Moved to Canada with UK credit card debt - what will happen?

Question

Last year, my wife and I moved back to Canada after living 3 years in the UK. We were both students, and collectively amassed £6000 in credit card debt. We left enough money in our bank accounts to make automatic minimum payments on the cards while we tried to sort out a loan in Canada to pay them off. It's now been a year, our UK accounts have been depleted and we still owe £4500 with no easy way to pay them. We know that our Canadian credit rating has not been affected, and our plan is still to get a loan to pay the debt off. I wanted to know what will happen if we are unable to do this in the immediate future, and in particular, if either of us tries to enter the UK while we still have outstanding debt. Thanks for your answers!

Answer 1

I was in the same predicament and did the same thing in terms of leaving money on direct deposit for the minimum payment. I resolved this by applying for a 0% credit card (it switches to 9% after 6 months). I actually wrote the a credit card cheque to the UK credit card to transfer the balance over to Canada. I then paid it off in full due to a lucky windfall on my outstanding UK taxes. Still, the credit card cheque(from the Canadian low-balance card) to the UK bank worked - it just came up as a bill on my visa...You'd have to check into fees (could be higher for balance transfer) - but it is much less stressful to manage the debt here in Canada at a relatively low rate. You will start paying horrible interest and carrying charges to the UK bank, so at least try and move the balance to a 0% card for 6 months over here...I am told that Equifax, etc are increasingly on the same network - so it isn't worth gambling with your credit rating...

Answer 2

First, the debt will follow you to Canada (You think they don't have Mastercard in Canada?). Second, it will turn your credit rating into a number so small, you will have to view it with the Hubble Space Telescope. Then, you won't be able to buy a cell phone or get an apartment anywhere in Canada (or anywhere else they do credit ratings). Unless you plan on establishing a new identity in Canada, I don't recommend this.

Answer 3

They will find you.