Does anyone know of an organisation that can help you to negotiate the repayment of debts? I had credit cards that got out of control when I was married and my ex has left me with the debt. The problem is that the cards were in my name. The cards were cancelled a while ago by the bank and I believe the debt has been sold to a collection agency.
Obviously I don't want to let the bank or collection company know where I am located. I want to repay the debt but haven't a clue how to start. So I need help. Also I have no idea what other debts my ex might have accummulated without my knowledge. He has now left HK and I'm left holding it all. Obviously I can't afford a solicitor. Any help / advise would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to be a bad debtor.
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Maybe start with the Community Advice Bureau and ask them to point you in the right direction. See:
http://www.cab.org.hk/index.html
Otherwise, Caritas offers debt counselling:
http://www.gamblercaritas.org.hk/about_e.htm
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Thanks for the note will do.
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Dear Doggie,
I really don't want to declare bankruptcy, I want to pay my debt, but I need to be able to structure it properly and need assistance to do so.
Surely there must be someone out there who can help with this. I've contacted various 'debt collection' places but they only act on behalf of the creditor.
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owner
20 yrs ago
mind my asking, i know i am being impertinent here, whaat kind of figure are we talking about here, six figures? seven?
i am always in awe of people who supposedly live honest, above board wonderful life and get themselves on a situation where a huge a mount of money is involved and they cant get it. meaning no friends to help them solve their problems?
i mean fine if it is a seven figure debt we are talking about here.
but i have known people who have even easy four figures situation and cant find anyone to help them. i mean yeah, there are those who dont deserve to be helped. but really i find it amusing in this town, sometimes a hundred dollar debt being left unpaid. thus when one needs even to borrow fifty dollars, no one would dare lend.
you have the intention to pay. you have the resources to be able to pay. and it was not even your own debt. how much more rep do you need? if i had still access to unlimited resources, my dear, i would easily just round off the figure and you pay your below the iq scale ex-husband's debts , so you could sit down, take a deep breath and in your flannel pajamas go to bed and sleep soundly. tomorrow will be another day.
or i am the more moron that i suggest that? well i did do that a lot of times in my life and honestly have nothing left in my name at the moment, yet have never regretted doing that.
or am i really the only one? cmon, believe me, there are others out there like me. if it is just the shuffle of the cards, wait for it my dear, the god/goddess will come into your life and sort all these sordid problems you are facing.
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owner
20 yrs ago
> green: what was strange with my reply? i was asking 1. the extent of the debt involve 2. if it was not a telephone number figure debt, i thought there would be friends/family members who would rally behind the poster to lend her the money to pay the creditors, then she owes only one entity: then they could work out a doable repayment scheme. 3. i said if i was still in access to some funds (which i did in the past) i could lend her the amount. and unfortunately as i admit i dont have that in me now.
now re: cab. the cab is an ADVISORY BUREAU. you know where you ask them what/how/where to do things in hong kong if you are a newbie in this pressure cooker town. i dont think they are a lending/banking/financial insitute at all that will do what you suggest. OR AM I WRONG? hmmmmm
well i think as usual i poked my fingers the wrong way again.
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owner
20 yrs ago
oops green i did said "if i had still access to unlimited"...suggesting IF I...right?
and as i do not...isnt it tooo sad that the poster has no one as in friends or family she could turn to?
as i said she has the intentions to pay, she has the resources (as in job) to pay.
she needs an angel banker. (as in similar to angel investor?)
actually i do know a lot of people being hunted down by debt collectors who just move out from their previous addresses, and are still doing okey. of course downside of running away from credit card bills like hsbc and amex is you have to get boc or other less preferred by employers in terms of auto pay for salary kind of banks. hsbc and hangseng and standard charter will close your account right? now working in hkg you need to have an account for auto pay right? go figure....
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Dear All,
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I do not wish to declare bankruptcy, I would like to find an organisation that can help me ascertain the extent of debt that my ex has left me in.
Once I know the extent of the debt, to then have the same organisation talk to the creditors, and negotiate some form of repayment scheme.
The problem that I am encountering is that if I try to talk to a credit collection company directly they will then be able to track me down and try to force me into a repayment scheme that I might not be able to handle, etc, and I don't know the ropes. I haven't been in debt before. After 8½ years, I am in a worse situation financially than I was when I met my ex.
The one big thing is this, it is now my responsibility and not my friends or family, it is mine and therefore I need to repay it.
I hope there is an organisation that can advise and show you the ropes for doing this. Does any one know of one. Caritas seems to be primarily for people with gambling issues - something I don't have.
Thanks
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owner
20 yrs ago
wow wowoww. you mean you dont even know the extent of the debts?
first things first: assemble all the past bills you had received in a table. then
1. count the number of credit cards you have.
2. basing from the bills i suppose you could already have a good idea of the amount owed.
3. put together which debt collector to which bank credit and the statement.
3. from the credit collectors diabolic letters, there is a number and a name to call. use a public phone or some other untreaceble difrectly to you phone. use the public phone in say the excelsior or any other hotel lobby or park n shop and wellcome.
4. ask the person how much exactly do you owe as you are going to pay but emphasize you need to know how much you owe the bank.
5. when done with every creditor. you have now the full extent of the debts you have.
now this is the tricky part. because you must have a way to say what part or how much only you could be paying.
say bank a=10000, bank b=45000, bank 3=50000
total debts 105k.
thing is you can only afford to pay 10,000 a month. go to bank a b and c directly i mean personally with a small amount of the 10K in cash. the bank will not turn you away. you have the cash. small but cash. then they will talk to you. then you tell them your story.
am i making sense here?
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Hi Owner,
Yes you're making sense. What you're kind of missing the point of is that there could be debts out there, that I don't know about which my ex ran up. He managed to do it with the rent, the credit cards and the club bills - thats what I've found out so far. He was always home before me so I never saw the demand notes, etc. He could quite easily have run up more that I don't know about. I have moved since the split.
I need a company that can help me find out and then help me to negotiate with those creditors.
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owner
20 yrs ago
yes i know about the other debts. as in if you have spare time right now absorbe the scenario: you started as a couple here right? or maybe you were a couple once right? so as a couple you had your provisionary tax return which if you both decide to leave town it willbe a sort of a surety for some unpaid taxes whatever whatever. what i do know is most people when they say they are leaving hong kong the provisionary tax will be applied to the concurrent tax and then viola you will be now left to face a bigger tax bill as a miss, as you will face a new provisionary tax. or perhaps be like my itelligent ex-husband and just left hkg with a 100K plus tax bill i was nicely asked by the tax man how i will settle it. and all i said to mr taxman is shove the bill to the parts they would rather not know.i stood hard on that. bill not in my name now.
club bills. ah you planning to go back to them places? i didnt so why would you when the club membership i presum was for mr and mrs?
see the credit cards were probably in your name. thats just about it.
but whatever he owed he borrowed using his id card his name his signature.
not unless you were tooo blind too stoned too drunk to have signed without knowing what you signed? language issues here?
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The banks who issued the credit cards would have approached a credit reference agency before issuing the cards. You are entitled to know what info those agencies hold about you. That would be an easy way to find out about any bad debts your ex ran up in your name. Get a friend to seek a reference on you as a prospective tenant, perhaps. For example:
http://www.referencecheck.hk/Authorization%20for%20Release%20of%20Information%20made%20by%20applicant.pdf
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Hi Burgundy,
Thanks for the advise.
Owner, the club membership is in my name, I was the primary earner, he was a dependent, it's not that I was too stupid or too drunk, etc, but when you have a joint account, joint address, etc and I am the person who sponsored his visa, then I am liable for all debts he has accummulated.
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There is the Tung Wah Debt Counselling Centre, although I don't know if it can offer the help you require, or if it is Chinese-language only. Tel: 2548 0803.
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owner
20 yrs ago
i thought you will only be liable to any debt he had accumulated if you co-signed it with him. thus, if he borrowed from aeon , jcg, ua and promise and prime credit, i dont think you are liable for that.
so thats' one off your back to worry.
next aside from club bills, bar bills in places you two frequented is a good place to check. i know one husband who regularly went to one pub to go a drinking, had huge amount of money owed in the bar and owner of the bar also sort of introduced the husband to a loan shark and both (loan shark and bar owner)ｉ‧‧ knowing wifey had money to pay. need to check that out if you live outlying islands and them nt places where the pubs ted to be on a more friendlier relationship.
you may have sponsored his visa but as you are divorced now, i know it is none of your f business what his other debts are.
as a whole, i know you will only be liable to anything you have signed or as you say was started as a joint account as in the club bills, the house rent, and of course the credit cards.
but if he made debts on his own like to financing firms, dont think they could chase you on that.
and of course as i said the tax bill. that's a killer as i already envisioned myself serving time for killing my then ex husband when he did that to me.
THOK: here's me sounding like a cuckko but definitely an ally in your hour of need.
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Dear All,
Thank you for all your assistance, I will check with Tung Wah Debt people and hopefully will get this all resolved.
Thanks
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