Five years ago, I moved from California to Europe. Divorce and other circumstances made me unable make any payments on my credit cards for a bit over 4 years now. That's past the 4-year Statute of Limitations in California. I left a friends address for receiving mail, and he told me I've been receiving letters from 3rd party collectors. I don't know if I have been sued, but at least I was never served. What should I do? Contact collectors? Forget them? Get a Lawyer?
Could this be a problem when I visit the U.S.
How can I find out if I am being sued?
I appreciate any educated advice you may give me.

I may be shot down for this but if I were you I would let sleeping dogs lie. Once you contact them, the whole process starts all over again.

But I have to say this. I find credit card companies extremely easy to deal with once they find that you are sincere and willing to talk. There is such a thing as debt consolidation and a credit card company will be lenient with the interest rate to make it easy for ANYONE. I find it odd that most people don't even want to recognize this about them, and just skip out without paying. Why the heck would anyone want this crap going on in their lives, the constant worry, the constang harangue. I just don't get it.

Through no fault of my own, it was actually my husband's bankruptcy, that got me involved with collection agencies. It got so they absolutely would not talk to me, became extremely angry at my demands for proof. When they started threatening to take my car, my house, my dog, my cat, my couch, that's when I started being the harrasser instead of the harrassee and boy did they think they were good at putting the fear of god in me... nope. When they claimed they would take me to court, I said bring it on, just bring the proof with you, tell me where and when. It never happened. One got tired of calling me, so they sold it to someone else and all the way down the line. They all got the same treatment from me.

So, if anyone wants an advocate, a pep talk regarding collection agencies, let me know. Cause I absolutely HATE THEM.