I Had to Leave Debt in the UK to Return to India. – Purvi

“Dear Jon,

I am an Indian who lived in UK for close to 6 and a half years. I was a student initially and then worked on a post study work visa for 2 years. I have lived my life in UK, with dignity and respect in all these years. In june 2012, I had to return back to India as I could not extend my visa due to change in immigration rules. I had to leave my job as well as unpaid debt in UK. Since I have been back home, My unpaid debts have started disturbing me making me guilty conscious of committing a crime. I owe GBP 2000 to a credit card and GBP 700 to another one. How can I arrange a settlement so that I can pay them a negotiable amount every month. I fear calling them, thinking that I might get a bad news from there end! Can I write to them about this and try and sort this matter?

Please assist me as I have never done anything wrong and would not like to live with this guilt forever. (P.S- I have just started working in India and my salary is at the very basic rate of about Rs 10,000 equivalent to GBP 150) what should be the monthly amount I should pay to the credit card company?

what should be the monthly amount I should pay to the credit card company?

Can I write to them about this and try and sort this matter?

Will they help me with my situation?

Purvi”

Purvi,

I understand your questions and concerns and yes, you can set-up a repayment plan with the creditors you have in the UK.

Have your creditors been in recent contact with you?

If so, what have they been saying?

It is not a crime to be in debt in the UK, so you can relax a bit.

The first step is contacting them and getting your current balance(s) on the accounts and advising them on your situation. You can then either through them, or on your own, complete a detailed income and expenditure form outing who you owe and all your monthly bills and what you can afford to pay.

You may want to fill out a form like this before contacting the creditors as you may be able to afford the monthly minimum payments or even more.

Then you would begin making payments of what you can afford. If your creditors were to try and request or push you to pay more, just advise them to review your income and expenditure form and this details what you can afford.

Even if you only can afford £5 a month, they have to accept the payment, however they can try to collect more. But with you being outside the UK, there is not much they may try to do.

If you feel you cannot afford to pay anything at this time, then waiting until you can is also an option. Due to the level of debt(s) you have and where you reside, there may be little the creditors try to do.

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.