Has anyone EVER been successful discharging student loans in bk under the "severe hardship" clause? What was your severe hardship? My wife is filing chap 7 bk. She has 25k of unsecured debt and another 25k of government student loans. She's never really been able to afford the student loan payments. They've always been really late, or deferred and interest just keeps accruing on them. In the past two tax years she made 18k and 16k. Right now she's unemployed and we can't afford for her to get a job because she's the primary care giver for our children. We don't make enough to cover the daycare costs of 3 kids under 3yrs old and I make too much for us to qualify for any public assistance of any kind (45k). Also she never finished college, so she couldn't realistically get a job in our area that will pay enough to afford the payment. Her stud loan payment is 177 a month. After doing our budget, we are exactly $204 behind every month. Eliminating that student loan payment would really help. Does our "sob" story qualify for undue hardship? Luke
In the eyes of the Gov't, all your other debts take a back seat to those student loan debts. When you say you're $205 in the red each month, are you including things like CC bills, internet access, cellular phone, cable tv, etc? If so, those luxuries won't matter when it comes to a hardship case. Having too many bills isn't a reason for a hardhip discharge. This is because, at some point in the future, you're likely to get a job that pays more, allowing you to pay back the loans. Go to this site and check out the hardship discharge info: http://sfahelp.ed.gov/ombudsman/cancellation.html
Thanks for the link, we will check it out. I didn't include cell phone or cable (we don't have them), internet is paid by my mother with whom we share an account, I do pay $30 a month on 2 credit cards. I don't have real balances on them, I'm trying to build positive trades by charging a tiny bit and paying it off a tiny bit at a time. I do save $150 a month for my own sons' college educations. I know some people in my situation wouldn't but I want to give them a shot at living a better life than us, and not having to accumulate thier own student loan debts. Luke
Thanks again for that link. We definitely don't qualify for dischange through bk, but maybe I can get her to join the Peace Corps... Luke
