<p>If you were a student with dual citizenship with the United States and a modern, developed country where you could easily assimilate, would it be possible to just up and leave behind your student debt, regardless of how big or small, and leave the United States to live somewhere else? Would the debt follow you? Could you potentially get in legal trouble for such an endeavor?</p>
<p>This pertains to the legalities and practicality of a situation like this. It is purely hypothetical. Try not to interject with religious, moral, or ethical objections. </p>
<p>In the scenario I thought it’d be easier to abandon private loans than federal loans (since I thought the government could track people down far better than say, Discover or Citibank). But I’m not sure. </p>
<p>In this situation, the person would be keeping their US citizenship. (What issues would that raise?) </p>
<p>So you’ve come here for advice on how to be a thief, but you don’t want “moral or ethical objections”. Got it. Hopefully no one will stoop so low as to assist you.</p>
<p>Is there a full moon tonight? On one thread a poster is seeking someone to marry them for in-state tuition, and now the OP of his thread asking for advice on how to hoodwink the American tax payers by lying to get Federal funds, then running to and hiding in another country while maintaining their US citizenship. That is so American. </p>
<p>I said that this was a purely hypothetical situation - I myself have been out of school for three years, with no debt. I finished watching a YouTube video of an NYU senior (who happened to be Chinese-American) talking about the 100k in debt he incurred for a Bachelor’s in Social Work. One of the comments had said that he ought to flee to China because with his skills and fluent English, he’d apparently do quite well for himself. I thought the concept was interesting and wanted to know if it was even legal. </p>
<p>But thanks for jumping to conclusions. 8-| </p>
<p>U would pretty much burn your credit rating in the US, under your US social security number. Therefore, u can expect not to have any economically meaningful life in the US w that social security number.</p>
<p>But if u maintained your US citizenship and re-entered the US under a foreign passport, I’m not sure if you’d be caught. You wouldn’t be able to work w/o a visa, as a foreign national. But if u tried to work as a US citizen, any employer who did a credit check on u would receive a bad report about u. Like I said: no economically meaningful life thereafter in the US-- u would probably only participate on the fringes, like an illegal immigrant. </p>
<p>@GMTplus7 - But I think the assumption was that the person was being advised to move to China permanently. So there’d be no returning and fringe work I guess. Obviously there are tons of variables, like if someone is cutting ties with lots of loved ones, moving across the world might be a bit tougher. Also, a lot of people probably wouldn’t be too keen on leaving the US for China (for good) - but maybe if that person was a French or German or Scotch citizen or something, living in those countries wouldn’t be too much of a culture shock. </p>
I think that video is from a Korean; I don’t know If he is an US citizen or not and I don’t think he ever suggested that he would default on his loans.</p>
<p>@4kidsdad - Oh, I didn’t know he was Korean - I was basing it off of the commenter (who assumed he was Chinese) saying that he should leave for China since he spoke English and was educated. I know that the man himself probably wouldn’t do that considering that he majored in social work, he probably feels a moral and ethical duty to both serving this country as a social worker and paying off his debt - I was basing this question off of just the comment; the whole “leave your debt behind - go to a country where you can assimilate and thrive and don’t look back” and whether or not that was actually feasible. </p>
<p>Edit:
I took out the religious part because I’m not sure if that was completely accurate (some of his videos are titled “an atheist reads the bible” so I’m guessing I was wrong.)</p>
<p>He majored in Social Work with $100K debt? He’s a dime a dozen. Going to Asia to leave debt behind would compound his trouble because he would turn around and want to come back to the US. Then if he tried to practice with that degree anywhere in the US, he would be busted. </p>
<p>There is no dual citizenship for US/China, so no double passports. A US citizen who was a Chinese citizen previously could return, but then would have to give up US citizenship if he wanted Chinese. This is China’s rule, not the USA.</p>
<p>The US doesn’t keep deadbeats out, so on a foreign passport he could get a visa to re-enter the US. However, if he owed taxes and hadn’t paid them there may be a warrant, and he would be stopped entering or exiting the country.</p>
<p>Private banks? I think the person could leave the US permanently without much possibility of being tracked down. If the person had any assets in the US, they could be seized (after court procedures). Of course this would apply to any US citizen who leaves. People skip out all the time on debts. </p>
<p>Yes, you can. You can cheat, steal, assault, even kill, too, and might not get caught. The fact of the matter is that the student loan situation is not one that is going to get the FBI or other such agencies on your trail, so if you never come back to seek work or credit in the US, probably would be the end of the matter. But life has it’s twists and turns, and you never know what opportunity might land in your lap, and then the fact that you did not file tax returns and pay taxes (if owed), defaulted on your student loans, could be a big problem. There a number of instances where people start whole new lives with some secret in their pasts, and then it catches up to them. You really want to live this way? </p>
<p>I think you can be sued for fraud if you lead the bank to believe that you had no intention of actually repaying the loan - not entirely sure of the nuances of such a situation but essentially, if you dip as soon as repayment kicks in, it looks awfully suspicious and planned (and thus, fraud).</p>
<p>The bank doesn’t need to sue you for fraud if you don’t pay, it could simply sue you for not paying. Creditors don’t need a motive for why you didn’t pay the loan, and they don’t care. That’s not the issue. The issue is whether the bank (for a private loan) would attempt to collect from you if you are out of the country. Most would not, but would just wait for the debtor to return to the US.</p>
<p>OP, anyone can default on financial obligations and it can vary what the ramifications are. Happens all of the time, that people just walk away from their bills and what the owe. With federal financial aid, there are more possibilities of problems because you do have your federal social security number involved, and if ever you have some opportunity here in the US, this can be an issue if you want to partake in such opportunities. You never know when some great thing may crop up, and it may involve financing from the US available only for citizens and your SSN will be essential, and then…well, if you have this matter of that student loan attached to it, well… Same with job opportunities, buying properties, business deals, etc. That you have a citizenship here does confer some privileges and advantages, one of the being the ability to borrow for college in a way that non citizenships are not permitted to do, in part, for the very reasons that you state about defaulting. But these student loans are only a tip of the iceberg in terms of other privileges, opportunities that you may have in your lifetime. I don’t think it’s worth it do give this all up as a young person. You have no idea what turns and opportunities life may bring in the future for you.</p>
<p>The person could not borrow the 100K on his/her own for undergrad; they needed someone to co-sign the loans. He/she will be leaving the co-signers on the hook to pay the debt. The borrowers will do whatever they need to do (wage attachments, liens) to recoup their money front he co-signers. </p>
<p>As long as he is cool with with financially ruining his cosigners and they have no problem with the student wrecking their financial life, and they are all good with each other …</p>