student loans...

[juststupid]

First quick background.... In the summer of 06 I was dismissed from the college I was attending because I wasn't progressing at a fast enough rate... I tried to appeal the decision because of everything happening (three deaths in the family in 2 months, my pregnancy which landed my in the hospital several times and money issues) any way they denied my appeal and dismissed me.

So a few months down the road I got letters from the student loans saying that they were all going to be due soon... ahhh. SO I decided to try to consolidate some of them so I wouldn't have so many payments and they payments would have totaled to $300, we can't afford that. Well we got the consolidation and the payment went down to $170, and I was to start paying them in January.

Well between Oct when I started the consolidation and January I had our second son. And even though we have pretty decent insurance we now have $3000 + in hospital bills, and even more since the lovely peanut butter salmonella crap (husband and son #1 both got it) and now have more hospital bills since they both had to go to the ER and all the follow up visits and dr visits for Jordon before we knew about the peanut butter (he was sick for three weeks).

Well during all this we haven't had the money to pay the student loans... and now they are wanting $600 that I don't have and I just have no idea how we will make up that much and make the monthly payments. I am set to start school up again at the end of April and one of the provisions of coming back is I have to have a B average for the next 2 semester. With that said I am a stay at home mom and having to keep a B average I wouldn't be able to get a job to help with money and it so doesn't help we have to get a bigger apartment this summer that is closer to the school my husband is going to for a police acadamy (thank goodness the army will pay his tuition).

With all that said, does anyone know if I would be able to get them disharged because of an undue hardship???

Sorry this was so long....

[wrinkleigh]

Probably not.

Undue hardship is (to the lenders at least) usally means that you have a total disability, or something else that would prevent you from earning money to pay them back. The fact that you want to go back to school, and be a stay at home mom are choices that you made, not a "beyond your control" type of thing.

That said, once you go back to school full time you can apply to have your loans deferred. You may also qualify for further financial aid due to your income. I know this sounds like digging the hole deeper -- but-- it would be possible to take out another student loan, and pay the loan you are delinquent on up to date. Then once you are out of school you could apply for another consolidation to get them all together once again. BUT -- you lose your deferment benefits if you default on the original loan. Until you can get caught up on payments **or** get back in school (so you can defer), call the lender and ask them for a forebearance based on economic hardship. These are granted at the discresion of the lender, and are usally good for a 6 month period, and are retroactive to the date of the first missed payment.

I dont mean to sound hard here -- but -- please think about your decision to go back to school -- are you really financially sound and able to go back? How will you pay for school, books, supplies, and basic living expenses then , when it is so hard now?

Good luck to you.

[juststupid]

It's not that I wouldn't go back to work, but without a degree any job I got would go straight to paying daycare and fuel costs. And I have been a stay at home mom since before our first son was born because for the first year of his life my husband was in Iraq. So our living expenses wouldn't change. And the school I am attending is giving me 50% off the tuition since my husband is military and since I am doing the course online (so I can continue to be home with our boys) the books are all e-books and inluded in the cost of tuition.

With that said I will just talk to my attorney tomorrow when we go to sign the petition and see what he says. If it can't be done than we will just try to make it work.

[JollyGG]

It is increadibly easy to get a deferment or a forberance on your student loans. I have done both numerous times.

I belive you said you had a baby in January. You quilify for a year of maternity deferment if you are not working.

Just call your lender, explain the situation. They will tell you what type of deferment or forberance is best in your situtiation. You'll fill out a one page form, sign it, mail it back, and be done. Once you start school you get another deferment while in school. Once you graduate you consolidate everything and start paying it back.

As long as you are proactive about making arrangements student loans are easy to deal with. There are a million and one programs to make paying them easier.

[HHM]

You should have no problem getting a deferment...but usually you need to bring the payments current. Note, you only get 36 months worth of deferment for the life of the loan (regardless of how many times it is consolidated).

How much in student loans do you owe?

Without a little more background it is had to say whether you could get them discharged...but I don't think that ship has sailed, becoming a full time mother might actually qualify you...but at the same, time, the cost of bringing this type of litigation usually prevents the actions from being brought in the first place. Understand that a student loan discharge is basically lawsuit with everything that goes with it, it is not simply a few additional forms that would be part of your BK.

[juststupid]

I have over 20,000 in student loans. Just the amount from the consolidation is 17k. Then some smaller private student loans that couldn't be combined into the consolidation, but those are going to get deferred.

I guess my best bet would be to see if I can't defer them until I am finished with my degree and than try to consolidate all of them together.

Thanks for all the info.

[lrprn]

Here's the scoop on discharging federal student loans through bankruptcy:
"If you filed Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy after October 7, 1998, you may have your loan discharged only if the bankruptcy court finds that repayment would impose undue hardship on you and your dependents. This must be decided in an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy court after the conclusion of the bankruptcy. Your creditors will be present to challenge the request. The court uses a three-pronged test to determine hardship:
* If you are forced to repay the loan, you would not be able to maintain a minimal standard of living.
* There is evidence that this hardship will continue for a significant portion of the loan repayment period.
* You made good-faith efforts to repay the loan before filing bankruptcy (usually this means you have been in repayment for a minimum of five years).

Your loan will not be discharged if you are unable to satisfy any one of the three requirements." From http://www.ombudsman.ed.gov/bankruptcy.html

Sounds like you cannot meet these criteria. Please take the time NOW to figure out how to pay off the student loans you already have BEFORE taking on more student loans. You want to prevent finding yourself in the same position as several posters here before have - they were unable to find a job after getting their degree that paid enough to pay their student loans down and still maintain any standard of living. Use the forum search for "student loans" to read some of their stories.

[juststupid]

Just an update: I talked to a lady from the company that consolidated my loans and told her that we didn't really have the money to pay right now and that it's been tight. She suggested a verbal forbearance, and that she would tack the amount I owe now onto the back of my loan and it would hold until June in which by that time I will be back in school and can have an easy transition into deferrement.

Which is really a load off of my shoulders. Knowing I won't have to worry about that for now.

But Thank you everyone for your help.