so have you ever been chased?
    >>
    >> Does anybody know if there is a legal way UK agencies can persue you in Australia.
    >>
    >>
    >>
    >> --
    >> Posted via http://britishexpats.com

David

"mallysutton" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<1018753676.541604@angelina>...
    > Hi there, another thing you should take in to consideration too is if you want to
    > become an Australian Citizen after 2 years they will contact the U.K and if there
    > is anything against you such as outstanding debts, they will NOT let you become one
    > until the debts are cleared, so i would certainly think carefully about it,
    >
    > Regards Karen "ozbound" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > I will shortly be leaving for Australia.
    > >
    > > Has anybody ever left the UK without clearing all of your depts?
    > >
    > > If so have you ever been chased?
    > >
    > > Does anybody know if there is a legal way UK agencies can persue you in
    > > Australia.

That's not true. They don't check debts in other countries and make decisions whether
to grant u citizenship or not. Where did u here that from? What are ur sources? most
of the information is confidential?
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > --
    > > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

ozbound

Thanks for the advice so far.

I am aware of the way the UK systems works but I cant see how a credit reference has anything to do with citizenship.

Also I have spoken to some financial people in Oz and they tell me that even when you apply for a mortgage your history in any other country is not checked. You are expected to provide the references on paper.

Vicki Stone

Hi

If you go to dima you can download the forms for citizenship, nowhere does it ask for
address in previos country so how can they credit check you without a previos
address??? Vicki

--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

taniwha

How did a loser like you ever meet the criteria for Australia?

I find it unbelievable that you are requesting advice on how to leave your country without meeting YOUR debts, this to most people would be a moral, as well as legal, obligation. This sends a clear message on the type of character you are and to be honest, Australia doesn’t need people like you coming to it’s shores.

sophia

I agree with Taniwha, if you are leaving a country and blatantly doing a "gone away" in order to leave outstanding debts behind then quite frankly what does that say about the type of person you are?

Jaj, what I said was that Equifax & Experian have offices in Australia...I did not say they would definitely check, but if your credit history is lodged with Equifax in England then it wouldn't be difficult for Equifax to search it's records for historical information...I didn't say they DID do it, I just said it is within their capabilities. The companies that subscribe to credit reference agencies do not have the right to that information but they can ask for address history (usually 3 years worth) which of course would include any address left behind in the uk and they can refuse you credit if you don't provide them with this info (depends on the individual company's lending policy).

Sorry guys, it doesn't show you lot in a very good light if you think it is acceptable to not honour your debts before you leave, it might come back to haunt you one day.....and don't forget it's us honest people who end up paying for people who "can't be arsed" to honour debts.

taniwha

Well said Sophia!

Taniwha

sophia

By the way, Jopaulss it is NOT illegal for them to check your credit history with another country, they probably can't be bothered to go through the rigmarole of checking, but they can if they want to.

jopaulss

sophia you may well be right . only saying what expert has said on flyingcompass . have no debts myself so have no worries paul.x.

Rdarby

They send you, along with the medicals, a form for a character check. It asks for the
addresses you lived at for the last 10 years.

Bad debt could come under a charcter check I suppose - you sign that you allow
them to check.

It is form 80. They say that its for migration decisions, and agencies to decide
about pension, tax, insurance, health insurance law enforcement(?), education,
border control.

Not specific on debt, but may be border control coult theoretically stop you leaving
if you have debt? Or record that you left with debt?

Far fetched, but it's a big risk for the sake of some money.

Cheers Ryan

Ian And Deb

I think that you will find that although these companies are both global
organisations, the UK DPA act forbids data being used outside the UK itself.

Sure some of the major Australian banks have links into both of these organisations
in the UK, but only for credit checking when opening UK accounts.

The CRA's also only know your forwarding address when you write to the likes of your
banks and credit card companies informing them that you have moved and they in turn
notify the credit reference agency. As a move to Australia would involve closing down
all of your UK based accounts, the likelihood of your bank / building society asking
for a forwarding address is slim and the chance that you would have an Oz based
forwarding address to give them, would be even slimmer.

As for any outstanding debts, they would most likely go to CCJ and after six years be
written off (This is if the company chasing you can be bothered to issue formal
proceedings), therefore if you did decide to come back to the UK further down the
line, chances are there would be nothing outstanding against you.

Please do not shoot me down in flames for posting this message, I DO NOT condone the
action of leaving UK debts behind, It is just that I used to work for one of the
Credit Reference Agencies and I am merely setting the record straight on how the
system works.

Ian.

"sophia" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I agree with Taniwha, if you are leaving a country and blatantly doing a "gone
    > away" in order to leave outstanding debts behind then quite frankly what does that
    > say about the type of person you are?
    >
    > Jaj, what I said was that Equifax & Experian have offices in Australia...I did not
    > say they would definitely check, but if your credit history is lodged with Equifax
    > in England then it wouldn't be difficult for Equifax to search it's records for
    > historical information...I didn't say they DID do it, I just said it is within
    > their capabilities. The companies that subscribe to credit reference agencies do
    > not have the right to that information but they can ask for address history
    > (usually 3 years worth) which of course would include any address left behind in
    > the uk and they can refuse you credit if you don't provide them with this info
    > (depends on the individual company's lending policy).
    >
    > Sorry guys, it doesn't show you lot in a very good light if you think it is
    > acceptable to not honour your debts before you leave, it might come back to haunt
    > you one day.....and don't forget it's us honest people who end up paying for people
    > who "can't be arsed" to honour debts.
    >
    >
    >
    > --
    > sophia x
    >
    > sophia x
    >
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com