nigel and wendy

i bet for every 1 responsible person theres 1 or maybe 2 iresponsable people who will do it,especially now with the exchange rate being crap an all

i left debt free by the way

alan_blue

this is all fair enough if you never want to go back to the uk aint it. I am in oz and paying my uk debts off and will take me a couple years however i may want to go back and also dont want to go each day here wondering abour peeps contacting me.

perksy

It doesn't mean you can never go back to the UK at all. After 6 years the debt falls off your UK credit history, leaving you free to get more UK credit if you so wish.

perksy

No mortgage? No car finance? Lets hope you never get made redundant or fall ill then. Struggling to pay debts is not all about 'being greedy and over spending on credit cards' people fall into debt through a variety of reasons and therefore shouldn't be judged if they can't pay for whatever reason.

alan_blue

thats horse s@@t and if people borrow they should repay it, this is why the uk has such a huge debt. I know about the 6 year thing but if you want to get credit when you go back they will still search your history and see that you have not repaid it.

rocket01

No where near the 9.3 trillion dollars the yanks owe thats nearly 61 thousand per person.

sasbear

I disagree.....I have a friend in the UK who has had a terrible time...

She has worked since being 16 and leaving school. She has a teenage daughter (single parent) and has never had any debt at all. No car, no mortgage, no store cards ect....She had a low paid job and often struggled to make ends meet.

Her mum died last year. Her mum wasn't insured. She incurred lots of expenses relating to her mum's death. She did receive some of the money back from the government ect but not all. Then her father died. He too was not insured. She had to get a loan out to sort out the funeral and other costs.....

She then lost her job through illness. She tried to contact the loan company. They agreed to hold off payments for a month or two but increased her interest rate.

When she was well enough to return to work, her boss informed her he was moving the operation (petrol station) to another suburb and she was more than welcome to go with him. She doesn't have a car nor does she drive.....so she was unemployed.

Unemplopyment in the UK is pretty bad right now....she is still unemployed and in no position to pay off the small debt...and that really is not her fault. That is misfortune. It happens to the best of us...so before you speak and class all debt shirkers under one title. Think on - there for the grace of God go I!

canadaeh

They can search all they want, but if it’s after 6 years it won’t be there, your history will be clear. It falls off regardless if it is paid or not.

And many people fall into debt for different reasons, some come out to Australia expecting they can still keep up with UK debt payments, they soon get here and realise they can’t find a job or when they do it’s lower than their job in the UK and then with exchange rates, just impossible to pay off... so they leave it. Other people get ill, have a death in the family etc, not everyone who leaves debt behind planned on doing it.

Centurion

Complete rubbish. The UK economy is in tatters for a great many reasons but if you think that this was caused by unpaid consumer debt you are dreaming.

spartacus

Only for crimes against spelling . . .

spartacus

That is indeed horseshit . . .

Please stop talking of things you know nothing.

lapin_windstar

The credit card companies etc knew what the law around enforceability of delinquent debt against people who leave the UK was from the moment the law was passed. Why rewrite the law retrospectively to suit their interests?

If UK law were changed tomorrow to say that consumer debt would be binding on consumers globally, forevermore - well, fair enough, them's the new rules of the game and both sides have to stick to them. But for the moment, the rules that applied when the debt was taken out still apply, and consumers should be as free to use the law when it works in their favour just as the finance companies don't hesitate to use it when it works in theirs.

And BT-MF-W, I paid my thankfully pretty small UK debts after I left the UK.

kporte

All wrong.

sr71

Of course it's OK. Our business leaders and politicians no longer have to account for anything and show no responsibility.

kporte

I love the self righteous, sanctimonious posters on threads like these.
Mmm, feed the kids or pay off debt to some faceless organisation who peddle their wares without a conscience? I left the UK completely debt free but would have no hesitation to stiff these legalised crooks if I was not in the position to pay.....Just remember, you can never go to prison for being unable to pay off consumer debt, it is not a crime.