Do you have to pay off your credit cards if you are permanently leaving the country?

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Some of these answers refer to "getting away with it so far" as if there is something the credit card companies/debt collectors could actually do to someone who stopped repayment of a debt. In a hypothetical situation where there are no assets in existence, and no employment where money could be taken from your salary, even if a person remains in the US, there is still NOTHING anyone can do to you even if they know where you are, apart from harrass you by phone and mail. Obviously your credit would be non existent for several years. Provided no fraud was committed (lies on application form for credit etc.), no crime has been committed. There is no debtors jail, the police aren't going to come knocking on your door, you won't get stopped at the airport upon re-entering the country. It's unsecured debt, that's the risk the credit card companies assume when they let you play with their plastic.

Answer

you might "get away with it"... but of course that would be called stealing. if you were sure you could get away with robbing some laptops from a "big company with plenty of money" before leaving the country, would you do that? you might say that these credit card companies are evil with their hidden fees and ways of taking advantage of compulsive shoppers, but it's people that steal their money that forces them to keep high rates for all the honest people.

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I know two people who left USA three years ago. Both left big debts behind($30K) and they never caught them. The funny thing is that the one of the guys bought 2 Rolex watches before his departure and 1 year later he come back in USA for vacations. Nothing happened noone ever stopped him!

Answer

Here is what is going to happen:

1. After a couple of months, your credit card company (issuer) will suspend your account for lack of payments.

2. After 3-4 months, the issuing bank will suspend/cancel your account and report it to a collections agency. Remember that all this time your USA only credit score (FICO) will be severely damaged!!

3. The collection agency will attempt to recover the debt by trying to find/call you. They can also possess assets in your name such as a house/property, car, etc.

4. The collection agency will not be able to find you or locate any assets under your name of value (assuming you have left the country and left NO ASSETS of reasonable value).

5. The collection agency will then report back to the bank that issued your card that they cannot find you/any assets.

6. If the debt is small (10k or so), the bank will simply "write off" the debt. It is not financially worth them pursuing this further (and obvously will terminate your account and destroy your FICO score!!).

7. If they do the above, they will obviously tell the collection agency to forget it.

8. This delinquency will remain on your credit score and report for 7-10 years or so. So, for this 7 + year period, your credit will be utterly destroyed into pieces!

9. The record of delinquency will be wiped off your credit report after 7+ years , and it will appear as though it never happened.

10. You are then home free!!!

Important notes:

1. Come on guys, you have borrowed money and morally, you should pay it off!!!!!!

3. You have no control as to when this 7+ year period starts- and you might not know! This is decided by the bank issuing the card. The only way you can find this out is by calling the bank, and when you do they will try and track you down!

3. In that 7+ year period, do not come to the USA! Your credit is very important here, and you wont be able to do anything without credit (car, rent , etc, etc)

3. The above point is easier said than done. While many people adamantly say that they wont ever return, how can you be so sure? What if circumstances change and you do end up here? An example would be if you were offered a top job in the usa - would you reject it because your credit is shot?? You might have to if it is!! What if your spouse gets a job offer here, etc...can you say no just because your actions earlier on destroyed your credit... The point is you just cant say if you will be back here.

4. Some jobs (more and more these days) are doing credit checks- especially finance jobs and jobs working with finance institutions. Watch out!

5. And finally, if your credit is really large 100k or so in loans, then they might come after you. These banks have relationships with collectors in many different countries and can employ their services to come after you. Very unlikely if the credit is small (10k or so). This is why one cannot get 100k+ in student loans and leave the country so easily. They will come after you if the credit is large.

Conclusion: In my opinion, you really should try to pay it off. This is the right thing to do.

If your credit is small, then you do have a chance of getting out of jail free. The catch is that you cannot return to the USA in that period (7-10 years). After which, it appears as though it never happened and your credit is restored (maybe to 0 ). But having no credit is better than having bad credit. Companies will still lend and give you cards.

If your credit is large, you are in real trouble, they most probably will come after you wherever you are!

Remember that the FICO score is US only and that credit companies in other countries rarely check your FICO score (I'm not sure that they legally can). In any case, play your cards carefully here; you dont want to screw up your credit in your "home" country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer

When you say you won't have much trouble if your debt is small (~$10K), do you mean per bank/creditor, or in total?.. What if I have $50K debt in total but distributed to 10 different creditors with $5K each?

Answer

My Friends have debts like $5000 in each card with the total cards balance of $30k. Until now they are still fine... (already 1.3 years passed). The thing is, since he was a student in F-1 visa, I dont think they can get another visa again to US. So basically they are blacklisted from US up to 10 years.

First answer by San Thomas. Last edit by Zgzig8. Contributor trust: 21 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 215 [recommend question]

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