OrangeCountyGreg Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Firstly - thanks to everyone who's posted on here! I've spent a long time reading through huge amounts of information on here, and it's been extremely useful.That said, I am still having a little trouble deciphering all of information and how it applies to my situation.I have some questions. Sorry for the length........Initially, let me explain my circumstances as briefly as possible :Have a lot of debt from the UK. Numerous credit cards [maybe 7] and 1 bank loan.Moved to California in Jan 02. Kept up payments for a few months, but stopped making payments later on in 2002. Did make payments to Bluestone Law Ltd on my loan account, and have been doing for the past 2 years or so.Have also been having $200 / month taken from my account from a UK collection agency.Recently received a call from Creditors Interchange, working for Arrow Financial. This related to one of my old UK credit cards. They sent mail to my old address. I'm pretty sure that I made some partial payment to another CA [in Scotland] about a year ago.None of the above debt shows on my USA credit report.My questions relating to the Cred Interchange :1/ SOL. In CA I've read this is 4 years. Will the partial payment to another CA about a year ago re-start the SOL.2/ Does the California SOL take precedence.....or will the UK SOl be in force. If so, what is this?3/ Do I need to run a UK credit report? Could this have any repercussions.4/ I ran my credit report. It shows Creditors Inc inquired on 02/02/07. is this allowed?5/ They have mailed the information to my old address. Should I tell them my new address? Or get them to fax it to me?6/ Is DV'ing them the best 1st step? Or should I do nothing?Loan Questions :1/ Do payments to Bluestone Law Ltd re-start the SOL?2/ How can I find out if they own the debt and are a CA / JDB....or if the debt is still with the OC3/ Should DV them? or :4/ I can probably now muster some money to settle. Should I do this.....aiming under 25%?Credit card I've made payment to the CA1/ Should I DV the UK CA?2/ Stupidly I've given them my bank account details, and they now take money out each month with no correspondance. Should I block future payments from my bank?3/ Has the SOL been reset to the date of my last payment?Credit cards who I haven't heard from1/ I believe the UK SOL is 6 years, but is avoided if they have made contact....or have a judgement against me. Can this now default to California SOL?2/ Should I just lie low & do nothing?From an ethics perspective I have paid many, many times the balances in interest, so have come to terms with any guilt from bailing out on these debts.Any advice would be hugely appreciated!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolinaBlueEyes Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 I wont go down all of your info because its alot but the most importan things are as follows.. Arrow needs to be DV'd they are a pain to deal with but ask for their info.. sometimes the dv will make them go away.. you dont mention how old these debts are.. if they are out of cali SOL you can just send them a C&D letteryes any payment, even partial will start the SOL in MOST cases.. again it depends on your state law..... ANYONE THAT HAS ACCESS TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT IS BAD NEWS.. I would close that account and get a new one at onceYOUR sol is 4 years and it is determined by state of residence your UK SOL would be a moot point I would imagine... however if you go back to the UK you have tolled it (stood still)MOST important do NOTHING by phone.. mail CMRR is the best way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Welcome aboard. I'm not sure we can help...this board is about US debt only (for the most part, anyway).I'm thinking you really need to find a lawyer...and not a "debt fixer" kind, but someone who actually knows about how UK and US law would relate to all this. I'm guessing that to collect a UK debt, they'd have to sue you in the UK, but I don't know how that would be treated in the US.Find a lawyer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeCountyGreg Posted February 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Huge Thanks!!!The debt Arrow is chasing dates back over 5 years when I was in the UK.But - Lats year, a Scottish based CA called Capquest tracked me down & I made payments for 3 months or so, then stopped. I presue this resets the SOL.CI stated that the account was opened in Jan 2002. This is incorrect. They also stated the last payment was in 2002. This is correct, except for the payments to CapquestArrow do not seem to know that I made payments last year.They have my incorrect address. Should I give them my new address so that I can receive what they have, then properly DV them?___________________Regarding my bank loan [25k sterling, so about $45k] I'm making payments of $200 / month. I presume I can't DV them, as I've been making payments. I also think they're acting on the OC's behalf, and they are not a CA / JBD. How can I verify this? Should I write to them & ask._________________________Regarding my cc that I'm making payments to - unsure of what to do 1st. Should I cancel payments? DV them. Write to them to see if they've bought the debt or are acting for the OC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeCountyGreg Posted February 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 PS - Any recomendations and / or places to start searching for lawyer who could advise the best course of action....with a knowledge of UK and US SOL's etc etc.Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Wow...just don't know. Are you a US citizen now? If not, another complication.I would guess that living in CA means you're subject to CA's laws, but when you throw the UK into the plie, I just don't know.You need a lawyer.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Responding to your PS....No, I don't know of any personally. You can check the NACA site to see what you can find.(I think one thing you've run afoul of is that I would bet the CA's don't care that the debt was in the UK. They've found a sucker who will send them money, and they'll keep trying to take more. I'm not even sure that a US CA can handle a UK debt...or buy a UK debt. But again, as long as you send them money, they won't care. One thing you could try is stop sending money and see what happens.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeCountyGreg Posted February 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Thanks - I'll start looking for a lawyer. Good advice.I'm not a citizen, but here on a work visa, which runs until 2009. I'll have to go back to the UK then to get it extended. Have a baby here now, and am cleaning up my financial act [us credit score is ok]. Hopefully I'll stay in the US long term.Sorry for all the questions....but :Would it be worth finding out if Bluestone [loan] are CA or an agent of OC? Any idea how I'd do this?Thanks again.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 If your credit reports were in US format, you'd look for "sold to another lender" in the OC's tradeline. No idea what a UK report would show.Have you tried looking up Bluestone on the internet? What was the loan for? In the US, a loan (as opposed to a CC) for $45k would probably not be sold. But again, since you left the UK, the OC over there might have sold the debt on the junk market. Hard to tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeCountyGreg Posted February 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Pondering whether [or not] to try & obtain a UK credit report, as it may open a can of worms. Probably worth it though......The loan was a personal, unsecured....predictable deby consolodation loan. I've looked up BlueStone & it seems to look legit.I do remember an offer coming through to settle with a 40% discount....about 3 years ago.What has also really hurt me is that in $US terms, 5 years ago the x rate was about 1.4....so the debt was about $30-$35k......now its a lot more with almost a 2:1 exchange rate.California Law - This seems the most relaxed. Is this a state where the SOL isn't reset if a partial payment is made? Fingers crossed.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 I can't even tell you if the CA SOL applies to debt from a foreign country. (CA does have some consumer friendly laws...including one that makes it illegal to try to collect on an SOL debt...but....I don't know if that would apply in this case.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeCountyGreg Posted February 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 ....I'm starting to get cross eyed through reading through so much of this.Again, I must say how much I appreciate how helpful it is though.If you're interested, please see the "foreign judgement". I agree that I need to see a lawyer....California State Laws *http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.htmlInterest Rate: Legal:10% Judgment:10% (Unless otherwise contracted) Statute of LimitationsOpen Acct:Reduced to writing- 4Open Acct:No writing- 2Written Contract:4Domestic Judgment:10 (renewable at 10)Foreign Judgment:10 (commencing with judgment debtor’scommencement of CA. residence.) Bad Check Laws (civil penalty): Amount due, Treble damages - minimum $100 maximum $1500 per checkGeneral Garnishment Exemptions: See federal law below. Federal Garnishment Exemption Federal Law exempts from garnishment 75% of disposable earnings per week, or an amount = to 30 x federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is greater. Where federal law provides larger exemption, it supersedes any state law. SOL§337 4 Years §339 2 Yearshttp://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/di...file=335-349.4California Penal Code 518-527http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/di...0&file=518-527State UCChttp://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/ca...ebody=&hits=20CA FDCPA AKA Rosenthal FDCPAhttp://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/di...le=1788-1788.3FDCPA w/CA FDCPAhttp://www.dca.ca.gov/legal/dc_2.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Just one additional point of confusion for you...just in case you missed it....in the stuff you just reference, I'm sure "foreign judgement" means "in some US state other than CA"...not a foreign country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeCountyGreg Posted February 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Thanks..again!!I'm not sure either - definitely something at the top of my research list.More Qu's...1/ Hypothetically taking the UK out of the picture - 1 thing I'm confused about is that there seems to be conflicting advice re the in state SOL. I've read in many places that the state or residence takes precedence, and their internal SOL's are valid - i.e. 4 years in Cali. But, elsewhere I dug out that in Cali a foreign judgement is 10 years???? Is the dinstinction that this is a judgement??2/ The CA...Arrow & IC have my old address. Should I give them my new address? Or is best to not divulge this information? If so and submit a DV,I'm not sure what address I'd put? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 1/ Hypothetically taking the UK out of the picture - 1 thing I'm confused about is that there seems to be conflicting advice re the in state SOL. I've read in many places that the state or residence takes precedence, and their internal SOL's are valid - i.e. 4 years in Cali. But, elsewhere I dug out that in Cali a foreign judgement is 10 years???? Is the dinstinction that this is a judgement??Each state's legislature couldn't resist the urge to "new and improve" such things, so you really need someone who understands California's gibberish...BUT...this might be the way it works. According to the FDCPA, the OC/CA has their choice of where to sue...where the debt was incurred, or where you live now. If they sue where it was incurred (and win), then they have to "domesticate" the judgement to the state where you live now before they can take any money from you. I'm guessing this means that according to CA's gibberish, they have 10 years to do that.2/ The CA...Arrow & IC have my old address. Should I give them my new address? Or is best to not divulge this information? If so and submit a DV,I'm not sure what address I'd put?It probably doesn't matter much. When there's money involved, they will find you. If you're going to try the DV process, use your current address. At least that way, if it winds up in court, you can show that you tried to get it resolved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeCountyGreg Posted February 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Good point.I think I will try the DV process, at least for the card that IC / Arrow have contacted me about.I've pulled my USA CR & it doesn't show any of these items. I'm trying to get a copy of my Uk CR, but am having trouble as I'm not had a valid address there for 5+years.Ultimately I think that IC will be very unlikely to validate the debt, and additionally it could quite possible be past the SOL. IC themeselves stated that the last payment was in Feb '02 during their initial call with me last Tuesday....which is outside the SOL [notwithstanding the payments I made last year - but am not sure where these will show up]I agree with your very early advice that what I do with my other stuff will best be planned after talking to a lawyer & better understanding all of the considerations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retmar Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Since you are a resident of California, the SOL only applies to debt made since living here. None from the UK. Do realize that in the United States, if you move to another state, the CA has the right to use the longer of the two SOL's. And, if you return to the first state, the CA has the right to request the court to "toll the SOL", which means they can restart the clock, so to speak. Also, a suit, if filed, must be filed in the county where debt was made, or county you now reside in. An example is if you moved to Arizona for 5 years, then returned to California, the SOL could be tolled. Therefore, if the UK has SOL's as we do, they may be able to do the same there. You would have to research this.In California, you must sign an agreement/contract to restart the SOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direred Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 If you're interested, please see the "foreign judgement". I agree that I need to see a lawyer....As used in state statutes, "foreign judgment" simply means one from another US state (or possibly territory or possession). It doesn't mean from another country, typically.California procedural law (SOL is procedural law) won't apply here; federal law would, as they would have to sue in federal court. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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