experts plz advice urgent

[sarika81]

hello everyone thanks for reading my post i will really appreciate if experts advise on my case i am due to apply for my BC these month........my big concern is about the credit cards i used to have back in 2009... banks were charging me heavy interest i paid for about 2 years but i stopped paying them in 2009.....since then i used to receive letters from banks but i ignore it but now i dont receive any more letters and recently i even open a new bank account also......so will these thing effect my application please advice me and just to mention my all cards over all debts was around £10000........thanks for reading

[Casa]

Yes, the unpaid debts of which you appear to have made no attempt to clear, may well mean that your BC application is refused. See the following from the rules of 'Good Character'.
6.2 Debt
The decision maker will not normally refuse an application simply because the person is in debt, especially if loan repayments have been made as agreed or if acceptable efforts are being made to pay off accumulated debts. However, where a person deliberately and recklessly builds up debts and there is no
evidence of a serious intention to pay them off, the decision maker will normally refuse the application.


When the case worker makes a credit search on your name (which they will), the debts will almost certainly show up, wherever the information is currently being stored.

[sarika81]

thanks for your reply.........but i was just thinking when they havent checked by credit report when i got my ILR is it must for them to check now ?????.......and is it possible if i contact my creditors and make some arrangement first then apply for my BS plz reply thanks !!!!!

[CR001]

Immigration rules (visas & ILR) are very different to Nationality laws (good character requirement).

Based on your first post, you have made no effort at all since 2009 to sort this out (roughly 7 years). It would not surprise me if you have a few CCJs.

[Casa]

The 'Good Character' rule has recently been tightened and will probably have come into place since you applied for your ILR. I suggest you contact all your creditors and clear your debts before submitting a BC application to avoid the risk of refusal. Apart from which, I doubt that you would want your creditors to eventually catch up with you and apply to the court for an order of personal bankruptcy against you.

[sarika81]

thanks for your response.......if i dont find any CCJs on my name if i check online will it be ok ???..... i spoke to one of the solicitor he says after 6 years your credit report will be updated n can be cleared dont know how far is that true !!!!

[Casa]

I suggest you check with one of the credit agencies for a full report..the main ones are Experian, Equifax and Callcredit. They're likely to be the ones the HO use.

[CR001]

thanks for your response.......if i dont find any CCJs on my name if i check online will it be ok ???..... i spoke to one of the solicitor he says after 6 years your credit report will be updated n can be cleared dont know how far is that true !!!!

It is only cleared if you have paid the debts, it doesn't just magically disappear. You have not done anything and have just ignored the debt. You likely owe substantially more now than you did if there is interest, fees, debt collection fees or court costs added to the debt.

[ohara]

I'm pretty sure a CCJ is wiped after 6 years regardless of whether you have paid the debt. I had one wrongly on my credit report (slightly different name), I only found out about it when I first applied for a credit card and was refused. It was 5.5 years old so it was easier just to ride out the remaining 6 months and let it "expire" than contact all of the credit reference agencies to get it removed.

Sure enough, after the 6 years was up, it disappeared.

[ali_hsn]

hi,

as Casa suggested - it will be wise to obtain a credit report from agencies before applying for naturalisation.
Please note that in some cases the debt collectors might update records in case of unclear debts which refreshes the 6 year date on the file.

Being accepted for a bank account does not guarantee that your history has been wiped. Its not worth the risk, you might be refused citizenship and worst banned for 10 years

[sarika81]

thanks for all your comments......I will check my credit report and ccjs soon as you people have suggested if it is clear i will apply for my BC straight away if not then whatever on creditors i still have on my credit report i will start making them arrangements to pay them back.........so once i have a plan to pay back my debts started will be ok to apply for my bc that time or do i need to wait untill all my debts are clear please advice thanks !!!!1