inkedneonurse

Hold the phone a minute, by sending a letter to your parents (even with your name in it) they have breached data protection rules......they aren't allowed to do that

quiltman

Quite agree BUT probably the largest percentage of UK people have no clue about data protection other than that they've heard of it!
If the letter was addressed to the OP at his parents address my concern is how they got their address in order to link the two? The inference is that the OP appeared , maybe via the electoral roll, drivers licence etc to live there sometime in the past. If the envelope was addressed to his parents but the letter referred to the OP then yes, report them for breach of data protection.

Pollyana

Debt collectors aren't the most scrupulous but they know the loopholes in the law on stuff like Data Protection, and yes thats how they work. They will look for any address the OP can be linked to, and usually its as simple as when the credit was applied for they ask for where you lived in the previous X years. Some applications I remember from back home even asked for he name and address of a friend/family member who could 'vouch for your creditworthiness'.
Then there's the simple job of electoral role checking, phone books, and these days simply google/facebook/twitter - I don't believe the number of people with totally open facebook pages. All totally legal.
In many cases if they think they have an address because someone of the same name lives there they will phone and ask for the person, then hang up - often having got a response like 'oh thats my son, doesn't live here anymore' - they'll then use the address to send the mail to.

carcajou

Concur with the gist of the others. I would make the creditors a lump-sum offer with the warning that it's "take it or leave it" and if they choose leave it, you will declare bankruptcy. You declaring bankruptcy is the absolute last thing the creditor wants.

spouse of scouse

Bankruptcy in Scotland is a distinct process, termed sequestration.

Government link here https://www.aib.gov.uk/bankruptcy/what-is-bankruptcy

InVinoVeritas

I'm not suggesting using this company but there is some useful information on their website:-

UK Bankruptcy from Abroad | File for Bankruptcy in the UK

uk_grenada

NB all this refers to a debt to a company effectively. Oweing money to a government isnt so easy. HMRC in the uk has offices worldwide to collect debts for taxes etc, there are a heap of measures they can use and the local govt in the country you are in will usually have a treaty to help them.. Dont run from them unless its very very far.

Even this can end up in some amusing situations. I have a remote relaive who deliberately sold a number of properties in London over very short timescale, left the country in a hurry and neglected to pay I believe more than 2,000,000 pounds in capital gains tax. He moved permanently to a country that you cannot be extradited from for fiscal crime, it was about 10 years ago and in the interim he receive letters from HMRC which were initially of a threatening nature but over the years moved more to pleading, making various offers to him of paying a reduced some in exchange for immunity. I believe the bill is down to about 250k pounds. But he's not gonna pay.

uk_grenada

When dealing with that collection agencies it's worth knowing that some are harder than others, at one point i used to work for a company that made power dialers used to carry out marketing and debt collection campaigns in contact centers. The people you originally owed the money to will try to collect it but after a while will sell the debt on for x p in the pound, and that may be sold on several times. In the UK the two most rampant were imho Thames credit and intrum justicia [only contact centre i ever saw where agents worked standing up to help them be more aggressive] who would call entire extended families any time, repeatedly, and have automated systems looking for names regularly all over the internet / various databases. Quote from one director [lawyers to a man] 'our clients have the right to breath and to pay us, thats all'. If youcomplained about harassment they sell the debt to their overseas company.

sr71

Ignore it, don't make any contact or arrangement with the debt collectors. It will no longer be liable after 6 years of you making a payment or arranging to make a payment. So don't talk to them full stop.

The bank will have written this off a long time ago and sold the debt on to 3rd parties for literally pennies for each pound you owe. They are now chancing their luck.

Your credit rating in the UK is screwed whichever way you look at it for the next few years.

And it's not enough for them to bother pursuing overseas or making you bankrupt. It's a very small amount really.

I don't advocate not paying debts, but I also really hate these vultures that buy second hand debts and harass debtors. Plus the UK banks certainly got their moneys worth from tax payers in bailouts.

Pulaski

Er, the banks got the bailouts exactly because deadbeats defaulted on their loans!

carcajou

. . . and they gave loans to people who had no business getting loans, and who couldn't possibly pay them back, because loan officers wanted to grab short-term bonuses for "hitting targets."

In a capitalist democracy these banks would have gone under, which is what should have happened. Instead now that they have been "bailed out," they think they are "too big to fail," and that government will back them up no matter how stupid, short-sighted or illegal their activities are.

Look at the debt rations in the Western countries - now worse than in 2009 - the banks are back at it again.

Bo-Jangles

No matter what 'justification' you can provide for not paying and how hard hearted one might want think they can be; the OP and his family still has to sleep at night and it's pretty hard to live with constant worry and nagging mind.

Even if ignored in the short term the OP needs to consider that there may still longer term or unexpected consequences that impact further down the line; none of us could absolutely rule out the possibility of something drastic happening in the next six years that sees us back in the UK needing finance or credit arrangements for something.

sr71

The damage is already done, even if paid off the credit record is still bad. That will reset in a few years. The bottom line is it's now with some of the most parasitic companies in the UK. The bank has washed their hands of it and the only possible beneficiaries are the debt collectors.

They need to follow the law and there are plenty of options to bring them in line - plenty of other dedicated forums that will provide advice.

Pollyana

Thats why I recommend working out a repayment plan even if they can only afford $5 a month. At the very least contacting the company that takes the heat off the OPs parents.

elonii

I would suggest contacting the debt advice helpline here in the UK for advice on your legal position.

Meanwhile, your parents should not contact the debt collection agency or acknowledge receipt of these letters, and nor should you until you understand the best way forward with this situation.