[walshy]

Now, Firstly, I know its not big or clever to not pay bills, but lets just say when we left a few months ago my head wasnt quite straight and we left nzand didnt pay our final bill on a few things, namely power, telecom, mobile phone and sky!!!

Is the system in New Zealand the same as England, will I now be a default shamer unable to get credit for love nor money?

I didnt think we would ever be going back, but obviously just making plans now to do so and trying to get my house in order.

I have an excellent credit score her in the uk, would that help explaining things if I have indeed been blackballed?

I was only in new zealand for 5 months and lived all over, just how traceable would i be? Sureley if we land and rent a different address we can just never mention our old address? Start again kind of thing, we are not planning on applying for any sort of credit for at least 6 months, nameley a mortgage

And yes, I know we should have paid them, I really do so no condescending remarks please.

[Mamee & Co]

How about contacting the companies from the UK and paying the last billed amounts? They don't have to know that you are planning to return and you can explain the reasons for the overisght. Then you can go with a clean conscience, you will have paid your debts and the record should be clean for if it does come up at all.

I think it would be highly unlikely that they could trace you given the information, if you are not required to provide past addresses.

[walshy]

Well you would be required to provide past address, but pretty sure we can sy we have just arrived again, they have no way of knowing I dont think.

But you are right, we should pay, just the bills have reached quite epic proportions due to non payment!!

[A&G]

Personally I would contact them as already suggested, even if you can only pay a little off at a time. :)

[dusk]

sorted website has a page on debt and how to deal with it (and how to check credit ratings)

might be a good starting point for your reading:
http://www.sorted.org.nz/home/sorted-sections/managing-debt/repayment-problems


good luck getting everything sorted

[benhila]

Hi Walshy

You seem to think that you have the right to make your own rules as you go along. What a great contribution to NZ you will be!

Oh sorry, you didn't want any condescending remarks, did you?

Cheers

Hila

[victoria24]

if the accounts haven't gone into default then you should be ok as nz doesn't report late payments. if the debt has been passed to baycorp then you need to pay off pronto. you may have problems reconnecting with the same companies though.

[72andsunny]

I don't know anything about this sort of thing in NZ, but in the US, most creditors would likely waive late fees and interest if they thought the alternative was getting nothing.

Depending on how much money you're talking about, you might want to consult with an attorney--in the US, it's pretty easy to accidentally reaffirm a debt.

[dharder]

Could you not just pay? I paid my last phone bill in the US from Germany. Even though I never intended to return to live in the US (and still don’t), I think you never know what life will through at you and personally, I cannot live well with outstanding issues.

When I left the US, I had three books checked out from local library. I gave them to a friend and asked him to return them for me as I didn’t have the time. A year later, he came to see me in Germany, and brought the books!!! He’d misunderstood and thought I didn’t have the space to take them myself. I have had nigtmares about the library police coming to get me for a while, I packed them up to send them, but never got round to it. This is 17 years ago, and I still feel bad about it! When we transitted through LAX a couple of years ago, I’m sure I must have looked guilty as sin expecting someone to ask me to follow them into the little room at the side, shining a torch in my face and demanding to know where those three books about Jane Austen are… I’m convinced my social security card number in the system comes up with a red alert reading ‘BOOK THIEF’…

Okay, I’ll stop. I just meant to say that I think those things have a funny way of sneaking up on you (wait, isn’t that a song?), and it would probably be easier to just pay up.

Daniela

[dilanium]

I'm sure if you contact them and explain the situation they'll be able to help you with either payment plans or by reducing the amount owed.

[norma]

If you've paid any of your previous bills with these companies through your bank account then you are traceable through your IRD number (which all banks request when you open an account). I'm assuming that you'll be using the same IRD number when you return? Pay them off then it's one less thing to worry about.

[bobo]

If you've paid any of your previous bills with these companies through your bank account then you are traceable through your IRD number (which all banks request when you open an account). I'm assuming that you'll be using the same IRD number when you return? Pay them off then it's one less thing to worry about.

You dont need to give the bank any IRD details. (well ANZ and ASB did not ask me when I opened my accounts)

[James 1077]

You dont need to give the bank any IRD details. (well ANZ and ASB did not ask me when I opened my accounts)

If you haven't given them the details then they will withhold tax on any interest earned at 38% before paying it to you (it could be as high as 45% but, in practice, they don't go higher than the top rate of tax.

If you at earning enough to pay the top rate of tax then you are best to provide your number to the bank so that they withhold tax at the correct rate.

[walshy]

Hi Walshy

You seem to think that you have the right to make your own rules as you go along. What a great contribution to NZ you will be!

Oh sorry, you didn't want any condescending remarks, did you?

Cheers

HilaYes, cheers for that, I am sure you have never made a mistake yourself in your life , good for you.

[walshy]

Well I made contact with trustpower, telecom and sky last night and arrannged payment, trustpower and sky had not gone to default yet, telecom had but they have agreed to remove it from my file which was decent of them, so i feel much better and can return with my credit file intact.

[benhila]

Yes, cheers for that, I am sure you have never made a mistake yourself in your life , good for you.

Hi Walshy

I was under the (apparently mistaken) impression that you were looking for ways to try and avoid payment which, quite honestly, *^%$"£ me off. Yes, of course I've made mistakes along the way and wasn't always courageous enough to admit/correct them either. For whatever it's worth, well done!

Hila


__________________

[catt]

Just interested............what made you change your mind and want to come back to NZ?

[JandM]

Here http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=25054 is the thread where Walshy talked about going back to the UK from NZ, and then in due course, about going back again from the UK to NZ.

[Mamee & Co]

Walshy

Well done for getting it sorted out. I remember being in default on my library books by a good few months. Things had jsut gotten on top of me. I was pleasantly surprised how little it was...I had even taken my cheque book with me to pay the fine.

It is hard to initiate that contact but I lay bets that you feel a lot better now and will definitely feel better about landing again. Good Luck with the move.

[dusk]

seconded :)

[925dancer]

Just a quick point about credit files in NZ. I used to do credit checks on tenants as a property manager and they are different to the UK where they trace you through given addresses. In NZ you are traced by name, date of birth and if possible, drivers license so not giving a past address will be of no use as your credit file will still show them! Word of warning for you all.

[bobo]

If you haven't given them the details then they will withhold tax on any interest earned at 38% before paying it to you (it could be as high as 45% but, in practice, they don't go higher than the top rate of tax.

If you at earning enough to pay the top rate of tax then you are best to provide your number to the bank so that they withhold tax at the correct rate.

I appreciate that was just making the point that you don’t need to give the bank your IRD number. The bank will still open an account for you

[talisker]

And yes, I know we should have paid them, I really do so no condescending remarks please.

You know that you should have paid the bills, so I don't quite understand the issue here. Surely you can just pay the bills now? It might be a bit of a hassle doing it from overseas, but it's still possible. I would have thought that the delay is unlikely to create any credit file problems if you explain the situation to them.

[newarrival]

I think it is all sorted out by now?!

[Ben2008]

You will need to assess how much is the amount you are owing both by company and in total.

If you pass a threshold of tolerance say NZD10K (u need to check this) then, the company may commence action against you.

Now, once they commence, then it will become part of a public record ie court documents etc.

If they obtain judgement, they will need to locate you and serve you in the UK. If they cannot find u, then you are ok. Also the legal fees vis a viv is the amount owed is also a factor to pursue u in UK.

In this age of internet, its very easy to find someone. Also, a credit belmish could turn up in a court document that is posted online. Court documents are public documents.

My suggestion is to write to them and apologise for the oversight and propose a settlement sum or a repayment package. With internet banking you can practically pay from anywhere in the world.

My advise: Do not cheat and you sleep well.

[jonSE]

When we left NZ I left about $450 in our NZ bank account after the final bills were paid. I spent about 300 of this paying for stuff on trademe (No paypal) within a few months. Roll on 4 years and we're in Chch visitng with time to kill so I thought may as well close the account and get the $150 so went into the ASB and asked to close the account. Your account is closed as it was overdrawn $300 and we couldn't contact you I was told. Seems I'ld forgotten about the account charges oops. Do you pursue the "debt" I asked. In this case they didn't as the debt was purely charges for the account lying idle for 4 years, and they'ld had $150 for doing absolutely nothing. I scarpered before they could change their minds.

[woodynz]

Don't worry about it if you're not coming back here. Serious bad debt is generally passed on to either a collections agency like Baycorp or the courts collections department. Mind you, some of these agencies have rather good capabilities for recovering debts overseas, especially in other commonwealth countries.

You really have to consider how big your utility bills are and whether you feel it's worth a recovery agency spending serious money trying to find you. If not, then you should be fine. I have had friends and old flatmates leave the country with big bills owing and had debt recovery officers arrive at our house 1 - 2 years later asking for them. So that just goes to show that some are not very well resourced as far as knowing where people are or if they're even still in the country or not.

It seems most people on this forum feel you should act morally and pay what you owe. Often I'd agree, but with these large corporations, good on you if you can get away with it. People don't think about the fact that Telecom have ripped off New Zealanders for years by monopolising the communications network and stifling the development of broadband, thus affecting technology, business and educational growth.

[M-Squared]

Walshy, good on ya for arranging to get your debts paid off. Are you back in NZ now? I think the term "ping-pong-pom" might fit! :D :laugh ;)