[Juniper]

strange this hadn't occurred to me before, but how do you handle bills/student loans/etc after you move to another country? is there a point at which you have to pay them off, or do you just continue paying them monthly (online or by phone maybe)? is it easy to pay from an NZ bank account, or should you have one in your country of origin as well?

does anyone have an experience where debt in "the old country" was really hard to deal with, or made it hard to make a living (given NZ salaries)?

[cloudboy99]

Was thinking the same thing in the back of my head. I can't complain about earning my BS degree as it made for some nice EOI points, but that also has me owing the federal government loan money.

[jocalla]

I kept my bank account open in the Uk and handled all of my bills etc online until everything was paid but we basically paid off all the major stuff before we left
Joanne

[sweetpea]

I've been mulling over how I'll handle my US obligations (credit card debt, what else?). I've decided I'm just going to have all statements forwarded to my sister's address in Nebraska, and pay things online from a US$ bank account. I don't want the credit card folks knowing I left the country -- just gives them another excuse to raise the APR's.

I need to keep all my cc accounts open, since I'm applying for alternative student loans (which take into account your credit rating) as well as US Federal Financial Aid. If I didn't have my credit rating to consider, I'd probably consolidate everything onto one card just to keep it simple.

[SoCal Gal]

This is something I have thought a lot about too. My friends in NZ tell me that they can't believe our credit card rates are so low (I have about 11% rate right now, wish I wasn't too lazy to shop around), they say they are very high there and I should keep my American Visa card!! Does anyone know about this? :cool

[shagen]

Wow! That is really low!

In Malaysia interest on credit card debt is about 1.5% to 2% per month (depending on the bank) and in Indonesia it is a whopping 36% per annum.

What is the interest rates like in New Zealand?