# Filing US Bankruptcy while living in Canada



## usc-in-canada (Dec 15, 2013)

I'm a US Citizen living as a PR in Canada for last 3 years. I kept pace with the payments on my massive US credit card debt... until earlier this year. It is looking like filing BK might be my only option. 

Profile: All my debts are 9 US Credit cards (fallout from a remodel / resale of our former US primary residence that lost its value). I have no assets in either place except for one: my very old self-directed IRA owns a small percentage of a FourPlex. I own no property. I’m self employed, get paid by US sources in US dollars.

These are my questions:

1- can I file BK in any US state, like the closest state for me to drive to? Or do I have to file in the state I last lived in or owned property in?
2- is it best to update all the creditors that I live in Canada now? Or keep using the paperless US PMB that scans mail to me by email?. I prefer the US PMB as its paperless and more reliable, because US firms notoriously goof up Canadian postal addresses. 
3- Will a US BK affect my Canadian credit, like eventual ability to qualify for car or house? We don’t use much here at the moment, just have 2 new cards, with zero balances.
4- any other cross border issues I need to be tracking?


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## katies (Jan 25, 2014)

If I were you, I would not seek legal advise on bankruptcy on a site like this. (questions 1 or 2)

But, for #3, based on my experience (and frustration when I couldn't even get a credit card when I moved to Canada!) The US does not share any financial info with Canada, so there is no way your Canadian credit will be effected. I remember trying to convince a Canadian bank that I had a MORTGAGE with their US counterpart and they told me that didn't matter because only Canadian credit mattered. So, I assume that negative stuff is not passed over the border either.


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