Hello everyone! It has been a while since I have posted - I normally glean the website to see what everyone else has to say since I am still a bit of a novice! Now for my question!! I lived in London and had a bank loan with HSBC. I paid regularly on it until I became ill and had to move back to the US for treatment. I let the company know that I would look at resuming payments again once I had an income. Today I received, at my mother's home, a letter from the creditor saying that the account is being passed on to my local county court for action, and, arrangedments are being made for one of their field collectors to call on me to recover the balance. I can't pay it right now - the UK creditors are being obnoxious and not helpful. Any suggestions on how to handle this? Many many thanks in advance!!
First question, what country are you a citizen of? Where were you living when these loans were taken out? International collections is a whole different level...if you still have a copy of the agreement, read it fully to understand what they can and can't do according to what you signed for. You can still request Validation of The Debt, and this would be honored by your local couny court. They also were required to send you "First Notice" of collection activities. You may want to contact an attorney on this one, as this could be complicated.
That wouldn't make too much difference unless the poster had not lived within the geographical jurisdiction of the court for a sufficient amount of time to establish residency. Renting or buying a home or apartment would be enough to establish residency no matter how temporary so long as the rent is paid monthly. Living in an area for at least 30 days would establish residency unless it could be shown that an intention to move on could be established. Getting a drivers license would also establish residency. American courts do not have the authority to rule on the validity of contracts or other obligations such as taxes incurred in foreign lands unless the validity of those obligations have already been ruled upon by a court of law in that foreign land. If a judgment is rendered in a foreign court it can be domesticated as a res judicata matter in a U.S. Court and then it would become enforceable within the geographical jurisdiction of the U.S. Court into which it was domesticated. So even though the U.S. Court might have both Geographical and personal jurisdiction it would still lack subject matter jurisdiction in the above type of situation. What might happen is that the debt might be bought by an American collection agency who then sues as plaintiff. That happens every day by the thousands of cases as we all know and in every one of those cases the Plaintiff has both failed to name all of the indispensable parties and the Plaintiff is not the true party of first interest in the case. No judge I ever heard of has paid any heed to those arguments however. How would you suggest that the court honor the request for validation of the debt or in the alternative how would you suggest that one might be able to force the court to honor the defendant's request for validation of the debt? What law requires such a notice to be sent? How would you suggest that the poster enforce that requirement? A summons to court can be and sometimes is the "first notice" of collection activities. What law covers that? Not complicated at all in my opinion.
Cap1sucks: Doesn't the fact that the U.S. legal system has been utilized convey that U.S. law must be followed?
This is a jurisdictional matter. If the OP is a resident of the US residing in the US then US law governs. Funny thing though - the Diversity of Citizenship statute limits the ability of foreign nationals (the bank) to sue US residents in US Federal Courts to claims of $75,000 or more. Since the creditor here is in England and not subject to FDCPA somehow I get the feeling they are making threats they cannot carry out.
I'm not going to say that you are wrong here but it does seem to me that if they sold the debt to someone such as NCO who has offices both here and in England then they just might get the job done that way. Still wouldn't be an easy task if the debtor knew a bit about his rights and jurisdiction and decided to fight. U.S. courts simply don't have jurisdiction over debts incurred in foreign countries. The U.S resident couldn't bring a case against the foreign bank because as you have correctly pointed out the foreign bank would not be subject to FDCPA but if the debt were sold to NCO or some such 3rd party debt collector then that debt collector would be liable for any violations. Most of us here know that, of course.
Thank you so much for your input everyone!! I am actually a US citizen and currently resident in Los Angeles. At the time I incurred the debt I was a US Citizen living legally in the UK. The UK does not have the same rules as the US in regards to collections. Basically they can send a bailiff to your home and recoup the cost of the debt from any of your belongings. Furthermore, they can get away with abusive scare tactics. Hence, I was scared to death that this could carry over to the US.
You should study up on the basics of debt collection, i.e your rights and processes. Go to www.ftc.gov, and read the FULL Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA), as well as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Also research the state laws for CA, and how the courts may have ruled on similar cases. By all accounts this debt collection should follow U.S. laws, however I might avoid returning to the U.K. until this is completely settled!
