Job Discussion Forums

JonnytheMann · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 337 Location: USA

Hi,

I want to teach in Argentina, and if I like it, I am hoping to stay forever. I've got $24,000 in student loans. I've got to pay them back in 10 years, but with an Argentine salary, that won't be possible. I'd like to pay them back because it's the honorable thing to do. Do any of you know what would happen if I decided not to pay them? Would I become a criminal in the US? Could they have me deported back to the States? I am thinking no, but just wondering if anyone has any info.

31 · Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 1797

Moore · Joined: 25 Aug 2004 Posts: 730 Location: Madrid

Never ever ever burn your bridges: always pay your taxes in ANY country you live and work in, and be sure to keep good contacts with your family and friends at home and those you meet while away - teaching English and living abroad can be a very precarious existence: fine while things are going well and you�re strong, but you�re only one bad financial mess-up / bad relationship breakup away from really needing those things. The very last thing you need to do is to block yourself from being able to go home. Keep up with the minimum payments, they can�t ask you more than that. If you can�t do the payments in Argentina (salaries really are low there) then go somewhere where you can - South Korea etc.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

24000 / 10 = $2400 per year.
2400 / 12 = $200 per month

Are Argentine salaries that low that you couldn't manage to scrimp and save $200 per month to send back? I honestly don't know. It would seem to me that the lifestyle isn't so expensive there, so saving would be fairly easy. I don't know.

How about paying back some now and having less than $24000 to pay after you move to Argentina?

My university lost track of me for a few years after I joined graduate school, then when they found me, they said I owed a lump sum instead of the monthly payments they and I had agreed upon. Avoid this when you go overseas, if you can. Pay SOMEthing every month.

31 · Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 1797

SueH · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Posts: 1022 Location: Northern Italy

Dear 31,

I don't know your situation and I don't mean to sound flippant, but from a UK perspective 3000 quid of debt doesn't sound insuperable.

For a different perspective, and to see the *beep* some people can get themselves in, have a look at the Dealing With Debt forum on the UK Motley Fool website.

Have a look and see if it doesn't change your viewpoint.

Sue

31 · Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 1797

Sue H

From a Uk perspective-great but I am not in the UK and 3000 quid is a lot for most teflers in Turkey. Hell most of em whine if they have got to more than 50p for their beer.

merlin · Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2005 11:16 am Post subject:

Brooks · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1369 Location: Sagamihara

go to someplace like Korea or Japan and pay your debt then go to Argentina.
I had more debt than you when I came to Japan, and in fact I have paid off more than you owe.

JonnytheMann · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 337 Location: USA

Thanks for the advice everyone. Keep the posts coming.

A few further clarifications:

1. I am not trying to escape my debts. I want to go to Argentina because of a relationship. I cannot wait years and years to go to Argentina just because of some damn loans. It will take me a long time to pay back my debts here in the US, much less Argentina.

2. I have no desire to go to Japan or South Korea.

3. A salary that will let me get by in Argentina is about $400 a month ... so paying $200/month isn't an option. I could probably afford up to $50/month? Does the gov't let you pay back loans with smaller than the minimum payments?

4. I am going to try to put the loan in default by studying at the University of Buenos Aires. That should buy me a few years of default. But eventually I will have to pay them.

5. Why are people suggesting that I will lose my family & friends if I don't pay my student loans?

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

I can only answer 31 as I don't know the American system, but the GBP3,000 debt he is talking about is laughable.

Just ignore it. If the debt collecter comes to your door, commiserate with him. Tell your sister to send him away and threaten him with harassment.

The collection agency works on comission; the only way it can get at your money is by you being foolish enough to pay up. If it is clear you're not going to, it will give up - it doesn't want to work for free.

While you're in Turkey it can't do anything. When you go back to the UK it will have to find you, find out where you are working, prove it's you, and then go to court to garnishee your earnings. Too much hassle.

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

You don't have to stay on a 10-year plan. I know people who are on 20- and 30-year plans. If you call your loan provider (BEFORE you leave), they can probably give you some options. Yeah, being in debt for 30 years will suck, but it should allow you to live in Argentina.

I think if you default it stays on your record for seven years.

d

JZer · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 3898 Location: Pittsburgh

JonnytheMann,

I don't mean to sound harsh but I think you really need to think this out.

1. If the relationship is worth while your significant other will wait for you. Furthermore you could probably pay most of it back by teaching for one year in S. Korea. I think that the average starting salary is around $2,200 a month plus free housing. You could save $1500 a month. If you can live on $400 a month in Argentina you should be able to live on $700 plus free housing.

2. I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news and I am not suggesting that your relationship will not work out but it does happen. If your relationship does not work out are you going to remain in Argentina or will you head back to the U.S.? If you go back to the U.S. you will face the ramifications of not paying back your loan.

3. What if your relationship works out and you stay in Argentina forever? Are you going to someday going to support a wife and kids on $400 U.S. a month? You will barely get by when you are single let alone raise a family. You might have to return to the U.S. to get some other kind of education that will allow you to support a family in Argentina or you might choose to move your family to the U.S. when you realize that living on a $400 a month is not all it is cracked up to be.

Anyways, I am not trying to give you a hard time. It just seems to me that you have not really thought out the realities of moving to Argentina forever. I am sure that there are ways to live a nice life in Argentina but I am sure that it takes some planning and will probably require some further education and/or money.

EnglishBrian · Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 189

Sage advice I feel.

JonnytheMann · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 337 Location: USA

I think I should restate myself. If I realize I am just going to stay in Argentina for a while (i.e. less than 4 years), then I will just put my loan in deferment by studying at an Argentine university. My loans are in deferment now because I am getting my Masters.

I am talking about if after a few years in Argentina I realize that I want to stay forever, will I get into any type of legal trouble by refusing to pay back my loans? I.E. Will they refuse to renew my passport? Can I get deported? Could collections agencies come after me in Buenos Aires?

I am not going to screw over my life in the US unless I am convinced that I want to stay in Argentina forever.

My significant other has waited 4 years. We cannot wait any more. I am not going to suffer in S. Korea for a year just for the money. If my relationship doesn't work out, I could still stay in Argentina. I want to teach EFL anyway. Maybe I would head to Europe if my relationship didn't work out in the hope of making more money.

$400/month in Argentina is a good salary. It's not like making $400/month in the US. I will never have a wife and kids ... so no problem there. If I moved back to the US, I wouldn't still be living on $400/month. I would have an American job, not an Argentine one. I doubt I will move back to the US. I don't want to live in the US. I'll live in Europe if Argentina doesn't work out.