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Yawning Man

Debt and Criminal records

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Ok

So a few months ago i had paid off a large debt to centerlink and was told that was that..or so i thought. A little over a month ago i got a call from debt collectors chasing 50 bucks. Since it was such a small amount i told them where to go and just decided to let centerlink take the money out themselves.

But something i didn't think about was that if centerlink takes the money out of my account due to my being unco-operative and having no intention to pay them the money, will this go on a criminal record?

I dont have a criminal record, have never done anything worthy of going on a criminal record, but if this were to happen, could i appeal the decision. As far as i know, it's fairly limiting in the countries you can visit and can fuck up a lot of your job opportunities.

Apologies if this is a noob question, but i have no understanding of our laws and am quite paranoid when centerlink is involved.

cheers

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I shouldn't think so man...for one you would need to charged and processed to get a record, it may affect your credit rating though, although I'm sure the big outstanding debt already took care of that.

Don't sweat it and just make a call to them and give your self some piece of mind.

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Nah man they won't give you a criminal record for $50 if it was around 100x i'd say worry then , the issue if its gone to a debt collector may be they have now aquired the debt , I deal with the wankers on a daily basis as the ATO is now doing the same transferring outstanding payments to debt collection agency . If the debt has actully been sold you will nee to pay the debt collector as centrelink has nothing to do with the debt now , if the collectior is acting on behalf of centrelink then paying them or let them deduct from a payment is still a viable option , but seriously just get it sorted I've got two black marks on my credit rating one from $15.49 from virgin mobile and another for a bit over $50 with vodafone if you think these large money hungry fuckwits won't destroy your ability to attain credit over petty amounts like $50 think again

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Mate once its been handed over to a debt collector, its no longer a centrelink issue.

You have to clear this up with the dept company. Thats is, end of story.

And it will hurt your credit rating bad if you don't pay, even if it was 2 dollars.

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If you can, just set it up so that $5 is taken out of your payment each fortnight, I even got them down to 50c once as I told them it was their fault they stuck the extra cash into my account, its not like its a rare thing either.

A lot of people I know did this in 99' after it got out that extra c'link cash could appear in ones account for a couple of hours around midnight on a Sunday, it was like a junkies wet dream.

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If you can, just set it up so that $5 is taken out of your payment each fortnight, I even got them down to 50c once as I told them it was their fault they stuck the extra cash into my account, its not like its a rare thing either.

A lot of people I know did this in 99' after it got out that extra c'link cash could appear in ones account for a couple of hours around midnight on a Sunday, it was like a junkies wet dream.

 

Yeah got let off $5000+ only cause i rang them told them they shouldn't be paying me on 6 occasions and I had the date and time as well as the person whose name i spoke to for every call thats back in 2003 , thankfully the last time i had to deal with them but i imagine they would have had amyriad of policy changes since then

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Hey guys

Thanks for the responses. Bit of a load off my shoulders. I guess i should be concerned with the damaged credit rating..or whatever the fuck that is. I honestly think financial issues and all the little niggly fucking problems that come with it are more trouble than they're worth. I've never had a lot of money and doubt that will ever change, so i'll deal with that when the time comes.

This WAS centerlinks mistake. A lady i talked to over the phone said that one last payment would come out of my bank account then i would pay off the rest with a cheque. The amount was printed on paper, official and i did my part. Fucked if i am going to help them. Thing that pisses me off the most is they treat me like a fucking moron and of course i cant prove it because of all their bullshit. How could a government department have SO MUCH miscommunication amoungst its employees. Either they are the laziest, most dim witted bunch of tools ever to exist or they purposly lose things just to spite its customers and/or to cover their arses.

Rant over, thanks for the help everyone!!

cheers

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Hey Yawningman,

I work for one of australia's largest multinational commercial debt collection firms, and if the outstanding amount was for $50 with centrelink it more then likely would of been handled by an internal collector. Your credit rating would of been defaulted for the higher debt, and may of been for the smaller amount. Also it would not affect your criminal records as it would still be deemed as a civil matter rather then a criminal matter, unless fraudulent activity or something alike was going on.

For queries regarding your credit rating, visit Veda Advantage and there are a few options as you can pay to view your credit file or if your not in a hurry you can get a free report via post (but this can take upto 10 days before they dispatch your credit file).

Also someone was mentioning collection agencies buying debts, there are very few Australian firms buying debt compaired to the firms that work on an up front fee and/or commission basis. Alot of the firms that buy debts mainly deal with delinquent accounts that the inital internal or external collectors could not collect, and the clients are mainly telecommunication companies, austar/foxtel and banks etc. who have debts that cannot really be disputed. but they do handle smaller clients on occasions.

In regards to government debts most are handled by internal collectors, but there are increasing numbers of government related debts being outsourced to external debt collection firms. And remember with government related debts the statue of limitations does not apply, so they will chase you until you pay, die or enter bankruptcy.

If anyone has any further question feel free to ask and i will help you the best i can!

Cheers

xShiva

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Oh noooos! My precious credit rating!

Ah 'tis a laugh innit!?! So if you have some debts now banks/whatevs won't let you accumulate massive debts through loans later... If you have a bad credit rating consider it a blessing, why would you want to give more of your money away through interest to people that require you to have a good rating. "see sir, here's a good little slave, pays his money straight away", "well then, i deem the applicant able to be majorly indebted to me now", very good rating system they have, fuck em!

Edited by The Dude

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XshivaspacetechnologyX- how long is the statue of limitations for normal debt?

I used to get a letter every year from the debt collection agency, then one day they stopped and imagine my surprise when the next year i got a $10 cheque.

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XshivaspacetechnologyX- how long is the statue of limitations for normal debt?

I used to get a letter every year from the debt collection agency, then one day they stopped and imagine my surprise when the next year i got a $10 cheque.

 

Hey Smilin'

For unsecured debts nearly all states statute of limitations is for a 6 year period, unless your in the NT which has a 3 year statute of limitations. And remember when you make a payment towards an account the statue of limitations starts from scratch again, if no payment has been made towards the account it is from the date of the invoice/contract. But if legal judgment is obtained in regards to the debt, the statue of limitations applies after an 11-14 year period depending on your state, last date of payment etc.

Furthermore on the credit rating system, it is not a numerical rating system at all. Really it is a report that shows where you have applied for credit, obtained credit and how much was obtained, the address/es you have used when applying/obtaining credit and if you have been defaulted by a credit provider. A default is shown when you have not paid a debt after the credit provider had given you adequate notice of paying before defaulting you. This default basically states who you obtained credit from and how much is outstanding. Once a debt that you had previously been defaulted for has been paid you can seek to get your credit file amended to show that you have paid the debt, which in future makes your credit file look better when applying for credit with major institutions.

xShiva

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So Shiva theoretically speaking if I have $50,000.00 in debt no payments are made and no judgement obtained after 6 years they cannot be persued is that correct ?

And would that be six years from ceasing payment with the original lender or 6 years from the time the debt is transferred to a collection agency ????

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So Shiva theoretically speaking if I have $50,000.00 in debt no payments are made and no judgement obtained after 6 years they cannot be persued is that correct ?

And would that be six years from ceasing payment with the original lender or 6 years from the time the debt is transferred to a collection agency ????

 

Hey Neo,

Theoretically speaking, yes, but this would only apply to an unsecured debt that the creditor is not a registered credit provider, and if the debt had not been acknowledged in writing by the debtor previously. The one catch is that they can still pursue the debt after the statute had expired, but they cannot legally enforce the debt. There is a lot more to this answer but this information should give a basic answer to your theoretical question, if you want some further feel free to ask!

To answer your second question the 6 year statue of limitations re-starts from the last date of payment, or starts from the date the debt was incurred if no payment had been made and has nothing to do with the appointment of a collection agency. This is due to collection agencies only acting as an agent for their clients and are not providing the credit.

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Also if legal judgment had been obtained and no payment had been made after the date of judgment and the statute is about to expire, the creditor can apply to the courts to have the statute extended! And in Australia the spelling of judgement for legal/court orders is "Judgment"

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Also if legal judgment had been obtained and no payment had been made after the date of judgment and the statute is about to expire, the creditor can apply to the courts to have the statute extended! And in Australia the spelling of judgement for legal/court orders is "Judgment"

 

ahh i get you now so this only applies where a non-registered credit provider is the one who the debt is owed to .... here is the issue in more detail its not really theoretically actually a good friend of mine got pretty screwed over by his ex misses , basically the end result was him have very few assets and approximately $50,000 in debt, to banks & GE money ( all debts now transferred to debt collection agency ) . he erans about $35,000 a year and in all reality has very little chance of being able to get on top of this debt what would you suggest his options are on face value of what you had origianlly said I was thinking wow the guy could just wait six years and be home free but now i have read your clarification seems not the case...(knew it seemed to good to be true ) I thinking in his scenario bankruptcy may be the best option as he has already looked at Part 9 and he would not be able to survive after making the weekly payment which would be required under part 9

I should mention all debts were unsecured

Edited by neoshaman

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ahh i get you now so this only applies where a non-registered credit provider is the one who the debt is owed to .... here is the issue in more detail its not really theoretically actually a good friend of mine got pretty screwed over by his ex misses , basically the end result was him have very few assets and approximately $50,000 in debt, to banks & GE money ( all debts now transferred to debt collection agency ) . he erans about $35,000 a year and in all reality has very little chance of being able to get on top of this debt what would you suggest his options are on face value of what you had origianlly said I was thinking wow the guy could just wait six years and be home free but now i have read your clarification seems not the case...(knew it seemed to good to be true ) I thinking in his scenario bankruptcy may be the best option as he has already looked at Part 9 and he would not be able to survive after making the weekly payment which would be required under part 9

I should mention all debts were unsecured

 

Hey Neo,

Unfortunately i see a lot of people in the same position, and sadly most creditor providers do not acknowledge that some people are genuinely struggling and in a number of cases the creditors/collectors can complicate or make things worse for the person. In your friends postion i would suggest he look at a Part X rather than a Part IX Bankruptcy, as the Part IX indicates you have the funds to pay but can only pay this over time. The Part X is an insolvency agreement that is useful when you want to make payments to your creditors but cannot pay in full and could only afford to pay off a percentage of the debt over time, the only catch is the creditors are required to vote on this agreement so there is a chance they will not agree on the proposed debt agreement. But from everything you have stated i feel your friends best option is Bankruptcy or a Part X Bankruptcy, and he is best off contacting a free financial counselling service for further advice. I personally think he should file for Bankruptcy as it is an easier option for someone in his position as it would eliminate alot of the stress and issues associated with debts, repayments and the collections process.

Feel free to PM me if you have any further questions or need some more advice.

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