Zoe Bell

True but I personally found the fact that you could tell them that the letter was received at this time and signed for by this person made them back pedal the " we have no record of that". Faxes don't give you that and emails are too prone to the old " we are having IT problems maybe t didn't get through" line

ian-mstm

Only to a point!

Ian

fashionista

There's a form you can fill in specifically for moving to another country. Here is the link: http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum.../dg_078083.pdf

If you're concerned about tracing it you can always email it as well as posting. When I spoke to them on the phone about this (my loan is from 2000), they said to just fill in as much info as possible and leave blank the areas (such as date you plan to return to the UK) that you didn't know. They've also asked me to provide a letter from my husband stating that he will be supporting me for the first 12 months.

After that, they have a table showing how much you should pay depending on what you earn in the US. The guy I spoke to said that I could pay quarterly rather than monthly if I wanted to reduce the amount of times I was moving money between countries. However - I haven't actually done this yet - so not sure how smoothly the process will go when the move actually happens! I'm coming over at the end of April - I'll provide an update if they turn out to be total muppets about it all!

GlastoEls

Mine was an easy process:

1) Fill in OVFA form:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Educatio...98/DG_10034872

2) Fax it to 'em with a proof of earning (offer letter, etc)

3) They replied to me stating I had to pay £xx a month, and should do it by the 20th of each month at www.studentloanrepayment.co.uk

First payment went yesterday. Amount due for the US is 9% of whatever you earn above an FX-adjusted £12,000, I believe.

Bink

+1. I moved to Houston, Tx in Jan 2010 and paid my student loan for a year. The above is how my repayment was worked out. Be warned that it does have to come from a GBP account. I was told that it had to be set up to come from a direct debit, but I don't believe this is true - you just need to pay it on time.

I cleared the balance of mine witha lump sum payment last month as I only had a small amount remaining on it and it was getting to be a pain transferring money to the UK every month. I graduated in 2004 so my payment history etc was available to view online.

lunaUK

[QUOTE=hockeysarah;9262216]Ive started to think about what to do with my student loan when I move to the US this year.

Why pay it? Education should be free anyhow LOL

ladybutterfly444

I cant talk about unpaid student debts but when I moved to the US 6 years ago from the UK I left all my credit cards and unsececured personal loan unpaid. And like someone else posted, after 6 or 7 years the loan gets written off. When you move to another country debt collection agencies and creditors can not come look for you. Also a good point to note is the UK has the same agencies as the US as far as credit, Experian, Equafax, etc and they dont cross reference! I have excellect credit here in the US and debt is not a crime!

Ozzidoc

Great. Just the kind of person needed in our finest city.

AmerLisa

Yes they can, but not in the form of UK collection agencies. Legally or not they can sell off your debt to a US agency and make your life uncomfortable. I'm not sure what they can do, but is it worth it to make that kind of statement with so much confidence? Maybe you got lucky, but the next person may not.....

SanDiegogirl

....... and you proudly announce this to this forum? Debt might not be a crime but its morally wrong.

meauxna

Isn't abandoning your debt a crime? Or is it the breaking of a legally binding contract that is?

fatbrit

What!

meauxna

hmm, I may have to get me some of that then.

ladybutterfly444

Hey, these credit card companies make enough money from all of us in interest and fee's .... why would I feel bad about it? Not like I am robbing from a poor old woman or something! And anyways, its not like I intentionally knew I was moving to the USA so suddenly applied for a bunch of credit cards and racked them up to their limits. These were old debts that I had way before I even met my American husband! I was moving to another country, didnt have a job, it really is not as bad as you are making it out!

Oh, and you say its morally wrong, so I guess that also applies to everyone who has ever declared bankruptcy?!?

sir_eccles

A quick study at Google University suggests there are a number of actions surrounding indebtedness that could be considered illegal and could attract prosecution. For example trying to abscond with assets after being declared bankrupt.

There is something to be said for taking a correct moral and ethical approach in clearing debts in order to avoid burning bridges. One might say they are never going back but there are countless threads on here that demonstrate many people often end up back home sooner than they hoped.