Paying off debt from UK
 

hi all

Im wondering if any of you could advise me about this one. I've been paying off debt I had back in the UK since I arrived here in the states, which is just over 12 months now, but with exchange rates and wire transfer fees its becoming a pretty big amount of my paycheck. Does anyone know of any way I can reduce the amount I'm paying, either by tranferring the debt to here in the US?, cheaper ways of sending the money back to blighty? Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks
scouse

Re: Paying off debt from UK
 

Depends what the debt is don't it, if it's credit cards, could get one here and transfer over the balance.
Could just have a word and see if you can pay quaterly, might help reduce fee's, and maybe you could pay via paypal, dn't know if it's cheaper, but setting up a US and a UK account to transfer money isn't too bad, though limited to I think $500 a month, unless you pay for the premium services, so don't know if that'll help or be any cheaper, but it's an idea. www.paypal.com

Re: Paying off debt from UK
 

Transferring the debt is a BAD idea, unless you are sure the exchange rate will get a lot worse. You essentially would lock in a bad exchange rate for the whole amount. If you continue to pay off gradually, in a year or two the exchange rate may be better. If the rate does get better, that would be the time to transfer the debt to a US credit card.

As for saving money on transfer fees, etc., why don't you transfer a larger amount to a UK account, then use that account to pay off the minimum, until you transfer the debt over here?

Another thing that might help is to contact the CC company and negotiate a lower interest rate. If they realize you are in the US and could just tell them to keep their debt, they might be conducive.

There have been some excellent threads on UK debt, living in the US. I think you'll find some useful tips there if you can find them.