Student Credit Card not paid back

avocado009

I've a student credit card with BOI , from a few years ago, which I haven't paid back.
The situation is like this:
- the limit on the card is 850euros, but now fees added up and I've to pay back 1000
- I'm currently back in my home country, but I had lived and worked in Dublin for over 10years
- I'm not hiding or anything, BOI have my current adress and they sent me plenty of warnings in recent months
- I'd really like to pay the money back and get rid of all the letters, but I just don't have the means; as I said , I've moved back to my home country and living with my parents; also no job at the moment
- During the last phone call from BOI I was kind of warned that my debt will be passed to solicitors or their legal department and I will be sued soon ( or something like that)

As I said, I'm lucky enough to have a roof over my head now and eat, with help from my parents wich are pensioners. (I'm applying for jobs everyday but nothing seems to come up)

Now, does anyone know , what is going to happen next?I just don't want to end up in court or paying court fees or God knows what. I'm fearing the worst.
Any kind of advice is much apreciated.

Wanderer78

avocado009 wrote: »

I've a student credit card with BOI , from a few years ago, which I haven't paid back.
The situation is like this:
- the limit on the card is 850euros, but now fees added up and I've to pay back 1000
- I'm currently back in my home country, but I had lived and worked in Dublin for over 10years
- I'm not hiding or anything, BOI have my current adress and they sent me plenty of warnings in recent months
- I'd really like to pay the money back and get rid of all the letters, but I just don't have the means; as I said , I've moved back to my home country and living with my parents; also no job at the moment
- During the last phone call from BOI I was kind of warned that my debt will be passed to solicitors or their legal department and I will be sued soon ( or something like that)

As I said, I'm lucky enough to have a roof over my head now and eat, with help from my parents wich are pensioners. (I'm applying for jobs everyday but nothing seems to come up)

Now, does anyone know , what is going to happen next?I just don't want to end up in court or paying court fees or God knows what. I'm fearing the worst.
Any kind of advice is much apreciated.

Mr.S wrote: »

Contact BOI and offer to pay back X amount each month. They usually work with you on what you can pay back.

Don't just ignore it, that €1000 will keep going up and up with interest fees and late payments and destroying your credit rating.

If you don't arrange a payment plan, your debt will be sold to a debt collector who will hound you for payment, and potentially bring you to court to recover the amount owed.

Can your parents help and give you the 1k to pay off BOI? Better to owe them money than a bank or debit collector.

i suspect not

landofthetree

If it's longer that 6 years you can just ignore them.

This means that if your creditor does not start the court action within 6 years of the debt being due, the action is statute-barred. Effectively, that means that you cannot be forced to pay the debt.

Dardania

landofthetree wrote: »

If it's longer that 6 years you can just ignore them.

Potentially irresponsible advice - source?

avocado009

Mr.S wrote: »

Contact BOI and offer to pay back X amount each month. They usually work with you on what you can pay back.

Don't just ignore it, that €1000 will keep going up and up with interest fees and late payments and destroying your credit rating.

If you don't arrange a payment plan, your debt will be sold to a debt collector who will hound you for payment, and potentially bring you to court to recover the amount owed.

Can your parents help and give you the 1k to pay off BOI? Better to owe them money than a bank or debit collector.

I cannot afford to pay back at the moment, not even 5e/month. When I get a job, I'll pay back something.
I'm not ignoring it, that's the reason I signed up on this forum, to ask for advice.

My both parents' pensions in a month don't even add up to 1k.
I know 1k is not a lot, but I'm just in dire straits at the minute, it's just the way it is.
But I supose if the worse come to worst, I'll have to borrow from someone. I don't want to pay debit collector extra fees or go to court etc
If only they could somehow freeze the debt, just for a year, I'm sure I'd be in a better situation by then.

Anyway thanks for your advice.

Darc19

landofthetree wrote: »

If it's longer that 6 years you can just ignore them.

You need to understand what statute of limitations means before throwing it out there.

Such mis information gets people in an awful lot of trouble and strife because they decided to believe someone on the internet.

1. The 6 years time limit applies from the last date of acknowledgement. In this case, probably last week.

2. Statute of limitations is simply a defense in any court action. So it simply prevents a legal process

3. Even with statute of limitations, the debt can remain on your record for years.

For the poster, tell them you don't have the means at present, but once you start a job you will commence payments.

landofthetree

Dardania wrote: »

Potentially irresponsible advice - source?

Time limits/Statute of Limitations
There are time limits (limitation periods) for taking most types of court action. These time limits are set either in the Statute of Limitations 1957, as amended, or in specific legislation dealing with the court issue involved.

The law in relation to time limits is complex but, in general, the time limit for taking actions for breach of contract (for example, failure to pay for goods or services provided), for debt judgments and for non-payment of charges such as rent is 6 years. This means that if your creditor does not start the court action within 6 years of the debt being due, the action is statute-barred. Effectively, that means that you cannot be forced to pay the debt.

If your creditor gets a judgment, then, in general, they have 12 years in which to enforce that judgment.

The general rules do not apply to taxes. There is a 4-year time limit on the Revenue Commissioners seeking tax from you and there is a 4-year time limit on you seeking repayment of taxes that you were not due to pay. However, if there is any fraud or neglect, there is no time limit.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/personal_finance/debt/glossary_of_debt_terms.html

bunderoon

Ring the bank and sort it out asap.
Or you will get a bad credit rating and regardless of the rule that the bad rating should be cleared when it's X amount of years old, it won't. I speak from experience. I had a disagreement over an overcharge of 100 pounds (pre2000) and it followed me for more than 10 years. Only when I got a good job and showed payments/savings was I able to be a credit card/mortgage/loans.

This is serious stuff, don't ignore it.

landofthetree

avocado009 wrote: »

I cannot afford to pay back at the moment, not even 5e/month. When I get a job, I'll pay back something.
I'm not ignoring it, that's the reason I signed up on this forum, to ask for advice.

My both parents' pensions in a month don't even add up to 1k.
I know 1k is not a lot, but I'm just in dire straits at the minute, it's just the way it is.
But I supose if the worse come to worst, I'll have to borrow from someone. I don't want to pay debit collector extra fees or go to court etc
If only they could somehow freeze the debt, just for a year, I'm sure I'd be in a better situation by then.

Anyway thanks for your advice.

If it goes to court they will look to get what is called an installment order.

It's basically an order from the court saying how much you will have to pay back each month.

But as you're unemployed it's highly unlikely a judge would make an order against you.

https://www.stubbsgazette.ie/news/the-irish-courts

It is unusual for a District Court judge to give an Instalment Order against an unemployed debtor.

But if you don't turn up to the court an order will be made against you. The judge will assume you can pay.

is_that_so

landofthetree wrote: »

If it's longer that 6 years you can just ignore them.

How is this in any way helpful?

TheW1zard

The best thing to do is to ring the bank and negotiate something.
Don't borrow money.

Once you take control of the situation you will feel a lot better.
Realistically they are not going to take you to court. If they go down the debt collecting agency route, tell the debt collectors you will give the money to the bank not them. If at that point the bank wont take your money, forget about it.
Don't give money to a stranger at the door anyways.

Remember, it will all be fine. You're financially richer than most, most people owe a lot more than a grand to the bank, myself included!
Main thing is take control.

avocado009

bunderoon wrote: »

Ring the bank and sort it out asap.
Or you will get a bad credit rating and regardless of the rule that the bad rating should be cleared when it's X amount of years old, it won't. I speak from experience. I had a disagreement over an overcharge of 100 pounds (pre2000) and it followed me for more than 10 years. Only when I got a good job and showed payments/savings was I able to be a credit card/mortgage/loans.

This is serious stuff, don't ignore it.

I'm not.

As I said, I'm not an Irish citizen and don't live in Ireland aymore. So the bad credit rating does not matter to me. I don't plan to be back in Ireland any soon, much lees to get another loan or to buy a house etc

avocado009

TheW1zard wrote: »

The best thing to do is to ring the bank and negotiate something.
Don't borrow money.

Once you take control of the situation you will feel a lot better.
Realistically they are not going to take you to court. If they go down the debt collecting agency route, tell the debt collectors you will give the money to the bank not them. If at that point the bank wont take your money, forget about it.
Don't give money to a stranger at the door anyways.

Remember, it will all be fine. You're financially richer than most, most people owe a lot more than a grand to the bank, myself included!
Main thing is take control.

That sounds very reassuring, thanks.
Indeed I've payed all my taxes and never had troubles whatsoever with banks or with the law while in Ireland. It's just this 1k credit card I cannot sort atm.
I suppose I'll call them in the next few days( even that costs money) and hopefully they'll understand.

bunderoon

avocado009 wrote: »

I'm not.

As I said, I'm not an Irish citizen and don't live in Ireland aymore. So the bad credit rating does not matter to me. I don't plan to be back in Ireland any soon, much lees to get another loan or to buy a house etc

How about paying your debt as it's yours?

gwalk

bunderoon wrote: »

How about paying your debt as it's yours?

exactly

its mad how some people have no shame or sense of responsibility

then the "iGnOrE tHeM iT wIlL gO aWaY" or "StAtUte oF LiMiTaTiOnS BLAH BLAH BLAH" chirp in to encourage them,

you ran up a debt your responsibility to pay it

avocado009

bunderoon wrote: »

How about paying your debt as it's yours?

That I will do I promise. As soon as things get better.

By the way, Ireland is a great country inhabited by great and generous people.

avocado009

Mr.S wrote: »

Future foreign bank will likely ask for an Irish credit report if you where a resident for 10+ years, especially if you don’t have enough of a credit rating in your home country.

Pay the debt even if it’s €10 a month, ignoring it will make the charges higher and cause an even bigger headache. Surely you have some sort of state income or allowance while being unemployed?

I don't have any help or allowance, I'm a student atm. In October I'll be in my second year full-time at university pursuing a degree.

avocado009

Mr.S wrote: »

But surely you get some money from someone? How do you pay for transport, food etc?

Totally understand it’s a hard position, but the bank will work with you on whatever you can pay back, no matter how small.

Once you start paying at least something back, the banks will ease off on the demand letters.

Last year, while studying, I spent whatever savings I had left.
And now my parents help me with food and whatever else they can.

Transport money I don't need, I usually walk; and I don't get out much anyway, that's money too.