Student Loans and Bankruptcy

Student Loans, Bankruptcy, and Alternatives

There are a wide variety of reasons why you could be considering filing bankruptcy to eliminate student loans as a solution to your student loan debts. Even though this should be your last resort to paying off your student loans, you might find yourself in a situation that could require you to file for bankruptcy to try and eliminate your student loans.

Can You Declare Bankruptcy For Student Loans?

You can, but there are certain laws, rules and policies that you must follow. There are also certain qualifications that you must be able to prove in order to even qualify for a student loan bankruptcy. As far as qualifying to declare bankruptcy, this could be different for almost everyone and very difficult to prove.

Undue Hardship Under Chapter 7: You must be able to show that you have an undue hardship in order to qualify for this type of bankruptcy. The only way you can prove an undue hardship to declare bankruptcy for your student loans is if you are physically unable to work and you will not be able to work for the rest of your life. This is a rare occurrence, and difficult to prove to a court. You should choose this method of applying for bankruptcy if you meet the qualifications for it.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy: You shouldn't expect to be able to get rid of all of your student loan debts by filing under a chapter 13 bankruptcy, but you could get rid of some or most of it. The best way to apply for this one will be to expect to have your student loan debt consolidated, because that is likely what the court will do (as well as eliminate some of it). To qualify for chapter 13 you will need to prove that you have the disposable income available to pay back at least most of your student loan debt.

Are There Any Alternatives To Bankruptcy?

There are many alternatives available to you instead of filing for bankruptcy. Here is an outline of those alternatives:

Repayment Plan: Work out a payment plan with your current lender that will help lower your monthly payments now and increase as your income does. Your lender wants to work with you and would be happy to help you find a repayment plan that will work for both of you.

Payment Deferment: Contact your lender to ask for an application to apply for payment deferment. If you qualify this will put off any payments you would otherwise have to make and keep you out of collections until you are able to make the monthly payments.

Student Loan Consolidation: Work with another lender to get all of your student loans put into one loan with one monthly payment to make. This will decrease your monthly payments and your interest rate, saving you money now and later.

As mentioned before, filing bankruptcy to eliminate your student loans should be considered as a last resort if you can't simply find anything else that will work for you and your financial situation. There are many alternatives to filing for bankruptcy and your lenders can help you with this as they do want you to pay back the loan even if they have to make some adjustments.

Call Charles L Basch II at 313-343-9930 today.