I've amassed about $6,000 of credit cards debt while being an international student in the States. Does anyone know if the US creditors can collect the debt in foreign countries (I live in Ukraine)? And can I file for bankruptcy from over there or I need a representation by a US attorney?
While I never encourage anyone to run away from their debts, I seriously doubt that any American creditors would attempt to collect from a debtor who is living in another country, especially in that part of the world, and for that amount. What will happen is that the accounts will appear as severely negative items on your American credit reports. Depending on the creditors, and the amount of each account, they might also file lawsuit(s) against you in the court for the area where you live in the US. This would also appear on your American credit reports. However, if you move back to the Ukraine, the American credit reports won't be available to anyone over there, and the lawsuit judgements probably won't be valid, either. It would be just to much hassle and expense for the creditors to pursue you all the way over there. For bankrupcies, the debtor does generally have to show up in person, and I don't know if that could be done by a representative instead. But the only practical reason for doing a bankruptcy would be if you intended to come back to America to live long-term, and if the creditors had filed lawsuits. -- CardReport.Com - Credit Tools, News, And Reference http://www.cardreport.com/ Everything You Need To Know About Credit And Debt --
Don't even worry about it. 6K is nothing, they won't even bother coming after you for that. Try to get at least 50K before you leave the country. Heh heh heh... $CM$
