A Girl Banned Starting All Over Again - Financial Advice

Hello all,

I am new here and have a few questions.
I will give you a quick introduction to my situation and am hoping to receive some decent advice.
I lived in the USA for 16 and a half years, had filed for asylum, my application remained in the system for 13 years. I paid my taxes dutifully, I worked legally, I paid all my bills up to date. Held 3 jobs at a time, although, during the 2007/08 economy bust, I had to opt for one single full time job. I spent hundreds of thousands on lawyer's fees, had 4 different lawyers... luck wasn’t on my side. First lawyer retired, passed my case to a lawyer who died a year in, I hired another one who was a bit of a con men and lost his license due to taking a photograph inside of a federal bldg. The last lawyer was great, knowledgeable and straight to the point, explained to me at it would most likely take another 4 years for me to have the right to leave the country and return, many of the forms in my case were filled late, wrong, the case was marked as abandoned a couple of times... a mess.
Last year I married an British National, the plan was that he would relocate to the USA, however the company he works for decided to not accept any permanent transfers after the 2016 Presidential Election.
So, we applied for me to relocate to the UK. I received my visa, paid all the fees, just moved here (literally less than week ago), collected my BRP and am a legal resident.
Last November I lost my job in the USA, with that I had no more means of supporting myself in the country.
Here comes my current dilemma, I have some credit card debt in the USA. I am also banned to returning to the country for the next 10 years, I had a pending notice of removal and as long as I had a case going, I could work, live there but if I left the country the notice of removal would become active and the 10 years ban would follow. I was detained upon entering the USA (that explains the notice of removal). Since I've just arrived here, I don't have a job yet, my husband can't afford helping me pay my debts there. My SS number in the USA is only valid with work permit card, the same expired and since I lost my job in November and wasn't sure about my future, I decided that I would wait until the New Year in order to renew it, if I had to remain in the USA.
I can't sleep at night because I have no means of paying my debts in the USA at the moment. I am not a criminal and I my conscience doesn't allow me to rest. I have nothing else to sell in order to fulfill my debt with my creditors. I have stellar credit in the USA. Never acquired any late fees, never bounced a check, never even got a traffic ticket!
What can I do? How will these debt affect my life in the UK? Will it be transferred to my husband? Will it affect his credit here in the UK?
I am trying to negotiate the debt, I sold my vehicle, I sold my furniture, but some creditors are not willing to work on a payment plan. I have about US$12,500.00 left to pay on credit cards. Most of it was used to cover medical expenses during a period I had no insurance. A minimum amount was used to cover normal living expenses when I had to stay home to recover from radiotherapy and couldn't work.
What are my options?
I need to clarify that I have no plans of living in the USA again. After all of what I went through there, I must confess I am slightly traumatized. I have no family there or anywhere else. I only have my husband and I am terrified that my current debt will send us down an abyss.
All and any advices are deeply appreciated!

M.O.

I would start by contacting a debt consolidation company.

Hello all,

I am new here and have a few questions.
I will give you a quick introduction to my situation and am hoping to receive some decent advice.
I lived in the USA for 16 and a half years, had filed for asylum, my application remained in the system for 13 years. I paid my taxes dutifully, I worked legally, I paid all my bills up to date. Held 3 jobs at a time, although, during the 2007/08 economy bust, I had to opt for one single full time job. I spent hundreds of thousands on lawyer's fees, had 4 different lawyers... luck wasn’t on my side. First lawyer retired, passed my case to a lawyer who died a year in, I hired another one who was a bit of a con men and lost his license due to taking a photograph inside of a federal bldg. The last lawyer was great, knowledgeable and straight to the point, explained to me at it would most likely take another 4 years for me to have the right to leave the country and return, many of the forms in my case were filled late, wrong, the case was marked as abandoned a couple of times... a mess.
Last year I married an British National, the plan was that he would relocate to the USA, however the company he works for decided to not accept any permanent transfers after the 2016 Presidential Election.
So, we applied for me to relocate to the UK. I received my visa, paid all the fees, just moved here (literally less than week ago), collected my BRP and am a legal resident.
Last November I lost my job in the USA, with that I had no more means of supporting myself in the country.
Here comes my current dilemma, I have some credit card debt in the USA. I am also banned to returning to the country for the next 10 years, I had a pending notice of removal and as long as I had a case going, I could work, live there but if I left the country the notice of removal would become active and the 10 years ban would follow. I was detained upon entering the USA (that explains the notice of removal). Since I've just arrived here, I don't have a job yet, my husband can't afford helping me pay my debts there. My SS number in the USA is only valid with work permit card, the same expired and since I lost my job in November and wasn't sure about my future, I decided that I would wait until the New Year in order to renew it, if I had to remain in the USA.
I can't sleep at night because I have no means of paying my debts in the USA at the moment. I am not a criminal and I my conscience doesn't allow me to rest. I have nothing else to sell in order to fulfill my debt with my creditors. I have stellar credit in the USA. Never acquired any late fees, never bounced a check, never even got a traffic ticket!
What can I do? How will these debt affect my life in the UK? Will it be transferred to my husband? Will it affect his credit here in the UK?
I am trying to negotiate the debt, I sold my vehicle, I sold my furniture, but some creditors are not willing to work on a payment plan. I have about US$12,500.00 left to pay on credit cards. Most of it was used to cover medical expenses during a period I had no insurance. A minimum amount was used to cover normal living expenses when I had to stay home to recover from radiotherapy and couldn't work.
What are my options?
I need to clarify that I have no plans of living in the USA again. After all of what I went through there, I must confess I am slightly traumatized. I have no family there or anywhere else. I only have my husband and I am terrified that my current debt will send us down an abyss.
All and any advices are deeply appreciated!

M.O.

I don't think the debt can fall to your husband as a foreign national, but I would contact any companies that you are unable to make current payments to in order to make arrangements if they were current when you left. I am dealing with significant medical bills even with insurance so you are not alone in that situation. If the companies are not responsive individually then I'd contact a debt counselling service in the US. Once you have a job you can continue paying the debt, but you may want to consolidate it if you can.

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I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, but is only my interpretation from having done a lot of reading on the subject about 10 years ago. Depending on the US state in which you resided, there is a almost assuredly statute of limitations on consumer debt collection. Similarly, negative payment info would roll off your USA credit report in about 7 years. If the lenders are not willing to negotiate a settlement (pennies on the dollar) or to make repayment arrangements you can afford, it will be their loss.  It would cost them a ridiculous amount of money to pursue you outside the USA. If you only actually owe $12,500, I doubt they'd bother. 

What would probably happen is that your USA credit report will turn ugly for a while if you do not pay your debts. You can add a statement to the report if you wish - stating that you have no resources due to medical circumstances beyond your control and the creditors are unwilling to compromise. It's possible the debt will be sold and resold and resold, and you might be contacted by whomever ends up with it, threatening all sorts of mayhem if you don't pay up. At least, in the States that might happen. However, since they can't get blood out of a rock.... again, depending on the state laws in place, once the statute of limitations is up, it's over. 

It's my understanding that (and this would bear checking on) if you take on a debt before you are married, that debt is yours and not your husbands. Even in a community property state, I don't think a debt incurred prior to marriage can be considered as belonging to the spouse. I don't think. (?)

Don't forget that you can take a certain amount of your medical costs, if they are high enough, off your taxes and increase your IRS refund.

While it's always the best to pay what you owe, if you cannot, you cannot.