Student loan expense

[Debts099]

I have about $850 student loan monthly payment, I was wondering if I can put down this monthly expense on Schedule J as an acceptable expense, if I cannot put this expense down I would have disposable income and am afraid this would affect me being eligible to do a ch 7?

[SamanthaJones]

Sadly, I fear

not.

[SinkingFast]

Student Loans are considered Unsecured Debt but receive special treatment like a Priority Debt in that they cannot be Discharged. As a Debtor, however, you may not discriminate unfairly against any class of Creditors. If you were to list your Student Loans as an Expense on Schedule J, that would show preference to one (or more) particular Unsecured Creditor(s) over others.

If you file BK, your Student Loans could be placed into Deferment. Or the Trustee could make payments on your behalf out of a Ch 13 Plan. Once you're finished with BK, you'd resume paying the Loans yourself if the Loans were not paid in full by the end of your Ch 13 Plan.

[lrprn]

If you file BK, your Student Loans could be placed into Deferment. Or the Trustee could make payments on your behalf out of a Ch 13 Plan. Once you're finished with BK, you'd resume paying the Loans yourself if the Loans were not paid in full by the end of your Ch 13 Plan.

SF is right. Most Ch 13 filers put their student loans into deferment during Ch 13, but unfortunately the lenders are allowed to charge interest during the entire time you are in your plan. If you have a large amount of student loans, over 3-5 years that can add up to a good-sized chunk of extra $$ to pay.

We asked our student loan lender (AES) to accept payments on our $22K Parent Plus student loan whenever we were able to make them during our Ch 13 plan, and they agreed. They sent our loan to their deficiency/bankruptcy 3rd party company, ECMC. So far we've been scrimping to gather up enough every month to pay the interest, and hope to continue that every month we are able. Otherwise we will emerge from Ch 13 in 5 years with over $5,000 more owed due to the interest that will accrue.

[ciacbw]

My lawyer told me to include my student loan payment in my monthly budget. Is this wrong? I am not too worried because my monthly expenses I am still at a deficit even without the student loan. Just interested in your responses.

[lostinmich]

I, too, was told by my attorney to include my monthly student loan payments in my Schedule J for my ch 7 bk. It was the difference between me being a ch 7 or ch 13 filer. My discharge was granted a few weeks ago.

[loonzilla]

Check Pacer for chapter 7 closed cases and see if student loans were used in schedule J. In my district, student loans were listed in multiple cases as monthly expenses with respect to Chapter 7; however, I've sure that varies district to district. It may cost a bit checking out cases in Pacer, but it may be worth it. If your attorney is well versed in the new laws, he should know as well.

[Jeepy89]

I also listed my student loan payment as a monthly expense.

[JollyGG]

We listed our student loans and were discharged a month ago. No one ever questioned it.