(edit title) kronofogden Options

[thinkthink]

Hi,

My friend receive a letter from Polismyndigheten, Delgivningssektionen last week. When he called the officer in charge, that officer said it is about "kronofogden" and it wil only take few minutes at the police station . I know him has a debt with kronofogden since last year because he refused to pay Viasat for some reasons.

Does anyone know what is the relationship between this "kronofogden" and the police? :?:

[Marmi]

All "Myndigheter" in Sweden work together, so it might be a case of Kronofogden contacting the police asking for assistance in collecting - meaning that they KF will be coming for a visit, and they will have the Police in tow.

The Police contacting your friend (oh come on, it's you isn't it?), may be just a courtesy call to let him come down to the station to clear it up before they come knocking on his door.

I could of course be totally wrong, but that's the first thing that comes to mind.

Anywho... the only way he'll know for sure, is to actually go there, right?

Also, refusing to pay something in Sweden can lead to some serious consequences, nothing to fool around with, you can easily screw up your economical status.

[Puffin]

I don't think that there is an official link between the Official Baliff responsible for credit and debt collecting - but sometimes their activities may overlap - for example if someone reports a debt as a potential intentional credit fraud to obtain items by deception,

However I beleive that it is the job of the Polismyndigheten, Delgivningssektionen to trace suspect who are difficult to find when there is a court case pending or occuring against them - så it sounds though Viasat may be taking hime to court. He may be required to confrim his details or maybe have a judgement served against him. I think that he should take this seriously if he ever wants to get credit again

[thinkthink]

Thanks marmi...

Anyway.. its not me.. really! But he is my very close friend of mine!

I think you are right.. thats what happen. And do you know what happen when he come to the police station? does he need to pay all his debt, or its just to help "kronofogden" contact him and later to be able to send debt collection letter to him?

And I think he already screwed up his credit status... :cry:

[thinkthink]

Thanks Puffin.

Court case? DO you think they will bring this thing to court just because of 2000kr to 3000kr debt? (its not real debt actually, he just not pay that viasat bill after he has to moved to another apartment where that apartment adminisration not allow anybody to put parabol at their building. He tell viasat what happen, but viasat refused to cancel his contract.. when viasat actually cancel his contract, he has to pay in full around 2000kr to viasat).

:?

[Puffin]

It's possible that they will get a judgement in order to remove assets etc to recover this bill - the company may apply to the civil court - the county court or Länsrätten for a judgement to remove property to collect the debt.

If he signed a contract that obliged him to pay for a certain period of time - like a one year contract - then he may have to pay up even if he decides to cancel if he has committed himself for a certain period - however being chased by debt collectors for a bad debt is not a good thing.

Another problem is that the debt gains interest payments as soon as it is passed over to the Kronofogden and also he may become liable for their costs and time taken to recover the debt - so the amount owed can easily double or triple if it is ignored. The best thing that he could to is to find out his rights and possibly negotiated a payment plan to pay something. He should contact konsumentrådgivning in the kommun where he lives to obatin free advice on what to do.

[thinkthink]

Thanks again Puffin.

Last question, how to find this "konsumentrådgivning"? I think he really need help from this agency (his debt is not too much, but because of lack of knowledge living here, and also because of language, this things get difficult to settle down... )


p/s : How could Swedish government allow this kind of business where it use people difficulties and mistakes as a tool to make profit?
(there is 1 case with Intrum Justita company where his initial debt is just few kronor, he didn´t receive the letter from this collection agency about this amount.. and then finally he receive the letter and it already increase up to more than 1000kr...)

[Shark99 - The Great Catsb...]

Intrum Justita

Those guys don't kid around. Better settle this now. Vultures. Who knew that if you borrowed money you are suppose to pay them back? Horrible!

[thinkthink]

Who knew that if you borrowed money you are suppose to pay them back?

Thanks Shark99 Senzenina.

Anyway, the problem is, its not about the real debt, its about the penalty that has to be paid because of late payment, mistakes, lack of knowledge, letter that he never receive, etc etc etc... right now, he already paid all the "capital"/"initial" debt that he really "borrowed" and what left with these collection agencies are the extra cost that he has to pay (for the reasons I already mentioned above)... and this extra cost keep on increasing... :cry:

[Shark99 - The Great Catsb...]

I hate to say it, but it sounds like this is something that needs to be settled in court. This happened to my friend in the States. Collection agencies were calling him and he had his lawyer write up a letter quoting the laws, etc. and saying that if they wanted to speak to him they needed to go through his lawyer and settle it in court. They never did come back, but of course he shelled a lot for the lawyer, probably more than his debt was worth Still, they never came back. Don't know how it works in Sweden, but I've heard that kronofogden can pretty much just take what they want and check your bank records and everything without subpoenas, etc. I'd go to court to just settle it once and for all. If they find he has to pay, he has to pay, but at least now he knows for sure.

[nic_tester]

My advice is, go see them and explain his point of view. Not sure if the police is any use in this but kronofogden is actually very sympathetic and will listen to him and try to help him find a way to pay his dept or explain the rules if there is disagreement about debt. Just be calm and polite and comunicate.

When I was in the low and spent all my time trying not to think about it, finally going to see kronofogden was a salvation for me. Skatteverket on the other hand are all shitheads.

[Sofia_stockholm]

The police is most likely trying to deliver a letter from the Konofogden. The first thing that happens when a debt is passed over to the kronofogde is that they send you a letter telling you they have received a request to recover a debt. You are asked to return a slip saying you have received the letter. if you don't, they send a second letter requesting confirmation and if you still don't the klient of kronofodgen (the one you owe money to) may have requested "handräckning". This means that the Police is asked to deliver the letter to you and get a signature that it has been handed over to you.

There really is no point trying to avoid these letters. The longer you wait, the more efforts they will make on delivering and the more you'll have to pay in the end.

The staff at Kronofogden isn't bad people to deal with. They handle people in debt every day of the week and are trained to do so. Just give them a call and ask them for advice on how to clear these debt as soon as possible.

[krigeren]

...kronofogden is actually very sympathetic and will listen to him and try to help him find a way to pay his dept or explain the rules if there is disagreement about debt. Jus ... (show full quote)

...kronofogden is actually very sympathetic and will listen to him and try to help him find a way to pay his dept or explain the rules if there is disagreement about debt. Just be calm and polite and comunicate... ... (hide full quote)

Its interesting to hear someone had a positive experience. For my family and I dealing with kronofogden has been a nightmare...a nightmare full of terror that has considered me leaving my beloved wife and children behind here because the system here will do nothing but keep us poor for the rest of our lives. We feel like indentured servants and the real ones who suffer from this our my kids.

My wife has several debts with kronofogden. These debts were due to a business failure where some of the debt was her own personal debt. The debts are from another country and total nearly 2,000,000 SEK.

My wife's salary that is already taxed enormously is now cut back. Due to I work my income is included in the calculation of her overall income and therefore the amount she pays is very high in relation to the salary she receives.

Considering most Swedish families have both parents working to make ends meet due to taxation..and we fall in the same boat our lifestyle..quite honestly sucks. We both moved here agreeing maybe to stay 4 to 6 years with the plan to move. Our kids go to an English speaking school..both of my children do not identify themselves as being Swedish..however, kronofogden denied their tuition being included in the "acceptable expenses" for my children. I feel absolutely gutted, this means they may have to go to a Swedish school, it would absolutely destroy my kids.

My wife applied for "debt releif" at Kronofogden and was denied.

So now..if we are to conform to the law what was intended as a few year stay due to we are a multi-cultural family and like to country hop could turn into a lifelong sentence of what is essentially indentured servitude by a debt collection system that is destructive to families.

Now I am left with the option of leaving Sweden so I can establish a base that will allow my family to escape from this mess.

Kronofogden has refused to communicate with us in English and our Swedish is limited so it makes dealing with them a nightmare.

Every society has an underbelly and at the lowest point is this organization. They use terror tactics and their superior knowledge of the law against a family...its been financially and emotionally devastating for my whole family. That a system such as this exists in a Western democracy is sickening. The concept of bankruptcy as I know it via common law does not exist in this country.

Any advice is appreciated. I want to make my families experience of living here in Sweden a positive one but due to this its been a living nightmare. I never thought we would end up living like prisoners here.

[Lostaussie]

A couple of things.
See a Lawyer, trying to handle a debt that size without legal advise seems crazy to me, particulary since you dont speak the language well, it probably means you don't know the laws and your rights well either.
The state has schools that teach in english with a view of transitioning children into the Swedish language system. Your kids may have a bit of a tantrum at the change but since you said your plan on changing countries every so often anyway, they may as well get use to it. They will adapt!
Bankruptcy is not a get out of debt free card, at least not in any country that I know of. Time to grow up I think.

[krigeren]

It seems like you are trying to bait me with your attitude of "grow up" and "tantrums" are you a troll? How are you to know whats best for my kids. Back Off!

A Swedish school would severally traumatize them and degrade their chances of getting into a top university. 1st they have been going to a Montessori/IB curriculum their entire lives. The IB program is specifically tailored to be the same no matter where kids go to school in the world.

Why would I want to educate my kids in Swedish? Swedish is an utterly useless language outside of Sweden. Secondly, even if they grew up and "adapted" as you say they will never really fit in here, they will never be "Swedish" enough. I want them to have all the opportunity in the world and that opportunity exists within the English language.

My kids fit in now and are happy. If they go to a Swedish school they get into a system where they would be severally behind in the language and it would hamper their education enormously. Do you have kids?

My kids are not immigrants to this country they are passing through. Forcing them to go to a Swedish school will stigmatize them and place them in the second class citizen role that every other immigrant child has here. We are being forced into becoming immigrants here because the state has taken our capital and have no way of leaving except with the shirts on our backs if you will. No thank you.

I never said that bankruptcy was a get out of jail free card. I don't appreciate words being put in my mouth. Here in Sweden the system has effectively stigmatized debt to where the majority of those in debt, with accounts at Kronofogdon, are "ashamed" to talk about it. Thats ridiculous, its a clear sign of a government trying to keep people divided. If more people talked about it with one another then they could unite and do something about it.

Have you ever been in debt here? Have you ever had strangers come into your house and mark your things for removal and then they sit their for weeks before they are removed? Then those lifetimes of memories are taken and sold off at auction for 10 to 20 percent of what they are worth and pay back a small pittance of the debt. Its humiliating and degrading and its designed specifically to do that to a person..the state's attempt to punish someone. That's childish if anything is.

The bankruptcy courts where I come from operate much transparently. You get a second chance where I come from. Here something goes wrong and they punish you for life apparently.

Have you ever gone to Kronofogdon's website and tried to search through their adminsitrative laws and procedures? Their website is lacking all of the details that involve their relationship with creditors and the debtor in question. There is no real transparency there.

What I need is some real advice from someone who has been through the same thing not comments from some "tourist" looking to post the opinion only for the sake of doing so and providing no real help at all.