Bankruptcy in Hong Kong

[bang ding ow]

BK in HK

Below is an assessment of my experiences of BK in HK. Your experiences could be substantially different. I believe my assumptions are correct. Time has passed since I had my BK reversed though, the civil BK law may have changed since then.

I was made BK in HK. I had no idea as I thought I had left HK for good. When I returned to HK I applied for a credit card and was repeatedly denied. After a little digging I found out why. After a lengthy process (about a year), I was able to have the BK reversed in HK court. It was reversed because the bank, Harlots, Sh*ts, Bast*#rds and C@nts didn't follow the law in declaring me BK in the 1st place. They could not have been more obvious about it if they had tried. Some things I learned along the wai:

HK follows UK law in matters of BK

You as an individual cannot declare yourself BK in HK. You are declared in default of your credit facilities by the court after the court is petitioned by your creditor. You are then issued a demand by the court to repay your loan, this is a civil action not criminal therefore, if you do not then repay you are declared BK by the court and appointed a Receiver by the court. The Receiver is exclusively appointed from the Official Receivers Office. The Receiver then takes over your finances and repays your debt to your creditor. This all supposes that you are still resident in HK.

If you have left HK permanently, this process will wind its way through court in your absence. The onus being on your creditor to enforce the various court orders. This is where I was able to sue my creditor and have the BK order reversed. Court order servicing and defendant notification procedures are very exact, precise and demanding of the creditor. Most creditor buffoons don't have the IQ to get through the 1st page of the regulations, let alone comply with the entire document. Watch very carefully your creditor's actions during this time.

The discharge of debt you mention has me confused as it occurs after an amount of time has passed, usually the end of the financial year of the year your creditor uses. The ORO usually objects initially if they feel there is a chance the the delinquent will repay his debts. However upon the expiry of the financial year and the debt still not having been paid off or being paid off, your creditor will be required by HK accounting law to write off the debt from its books and then the debt can be discharged by the court.

After all this you are BK in HK. Again this is a a civil status not a criminal one. You will not be arrested or placed in a pauper's home, etc. in HK and certainly not in you present country of residence.

If you are flight crew and occasionally/regularly pass through HK on a GD, you will be free to come and go as often as you are scheduled to. You can also pass through PAX channels free from obstruction, regardless of whether you are ticked off on a DG or your passport is checked by HK Immigration Dept. through their databases, As an entering PAX they will know that you are BK, but it is a civil issue not a criminal one and therefore they have no jurisdiction or grounds to impede your entry or exit.

All this changes should you return to HK on a permanent/semi-permanent basis. You will be required, but not compelled by criminal law, to inform your Receiver who will then garnish your salary to repay your debts. HK BK law is draconian as it relates to the delinquent. For instance, you cannot take taxis or eat out without your Receiver okay'ing it first!!

A word about credit reporting. The HK Monetary Auth. issued a franchise to US consumer credit reporting agency TransUnion some time ago. Out of the 3 credit reporting agencies in the US, TransUnion are the most benign and in my opinion, accurate. TransUnion are located in HK in the Ocean Terminal,TST. In order to see your HK credit report, you first have to make an appointment then go there. You are led into a soundproofed, non-windowed room where you will be shown your credit report. I think there is a charge although you may get the 1st one free.
Mine was accurate and showed everything.

The HK Monetary Auth. decrees that all entries into your credit report remain in there FOREVER!! In most 1st world countries, derogatory entries are deleted after between 4 and 8 years and you go on with your financial life intact. So, even though I got my BK reversed, the negative entries regarding the original loan that caused all of this are still there. As an individual, I can't get a loan or a credit card etc. because of this. Doesn't matter as I have all the credit I need from elsewhere AND I could receive credit facilities from an HK financial entity as a Director of one of my HK shelf companies....go figure.