Hi all

Has been a while since I stuck my head in here - hope everyone's well

I'm wondering what the position is on migrating to Canada when you've got debt amassed in the UK.

The money situation is what's preventing us from moving at the moment (paying back as fast as I can), but as all of my debt is with HSBC I was wondering if a move (to a job) would be possible and the debt transferred to HSBC Canada?

Is that possible at all? I know it isn't ideal, but I really want to make the move and it hasn't happened yet for various reasons (family, money, other circumstances) - but I want to get over as soon as I can.

Any advice would be awesome

Thank you!

id suggest you speak to HSBC canada, tell them you are emigrating ( not might be, but ARE) and want to continue to be a responsible borrower and service your debts from abroad, this would be easier if they would transfer them to cad and let you pay fromthere rather than paying for money transfers every month. they might help, it depends if you are behind on the debts, if you have defaults or bad credit etc. if you are in good credit, and the paperwork is in order for your emigration i see no reason why they woulndt apply a settlement figure to your UK loan and let you take out a new loan for that equivalent value, in canada.

Hi, I'm in exactly the same situation as you. My fianceé and I met in Canada 3 years ago and we ended up Skyping for 9 months whilst she saved up to move to me in the UK. My being in debt prevented me moving over there, because I thought there was just too much of a risk of missing payments and getting into even more debt.

I also considered that I would effectively have to pay back double the dollars to meet the repayments in sterling, and so wouldn't have enough dollars left over to get by over there. So I gritted my teeth, set a debt-free date and went for it, and I will be debt-free next August. I'd look into transferring the debt, but you and I both know how debt companies work (they charge you for breathing, let along moving it overseas) and if I were you, don't rock the boat, and I'd keep up the repayments, save up some sterling and start on a completely new page over there. Just make sure you're tackled the reason behind the debt (mine was going out too much and buying cars), do you sentence and if you REALLY want to make the move happen, you will.

I'll be saving for 11 months from next August and we're moving October 2013!! Either way, good luck.

Sounds like you're on a great path...how good will you feel when you've paid it all off! I had a lot of debt after Uni and the best thing ever was getting rid of it. Put me off for life, I'm so debt averse now I will get the smallest mortgage I possibly can, and I'd never borrow to buy a car or go on holiday...you've got to be mad. Debt is a prison.

One question for the OP...have you got residency already? If you haven't, you wouldn't meet the entry criteria I don't think as you need to have assets greater than your debts. I might be wrong there, but that was what I thought.

[QUOTE=TheBear;9576891]how good will you feel when you've paid it all off!QUOTE]

It'll be tempting to go out and buy a case of champagne...but we know better than that don't we?! "What did we learn..."

Maybe a case of Bulgarian sparkling rats wee. Mate, if you've paid your debts off after following such a long plan, you deserve a night off being a tight arse, just close that sphincter again the following day

Obviously I have no idea how big your debt is but you should be able to keep paying it from Canada without too much hassle - at least until you get a credit history and get a line of credit or something which can pay UK debt off.

I mean the pound/dollar rate is around 1.5 and hopefully you will be earning 1.5x your salary if you get a similar level position. Only added expense is bank transfers but from HSBC to HSBC which is not so bad.

Paying it off from Canada is really annoying. When I moved here I had some credit card debt and a balance remaining on a graduate loan all from University. I had some money in a UK bank when I moved so I carried on paying the payments from there but then that ran out so your choices become more inconvenient.
Do you keep transferring lump sums to the UK bank from Canada to service the debt? but then you have the exchange rate and there are fees involved with international transfers. You can send money to pay it from Canada but they will usually want Sterling which means money orders etc. which again incur fees and exchange rate plus mailing hassle and hoping it doesn't get lost or delayed in the mail etc.
Everytime the exchange rate changes so does your debt, so sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down relative to your Canadian income and then you are in no great place to negotiate interest rates etc. depending when you got the loan, overdraft or whatever.
What i ended up doing, from Canada, was taking out a loan here (harder for the person moving with no credit history, unless you can get something via HSBC. Easier for the guy with a Canadian partner, my wife is Canadian and so could sign to get the loan when I had no rating).
Once I got the loan I wrote to Barclaycard and Barclays bank offering a settlement based on the amount of money I had available (intentionally less than the sum of the debt) and the ratio of the debt i.e. 60% to one and 40% to the one I owed less or whatever.
Barclaycard refused the offer and requested I settle the balance in full, while Barclays bank agreed. So it was a little more than my original settlement in total but less than paying in full.
Once I discharged those then I just had the Canadian loan to worry about which was in reality the same debt but much easier to service, no exchange rates etc.
Now all I have is my Student Loan which is a huge hassle and I am thinking of just folding that into a low interest line of credit here to remove the hassle.

What a pickle, eh? Damn you, banks!!

Regarding HSBC.

I may be wrong (you'd have to confirm with them), but I think you can only transfer financial 'matters' (for want of a better word) if you have a HSBC premier account.

To have one of those you have to meet criteria.