US debt from overseas

[TheUncollectable]

Hello,

I'm a foreign citizen who has left the country and moved overseas permanently. I'm leaving behind 30k in debt which I can't pay. The OC is Citi, where I made my last payment about four months ago. It's now with a collection agency - GC Services. 

I have no US assets - no property, no car, no investments, and a bank account with almost nothing in it. There is also no convention or treaty for enforcing civil judgments in the US in my current country. I also work for a foreign employer so they can't garnish wages.

It would seem that I'm collection-proof, so I'm not too bothered about all of this. But there are a couple of things on my mind:

Firstly, as they don't know my foreign address, phone number, or employer, their skip trace process is resulting in them trying to contact everyone I've ever known in the US, it seems. I'd rather this stop. I don't want other people to be unduly harassed because of this, and I also don't want someone to slip up and tell the CA how they can get in contact with me in overseas. All they currently have for me is a Google Voice number and a commercial mail forwarding address in the US, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. I've sent them a cease and desist letter via certified mail to the PO Box return address on the mail correspondence which they've originally sent to me, but USPS Tracking has shown it "available for pickup" for about a week, and I'm left wondering if the CA is avoiding receiving the certified mail so that they can continue skip tracing. Am I being paranoid or is this sort of evasion likely?

Secondly, I said that I moved overseas "permanently", but I know that you should never say never, and some day I might return to the US. I see this eventually heading towards a lawsuit in the US, where I would have two options. The only state in which I could conceivably be sued (Texas) will very likely not allow jurisdiction, so I could hire a consumer attorney to argue that any suit brought against me  get dismissed. Alternatively, I could let a default judgment come against me, which can't be enforced as I have nothing there. Given that there is a slight chance that I may return to the US, the former strategy seems preferable, although as I understand it, absence from the country tolls the SOL, so it's possible that the four year clock would start again on my return.

Any advice is much appreciated!
 

[Clydesmom]

4 hours ago, TheUncollectable said:

Firstly, as they don't know my foreign address, phone number, or employer, their skip trace process is resulting in them trying to contact everyone I've ever known in the US, it seems. I'd rather this stop. I don't want other people to be unduly harassed because of this, and I also don't want someone to slip up and tell the CA how they can get in contact with me in overseas.

Then you are going to have to make contact with the creditor/CA some how.  Unfortunately your cease and desist does not cover your friends and family.  They have to opt out on their own.  

4 hours ago, TheUncollectable said:

Secondly, I said that I moved overseas "permanently", but I know that you should never say never, and some day I might return to the US. I see this eventually heading towards a lawsuit in the US, where I would have two options. The only state in which I could conceivably be sued (Texas) will very likely not allow jurisdiction, so I could hire a consumer attorney to argue that any suit brought against me  get dismissed. Alternatively, I could let a default judgment come against me, which can't be enforced as I have nothing there. Given that there is a slight chance that I may return to the US, the former strategy seems preferable, although as I understand it, absence from the country tolls the SOL, so it's possible that the four year clock would start again on my return.

The SOL for suing you tolls while you are out of the country and resumes if/when you permanently return.  The bigger problem you have is that mail drop box.  They may not wait for you to return and get permission for alternate service and go ahead and sue you.  You could then hire a lawyer to get it dismissed based on your being out of the country.  I would not worry about any of this until it becomes clear you would be returning to the USA to reside here.  Right now you are collection proof and it may be in your best interest to simply send Citi a letter telling them you no longer reside in the USA and if/when you return you will contact them.

[TheUncollectable]

21 minutes ago, Clydesmom said:

Then you are going to have to make contact with the creditor/CA some how.  

First of all, thank you for your response.

Is your advice, then, that I should call either the OC or the CA, tell them that I live overseas and that they should stop calling me and everyone else? Do you believe that this is likely to lead to a cessation of efforts to find me, which is what I can only imagine that they are attempting by calling everyone whose name/number they can find?  

I have tried to contact the CA, but as I mentioned, they aren't even opening certified mail from me.    

22 minutes ago, Clydesmom said:

The SOL for suing you tolls while you are out of the country and resumes if/when you permanently return.  The bigger problem you have is that mail drop box.  They may not wait for you to return and get permission for alternate service and go ahead and sue you.  You could then hire a lawyer to get it dismissed based on your being out of the country.  I would not worry about any of this until it becomes clear you would be returning to the USA to reside here.  Right now you are collection proof and it may be in your best interest to simply send Citi a letter telling them you no longer reside in the USA and if/when you return you will contact them.

Why is my mail drop box a problem?  Service of process in Texas can be done by publication, so if they really want to sue me, they can do so that way, whether or not I have a mailbox. 

[Clydesmom]

38 minutes ago, TheUncollectable said:

Why is my mail drop box a problem?

It gives the impression you are still physically located in the USA.  

38 minutes ago, TheUncollectable said:

Is your advice, then, that I should call either the OC or the CA, tell them that I live overseas and that they should stop calling me and everyone else?

Send a CMRR to Citi.  If their CA won't pick up the letter tell them that in the one to them.  You can call or write but you cannot force them to stop skip tracing you for a debt that high.

[TheUncollectable]

Thank you! My mail drop box is probably one of the more well-known ones in the US, and if Citi did an Internet search for the street address, it's quickly obvious that it's not someone's physical address.  When I write to Citi, I'll consider pointing out that the address is not a physical address but simply a commercial mail forwarding service.  

I hadn't considered writing Citi myself. At the risk of asking a stupid question, what am I hoping to accomplish by doing so? Am I hoping that they will be convinced that I am indeed living overseas, and will be discouraged from spending extra time and money on collection attempts, skip tracing, and eventually filing a lawsuit?  I can't imagine that the letter to them will have any legal consequence - as far as I knew, even DV and C&D letters really only applied to CAs rather than to the OC.