     Marie | Saturday, February 19, 2000 - 07:43 pm 
Am considering a Ch.13 bankruptcy for student loans to get lower payments. If you file and decide not to can you withdraw it? If you can would it then still show on your credit report?
They do have a program to temporarily lower payments but after a year they go back to normal amount and my income won't cover the higher payments. |
| Anonymous | Saturday, February 19, 2000 - 09:09 pm
Your best bet is to go back to school - take so much as one class, and you may get a deferal. This would buy you some time. Student loans are not dischargable except in cases of serious poverty. |
| Anonymous | Sunday, February 20, 2000 - 11:39 am
Marie -
You can have it dismissed (not to be confused with discharged), but it will remain on your credit report for 7 years from the filing date. Make sure it's updated to "DISMISSED" status on your reports, too.
My "dismissed" Ch 13 BK falls off in 8 months (filing date 11/93). I fought it for a year & couldn't get it off completely. |
| Voigtkampff | Monday, February 21, 2000 - 05:17 am
Marie, some of the student loan programs (William D. Ford, for example, I think) do allow payments that are contingent on income. So if you are in such a program, you could theoretically pay $1 per month, if that is all the income that you could afford to pay, and the credit report would show current on payments. I know little about this and you would have to find someone who specializes in this. Or call the student loan program itself.
I don't see how you could change your mind and have a bnk removed from a credit report. It is ACCURATE information that it was filed and as such, and as a ch 13, it should be reported for 7 years. This is one of those have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too cases.
Ask your attorney if you qualify for the undue hardship. It's unlikely but maybe you can just discharge it without paying at all. |
| Marie | Monday, February 21, 2000 - 11:27 am
Thank you for the help. There is a chance I might qualify for the hardship discharge but I've read it can be very difficult to get. I would just hate to have the CH13 noted on my report(and I see what you mean it would be accurate) but still have the debt because it didn't meet the hardship guidelines or it was rejected for some other reason. I had thought maybe it made a difference if you "cancelled" the bk, compared to the court "dismissing" for whatever reason - looks like I was wrong about that. |
| Voigtkampff | Monday, February 21, 2000 - 02:45 pm
Don't think that the hardship discharge is an all-or-nothing thing. I'm very inexperienced in that subject since I've only done 1, but I have been told things by other attorneys. These adversaries are often settled (mine was). One of the MANY ways that they are settled is that the creditor agrees to accept income contingent payments. An example that I have heard of is that the Debtor must submit a tax return to the student loan creditor every year, and no payment (or a small payment) is due if the income is low enough. Of course you should probably not file a §523(a)(8) action unless there is some merit - some real chance of winning. I would personally try to get the income-contingent payments directly from the creditor, without paying an attorney. But then you might have other issues that absolutely require an attorney. |
| Marie | Monday, February 21, 2000 - 06:24 pm
Voigtkampff, thanks once again for clarifying that. I had thought it was an all or nothing kind of thing. I'm trying to decide between the two possibilities of BK or working with them, problem being they're not willing to work with me or my atty yet. They keep refusing lower payments and I'm starting to wonder if the collection agency is more concerned with getting a higher percentage than collecting for my student loan.
I don't know why they think my income is going to jump up radically when it hasn't in a decade.
Sorry for digressing there, its a frustrating situation. |
