Reports have been surfacing that the Department of Education is kicking borrowers out of Income Driven Plans when they file bankruptcy. It makes no difference if they are in a Chapter 7 or 13. It also doesn’t matter if the debtor is current in their payments. The National Association of…
Articles Posted in Student loans
Trying to Rehab a Federal Student Loan? Be careful!
If you are in default on a federal student loan, one option to cure the default is to enter into a 9 or 10 month rehab plan to cure the default. This can be a paperwork nightmare, with the result ending in wage garnishment if you are not careful. Once…
New Procedure Allowed In Tampa Now To Reduce Student Loan Debt When Filing Chapter 13
Ignoring your debtor’s federal student loans in their Chapter 13 bankruptcy can have catastrophic circumstances. While fixing vehicle, credit card and mortgage debt, you may have inadvertently allowed a debtor’s $100,000 federal student loan to balloon into nearly $150,000 by doing nothing. This is because the standard procedure of the…
Tax on Death and Disability Discharges is Gone . . . For Now.
One lesser discussed provision of the new tax bill passed at the end of 2017 provides great news for student loan borrowers. Borrowers who have their loans canceled due to death or disability are no longer taxed for the forgiveness. This also applies to those parents who have taken out…
What to Do When You Believe(d) Your Student Loans Were Discharged in a Prior Bankruptcy
There are a ton of people who believed their student loans were discharged when they loans were simply listed in their bankruptcy. It may have been years before the private student loan companies started to communicate with the borrowers to collect this debt which added to that impression. As it…
Six Things You Should Know About Student Loan Forbearances
If you run into trouble paying your student loan, chances are you’ve been told to “just go on forbearance.” Here are five reasons that is a terrible idea in many cases: The client I just finished speaking with has had a few hardships in her life (health, divorces, low pay,…
Do Not File Your Tax Return If You Are In Default on Your Federal Student Loans: File an Extension and Cure the Default First
Are you expecting a large tax refund this year? If so, and you have had some financial difficulties this year, do NOT file your tax return if you are in default on your federal student loans OR about to file bankruptcy. Instead, some pre-planning is in order. For federal students…
Parent Plus Loans: Don’t Believe Your Loan Servicer if They are Telling You Nothing Can be Done to Reduce Payments
Parent Plus Loans are federal loans that a parent or grandparent takes out for their child or grandchild to go to college. Learn more about these loans, their high default rates and avenues to reduce this type of student loan debt by listening to our interview on the Crushing Debt…
Paralegal Association of Florida, Inc. Luncheon “Master Your Student Loans”
I’d like to thank the PAF’s Hillsborough Chapter for the invitation to speak at their luncheon today with the assistance of our long term legal assistant, Angie Glaser, now paralegal!! — about Taking Control of Your Student Loans. There were lots of good questions by people starved for information and…
Borrowers Not Getting Automatic Forbearances Timely Approved After Filing Borrower Defense to Repayment Applications
We’ve noticed over the past few months that some of our clients and many other borrowers have been reporting that they are having no luck getting their federal loans in forbearance after they’ve filed a Borrower Defense to Repayment (“BDTR”) application. These forbearances are simple to request and are supposed…