Can I leave the country with an underwater mortgage and unpaid debt?
Selling an underwater home or car before moving abroad means taking a financial loss because the sale price won't cover the remaining loan balance. Leaving with these unpaid debts leaves people facing unresolved financial liabilities and uncertainty about the long-term consequences.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Voluntarily surrendering the property and car to the bank before leaving
- 2Emptying bank accounts associated with the debts to prevent freezing
- 3Attempting to settle or pay down balances before departure
- 4Boarding an international flight despite outstanding debt, allowing the account to go to collections.
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I’m planning to move to Spain next year.”source ↗
“selling my house would mean taking a loss because I owe more on the mortgage than what I could sell the house for.”source ↗
“I still owe money on the loan, and if I sold it, I would likely get less than what I owe.”source ↗
“What happens to debts like these that I realistically won’t be able to fully pay off before I leave the country?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How to pay off multiple small short-term debts and loans efficiently
- 2How to handle a car shortfall after finishing debt review
- 2How to quit a volunteer project that's a mess
- 6Should I use my savings to pay off student loans?
- 2Will it be too late to start investing once I’m debt-free?
- 4How to plan for retirement when you're living in the red and have debt