Sorry, but that post breaks BE rules, BE will never condone anyone doing anything illegal, and should never suggest that they do it. You know that what you are suggesting is, strictly, illegal in several senses, and the OP should be contacting the people they owe and trying to sort it out. Debt collectors WILL persue debts in Spain, as we know from experience of living in two apartments where the previous tenant skipped, we had letters from debt collection agencies, some from England, and just passed them on to the agents, we even had a threat of someone coming round to remove goods, with this one we contacted the agents and told them we wished to break our contract as we were getting too stressed to deal with knocks on the door.

ill be ok to pay but its great to know i wont have some bloke waiting outside stalking me on my way to work

Let's be honest, not paying your debts is freeloading- pretty low behavior

I would ignore the advice to stiff those you owe and pay up. It's the decent thing to do and you will feel better for it

Let the mods decide if rules are broken. If you think they have been, then report the post.

Since when has not repaying a debt been illegal? As Avocados said, it's a civil matter and from what the OP says, he is not aware that he is being chased for it.

Leaving aside the moral argument, I believe the Statute of Limitations would apply. In Spain it was 5 years, but you'd have to check up whether that still applies.

Basically, if more than 5 years (?) has passed without payment or written acknowledgement of the debt, then the debt will not be enforceable.

As avocados advised, chill !

In the UK, since the Debtors Act of 1869 maybe?

In Spain, perhaps when it joined the European Convention on Human Rights in 1977?

Still Civil matter rather than criminal unless there was never any intention to repay the debt.

Indeed, and I'm pretty sure Fred's question was rhetorical, but I was interested in the answer.

By the way - do you have to prove you tried to repay the debt? It's interesting because with the moves to make bank accounts more transparent across Europe (and other countries) people might indeed find themselves being chased for debts in other countries.

Lack of intention to pay the debt could be argued given that he fled the country

Hence why i said unless there was never any intention to repay the debt? was there ever any repayment made did the op flee the country straight after getting the loan payment? how long is a piece of string?

whatever you do dont contack the people that you owe. In England if you have had no contact with the creditor after 6 years they legally cant ask for the money back. I cant see the Spanish authorities linking your NIE card to a debt as we cant even do that in England let alone in Spain....... get on the plane and enjoy the sun shine m8.

There is no way I can advise someone to welch on a debt, nor would I do so my self.

Fred, the poor fella was probably missold it in the first place, your views are very old fashioned but honurable nether the less.

If the loan was taken out with a bank then he may find he's been blacklisted and unable to open a bank account in Spain, for which he'd need to provide a NIE. In fact the €300 credit card debt might be enough.

Is it so old fashioned to face up to your responsibilities or is it an honest way to live your life?

Rosemary