Questions for the informed

[PhantomPain]

Based on my info below, did I do well with my 60 mth Chapter 13? I see terms like 100% payback, 20% payback, etc.. What is mine considered? Also, the student loan debt is included in the plan. I know it doesn't get discharged but I'm unsure why over half of our 407.61 payment goes toward NJHESAA student loans. $213 of the $407.61. Is that interest payments you think? Seems like a large percentage of the total payment.

I'm quite amazed that I'm only paying 24.5K base back. What blew my mind in this whole process is my attorney talking me into buying a NEW car before we filed. Glad I did!!

Another question. I am permanently disabled (hence my username) and my health is going south over the past year. I've got osteoarthritis bad all over and recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis which adds to my slowly eroding ability to move. I no doubt believe I'll be able to make it to the end of the Chapter 13 plan - it's the Student loan debt that scares me. If I end up taking a medical retirement because of mobility issues and all - do I get hounded until I die to pay these damn loans off or will they go after my wife who works? Another kink is that we have seriously considered divorcing a year after we complete our BK. Student loans with the exception of the one I cosigned for have long been consolidated. We have had them is some amount for 20yrs and over the years my wife had gone back to school and ran up at least 1/2 that amount. Just makes me madder then hell that I can't get rid of these damn things!



Here is our info:

Unsecured Debt: 85,355.41
Student Loan Debt: 73,745.00 (7552 of which is a cosigned student loan for my 28yr daughter)
------------------------------------
Total Unsecured: 159,100.41

Plan Base: 24,456.60
Monthly Pymt: 407.61 ($213 towards NJHESAA student loans ??)

Date Plan Filed: 09/30/2011
341 Meeting Date: 10/13/2011
Date Confirmed: 12/08/2011

[AngelinaCat]

Hi PP, Welcome to the Forum.

I am an Asset CH7 case, so really cannot address your questions. The CH13 folks should be chiming in at any time.

Please keep in mind that this is the weekend, and the Forum activity is slower. Don't be discouraged if you do not get an answer before Monday.

Again, Welcome.

[justbroke]

Each Chapter 13 is unique to the individual, their income, expenses, debt and other intangible factors (attorney, Trustee, judge, creditors, etc). So, your Chapter 13 should be based on your ability to pay and nothing more. So, you could not compare my 0% payback Chapter 13 to another person's 100% Chapter 13 payback. My Chapter 13 payments went to over $7,500 a month, while there are people in 100% payback plans paying significantly less per month!

If you get to a point where you can't work, you could (and probably should) seek a hardship discharge for hyour Chapter 13 as well as for your student loan debt. In fact, if you will never be able to earn enough to payback the loans, you should seek to discharge the debt in the bankruptcy. There are exceptions, especially medical, which would allow you to discharge the student loans due to inability to ever have substantially gainful employment. This is something that you would review with your attorney (since it's really too complex for an individual to attempt a student loan discharge on their own unless they are extremely well versed in this specific and highly litigious area of bankruptcy).

I wish you better health. If it does deteriorate, I wish for you to successfully receive a hardship discharge of both your (dischargeable) debt and (non-dischargeable) student debt.

[PhantomPain]

Thanks to the both of you for chiming in. I guess that i am getting depressed about what is going to happen post chpt 13. I am seeing this huge 65K student loan debt facing me after bankruptcy in the year that I had hoped to retire. Like i said...I know my physical health related to mobility is catching up with me but this 65K student debt looks insurmountable and it appears to me like it will prevent me to enjoy a couple of years where I can still get around on my own. I wonder if it is accruing interest....what my payments will be. Will the payments be double or triple what I am paying for my chapter 13 payment plan. So....it does not look like a 5 yr bankruptcy plan....it looks like an end of life plan. I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel...not even a pin prick.

[justbroke]

If you truly cannot ever pay the debt, you can still file a complaint to discharge that debt. I cannot say how much it would cost to have an/your attorney file and prosecute such a complaint, but it could be worth it.

[woeisme]

getting student loan debt discharged is a much bigger hurdle than just getting approve for disability, which itself can be quite a challenge. My husband and I did what you did, consolidated our loans to lower payments back before we filed CH 13 and were still hoping to budget our way out of our debt issues. One of the things with consolidating is that now that he's disabled (became disabled partway through our CH 13) we can't even attempt to do a disability discharge since I am not also disabled, so having your wife's loans consolidated in with yours is a problem. And even if you divorce and seek a hardship discharge for yourself, it will still follow her since you both owe the full amount even if separated. (that's a big reason people should be cautioned against consolidating loans with spouses.)

As to your other question, how much does the accruing interest add to the total, I just completed my BK this summer after about 68 months, and we went from ~50K in student loan debt to ~68K. My payment which I just worked out with the lender today went from $325 pre-filing to $425 now (we didn't pay during the CH 13) because the consolidation loan was for a super-long term, like 25 years I think. So I'm looking at paying these things back until I'm 70 years old (and my husband is 80!) so I understand your concerns. Although our CH 13 payment was $400 per month so I guess it's just like our budget has been for the past several years, so in that respect, having gone through the CH 13 and got all the consumer and medical debt discharged still made it worth it.

[dmc-2008]

I am doing all i can to make my student loan payment so that i dont have that sitting out there, try to do that if you can.

[PhantomPain]

I hear you woelsme & dmc-2008. Thanks to the both of you for responding! I wouldn't want to saddle here with the student loan burden. I'm guessing with sale of the home I'd have enough equity to pay down half the amount. I just didn't want to get nailed with like $1200 a month or so. woelsme, you give me hope that it won't be ridiculous.

I have to teenage boys with designs on college which pains me because they will incur student loan debt as all i will be able to help them out with is expenses, laptop, food, etc. a little. I acquired my debt in my 40's - I just want to be debt free so bad.

[dmc-2008]

I hear ya! I want to be debt free so bad too!

[LadyInTheRed]

I have to teenage boys with designs on college which pains me because they will incur student loan debt as all i will be able to help them out with is expenses, laptop, food, etc. a little.

I got through college with very little debt and only a small monthly cash stipend from my parents. I got the grants I could and took workstudy jobs instead of student loans. There are alternatives to incurring huge student loans. If you can cover expenses, food and a laptop, that gives them a great start. That's more than the help a lot of parents can give their children for college.

[dmc-2008]

I completely agree with Lady. It's so funny, just yesterday I was talking to a friend who is facing putting FIL in assisted living and how expensive. This friends husband is a lawyer and trust me they live behind the gates. Well they have two boys that they helped as much as they could get thru law school but they have nothing for retirement for themselves. More...

[dmc-2008]

We talked about how you can borrow for an education but not retirement but they were bent on helping them and have nothing for their own retirement, I was a little shocked when she said she actually loses sleep worrying about old age now that she sees how expensive care is AND even with long term care insurance there is a cap!! They can still boot you out of a retirement CRT when that ends. More...

[dmc-2008]

I told her my kid is on her own with grants and hopefully scholarships! She then told me something her friend, a single mom like me is doing! She let her kid take out loans and to help the kid, she is pitching in paying them back as she can! I think if loans have to be used this would be something I would consider, budge t providing! Okay now I am done. ;-)

[AngelinaCat]

Well they have two boys that they helped as much as they could get thru law school but they have nothing for retirement for themselves. More...

Again I say, to quote Robert A. Heinlein:

"Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy."

[PhantomPain]

Thanks you all. I was feeling quite blue for a while about the future. I rarely post anything hear and have no one to talk with this kind of stuff that I wish to share with. I have a very bright son who desires to go to Med school. Not cheap! He has no idea we filed bankruptcy. I have told him though just recently that I can't bankroll his college as I am trying to prep for my eventual retirement. Once BK is discharged - I really planned to work 2-4yrs more. I'm not gonna die working damn it!