tones_ie Posted April 1, 2009 Report Share Posted April 1, 2009 Hi guys,First off...i apoligies if i didnt post in the correct forum..Secondly...id like to say a big hello to everyone on the forums...Im looking for anyone with any knowledge on the credit card system....I got my self in a bind and im starting to panic as to what to do next....My story in a nutshelll....I left ireland 2 years ago...got married to an american...got my green card last month ! I have an Irish visa credit card..I kept the card active as i did my irish bank account too.Over the 2 years ive got my self into debt...its at 8,500 euro this month....Last month was the first time i ever couldnt make the payment...and this months (april) is due in 10 days...Wife lost her job (which wat was basically paying the cc) as i wasnt legally allowed to work untill recently...I have no steady income right now...and i dont see that changing for the forseeable future...job market sucks a$$ right now.Do i have any options open to me....what would happen if i simply "forgot" about the card paymets and pretended it didnt excist...Can the cc company do anything to me in USA from ireland ? Obviously from what i just said, u can tell im panicking right now..specially as the payment doubled cos i missed last months....im at my wits end and wake up ever morning sick to my stomach....any advice greatly appreciatedtones_ie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorch Posted April 1, 2009 Report Share Posted April 1, 2009 I do not think they would really be able to do anything unless they decide to call you while you are in the states. Now if you ever decided to go back, your credit would be shot if you don't pay the bill and they are still reporting that bad information, I'm sure. Although I am not sure if or how the two countries' laws could affect your situation, so hopefully someone else can offer you some suggestions there.Does the credit card company report to TransUnion and Equifax? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tones_ie Posted April 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2009 Hi scorch,forgot to mention....i changed my billing address to my US one...initially to get the "new" cards snail mailed to me. so they do have contact info in usa for me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted April 1, 2009 Report Share Posted April 1, 2009 My quess would be that unless is a CC specific to that Irish bank, they're gonna come after you in the states. If its a Visa or Mastercard, and you used it to charge things here, then I would bet its now covered by US laws. You're probably going to here from some US collection agencies soon.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laine540 Posted April 4, 2009 Report Share Posted April 4, 2009 I don't know anything about Irish credit cards, but you might as well hang out here with us and commiserate. Don't panic - we're all in the same situation! One thing you don't mention in your post - do you care what your credit rating is like in Ireland? Or are you only worried about what they can do to you and your credit here?It appears that 8500 euros = $11,390 so I am sure they will be sending threatening collection letters to you. But I am not sure that they would be able to put this debt on your credit reports, or get a judgement against you in a U.S. court. You need to decide if you can get caught up on payments, or not. In the U.S., if you miss payments for 6 months straight, then the account will "charge off", which means that the company writes it off their books as a bad debt and they usually change collection methods. I had a credit card myself where I could no longer make minimum payments, so I chose to stop making payments completely and let it charge off. If you make partial payments during those last months, it delays the charge off process, and you accumulate more finance charges. When the card charges off, interest stops accumulating. Banks in Ireland must have some similar process for charging off that you can learn about.If you never plan to catch up on the payments, then at some point in this process you may want to consider settling the debt for some reduced amount. Especially if you are worried about what they might do to you or your credit. After a card charges off, they are much more willing to negotiate a settlement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tones_ie Posted April 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2009 I don't know anything about Irish credit cards, but you might as well hang out here with us and commiserate. Don't panic - we're all in the same situation! One thing you don't mention in your post - do you care what your credit rating is like in Ireland? Or are you only worried about what they can do to you and your credit here?Honestly dont care about my rating at all....just worried about what can happen to me here...im here for the forseeable future...ill be calling them on monday to see what my options are...if they would just stop the late payments / intrest adding on and give me a month or so...id be able to get caught up im sure....I dont know how it works in ireland either regards the "charge off" process...but it seems that it was recently written into irish law that if the client contacts the cc company and makes and effort to make payments that if it goes to court they will not rule against u...not 100% on that but 2 buddies from ireland said it was law now...simply because of the current econimic situation..Ill be honest here...if i knew for sure that it wouldnt effect me here in US id prolly just let it go and try forget about it...but im the type of guy that has never been in a situation like this and one who has always been abole to pay my debts..suppose it a pride thing ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwoodystyl Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 1. Anything reported on your Irish credit bureaus (good or bad) is not going to follow you. [To clarify: it won't follow you simply because it's reported on your Irish credit bureau files. Credit ratings are not transferrable country to country... yet. Experian, an Irish based company, ironically, would like to design an international credit bureau, but they haven't actually done this, yet, and even if they do, there are questions as to how it would be applied..]This derogatory rating may eventually be reported to a USA based CRA, but not simply because it was first reported to an Irish based credit bureau.2. The same goes for the Irish equivalent of a judgment and its reporting on your Irish credit bureaus. That is, the judgment won't report on USA based CRA files simply because it reports on your Irish credit bureau files.If the Irish bank sues you properly in Ireland, giving you due process in your native country, then they can sue to have the foreign judgment enforced in the USA. There are a lot of defenses you could raise in this case, but you'd have to go to court. If they obtain judgment in the US, then not only will your US credit take a hit, but they can garnish your bank accounts and wages, attach liens to your property, etc.This is a bit obscure, but if they have obtained judgment in Ireland, regardless of whether they obtain judgment in the US, and if you work for an Irish based company, then they might be able to garnish your wages. [i don't know that for sure, but I do know the converse is true. That is, if you have been sued in America and work for an American company abroad, they can garnish your wages]Whether or not they can still sue you in Ireland now that you're a US Citizen living in America, I don't know.. 3.If the Irish bank assigns (or sells) your account to a collection agency/JDB who collects debts both in the USA and in Ireland, then they may be able to sue you directly for the debt in a US court without first doing so in Ireland. In order to do this, however, it's my understanding that the CA/JDB will need to have established mechanisms in place to collect debt in both countries concurrently, while observing the laws of each country. Whether or not such practice exists between USA-Ireland, I'm not sure, but I think it a lot more likely, then say, USA-Tanzania. [FWIW, I know this process exists between USA-Canada, or at least it used to.]ill be calling them on monday to see what my options are...if they would just stop the late payments / intrest adding on and give me a month or so...id be able to get caught up im sure....That's a good idea if you plan to pay it off. However, I'd recommend talking to a consumer attorney first before freely giving the bank any information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetscarbie Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Maybe you could get you credit reports here in the US and see if the tradeline is listed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts