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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 loans, cure the default before you file your taxes.  File an extension if you must to gain some additional time.

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Crushing-debt-podcast

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 Podcast with Shawn Yesner.

 

 

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PAF
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 surprised about what they learned today.  Hopefully, they will go back to their offices and share this with their attorneys and clients – and help us to share the word that there are many ways to reduce student loan debt that are not discussed by student loan servicers.

If you know of any group who would be interested in learning more about dealing with their student loans, please contact us to arrange a speaking engagement!

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https://www.tampabankruptcylawyerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/christie_d._arkovich_p.a_1_small.jpgWe’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 to be automatic.  Basically, you check a box requesting the forbearance in the application.  The DOE is supposed to automatically grant the forbearance while the review is under way – a process that may take a year or even longer.

However, under Secretary DeVos’ watch, the BDTR department has basically been gutted, with only a handful of people working to process what appears to be approximately 1200 claims received per week.  So the work isn’t getting done.

So who’s responsibility is this to make sure the borrower is being placed on forbearance as they should – DOE, the servicer (such as Navient, AES, Great Lakes, FedLoan, Nelnet), or both?  That is the question we are now looking into.

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One of our PSLF class actions against the largest student loan servicer in the United States, Navient, was profiled by ABC Action News here in Tampa last week.  Our clients are finding they have to basically start all over with their ten years of Public Service Loan Forgiveness because the servicers are telling borrowers incorrectly that their payments for the last ten years qualified when in fact, they did not.  In the client interviewed for this story, Gill Cottrill, it’s all because he had the wrong loan type.  He had an older FFEL consolidation loan as opposed to a newer Direct loan.  That simple fact has cost him everything!  He has now had to move across the country to a lower cost of living area in order to try to pay down his student loan debt — debt that should have now been paid after his ten years of payments.

ABC-PSLFhttps://www.onenewspage.com/video/20180201/9604344/Student-Loan-Nightmare-Navient-accused-of-misleading-students.htm

If you believe you may be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness but are worried that you somehow may also be denied, or worse yet, have actually been denied, you should seek out a qualified student loan attorney.  Our Navient case is seeking nationwide status.  We have another case pending against Great Lakes.  More may follow against other servicers who also misled their customers.

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cnn-moneyCNN Money recently featured two of our clients, Amanda Lawson-Ross and Bill Cottrill, in a story Student Loan Nightmare:  ‘I have to start all over’.  These two clients filed Complaints seeking class action status.

One observation in the story:  “They make it incredibly difficult to take advantage of [PSLF]; you have to jump through so many hoops just to qualify.”  My advice:  don’t rely on your servicer (Great Lakes, Navient, FedLoan, Nelnet, AES etc.) with $11/hour employees who are likely paid incentives to reduce call duration and work for the creditor for correct information.  Seek Help Now!

A report was issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over the summer that spotlights the lack of accurate information borrowers are receiving about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program even after identifying themselves as a public worker.

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https://www.tampabankruptcylawyerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/christie_d._arkovich_p.a_1_small.jpgParent Plus loans continue to be a big problem.  Not only are the consumers unable to pay the loans that were taken out for their children, they are continuing to not take advantage of plans that would allow them to pay less without hurting their credit.

Case in point: (As an aside, this client found me by googling “student loan nightmare”.  Sad, but true.)

One client I met with this week received a statement from her FedLoan servicer that the amount due was now $542.88.  On an income of $35,000 with a husband unable to work, our client simply could not afford that.  When she called her servicer, she was informed that she did not qualify for income based repayment and her only option once she came off forbearance was to pay $542.88.  But we can lower her payment by more than 50%!  And once she retires, her payment can likely go to zero.

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Our firm was instrumental in the filing of several class actions in Florida against Navient and Great Lakes for our clients who believed they were accruing time toward public service loan forgiveness — when it turns out their loans were not eligible.  The kicker is all they needed to do was move their loans from the FFEL program to the Direct program.  But this information was never provided by their loan servicer and they now have to start from scratch.  Don’t let this be you:  contact us or a knowledgeable student loan attorney for a check up RIGHT NOW.  Make sure you are on track with these student loans.

Further information about the PSLF program, see our website here.  If you doubt what we can do to help reduce student loan debt, check out our reviews for what our clients are saying.  Do you need a student loan lawyer? 

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341-meeting
All debtors must appear at a meeting called the “341 meeting of creditors”.  Creditors may, but usually do not appear, and it is the Trustee asking most of the questions.  This 341 must occur for a bankruptcy to be successful and applies in both a Chapter 7 and 13.

The trustee will first verify your identity.  While this sounds simple, you must bring an original social security card or an original government issued document that shows your full social security number.  You’d be surprised at how many people think they know where they keep their original SSN card, but can’t find it when they are in a hurry about to leave to the 341 meeting.  So look for it early.  The meeting cannot be held without that documentation.

Also, make sure that your driver’s license has the exact name that is listed on your petition for bankruptcy.  If it is different, you’ll likely need to amend your petition to show that name and any other iterations of your legal name that you may use (“a/k/a”).

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