Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Can student loans prevent you from leaving the US?

student loans
Anita asked:


If I am a US citizen with student loans (about 13k) will I be allowed to leave the States?
I am planning on moving to another country for a period of time in order to get married to my fiancee. However, I intend to return to the States and pay the loans in any case.

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4 Responses to “Can student loans prevent you from leaving the US?”

elean Says:
August 28th, 2009 at 3:54 pm

I would not think so but what do I know

CiaoBella Says:
August 30th, 2009 at 12:51 am

well are you moving or just going on vacation? vacation is fine if you’re moving you’ll still have to pay back the loans anyways.

Malutka Says:
August 31st, 2009 at 9:40 am

You can leave the US. If you default on the loans you might have some difficulties later if you plan to return to the US, but you can make payments from abroad too if you relocate.

P.S. Make sure to contact your lendor re any arrangements, I think that if you don’t make payments for 9 months or so you will default on the loan and then you’ll have to pay the whole sum at once, so you may want to look into forebearance while you’re abroad if you can’t make payments.

NotAnyoneYouKnow Says:
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:55 am

Anita:

Don’t be silly. Your creditors can not prevent you from leaving the country.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, you’ll have to step out of this flight check-in line. We’ve received a report that you owe Shell money on your gas credit card bill.”

Let’s put it this way – though they can’t keep you from leaving the country, it’s to your benefit to stay on good terms with your lender. One way to fall out of favor with your student loan holder is to fall behind on your payments and become unreachable. When that happens, they make (perfectly reasonable) assumptions about your intentions.

If you’re going to be leaving the country for an extended period of time, make the necessary arrangements to have your loan payments made while you’re away. If you’re not going to be making scheduled payments – whether it’s because you can’t afford them – or for any other reason – contact the lender before you leave, and discuss an alternative payment arrangement with them. Don’t force your lender to “discover” that you’ve stopped paying and left the country, or they’ll get far angrier than they would if you give them fair warning.

The last thing in the world that you should want is to get stuck with late fees and collection charges, which can add as much as 25% to your loan balance.

Good luck to you – and congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.

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