Filing bankruptcy in the US from Canada
 

Hello,
Please share your insights and advices with a Canadian wanting to file bankruptcy in the US (American credit cards debts) from Canada.

Thank you in advance,

Re: Filing bankruptcy in the US from Canada
 

Your best bet is to call a US bankruptcy lawyer. Do keep in mind if you are eligible to file in the US, you may need to go to the US for court hearings, Meeting of the Creditors etc during the process.

Here is some info though from a lawyers website.

Under 11 U.S.C. §109, anyone can file for bankruptcy protection in the United States, so long as you meet one of the following requirements:

• You reside in USA; or
• You maintain a domicile in USA; or
• You maintain a place of business in USA; or
• You have property in USA

In other words, if you don’t live in the United States, and don’t maintain a domicile or business here, then you must have property in the U.S. in order to file. For these purposes, property is not necessarily defined as real estate. Property is an asset. In some districts, having a bank account might be considered property sufficient for bankruptcy filing purposes.

Re: Filing bankruptcy in the US from Canada
 

What are you hoping to acheive by filing for bankruptcy in the US?

If you haven't been paying your credit card debts then the card companies will sell them off to a collection agency, that will attempt to track you down and recover the debt, but there are limits to what they can do if you have left the country and have no assets, in the US, or at least less assets than debts .... so what's your goal?

Re: Filing bankruptcy in the US from Canada
 

Thank you Pulaski for your input. I just called my neighbor for whom I volunteered to post his question here. He said, he has been diligently paying his American credit cards for years. Now that he received a letter from his job saying that they do not need him anymore, he is trying to manage the situation and the first thing he thought of is to file for bankruptcy in the US regarding his American credit cards.

Re: Filing bankruptcy in the US from Canada
 

Thank you Jsmth321 for your input. This is helpful.

Re: Filing bankruptcy in the US from Canada
 

Unless he has assets in the US there isn't likely to be much benefit to him filing for bankruptcy IMO, and it is going to cost him lawyers and court fees.

If there is any prospect for him making any future payments, then he could contact the credit card company directly and tell them he is broke and ask them to freeze the accounts and reduce the interest rate, but honestly he might as well just stop paying them as they will sell the balances to a collection agency, and persuing people for unsecured debts who have left the US is expensive and not easy.

Re: Filing bankruptcy in the US from Canada
 

Thank you for getting back to me. I shall let him know about your response.