leaving debt behind

[daisy16 0]

It's a sad state of affairs indeed when people feel it is okay to lie and cheat and steal. Because that is basically what you are doing if you reneg on paying off a debt you promised or signed, that you'd pay.

[desert_fox 32]

Same people who will be crying is some other post that they cant get credit or get a credit card.

[Anastassia 0]

I am paying from here too........

but the interesting thing was the reaction of the bank in Poland when I told them I was leaving... I thought it was the right thing to do, but I would not do it again.

I could have easily not say anything and keep paying. When I told them it got really nasty.. they acted as if I told them that I am leaving and won't pay anymore.

I just wanted to let them know that I am leaving in case they need to reach me for some reason. They demanded the whole amount right away in answer to that.

Ana

[GalyasTorpedo 0]

I am amused that people are under the assumption that after 7 years that everything magically goes away. This could not be further from the truth. The credit reporting agency works off the last date the creditor reported the debt, not some magical 7 years.

So your account could sit idle for 5 years, the creditor could acquire a new processing system and report your loan again and the clock starts over. I'm afraid a trip across the ocean is not the cure all.

The 7 years for a chargeoff and 10 years for a bankruptcy are benchmark dates, not law. I am not passing judgment, just providing facts. For those that wish to continue to believe in the 7 year rule, go for it.

[RichiJenny 14]

Here endeth the lesson!

Consider yourselves, told!

[katheleen 0]

I have to admit to a level of shock at reading this dialogue

there is a native expression that many may be familiar of..." do not judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes"

until you have experienced life through anothers experience, please be cautious as to render judgements and expound on those judgements... from my standpoint, we all walk our own lives and what we can and are able to do in this forum is provide factual information and support for each other...

katheleen

[brtlmj 0]

there is a native expression that many may be familiar of..." do not judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes"

...and then you can safely judge him, because you are a mile away. As an added bonus, you also have his shoes

After reading this thread I am coming to a conclusion that banks are bad by definition. They are big and rich, so they must be bad. If they lend me money and then I cannot repay it, it's their fault, they should have known better. If they refuse to lend me money... that's pure evil !

Bartek

[flipside 0]

I am amused that people are under the assumption that after 7 years that everything magically goes away. This could not be further from the truth. The credit reporting agency works off the last date the creditor reported the debt, not some magical 7 years.

So your account could sit idle for 5 years, the creditor could acquire a new processing system and report your loan again and the clock starts over. I'm afraid a trip across the ocean is not the cure all.

The 7 years for a chargeoff and 10 years for a bankruptcy are benchmark dates, not law. I am not passing judgment, just providing facts. For those that wish to continue to believe in the 7 year rule, go for it.

Hmm Is that how it is in the UK? In the US it actually is very much a law. It's called the fair credit reporting act.

Here's some highlights:

How long can a CRA report negative information?

Seven years. There are certain exceptions:

Information about criminal convictions may be reported without any time limitation.

Bankruptcy information may be reported for 10 years.

Information reported in response to an application for a job with a salary of more than $75,000 has no time limit.

Information reported because of an application for more than $150,000 worth of credit or life insurance has no time limit.

Information about a lawsuit or an unpaid judgment against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer

Also, according to the law those negative marks can only stay on your credit report 7 years from your last late payment or when you defaulted. They can update all they want, but by law they have to remove it from your credit report 7 years from the last late payment or default date.

Also, according to the law those negative marks can only stay on your credit report 7 years from your last late payment or when you defaulted. They can update all they want, but by law they have to remove it from your credit report 7 years from the last late payment or default date.

Sorry, I couldn't edit again. It's 7 year + 180 days from the last late payment or default date. So no matter when they report it, the maximum amount of time it can remain on your report is 7.5 years.

Last year I had a ding on my report from from 7 years ago. I contacted all 3 bureaus and they removed it.

Edited March 18, 2006 by flipside

[Angelica 0]

Debt is not a crime, most of us have credit cards , and lets face it stuff happens and circumstances change. What we are able to pay off today maybe we can't tomorrow....So I'd pay what I could each month, I'd speak to my bank/ credit card co or whoever and if the minimum payment was too high arrange a lower one. They'd rather get something than nothing...

Kim

[JayJay 4]

The seven year rule is in fact law in the UK as well.

And even more strangely....if you file for bankruptcy, the ten year rule is bent more often than not, as well...

I personally VERY closely know two people who filed for bankruptcy within the last six years in the UK. The first person now has three credit cards again, and a bank account. All that came withing three years of filing for bankruptcy.

So amazingly enough, filing for bankruptcy DIDN'T mean he was hung, drawn, quartered, chopped into fillets and fried by the lending industry! He wasn't even buried alive, ten foot deep in clay...there was no man from the Inland Revenue sitting on his face in a garden chair either. Plus the baillifs didn't think that anything he owned was worth taking, as it was all either owned by someone else, electrical (they hate taking electrical stuff) or essential for work.

Fancy that.

Amazing what one finds out, having been through it twice over with two very close people. Nobody has to believe me, though - I could be lying - oooOH!! Then again, I don't lie.

[flipside 0]

It just amazes me sometimes that people post such blatantly wrong information that could mislead others.

[JayJay 4]

Well, I have a feeling it's because when some people believe they are morally right, they will say things to make them right every other way as well. It's pretty normal in many cases I suppose (and doesn't make them bad people of course) - but that's not to say it's the right way to go, because yes, the info is indeed wrong - and for someone in a bad financial situation, knowing the actual way things go (like with the immigration process) can save lives and rescue a bad state of affairs.

Thing is though, not every one's been in this kind of situation - on where bankruptcy is actually a good option. I think the whole bankruptcy issue is one of those "taboo" issues a lot of the time, and even when it isn't, there are so many myths floating around that is turns into the "bankruptcy legend" almost!

To me, family is more important than paying for some financial "mistake" for the rest of your life. Truths should be known, and the least amountof time possible ought to be spent on destroying your soul over financial issues, when what ought to be happening is that you're there for your family, and able to be loving and to concentrate on deeper, more meaningful, more spiritual issues thst this world is lacking an understanding of. The world has a lot of money, and a lot of things based around money - but not much deeply ingrained about what's really going on.

That's what I reckon, anyway.

Edited March 19, 2006 by JayJay

[meddykomp 0]

It's kinda funny how people have no problem spending the money but when it comes time to pay it back you end up hearing excuses like we are seeing in this post ... Maybe people shouldn't spend money that they don't have ... Credit does not mean you have extra money, believe it or not it actually means your spending money that you don't have ... It's pretty simple actually ....

I was always brought up that you pay things like rent, loans, credit cards first and if you happen to have some money left over then you get eat ... You know you can go many days on potatoes and noodle soup ....

I think many people that are in debt need to learn their priorities ... I am planning on paying off all of my debts before I leave ... and if I did leave with debts I'd make damn sure that I paid it off from the US ...

I know I will have to pay canadian income tax for 2006 yet I still plan on paying that off from the US ...

I gues it all comes down to what you feel comfortable with ...

Not everyone who cannot pay their debts are irresponsible. Also the people who collect on these debts are very lacking in ethics sometimes. It's very nice for you that you live in a country where medical care is provided for you. What are you going to do when you are here in the US where it isnt if something happens where you don't have medical insurance and you have to have emergent care. You should not make assumptions about other peoples situations.

Sorry if I offended anyone with that, but you never know what you will do in a situation until you are in it. When my daughter was 2 I took her to the ER. Got a huge bill I could not pay because her father had dropped insurance on her and I didn't know. Eventually I filed bankruptcy but that was not the option I would have preferred. While trying to recover the funds, one of the collection agencies had the nerve to tell me that if I could not afford it, I never should have taken my daughter to the ER. (I put that a lot nicer than she did)

Edited March 19, 2006 by meddykomp

[Peggy 1]

Well that women who told you that about your daughter shouldnt be working in that office.

To me thats just plain rude.

[JayJay 4]

See - there we go - it's all about the money isn't it - crazy how someone at a collection agency could tell you that you ought to have basically let your daughter die if you couldn't afford the care...how disgusting! How can that be better than going bankrupt? Some people...I swear...leave it to karma, and they will get what's coming to them....

Bet going bankrupt saved you an AWFUL lot of hassle as well - your daughter was alive, you had a means of making a fresh start on your lives together. Only negative thing in the end, is the stigma still associated with it. The years of being "not eligible" for any new financial deal fly past anyway...as we all know!

On our death beds, we will all wish we'd been kinder to people, we'd spent more time with the one we loved, we'd let fewer people down. I guarantee that once life is done, we'll regret it mightily (and so will those closest to us who depend on our emotional support) if we spent our entire lives worrying about huge debt we could never have paid. I seriously dislike money - if Ben and I could be self-sufficient, live in a teepee and off the land, in the middle of nowhere, that would be just great

Anyone feelin' da teepee thing?