Studen Loan discharge ?

[ag13]

I filed BK 7 back in 2004. I did include my student loan which was with Direct Loans(originally Citibank back in 1993). The debt was included in my discharge as a creditor. They at no time contested the discharge nor did I request a adversary hearing.

Now four years later, they start calling me and demanding thier money.

My questions is, they had plenty of time to dispute being included as a discharged debtor as well as plenty of time to appeal the discharge.

I know I can reopen the case and do the adversary hearing, but why would be required to do that for thier mistake?

Thanks.

[HHM]

Sorry to say, YOU MUST FILE an adversary proceeding to have student loans discharge. Student loans are non-dischargeable unless the debtor (you) proves a hardship. Since you didn't file the Adversary proceeding to prove a hardship, the student loans are not discharge.

The BK code specifically outlines what debts are or are not discharged. The discharge order, in essence, means, all debts that can be discharged are, and those that cannot be discharged, are not discharge.

So, you still owe them, sorry.

[Txgirl]

I have been doing research on this and apparently it's very difficult to get SL discharged from bankruptcy.

Good Luck

[ag13]

I agree. However my research shows that a similar situation has occurred. After several courts it seem the Ninth District court ruled in favor of the debtor, not the creditor. The response from the court was simple. It seems that even though the debtor did not file for the adversay hearing, the creditor did not dispute the discharge either. Still doing some homework on it.

[Txgirl]

Are these federal or private student loans?

[ag13]

These loans were originally thru Citibank in 1993, then coverted to Direct Loans in 1999.

[el222]

ag13, if they are Direct Loans, then they are federal. When you had them through Citibank, though they were "converted" to Direct Loans then they were always federal -at least in the sense that they were federally guaranteed. Federal loans were not dischargeable in bankruptcy in 2004 (unless you fought it under "undue hardship" in an adversary proceeding). Only private student loans (non-federally guaranteed) could have been discharged. I do not believe that prior to the change to the bankruptcy law in October of 2005 that you would have needed to file an adversary proceeding to discharge a private student loan.