krestsaf

Hi

Will any debts from the UK follow us to Australia?

Are there ways to avoid it due to bad credit?


all answers welcome

moonstaruk

I think this question comes up every 1-3 days now! Do a search on this and there are plenty of threads knocking around.
Most people on here will tell you to pay your debt off, or at least contribute to it when your in aus. As for following you, no it will not when you are in aus you start again in terms of credit as if you are totally new. I'd prob say the best thing to do is just keep a uk acocunt open with online facilities and carry on paying a little off every month that you can afford. otherwise, it will be still there when you come back to the uk.

I have a small amount of debt that i'll be taking with me, and to be honest i won't be making massive payments or anything.

hope this helps...

Centurion

In summary :-

Your UK credit history means NOTHING here. You start from scratch with zero rating no matter how good or bad its been in the past.

As to if any unserviced debts follow you to Australia if you are suggesting non payment do a search on previous threads. The answer is....maybe but probably not.

grahampaula

I am sorry to say this, but I think that no matter where in the world you go they will check your credit if there is reason to, so I think that it would be wise to clear all outstanding debts before leaving. You have to decide how it would affect you and what could happen if the debts did catch up with you.
Is it worth it? Only you can make that decision.

Centurion

Thats not true. Data protection laws prohibit information leaving the EU without subject consent. That and none of the financial institutions here care about a recently arrived migrants financial past.

moonstaruk

I concur with centurion above unfortunately.

Debts do not follow you around the world, anywhere outside the EU and you start again as they do not use the same credit system as we do in the UK

stuckinblighty

!!!!! DING DING ROUND 1 !!!!!

*waits for the moral police to turn up*

For the record we're paying off all our debt before we go but thats a peace of mind thing.

Lee

grahampaula

Ok thanks for that information, we were not aware of this situation just goes to show what you can learn on this site. I still would not leave any debt regardless, but that is me personally.

Techno Freak

BUT a creditor from the UK can come after you in Australia for repayment. It depends on how much you owe them, ie. if they see it as worthwhile spending money chasing you for it, ( and if they can find you! ).

Wendy

Yes, they can. But they would need a court order to actually get anything out of you as they would have no jurisdiction here. So in effect you could tell them to sod off

Techno Freak

If the debt is sufficienty large though, would it be likely that they would be granted a court order?

Wendy

Maybe? I've no idea, I paid all mine off.

I think it would have to be a very large amount for it to be worth it for them.

Techno Freak

I would have thought that too.

I don't want to sound like a preaching, sanctimonious t**t but we delayed our move out and worked as much overtime as possible, sold surplus stuff, scrimped and saved and paid every last penny of debt off.

There's no way we wanted a bad debt haning over us if we ever returned to the UK.

It's different if you are only going for 12 months though. For the OP - It may be wise to contact each of the debtors and let them know you will be 'out of work' for at least 12 months, ( they don't need to know you are going to Oz ). Arrange with them to have the interest frozen and pay a small amount each month to keep them 'happy'. At least then they wont sell your debt to a collector. If you contact your local Citizens Advice they can do a standrad letter to each creditor where they work out what you can pay and make pro-rata offers to each institution, ( assuming there is more than one ). It usually carries a bit more qweight coming from the CAB as the creditors will know that you have gone through a proper income/expenditure session with them before making the offers.

Worst case scenario - the creditors say no, they want it all. In which case, bugger of to Oz and change your names before you come back.

I wouldn't just ignore them as you could be setting yourself up for a ton of grief if you ever return to the UK.

DrWho

Not quite...

The Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments (Australia) Order 1994

Wendy

There you go then - learn something new every day