BettieBlue

My fiance is in the UK & he doesn't have online access at the moment, so I'm posting for him. He is concerned that his credit card debt & student loan will have an affect on him coming over here.... and when he does come over here to stay (we're going the K3 route), if he doesn't continue to pay his debts will they come looking for him in the US? I told him no, but he wants more reassurance. So I've come here for help & advice. Thanks...

sibsie

Morals aside, it's always worth leaving with a clean slate. You never know what the future may hold and he may have to or want to return to the UK at some point.

As far as I know it has no bearing on his status with USCIS but if he continues to run up debt knowing he's leaving with no intention of paying...

BettieBlue

He wants to pay it off and he's going to work as much overtime as he can so he can pay them before he moves here, which won't be for a while..... but once he gets over here... if he doesn't get a job right away, there may be some lag time before he can send payment.

sibsie

I'm sure if he contacts the companies and explains the situ to them, they'll be happy to take a payment plan.

Bob

Debts in the UK won't have a USCIS bearing over here...student debts, that's the easy one...let the student loans company know, and then, when he ain't working, he won't have anything to pay them anything, until he's earning over £10K and then he only pays I think 9% of total earnings over that...something like that, and if it's not paid off by the time he's 50, it's null and void, might have changed the age, but that was the case when I buggered off, I still haven't had to pay anything back, but then I ain't earning, much easier getting in contact before he leaves though, and to arrange payment method in advance if he intends to work quickly, basically, if and when I'm earning, I'll pay a chunk every 6 months rather than monthy to save on bank transfers etc.
Also, he should get in contact with his LEA, or at least have his student LEA number with him when he moves, because they are a lot easier to get in contact with to help out with student loan issues because once over here, it's an arse getting in contact with the student loans company, they don't have email, and if you ring up, be on hold for ages and it'll cost a lot, well I can't ring international anyway, so I got in contact with my LEA and they forwarded on my move of address when I moved in the states...

Duncan Roberts

I wish my student loan was that easy. I've been trying to get the paperwork from them for over 18 months, since before I came here, but they never send it to me. I've called a bunch of times and written but still nothing.
On a side note, I believe it's now 6% of your earnings if you earn over 15k now.

Bob

Aye, SL are shite, that's why I had my local LEA get in contact with them, they sorted out the address change, not having to pay, and pay method out for me, in a couple of days...they were fantastic..can find a contact through your local council website pretty easily I'm sure
But it's good to know that it's £15K now, and less %

DebraJulia

As far as the credit card debt is concerned. Be very careful. If he did do a "runner", if or when he returns to the UK he may find that he'll have CCJs against his name. He probably wouldn't even be aware of this until he applied for a mortgage or loan etc. Also talking with the credit card companies isn't the easiest of things to do, some are can be very difficult. Some completely understanding. Depending on how much he is in debt, there is a forum called, www.debthelpuk.co.uk which is very helpful and also a charitable debt management company called the CCCS. www.cccs.co.uk, they will be able to give advice. With the ever increasing small world we are living in now, it is quite feasible to think that any creditors would be able to track down anyone who has decided not to pay back their debts. Believe me, running away isn't the answer, I'd rather have piece of mind that my debts were paid, rather than looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.

Hope this helps in someway.

Debs

BettieBlue

Thanks for the links..... I will look them up & pass the info along to him..... I know of CCCS... I'm using them to help with debts I got saddle with because of my ex-husband. So I know how helpful the can be.

Christine

rincewind

I have a credit card debt and a loan still in the UK (had to, wasn't allowed to work for the first couple of years of being here).

Now I'm working, I send money back to a UK account where I have standing orders set up to pay my monthly bills (hurts with the exchange rate right now). I figure I have two years before my UK debt is cleared.

Your fiance's UK debt won't be of concern as he'll have to start from scratch with a credit history in the US anyway (plenty of threads on this board will help your partner in that area). BCIS don't ask about debts (as far as I know, if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will correct me on that one).

Just make sure your fiance pays back the debt over time. Not to say it will, but if anything goes wrong in your relationship and he hasn't kept up with his UK debt, it'll come back to haunt him should he ever decide to go back. You never know, you may decide to both move to England and if he hasn't paid his debts, it will make life difficult.

Tell him to hurry up and get online so we can welcome him to the board

Best of luck.

callowman

Nah they wont find him, I didnt pay the last electric,phone, and gas bill when I left in 89.
didnt hear a thing .
-I know its wrong but for years of paying exhorbitant BT bills and electric bills I just wanted to stick it to them once and get one back for the common man !

Yea I know Im bad ....

by the way, Ive been back to the UK 8 times since and never a copper waitin for me at the gate :-)

Bob

Another thing to think about, depends how much your debts are, and if your here on a greencard....but they try and go to court to get the monies owed, it wouldn't look to good while trying to get a greencard...
Not sure if it is a CIMT, but it could be....??

rincewind

Let's just hope you don't have to move back to the UK for some reason and need a phone and electric. Might be cold and lonely for you.

callowman

ID put them in the wifes name :-)
besides , that debts been long wrote off by now.

Englishmum

I found this info about UK debts when you move overseas:

http://www.debtquestions.co.uk/topic_of_the_month.php