debt collector calls - debt is 10 years old - WTF?

[Triumph36]

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You'd have no job and no prospects in the US either. Is it that much different?

Your ass would be saddled with CC debt, but you wouldn't be broke. Cash advances FTW.

Then there is an obvious group for whom this scenario makes sense: career criminals. Why be a thug in NYC when you can be a thug in Toronto and have some extra k's saved up?

I mean, obviously if you have a normal job, normal prospects, this isn't worth it. The demographic I'm looking at is people who have a POS job with little or no prospects to begin with. If I were a US citizen, it wouldn't be worth it for me. But I can see looking at that differently if I'm making <20k or so with little hope for the future. How hard can it be to get an entry-level no paperwork type of job elsewhere?

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you're thinking of someone with great imagination and foresight getting into this situation where they have to leave the country due to their credit card debt.

that is very unlikely.

[Jauerback]

I recently had a debt collection agency contact me about a debt of like $900 that I had when I was stationed in Germany from 2002. It was from the phone company of all places. Anyway, feeling guilty, I paid the debt without really questioning it (I did get a copy of the bill from the Deutsche Telekom, however). Should I have done something differently? Will this negatively affect by credit report now?

[CORed]

The question is whether it's worth 27 bucks to get them to leave you alone. A $27 dollar unpaid debt is hardly going to destroy your credit rating, and there is no way they're going to sue you for $27. Most likely the collection agency bought the debt from the power company for pennies on the dollar. If you don't want to pay it, write the collection agency a letter telling them the debt is bogus and threaten to file a fraud complaint against them. They'll back off right away.

[qdmcg]

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He meant 0.75 cents on the dollar, not 0.75 dollars on the dollar.

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This is a difference of opinion.

<font color="white"> http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/ </font>

[jtr]

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I had a friend move from London back to Italy leaving thousands in credit card debts and utility bills; it didn't worry him at all since he knew he'd never live in the UK again. They'll just have to write the debt off since he'll never pay a penny.

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You know some charming Italians, Jim.