What happens to student loan debt if you immigrate from US to Canada?

No. US law is not applicable in Canada.

Actually yes, if you plan on obtaining credit in your new place of residence. Read this article; and I must say it wouldn’t be very responsible to leave others to pay a debt that you incurred…especially for education.

http://debtprison.net/wordpress/247/will-debt-follow-you-abroad/

You received your education, why wouldn’t you repay your loan? Unless you are a weasel and a chiseler ! That would sum up your character!

You still owe the money. Canadian sovereignty may protect you from collection efforts, such as garnishment, but the debt won’t just go away.

But why leave at all? There are lots of people in the U.S. who have defaulted on their Federally underwritten student loans, and I don’t see the FBI going around and rounding them up. If you have to screw somebody, might as well be the American taxpayer. Everybody else does it.

It won’t follow you back directly, but it sure as hell won’t disappear magically. It’ll be waiting for you when you return, with a nice chunk of interest as well. Whether they can collect on it or not is dependent on whether you can hide from them for the rest of your life.

Student loans is one of those things that have to be payed back even if you die. I remember reading this when applying for one. The debt pretty much falls on what ever family you have left and they are obligated to pay it if you die or “disappear”. Though loans given through a bank might be a little different.

A general search turns up multiple sites explaining the ramifications of default and also the remedies as opposed to default. Students loans are just like any other debt you incur; yours! Don’t dodge your credit responsibilities; the interest rate couldn’t be any lower, the terms no more reasonable, pay up!

We all paid for your student loans if they came through the Federal Student Loan program. And you’re asking for our advice on how to avoid paying us back? Explain to me how you’re not a jackass?

To those who have responded with criticism, it was expected and is understandable, however, I do not feel you would feel as harshly if you knew the circumstances involved. As I don’t plan to write a dissertation on the details, let me just say thank you for all your responses.

<shrug> Maybe I’m an asshole, but yeah, I’d feel the same regardless of the specific reason you think you’re special.

Suze Orman had a woman seeking advice on this subject. The woman had moved to France and left us with her school debt. Now her mother was trying to do some estate planning and wanted to leave her 7 digit estate to the daughter. If she did the govt was going to take the debt, so she asked about leaving the money to her minor grandchild with the daughter as trustee. Suze responded that the govt would see through it and then ripped mom a new one for taking part in a scam and enabling her deadbeat daughter.

@jmwhitner The current punitive system for student loans is a direct consequence of abuse by earlier generations. Back when I was a student, 30 years ago, federal loans carried a 3% interest rate and my monthly payment was $35 on a $3000 loan. The interest did not kick in until 6 mos after graduation.

A number of new grads just moved on and made no attempt to pay the reasonable payments. These included young professionals who spent more for an evening out than 6 payments on their college loans.

While most of us paid on time or early, the stories that got reported were the Beverly Hills dr or Wall Street banker scofflaws.

So reform bills were passed. At first it was loosening financial requrements so that middle class kids who could afford public universities could get into private schools with lower academic requirements. But the legislators were smart enough not to make the govt liable for these ridiculous debts. They opened the way for private loan sharks to enter the pool.

Now young people can have money to go to any school for advanced degrees without really understanding what they have signed up for. The sharks on the other hand have no regulations about lending to good credit risks and under the law they seem to have no risk since bankruptcy won’t discharge the debt.

Those loans are being chopped up and being resold around the world just like the questionable mortgages were. They are like little time bombs ready to go off when a critical mass of young workers hit the wall and can’t pay $800–1000/mo for school loans. Compared to the Quake of ‘08, this will be just an aftershock but there will still be buildings crashing into the street.

I have to comment on this.

First of all- for all of you who want to rip this guy a new a*hole, you need to take 10 steps back. I doubt seriously any of you who are critical of his situation have been saddled w/10’s of thousands of student loan debt.

Personally, I attended school for a degree that was the hottest thing since sliced bread. Never in a million years did I expect to loose contract after contract to labor being shipped to India, Pakistan, etc because they didn’t want to pay people like me who studied hard to work in this industry. Corporate greed is exactly what it boils down to and who cares the affect it has on everyone else.

Second, again- those of you who would rather take this guy out back and hang him by the neck- are you well aquainted w/the collection practices that are allowed by these collection agencies (backed by our government)? Each time a person falls behind in their payments, they can be (and usually are) assessed up to a 25% penalty. Take a $30,000 or $40,000 loan at the time of graduation and slap a couple of those penalties on your balance and watch it inflate larger than life.

I highly suggest you check out www.studentloanjustice.org and educate yourself on a few of the facts. Senator Hillary Clinton introduced a bill in 2007 (s.511) to help students in these exact situations but it never even made it to committee. Current Senator Davis and Representative Durbin are continuing the fight. Also, our current House Chairman believes in this cause as well.

So, before you fly back with any off the wall knee jerk comments- know the facts or otherwise your comments will simply be viewed as ignorant and without merit.

@weavensix Stop talking out of your rear end. I took out, and am still repaying, over $30k of student loans. Key word: “repaying”.

@MrItty weavensix has some valid points. You shouldn’t have to be in debt for decades. An educated population is one of a country’s most valuable assets. Yet we are doing all we can to cut back opportunties for higher education by raising costs, encouraging legal usury, reducing classes/ridiculous class sizes/extending the years required to complete.

The sad thing is the demographic that is being abused are also the group least likely to vote for change and fairness. It is also sad that there is class suspicion that people without education feel that students are getting something ‘for free’ What we all have to understand is that a Walgreen’s clerk or a KFC cashier pays virtually no taxes and teeters on the edge of being government dependent. Give that person education/training with low interest loans/reasonable education costs and s/he financially supports this country,

It goes back millenia-do you give a hungry man a fish or do you teach him to fish?

Why pay it back if you don’t have to? Ugh, all you people giving this person a hard time need to get down off your high horses. No one asked for your opinions. Read the question. If you have answer. Answer it. Leave out what you “think”. No one cares. Think about this… the government gives you a student loan. You spend a majority of that money on books that cost $300+. Books that can’t be reused because a “new” edition is required each year. If you don’t think that government isn’t in like flynn with textbook publishing companies, you’re crazy. The government is scamming us. They give us money, we use it to buy school related material from them, and then we pay them back double. Supply and demand. It’s the same with the pharmacutical companies. I don’t see the government asking all the lowlife on welfare to pay them back. Get your student loan, get your degree, and get out of the country, before the government profits off of your hard work. It’s a SCAM.

So many self righteous jerks responding here! So glad for the people that actually tried to answer the question. I will also take my stab at actually answering, because I do live overseas and I do have a student loan and I have researched it…and in fact, got to this page by typing the question in google. So, to the person who started the thread, thanks for asking and helping me get some more info. Here’s what I know – if you default – they will come after you. But they will not touch your home (if you own in the states). They may try to garnish your wages (if you work in the States only) and they might file for any income tax returns you would get (in the States only). That being said, my fingers are crossed that the laws will be changing to lower interest rates for existing student loans (mine is 8%). Also, new legislation to allow for removing debt completely and capping monthly payments. I know you’ve asked the question because you or someone you care about is in a situation that doesn’t look hopeful. Debt collectors will not follow you out of the country and will not find you. Returning is a different story. So, if you plan to use credit when you return – think again. The bad credit will remain on the report indefinitely – until legislation changes to remove it, like all other bad debt, after 5–7 years.

It would be nice if all the Judgy Judgersons would take a seat. I share this person’s pain. I paid on my loans for years and hardly ever touched the principle.In actual dollars, I have repaid—but for the pesky interest. According to the latest accounting, I owe in excess of $20k—that’s more than original loan amount and wiped out the 5 years of payments I made faithfully—living like a nun to do so.

It would be nice if I had made enough money at any of my post-college “career” jobs to have ever had anything near the standard of living I was lead to believe I would have with a “college” education. In truth, I make less now—accounting for inflation and all, than I did before I went back to school.

I had a series of career missteps—bad timing—desperation—whatever—it wasn’t for lack of hard work. I worked plenty hard for a couple of small companies. One fired me without cause when I came down with pneumonia and called in sick. Another, a non-profit, just lost its funding and I had to go. I was off and on Unemployment over a period of years, a string of part-time jobs—two and three at a time, trying to keep a roof over my head, didn’t allow me to continue payments. So then started the years of unemployment deferments….I was “lucky” to land a customer service job where I was paid not much more than minimum wage for a year—but it was steady work and I made a few payments that year.

Meanwhile, I met a nice Canadian man, married and moved to Canada. It took 2 years to get a Permanent Resident Card—more deferments. It took 3 years of temp work and going to interviews to get a “floater” or “casual” job and another almost 3 years to get a permanent job. Not for lack of trying—that’s just how is has been through the “economic downturn.”

We can barely squeak by every month here. The cost of living is higher here and my “education” allows me to work as an administrative assistant. Bottom of the barrel wages. Hour-long commute every day. Gas prices through the roof. I’m at the age now where I worry about retirement. So what am I supposed to do? Oh and when I talked to someone a couple years ago and asked if I could make regular electronic payments from a Canadian bank account or credit card I was told those weren’t options. So? In my opinion, if they wanted my money, they’d make it easier for me to pay.If they wanted, I could maybe squeeze out $50/month CAD to pay on it. But they don’t want to be reasonable and I can’t do it any other way. So let them wait for their money or collect it from the measly Social Security income I’d get in the US. I’m going for Canadian Citizenship and if necessary I will renounce.

Okay, trolls. Pile on.

All of you judgmental assholes make me sick. The student loan program is the worst I have ever seen. Best way to start off our young people with huge debts alot of us (myself included) can’t pay. Does that make us deadbeats??? I certainly do not think so. Get your heads out of asses and think beyond your petty little lives for a change.