# Owing Money



## Joe Dredd

Hi There,

I left Spain a few years ago now and unfortunately in a bad way. Therefore I left some debt on a credit card, under 2000 euros, and perhaps 500 to vodaphone. I also handed back a car that was on finance to the bank. There was also som unpaid income tax

My question is that if now I go back for a holiday, would I get stopped for owing this money?

Any help appreciated, cheers. I know not all will approve, but it was necessary at the time, and there are far worse offenders


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## djfwells

Hopefully you will.


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## gus-lopez

djfwells said:


> Hopefully you will.


:rofl:


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## jojo

I dont know the answer, but maybe you should be prepared to pay it back. I've heard that money owed in Spain by brits is now being chased more avidly, altho maybe thats for larger amounts, but as a member of europe you cant hide so easily anymore. My point is that whether you come to Spain or not, they may well find you!!!!!

Jo xxx


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## nigele2

Joe Dredd said:


> Hi There,
> 
> I left Spain a few years ago now and unfortunately in a bad way. Therefore I left some debt on a credit card, under 2000 euros, and perhaps 500 to vodaphone. I also handed back a car that was on finance to the bank. There was also som unpaid income tax
> 
> My question is that if now I go back for a holiday, would I get stopped for owing this money?
> 
> Any help appreciated, cheers. I know not all will approve, but it was necessary at the time, and there are far worse offenders


Joe this is an interesting one that I am sure effects a fair number of people. As you say not all will approve if any, even you, but it happened 

Obviously the best thing would be to clear the debts but that can be more complicated than at first it appears. By offering to pay you could open up an action against you or a claim based on a very high interest rate when had you left well alone nothing would have happened. I would suggest acting through a third party abogado whatever you do.

Often these things can be settled by making a reasonable offer but you are dealing here with 4 separate organisations.

I have a friend in the UK who had historic credit card debts and these a financial advisor managed to settle and clear the credit history sufficiently to get a mortgage. Basically with historic debt they will settle for something. 

I believe Vodafone will have written it off so you can forget them.

You say you 'handed back the car'? Did that leave a residue?

And then there is the big one; income tax. 

If I was you I'd clear the latter. Unless one of your creditors has taken formal legal action I believe you being as a tourist linked to your past is unlikely - accept for the revenue. They presumably have your current passport number that you would use?

While I would not condone what you did it appears not to be a premeditated crime but an act of desperation. It happens. But for you to fear entering spain for the rest of your life and spain not to benefit from your tourist spend seems rather stupid.

Do let us know what you do even if it is a post from a spanish prison cell


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## Stravinsky

nigele2 said:


> While I would not condone what you did it appears not to be a premeditated crime but an act of desperation. It happens. But for you to fear entering spain for the rest of your life and spain not to benefit from your tourist spend seems rather stupid.


Im sure the OP may have been acting in desperation ... we have all had difficult periods in our life. However what goes around comes around. I'm guessing if you can now afford to take a holiday in Spain then you might be able to address the problem that you left behind. Maybe you should ...... unless you find it easier to just leave it behind because its in another country


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## Beachcomber

AEAT and HMRC now have a reciprocal arrangement for the collection of unpaid taxes including capital gains tax not covered by the 3% retention as well as income tax and IVA. Depending on the amount involved, one thing of which you can be certain is that they will catch up with you sooner or later regardless of whether or not you return to Spain.


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## Joe Dredd

nigele2 said:


> Joe this is an interesting one that I am sure effects a fair number of people. As you say not all will approve if any, even you, but it happened
> 
> Obviously the best thing would be to clear the debts but that can be more complicated than at first it appears. By offering to pay you could open up an action against you or a claim based on a very high interest rate when had you left well alone nothing would have happened. I would suggest acting through a third party abogado whatever you do.
> 
> Often these things can be settled by making a reasonable offer but you are dealing here with 4 separate organisations.
> 
> I have a friend in the UK who had historic credit card debts and these a financial advisor managed to settle and clear the credit history sufficiently to get a mortgage. Basically with historic debt they will settle for something.
> 
> I believe Vodafone will have written it off so you can forget them.
> 
> You say you 'handed back the car'? Did that leave a residue?
> 
> And then there is the big one; income tax.
> 
> If I was you I'd clear the latter. Unless one of your creditors has taken formal legal action I believe you being as a tourist linked to your past is unlikely - accept for the revenue. They presumably have your current passport number that you would use?
> 
> While I would not condone what you did it appears not to be a premeditated crime but an act of desperation. It happens. But for you to fear entering spain for the rest of your life and spain not to benefit from your tourist spend seems rather stupid.
> 
> Do let us know what you do even if it is a post from a spanish prison cell


Hi Nigele,

Thanks for the reply. As I said I was not intending to leave, but the economy as we all know collapsed. The car was left for the finance company to recover, but I would expect they would have wanted to charge me a cancellation fee of 1.5% of the vlaue of the car., or the difference in value from depreciation. (it wasnt a mercedes or anything like that !!)

I suppose I am mainly concerned with being stopped at the airport. With the income tax I know it expires after 5 years, and i think I am correct in saying debt is still a civil matter, not a legal crime. If someone put a denuncia against me for these bills, can I get stopped for that?

If i contact a lawyer with my old N.I.E can they check these things, if there are any cases against me?

In terms of a holiday, the flights are not too bad, and I have family I would like to visit. I am by no means a millionare suddenly, but wary.

Any other comments would be appreciated.


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## Beachcomber

The statute of limitation on the collection of taxes only applies if they have not taken any action to recover them. If a file has already been opened against you and efforts have been made to inform you there is no limitation on how long it could take.

If you wish to check for yourself you could try entering your name or NIE number or both into the search facility of the BOP of the province in which you were located.


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## Joe Dredd

Hi, 

Thanks for the reply. Excuse my ignorance, but what is the BOP where I could search?

Cheers


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## Beachcomber

The BOP is the official bulletin of the province, a bit like the London Gazette.

Each province has its own bulletin so you need to access the one that covers the province in which you lived. If you do not wish to reveal this in an open forum just type into Google BOP and the name of the province like so:

BOP Malaga

Find the search page (Buscador) and follow the instructions.


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## Joe Dredd

Thanks, I have come up 6 times. Just need to translate it now. Does it show if there is a denuncia or court case then?


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## Beachcomber

It will just show the bare bones of the case.

If you feature in an entry specific to you there may be more information than if your name appears in a long list together with many others. Some of the six entries may refer to the same item.

The publication of your name in the bulletin serves as notification of the situation for whatever they are trying to contact you, in just the same way as though you had signed for a registered letter.


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## Joe Dredd

Beachcomber said:


> It will just show the bare bones of the case.
> 
> If you feature in an entry specific to you there may be more information than if your name appears in a long list together with many others. Some of the six entries may refer to the same item.
> 
> The publication of your name in the bulletin serves as notification of the situation for whatever they are trying to contact you, in just the same way as though you had signed for a registered letter.


Well, so far I can only see something relating to an unpaid road tax bill and a traffic offence when I wasnt even in the country !!! Also something to do with the local council i lived in, but i rented.

Anyway, doesnt appear to be anything serious, but I will get a lawyer to check it out and see what I can sort out.

Cheers, any other advice welcome


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