Got a deferment just before filing

[empowered]

I hope this worked though I'm not completely sure.

My student loans were incorporated into my Chapter 13 plan for payment so when I didn't keep up with it and it was dismissed, I fell behind on payment and basically was so focused on dealing with unemployment and preparing to file Chapter 7 that I didn't consider that I needed to do something about the student loans.

I was encouraged on this list to go ahead and contact them. I did so and it wasn't easy to restore contact since they were several addresses behind. But finally I was able to get them to deal with me by forwarding an old e-mail confirmation of payment that helped to establish identity. Simultaneously, I downloaded a deferment form and filled it out and sent it in. Both of these things I did while they refused to deal with me on the phone since they wanted some out-of-date information that I somehow couldn't put my finger on. They would not accept the usual confirmations of identity.

At any rate, because someone on this list said that once they filed, their student loan provider refused to take payment until after their discharge, by which time the loans were in default, I was nervous that mine would go into default too.

But it looks like I might have managed to make it. I sent the deferment form in at the end of July. On 8/2 I filed the Chapter 7. Today I was able to confirm that the student loan administrators received the deferment form and granted a deferment.

Anyone know if they're likely to reneg on the deferment once they receive news of my filing Chapter 7? I'm hoping that they see that I'm in deferment and just let it ride out the course.

Thanks.

[KeithDoxen]

When did you file your Chapter 13? Was it prior to 2005? My understanding was that the 2005 changes to the bankruptcy laws prevent student loans from being included in either Ch7 or Ch13 filings.

Are these federal or private loans? If these are federal loans, you're going to be fine. They will either leave them in deferment or switch them over to bankruptcy forbearance. After you are discharged you will start getting statements from them again to resume payment.

If they are private loans things tend to get tricky. Some private lenders even put a clause in their contract saying that if you file for bankruptcy, they have the option of putting you into default. Since you're already in deferment you'll probably be okay. But you'd be better off if these were federal loans because there are more protections for the borrower.

[empowered]

Hi Keith.

The loans were included in the payment plan for my Chapter 13. There was no discharge, nor am I seeking one for them in the Chapter 7 that I filed this month after the dismissal of the 13.

The Chapter 13 was filed in Fall of 2008 in California. They are the usual federal loans and I was paying them through ACS, I guess they are considered an administrator of such loans? Not sure what to call them.

Had I finished the Chapter 13 plan, the student loans would have been paid off at the end of the plan. I think that there was the option to leave them out of the plan and continue to pay them separately or to include them in the plan. Though I had returned to work after a period of unemployment and the Chapter 13 filing was not quick, the new income was quite a bit over the median and mandated a large monthly payment into the plan.

I hope that's what you were asking, more or less. Thank you for saying that I should be fine since they are federal loans. I may also be applying to go back to school next year and make a mid-life career change, if you can call it that, but I can't get student loans I'll have to put it off for another year since school is now so expensive.

I'll wait and see what happens.

Thanks again.
empowered