Student Loans

[Clipper965]

What is the name of your state?FL & TX

I am writing this on behalf of a friend who file Chapter 7 in FL 2 years ago and got a discharge. He has 2 children and could not handle his debts, in particular a large student loan debt. His attorney,now deceased, included the student loan debts in the petition and his discharge papers show the debts as being discharged. He is now getting threats from Sallie Mae for repayment saying they have to motion again in court on another ground to successfully dismiss the debt. He & his wife are really strapped and cannot afford a lawyer, they thought all this was done and now SALLIE MAE wants his badly needed TAX REFUND check. He filed in Florida and now lives in Texas.

 

[Ladynred]

Bad news, student loans are NOT dischargable in bankrutpcy !! Those SL's did NOT go away. Unless your friend can get his BK case re-opened by trying to get the loans discharged on the basis of extreme hardship, he's going to be up the creek on the loans. Proving extreme hardship to get out of SL's is not easy - he's going to need a lawyer.

 

[Clipper965]

That is what I told him that Student Loans are not dischargeable unless super extraordinary circumstances, but he says they appear as DISCHARGED on his Discharge of Debtor Forms. I think this where we are all confused.

 

[Ladynred]

Well.. he had to list the debt on his schedules and creditor matrix, but that does not mean they are discharged. When he got his discharge papers, they didn't list the debts that were discharged, they never do, it simply says that you have been granted the discharge. Student loans are nearly impossible to discharge in bankruptcy because proving undue hardship is very difficult - most people can't pass the criteria tests for hardship.

You're friend is going to have to do something to pay these loans. If he's healthy and able to work, its going to be tough to prove hardship. Has he considered trying to rehab them ?

 

[Who's Liable?]

Everone is correct above... Although he would have had to list Sallie Mae in his BK papers, they would not have been discharged. They are only listed to give a financial background for the filer. If the lawyer told him that they would be discharged, then shame on the lawyer... And yes, proving undue hardship is VER Y difficult...