Leaving Australia without repaying debt

curvykitten

I lived in Australia for 9months in 2008/09, I was granted a Visa Card and overdraft (1k limit each) to which they were both at the maximum by the time I left. I GENUINELY had to go home unexpectedly, litterally found out news and 3 days later I was home. The overdraft and VIsa were not on my mind at the time but its obviously eating away at me the last while I have to admit.

I was out on work for the best part of the last year and only recently got part time work, In the time I have been back in Ireland I have only received 2 emails from Commonwealth with them asking me to contact them. Obv they have tried to call my ozzie number and probably sent letters but as I am not there anymore I didnt get them.

I genuinely cannot afford to repay them in a lump sum, best i could prob do is €50 pm but even with that it costs €30 to transfer money to an oz bank a/c. I am going to reply to the email today but just dont know what to say to them. What are the reprecussions if I just leave it altogether though? THere is a chance I could return to Oz for a holiday, what will happen then?

THanks

Xavi6

As someone who works for an Australian bank my advice to you is to at the very least contact them and explain the situation.

How much is it that you owe? Having said the above, if it is only a small amount then the bank will eventually write it off as bad debt and you'll be fine, though you will be fecked if you ever try to open an account etc over here again.

curvykitten

its $1k on the o/draft and $1k on the CC, I repayed about 200 bucks off the CC but with the interest over the last yr I would say it has risen to just above 1k again.

When you say open a bank acc again, like even if I went to a diff bank... like Westpac they would refuse me because of previous debt? Do they run credit checks for simple opening of a current account?

Chances of me living there again are pretty slim but it would be interesting to know what would happen if I did.

Xavi6

They won't do a credit check for a transaction account as long as it doesn't come with an overdraft facility. If you were to go for one of those (or a loan, credit card etc) there wouldn't be a chance in hell of getting it.

$2000 is a fair bad in terms of bad debt for one customer so the bank definitely won't let it go easily, but if they've no way of tracking you down apart from email then there's no much they can do really.

curvykitten

Ok thanks for your help. Im gonna email them and try to come to some sort of an arrangement.

Xavi6

Good luck with it.

The fact that the email is from the bank is a good sign as it can be a lot worse if they have outsourced the debt to a debt collector. I'm sure some sort of arrangement can be made.

Let us know how you get on

curvykitten

Sorry should have said, 1st email was from Commonwealth Back in January, email last week was from a co called arlcollect... sounds like a debt collection company.They just said please contact us and that was it.

Xavi6

Ah ok. Well that means it's been outsourced and the bank basically won't speak to you if you contact them.

You need to contact that other crowd.

Zambia

One of my colleagues used to be a debt collecter. I will ask her what the extent of their chasing will be.

However you are doing a fair bit of southern hemisphere bridge burning should you ignore it.

pclancy

Also remember many NZ banks are OZ owned so coming here might be difficult also.

Mahatma coat

If the debt has been passed on to a collection agencie it means that the bank have been squared up on your behalf for pennies on the dollar and now the collection agency want their profit.

Basicly ignore them, do not respond to their emails yerself, instead have a solicitor send them back a letter asking to see the contract between you and the Collection agency, none exists so you have no obligation to them, and seeing as they have bought your debt from the bank you now have no obligation to the bank.

you should come ocver to the CT forum and read up on the whole Freeman argument, it touches on this subject but from a slightly different angle

curvykitten

What is the CT forum?

Ah I dont know what to do really, I do not have the funds to repay them - there is no doubt in my mind about that. Ihate having it hanging over me though im not the type to run away from problems but I feel I have no option here.

Realistically there is a big chance I will return to Oz for a holiday over the next yr or 2. But I will never live there permanently. So what are the chances of me being stopped at the airport over this debt? The passport I gave in when I opened the bank account was stolen while I was in Oz so I now have a new one with a new reg number, would they be linked?

tenchi-fan

Hi

you're not going to be arrested in the airport so don't worry about that.

You mention "genuinely" twice in your email.. yet it sounds like you are trying to weigh up the pros and cons of never paying it than genuinely looking for ways to pay it!

curvykitten wrote: »

there is a big chance I will return to Oz for a holiday over the next yr or 2.

well for ya!
Enjoy the holiday of a lifetime :rolleyes:

Amazotheamazing

How can you afford a holiday to Oz and not afford to pay back what you owe?

You're credit rating will be screwed in Oz or Nz if you do intend living back there, if you don't, you should be fine to skip out on paying your debts.

SIX PACK

Just forget about it mark the Emails as Junk. Shur doesn't the Chief Exective of Anglo Irish Owe €170,000,000...that has been written off by NAMA (i think), Does he lose any sleep at night?? i doubt it,
Besides those Credit Card companies make Billions so i wouldn't be worried about what they would consider a few dollars... if it was over $100,000 i might be a bit more worried,
But its a huge case of "catch me if you can"
K love

tenchi-fan

SIX PACK wrote: »

Just forget about it mark the Emails as Junk. Shur doesn't the Chief Exective of Anglo Irish Owe €170,000,000...that has been written off by NAMA (i think), Does he lose any sleep at night?? i doubt it,
Besides those Credit Card companies make Billions so i wouldn't be worried about what they would consider a few dollars... if it was over $100,000 i might be a bit more worried,
But its a huge case of "catch me if you can"
K love

It's an aussie bank.. nothing to do with Ireland's mess. Unfortunately it's attitudes like this from the dole cheats right up to the politicians and bankers that makes Ireland such a horrible place to live at times .. for honest people anyway.