Hello, Newbie here. just need a quick question answered. first history. moved out of USA in late 2001. moving back to US within the next few months. want to electronically transfer my money from selling house/wages, etc to an account i will set up in home state (WI). dont really know what my CR say about me but i did not pay off some accounts prior to leaving the country. they are still not paid. been reading the very helpful posts here so decided to ask a silly question - at least to paranoid me. since i have to use my SSN to open the new account in WI to transfer my funds, can any CA or OC put a lien on my account for funds due to them?? i will begin my credit repair with help from here once i move back. just worried i wont be able to access my funds to pay for a new house, furniture, etc because of a lien on any bank account. not even sure they can legally do this. if they can, how long does it take for them to do so?? and since my wife is not an American citizen, she cannot open a bank acct in her name only from here. have to be physically present with 2 IDs. anyway, thanks millions to any/all that can help and that reply. Keep up the wonderful work here.
Creditors would need a judgment (which could be won by default without you ever knowing), and they'd need to know about the account or less probably, they would need to blindly send levies to a shortlist of local banks (works best in small towns, rural areas, etc.). Judgments are public records. You will find them showing up on your big 3 CRA reports more or less reliably, however they'll also be on your Lexis/Nexis report (which you can get for $8) even if not showing up on your big 3 because of age (most get dropped at 7 years). Further, many counties' clerk recorder's offices are now online ... you could search the counties where you lived when you had your money troubles to see if you show up. Any judgmentholder has probably stopped actively looking for you and your assets. They do have passive mechanisms, however. One such passive mechanism is to place a "reappear" request on your reports with the CRAs, perhaps in conjunction with a "skip" notation. Anything changes on the report (and that includes a "hard" inquiry from a bank vetting you to open your account, or you pulling your own copy of your credit report ... which requires furnishing current address and contact info) and you instantly become a blip on their radar scope again. Since you're safe in the short term unless you have a public record, spend the $8 on Lexis/Nexis first (assuming you have trouble getting court info online where you formerly resided). Pull your big 3 CRA reports only if you're not satisfied with the results. Try to find a bank that will open an account for you with only a soft pull, and perhaps consider opening that account in a state distant from the one where you will be living (and with a bank that has no branches in your state) as an additional measure of safety. A determined judgment creditor who found out about the account could still get at it, but not without filing an exemplified copy of the judgment in the distant state under the UEFJA, then hiring a local lawyer to levy the bank. Assuming you are re-engaged by old creditors (or more likely JDBs standing in their shoes) when you get back, you may not want them to know you've been out of the country ... in some states that tolls the running of the statute of limitations.
What kinds of debts are you talking about? In your post you mentioned that you moved in 2001. So those bills are now 7 years old. Unless they're promissory notes for which the SOL is 10 years in Wisconsin, I don't think you should be worried about anything. If anyone tried to file a judgment against you after you moved they probably gave up by now because they couldnt locate you. If they do find you after returning and start proceedings against you again, you can assert the SOL defense. Wisconsin SOLS: Oral agreements - 6 years Written agreements - 6 years Prmissory notes - 10 years Open-ended accounts - 6 years.
You can open bank accounts online at Bank of America and HSBC even if your wife is not a US citizen. My wife is not a US citizen, and she opened up accounts at both banks online, very easy, no hassles, received account numbers instantly, checkcard in about 5 days. Only sign the signature card and mail it back in. Might be worth a try.
Thanks for the replies. neither HSBC nor BofA have branches in WI. would need a branch since we will be purchasing our new home probably with cash within 30 days of moving back to WI. we are moving within the next 4-6 weeks. just waiting for the house sale to finalize here in Australia. thanks for the hint not to notify them i had moved outside US. the debts were 2 credit cards and a used car loan. with the SOL expiring, does that also mean that they must be removed from my credit reports?? i will actively start cleaning up my credit once i have moved back with help from this site. Thanks again.
