I now its wrong, but...

You said you know its wrong but.......It seems that you have come a long way and should be very proud of what you have done. Why do you want to do the wrong thing now? Don't you think that maybe that will always haunt you? Best to be "clean" in all things! Good luck in whatever you decide.

klaus-I dom't know how far they will hunt,but believe me,credit card and other collectors will hunt for you.You don't want to move,get a business started and a couple of months or years later,them find you. Also,you said you got help for your problem,that's great. But you must have learned that any stress,problems,etc.,can lead you back to your addiction.Also I'm sure you learned where you got help,part of the healing process is making amends and reparations.Best of luck to you :D ...Karen Sorry,I'm not preaching-the counselor in me pops out sometimes!

Klaus..
Congrats on your accomplishment. I would definately heed these posts about finishing up your payments. In the long run it will leave a positive mark on your credit.
As far as the judgements, I googled this information on Australian Credit Law and came up with their government pages...
There's alot of information that you're looking for there..
Good luck!

Bossy..you're posts are always informative. Alot of people are in debt due to their addictions...I know I used to like to shop! ALOT! lol

...KarenThanks Erzeke-I was taught years ago,whatever is given to you,be ie advice,solutions,etc.,you always give back. Tha's why I like this forum. It calmed me down,gave me solutions,edcation and peoples experience tha helped me,so my job is to be here and offer what was given so freely to me :D

Me too..I have literally been "saved" by the people on here, and if I can help just one person..it makes my day!

You got that right!...Karen

Karen and Liz, I love you guys.

Klaus,
As far as I know, judgements for Federal debts are GENERALLY the only thing that can follow you out of the country..BUT..The judgement must already be in place. For instance, if you are being currently garnished for a credit card debt, they cannot cross seas. But if you're being garnished for IRS debts, they can.

I don't know anything about collection procedures, though. If you're not currently being garnished and a credit card company is looking to sue you, I really don't know what their jurisdiction would be.

You've come a long way..I think you would feel really good about yourself if you finish everything up.

I owed a balance on my Discover card when I moved to England and couldn't continue paying because it was taking a while to get a job. Discover turned me over to collections, and I actually had a collection agency from Atlanta calling me in England to try and get money. So, the fact that you're in another country doesn't put collections off the trail. I never did find out how they got my new number, etc!

I have to agree with the other posts, you've come this far, which is a MAJOR accomplishment. You may as well go the whole way to clearing this out of your life for good, so you'll be able to be at peace with yourself and won't always be "looking over your shoulder" so to speak.

Klaus---think of it this way...you write that you are proud of yourself for taking care of almost all of your debt by yourself----don't you want to be able to reflect back and say "yep, I paid ever last bit of it off"? To me if you didn't pay it all back, there would always be this little nagging thought in my mind.

Fins-sorry-just saw your post-love u too :D You are always such a help to others,along with Liz...Karen

klaus, I can only mirrorwhat the others have said, while you may be able to dodge the last bit of it, in your mind it will be there. Better to make a clean start with your head held hi knowing you took the high road. one idea tho, perhaps you can negotiate a settlement of your last bit of debt, thereby saving some money yet stil doing the right thing

Klaus
you have come far, and seem to have overcome MANY demons. Now you have an opportunity to move to Australia for what you term to be a "Fresh Start", but would it really be such if you know you have outstanding past debts that could come back to haunt you? Your creditors will eventually find out where you moved to, and then they simply employ another collector in Australia to harass you. I assume since you quoted your debt in British pounds, that you are currently residing in England. Maybe my social studies are a little rusty, but isn't Australia a subject of the British Crown? if not I know it used to be and I am pretty certain they have reciprocal agreements in place. By walking away from that last 20,000 you are not completing what you started, and no one ever feels good not finishing what they start. Please think this over very hard before deciding to just walk away. the community is always here to help and support those who help them selves.

There is also a sister community specifically aimed to the UK at http://uk.yesdebtfree.org/.