Does your good or bad credit follow you around the world?

Hi guys. 

I have no idea about my credit standing, although I can guess it's not all that great.  I am not sure who my creditors are except maybe for one or two bills my parents back home gets in the mail.

My parents want me to put a change of address in the post so that my mail does not go to them anymore.

I have some debts that are in collection for I believe it was a few hospital bills that are in collection for years and maybe some other creditors that I am unaware of.  It's not a staggering amount but yet I know there are some unpaid debts are still in circulation but don't send letters anymore..not sure of where I stand.

Can my parents put "return to sender" on these bills so I don't have to change my address on file with the post office?

What happens with debt collectors for small debts from years ago? I will not have a record of working in the USA ever again.  I have a sneaking suspicion that you guys will tell me it follows you around the world.  Will I start receiving mail from debt collectors here in the UK even though my parents put return to sender I didn't put an address change in the mail?

What happens to credit and collectors when you move?

I'm confused why your parents would put 'return to sender' on the bills that are going to their house.  Are you saying you're just not going to repay your debts?

With some exceptions, generally your good or bad credit does not follow you around the world.  However, if your creditors end up suing you (in the US) and winning civil judgments against you (because you won't be there to defend yourself), it can cause visa and naturalization complications down the line.

I would encourage you to obtain a free copy of your credit report from all three bureaus from www.annualcreditreport.com, find out what you owe and to whom.

Also, there are forums such as creditboards.com and myfico.com where you can find out how to deal with anything you find.

Or, you could bury your head in the sand for now, but in an increasingly connected world, it could come back to bite you later.

(ETA: I don't think it's possible to file a change-of-address with the US Postal Service to an international destination.  You would need to pay for a private forwarding service and have the USPS send your mail to them.)

My parents would put return to sender because I do not live there.  They don't want to receive mail there for me anymore at their house. They just don't want my bills coming to their house.

I am not sure if I am in collections or being sued right now! I know it sounds bad that I can't pay these years old hospital bills since I didn't have insurance... but what can i do when i have no funds coming in to repay them?

This is going to affect my citizenship? Really?

ok, this is nervewracking now.  I didn't know that it would affect my ILR in two years and why?

As of the moment, it shouldn't, but we don't know if it will change.  You could do what ianp suggests and find out exactly what you owe and to whom and work out a payment plan.  Make sure you negotiate the total, payment, and removing it from your credit report after making regular payments for a while.  There's a lot of information online about working with creditors. 

But won't your parents forward your mail to you?

Plenty of people can't repay debts but then you need to see what you can do to work with the creditors to come up with a plan, not just ignore them and hope they don't find you since you live overseas. I'm sure your parents wouldn't want debt collectors calling them and/or coming to their house to try to collect payment from you.

It definitely can affect your citizenship. There is a 'good character' requirement for citizenship which can include repaying debt for which you are responsible.

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=67913.0

I thought having court judgments affects some part of the immigration process, doesn't it?

And actually sometimes it's a bad idea to make payments on old debts because it resets the statute of limitations if it has already expired. That would mean you make one payment and then they can sue you and get a judgment for the rest. That's different state-by-state, obviously.

Also, most debts only last seven years on your credit report, and are collectable for less depending in which state it is.

The OP really should just get her credit reports and go to a credit forum for advice

yes, they can forward my mail to me but they told me that they don't want to continue to do this all the time. This is why i emailed them to say return to sender since I don't live there anymore.

 ok so at the moment, even though I owe debts, by the end of two years it will affect good character for ILR ?

so i should contact these people and tell them i am unemployed and can't pay them?  at least for now? How should I go about this?

can you post the exact wording for the good character bit for ILR ??

thank you!

Yes, you should contact them and tell them you're unemployed and ask what you can do. Read what ianp posted about getting your credit report. There will be contact information for all of the companies to which you owe money.

As posted earlier, there currently is no good character requirement for ILR, but it is being discussed and may be included at some point in the future. So don't ignore your debts.

Statute of limitations on debts can't run out when you're out of the country.  Basically, if they can't enforce the debt laws, you can't just hide out expecting the clock to run down on them. But stuff that's already gone past a statute of limitations she shouldn't bother with.  You can have bad credit without having judgements against you in the US.  I think she'd know if she had been brought to court.  Do they actually do credit stuff in absentia?

Having bad credit doesn't mean you have bad character.  I think it would reflect on your character if you're skipping out on debts with no intention of ever paying them or doing fraud.  When you're talking about medical bills, it's a lot different than someone running up a credit card bill on furnishings and defaulting on that debt.

At the moment, even a bankruptcy outside the UK probably wouldn't mean there would be a problem with you getting citizenship (look at the guidance on character).  That doesn't mean that that would still be the case in a few years when you apply for citizenship, so if you're thinking bankruptcy, it might be best to wait until you're through the process.

ETA: I agree, she should look for help from people who probably know the laws better.

Having bad credit doesn't mean you have bad character.  

....

At the moment, even a bankruptcy outside the UK probably wouldn't mean there would be a problem with you getting citizenship (look at the guidance on character).  

I don't think this is true.

This is what the guidance says about debt:-

Debt
7.7.1 Police enquiries, or other information, may suggest that an applicant is heavily in debt. Caseworkers should not use this as grounds for refusal if loan repayments have been made as agreed or if acceptable efforts are being made to pay off accumulated debts. But where an applicant deliberately and recklessly builds up debts and there is no evidence of a serious intention to pay them off, caseworkers should normally refuse the application.

It reads to me that debt can indeed mean an citizenship refusal.  There is also a whole section in the guidance on bankruptcy but I didn't post that here since it isn't the OPs situation yet.

What you quoted does not contradict what I posted.  Bad credit in the US is very easy to get without getting to point where someone is not going to pay off a debt.  You can get bad credit in the US from late payments.  In fact, it's much easier to have bad credit in the US than good.  That's a far cry from trying to abandon debts.  I also think that having a huge medical debt is a lot different than running up credit cards or other bills (as I've said), and the guidance you posted is pretty much what I am basing that statement upon.

And currently the checks they do with the police (remember, the UK has a very different system than the US, and most of the time, law enforcement is not involved in US debt) are made in the UK.

ETA: And I am not saying that she shouldn't pay this debt.  I want to be clear on this.  It's just at the moment, it's probably more important for her to keeping good credit/avoiding CoJs here in the UK than totally fixing her US credit. Get advice on her US debts and try to get out of any default, but first and foremost is her financial standing here in the UK.

That's a far cry from trying to abandon debts.  

But it sounds like the OP is considering doing exactly that.  Perhaps not the recklessly racking them up, but definitely the abandoning part.

In particular, the guidance says:

Police enquiries, or other information, may suggest that an applicant is heavily in debt. Caseworkers should not use this as grounds for refusal if loan repayments have been made as agreed or if acceptable efforts are being made to pay off accumulated debts.

I would take this to mean that if you have outstanding debt, you should at least be attempting to pay it off.

It also says 'other information' can suggest an applicant is in debt.  I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes even easier to obtain credit information overseas. 

But it sounds like the OP is considering doing exactly that.  Perhaps not the recklessly racking them up, but definitely the abandoning part.

I never said she should abandon her debt.  What I said is bad credit doesn't always mean bad character.

I understand that, and I don't think anyone said bad credit = bad character.  But I think that a case could be made that deliberately abandoning your debts and/or just out and out refusing to deal with them = not good character.