i knew this guy who did this, sort of but not really. when he was like mid 30s, he maxed out all his credit cards to the tune of like $20k to purchase consumables for the dying self-employing sole proprietor business he ran out of his parents' house. he did it intentionally planning to default, the logic being, "well i am broke, what can they do to me? the vehicles i use are in my parents' names. i have nothing" his parents are on fixed income/retirees.

i am a fan of sticking it to the man, but even i was like, "is this a good idea?"

anyway, his dad found out about it before the declaring of bankruptcy and he had to sit down with them. after that conversation, which i was not privy to, he got a regular job and was made to pay off his debts. i am pretty sure there was a personal bank loan involved so he wouldn't have to pay the 22% interest rate or whatever on the cards.

the point of this story being, a strategic default can totally be a genius play but the implication is it has to involve strategy.

like taking the cash and leaving the country forever lmao.