I have a Canada Student Loan which I have been paying on since 1992. I am residing in the state of Texas and have been since getting a job after graduation. Due to financial problems, I have not been paying my full amount owed for my Canada Student Loan for the last few years. I do send post dated cheques but all I can afford is 75.00 U.S./month presently. Due to an illness that I have, I am unable to work full time so I just work part time because of this. My question is this, I have been paying for my student loan for over 10 years now. Is it possible to claim bankruptcy in Canada if I am a resident of the U.S. now and receive only wages in the U.S.? I have a great credit rating in the U.S. and would this affect my U.S. credit rating here? Can the Canadian government garnishee my wages in the U.S.? Thank you.

If you left Canada more than one year ago then you likely won't be able to file for bankruptcy here. Canada Student Loans could take legal action against you and your wages in the U.S. would not be immune from seizure. You may want to contact Credit Counselling Sevices of Alberta (www.creditcounselling.com) about their O.P.D. program. I'm aware of several instances where they were able to help U.S. residents with Canadian debt.

Ann Clarke
phone: (403) 296-2972
aclarke@moneyhelp.ca