“Dear Jon,
Owe money in the UK, left the UK about 6 years ago to live in USA.
When i first moved to the USA i was getting calls and letters from creditors from the UK, it has almost stopped with there calls until now they have started sending mail to my parents addres in the UK. I have asked them to write on the envelope NOT AT THIS ADDRESS but they keep sending more mail, have i got any rights to ask them to stop sending mail to that address and harassing them. I realy dont think i am going to be able to pay this debt off, i know its wrong but there is nothing i can do about it, i owe aprox 5000 GBP.
Thank you for any advice you can give.
Jason”
Jason,
I hear what you are asking, but unfortunately your creditors can still attempt to try and collect the debt(s) owed to them. If you wish to have the post sent to your parents in the UK stopped, contacting the creditor(s) in question and updating them with your new details is one way of doing this. It also may cause you a bit of stress as they may intensify their collection efforts by contacting you. They could also sell the debt onto a collection agency/firm in the US which could then attempt collecting the debt there. I cannot say as to if they would do this or not; due to the amount of time that has already passed, and depending on the exact balances, they may not do this.
You can put together a complete and documented income and expenditure form showing that you really cannot afford to pay anything and set-up a token payment plan of say £1-£5 a month to each account. Your creditors have to accept this, but they may still contact you once in a while to see if you can pay more.
Any form of insolvency in the UK is not an option due to the period of time you have been outside of the UK. Now if you were to return to the UK, then we could discuss those options.
You can do nothing and wait and see what happens. This is an option, but can be stressful as well.
If for any reason your creditors had no contact with you for a period of six (6) years, the debts could be statute barred or no longer owed. But if they are contacting you via the post now, that six year clock is just starting.
There is the Limitation Act of 1980, regarding the collecting of debts and how long they can be collected. This can be a complicated act to review depending on if you have any CCJ’s, made any payments, or had any contact with your creditors. From what you have stated I don’t think you fall into any of the categories.
I hope some of this has helped.
Regards,
Jon
Jon Emge is an experienced UK debt advisor who has helped thousands and thousands of people in the UK to deal with problem debt. Jon specialises in finding good solutions for problem debt using a variety of UK specific techniques.
If you have a question you’d like to ask about how to get out of UK debt, just use the online form. I’m happy to help you for free.
