Ignoring Debts: Consequences and Your Rights (From StepChange Debt Charity UK) [2 Articles]
~ Saturday, December 16, 2023 Blog Post ~
The advice on this page applies to anyone with personal debts taken out in the UK.
What if I ignore my debts?
A lot of people we speak to have ignored their debts before they’ve resolved to contact us. Our research suggests half of our clients wait a year or more before they take steps to sort out their debt problem.
If you’re struggling to deal with your debts, it can be really difficult to open letters or pick up the phone. But ignoring them is only going to make this harder in the long term.
What happens if I ignore creditor letters or emails?
If you have arrears on your debts, it’s important that you don’t ignore letters or emails from your creditors.
It’s easy to put off opening letters, but the more they pile up, the harder it’ll be to deal with them. Try to get into the habit of opening and reading letters as soon as they arrive.
If you don’t you’ll miss important paperwork, such as:
- Your creditor telling you they’ve passed your debt to a debt collection agency
- Default notices
- Court action or a letter of claim
- A statutory demand, the first step for a creditor trying to make you bankrupt
You’ve got a strict deadline to reply to some of these letters if you want to avoid your creditor taking further action, so ignoring them is not a good idea.
You should also make sure your creditors have your current address. If you move house you might be tempted not to give your new address to your creditors. But if you don’t you may find important letters like this go to your old address and you don’t find out about court action until it’s too late.
Worried about debt?
What if I ignore creditor phone calls?
Some people find it quicker and easier to deal with creditors by phone, but for a lot of people it can be stressful, upsetting or inconvenient. A creditor can’t insist on you dealing with them by phone, and you won’t get into any trouble if you refuse.
If you prefer not to take phone calls from your creditors it’s even more important that you read your letters and emails as soon as you get them.
See our guide to phone calls from your creditors for more advice on your rights.
How can we help?
Contact us for free and impartial advice on what you can do about your debts. Even if you don’t feel able to speak to your creditors you can still contact us — and getting back in touch with your creditors should be a lot easier once you’ve spoken to us.
You can use our online debt advice tool or call us to speak to an advisor.
Related articles
- Can I avoid my debts?
- Can I be forced to repay debts?
- Statute barred. Are my debts written off after six years?
Source:
https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/can-i-write-off-debt/what-if-i-ignore-my-debts.aspx
Article #2: Avoiding Debt. Writing Off Debt. Your Rights. (From StepChange Debt Charity UK)
Can I avoid my debts?
You may wonder what would happen if you tried to avoid paying your debts. Would your creditors eventually give up and stop chasing you?
We strongly recommend you don’t try this as it’s almost certain to make your debt problem worse.
How can a creditor find me if I ignore them?
The details held about you by credit reference agencies make it very hard to avoid debts. It’s almost impossible these days to get by without using some form of products which appear on your credit file.
It’s not just loans and cards that appear on your credit file. Bank accounts, mobile phone contracts, car insurance paid in monthly instalments and some utility companies all share up to date information about you with credit reference agencies, including the address they have on file. So to avoid your debts you’d have to stop using any products like this, which isn’t realistic.
Credit reference agencies also keep a record of your different addresses and different names you’ve been known by. So moving house or starting to use a different name won’t help you avoid debts either.
On top of this creditors can employ specialist tracing agents to find you. Some debt collection agencies offer this service.
What if I move abroad?
Moving to another country would make it harder for a creditor to find you, but it wouldn’t guarantee they’ll stop chasing you. Depending where you move creditors may have a branch of their company in that country, and some large debt collection agencies trade in different countries.
If a creditor has taken you to court in the UK they may be able to transfer proceedings to other European countries. They could make you bankrupt in your absence and, depending where you’ve moved to, the bankruptcy may affect assets you have in that country.
If your move abroad isn’t permanent you could come back to the UK to find your debt situation is much more serious and harder to deal with it. There are steps you can take to deal with your debts from abroad.
Need help dealing with debts?
Websites which claim to help you avoid debt
Some websites claim to offer ways to avoid paying your debts. For example, they might suggest you send a series of three letters which somehow stop your creditors from taking any action. Some of these websites use legal-sounding language and a convincing explanation to make their ‘solution’ look attractive.
If you’re tempted to try any of these ‘magic wand’ solutions we strongly suggest you contact us first for free debt help and we’ll give you the honest facts.
We’ve never seen any of these solutions work. Most are only likely to make your situation harder to deal with in the long run and could end up costing you more money.
Remember if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
What can I do about my debts?
It’s common to feel overwhelmed by debts and like there’s nothing you can do to deal with them. But there’s almost always an option.
It won’t necessarily be painless but even if you need to take drastic action like going bankrupt, it’s better than the stress of spending years trying to hide from your debts — especially because as we’ve explained above, this won’t usually work.
Contact us for down to earth, impartial advice on what you can do about your debts. You can use our online debt advice tool or call our advisors.
Related articles
- What if I ignore my debts?
- Can I be forced to repay debts?
- Statute barred. Are my debts written off after six years?
Source:
https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/can-i-write-off-debt/can-i-avoid-my-debts.aspx
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