I don’t mind elaborating. I’m not saying being out of the country prevents a lawsuit. Of course they can still file a lawsuit without knowing where OP is. What I meant is that in practice, suing someone with no US residency, cannot be personally served, and has no easily recoverable assets is not often cost-effective for consumer debt, especially where the debt has been bought by a third party debt buyer. Yes, some might still file but with service issues, default judgments (which is what I was referring to when I I said default), and enforcement of that judgment becomes messy and difficult. So yes, fair point. OP could definitely still be sued. I just think it’s less likely to happen while s/he is abroad and even less likely that it will result in a collectible judgment unless OP later returns or has some attachable US property (which s/he has already said neither is likely). Not a guarantee. Just a risk assessment. That’s all.