People say "F-it" to debt every day. It's called bankruptcy. If you're married, your spouse will assume your debt. That's the real reason the governments push for marriage so hard. And when people started co-habitating more, the governments instituted common-law "marriage" laws, so that if one spouse died, the debt got passed on to the partner. It's always about freaking money one way or another. If you only have "personal" type things, the creditors won't even bother going after them. If you have a car, they may go after that. If you have a bank account(s), or stocks, or other investments, they may try going after that, too. The only thing that matters is how you feel about leaving debt. For me, it wouldn't bother me one bit (to leave unpaid debt) in this freaked-up world, the way things are, with the greediness that permeates everything.