Will they sue me in Brazil? An International asset recovery company contacted me.
Posted by CautiousLychee4020@reddit | studentloandefaulters | View on Reddit | 7 comments
I took $185,000 to attend a master program in the USA in 2021 (two different lenders). Everything was great until a very long streak of bad luck: I lost my job offer in the US, had no place to live, spent months and months in agony, until I finally lost my visa and had to come back to my home country.
After I was back, paying the debt became impossible with the currency exchange. I would basically have to get a really high paying job and give all the money to the lender. Any lower payment would make me indebted for life. After a few months in agony, I found this group and decided to default.
I stopped paying January 2025, they defaulted in June and got discharged. Now a asset recovery company in the US bought the debt and has been sending me emails since last year.
BUT NOW there is a Brazilian advocacy firm sending me emails as well. They are specialized in international asset recovery. They did not file a lawsuit, I honestly don’t even know how they would go about doing that considering the debt was originated in the USA, so I am guessing they will just try to collect by negotiating with me. I received no letter so far, so I am guessing neither company have my address in my home country, which is a relief.
I have no intention to respond because I don’t have the money to pay, nor assets in my name, but I wonder if anyone lived through something similar or know a little more about international law.
I still feel they are losing money because there’s nothing really they can get from me, but I must confess this email from this advocacy company got me a little worried. I took these loans in NY and the SOL there is 5 years, so I am 4 years and a few months left until SOL. In my country, the equivalent of SOL is 5 years, but because the loans were not originated here, I don’t even know if it applies. My local credit report shows nothing related to these loans.
iron_armored@reddit
How did a Brazilian get a USA federally backed student loan?
CautiousLychee4020@reddit (OP)
If anyone is following the post, I just added some info after talking to a lawyer.
TechComplaintSupport@reddit
You do know that you need to have you go back in on this right because it might not seem like a problem right now, but in the future, it might be an issue do well to solve this quickly
Roaringtigger@reddit
On the other side of the globe. You’re probably good.
CautiousLychee4020@reddit (OP)
That’s what I thought when I defaulted as well. I hope you are right. I mean, legally, they can pursue law suit here, I am just wondering how common that is for consumer debt. These lawsuits are more common in the business world because the debt value is waayyy higher. So I guess that for now I’ll keep the plan of ignoring the messages and keeping an eye on any possible lawsuit.
Hoffi1@reddit
Do you have any assets? They can't take things that are not there. How does bankruptcy in Brazil work? Student loans might be dischargeable there.
CautiousLychee4020@reddit (OP)
I don’t have any assets. People cannot declare bankruptcy in Brazil, only companies can, so In theory, if they win in court, they could garnish wages, block my access to my bank accounts, etc. But that would only happen if they sue me and I do not show up in court, or if I show up in court and fail to demonstrate that I cannot pay or that I got the loans with the intention of not paying it back, which is absolutely not the case. Plus, we have one law that protects consumer with unplayable debts, and that do not allow payments plan that will hurt people’s ability to pay for basic necessities.
I will probably talk to a few lawyers this week specialized in consumer debt and international cases, but as far as I understand through my research, before they can legally do anything in Brazil, they have to first win a case against me in the US. I just wonder how can that happen if I am not there. Don't they have to serve me in person? And if they do file a lawsuit, how can I know? I guess I’ll receive a notification via email as well? Is there a way of checking that online?
Only after getting a favorable decision in the US they can hope to start anything in Brazil, and it won’t necessarily be fast or easy. So I think they only contacted this company here because they know people get scared with this type of message coming from a law firm.