This is for HHM: Discharged from Student Loans!!!!

[needinganswers]

I wish you can read this HHM where ever you are in New Zealand. I got a call from the lawyer a few minutes ago to let me know that we are off the hook from paying the $180K student loan. We should get a copy of the signed court order by the end of the month. Thank you for all your input and for having good faith in our case. The lesson I learned from all these: Never, ever co-signed for anybody ever again. We are still awaiting for a final discharge on our BK. We should have been discharged in Sept., but I was told that the Central District is backed-up. I called the clerk of courts as Minnymouth advises, and she took down my name and case number. As soon as we get the final discharge, the rest will be detail. Thank you, Thank you. The best x'mas present I could have next to having my daughter.

[Genenco]

I wish you can read this HHM where ever you are in New Zealand. I got a call from the lawyer a few minutes ago to let me know that we are off the hook from paying the $180K student loan. We should get a copy of the signed court order by the end of the month. Thank you for all your input and for having good faith in our case. The lesson I learned from all these: Never, ever co-signed for anybody ever again. We are still awaiting for a final discharge on our BK. We should have been discharged in Sept., but I was told that the Central District is backed-up. I called the clerk of courts as Minnymouth advises, and she took down my name and case number. As soon as we get the final discharge, the rest will be detail. Thank you, Thank you. The best x'mas present I could have next to having my daughter.

OMG!!!!!!!!INCREDIABLE!!!!!!!!!!!

[bkfiler]

why not post details so we can learn why you got the loans discharged?

thanks

[Minnymouth]

THAT FANTASTIC...... YES SOMETIMES THINGS WORK DIFFERENTLY IN OUR FAVOR...........

YES, please post it so others can read and maybe follow the same option if available to them.....

It paid off - not giving up!!!!

Minny

[needinganswers]

My husband attended and graduated from a highly specialized flight school. The loans were funded by a private bank, but serviced through one of those non-profit higher educational guaranty corporations. I co-signed for the loans, which made me the guarantor, in order for my husband to be approved.

A few weeks after our 341creditors meeting, our lawyer received a re-affirmation agreement from the bank to re-affirm the student loans. Obviously our lawyer got confused as to why she would receive this agreement when such loans are supposedly non-dischargeable to begin with. She checked with another lawyer and that's when the investigation began. The new lawyer faxed/mailed a letter to the bank to confirm the true status of the loans, but, of course, the bank did not respond. We then had to file an adversary proceeding to determine the dischargeability of the loans before the last day of objection. In the end, the bank decided to just basically let go. They can't prove that the loans were non-dischargeable. If you read the promisary note, you will not find a single "federally funded" or "guaranteed by the federal" . . . All it says on it is guaranteed by you who is me, the co-signer. Damn! I had to shell out $3K just to determine whether it was dischargeable or not . . . But again $3K v. $180K . . . I am content and deliriously happy with the outcome. Thank you God!

Three things I would like to say though:

Never ever co-sign again for ANYBODY. Okay, one more time again . . . Never ever co-sign again for ANYBODY.
Never use a spouse as a co-signer to be approved for a loan in case both applies for BK in the future.
Never send a re-affirmation agreement to the debtor only after the final discharge is granted by the court or don't send one at all! It's understood!

Had the bank opted to send the re-affirmation agreement after the fact, we would have been stucked right now with these loans for the rest of our lives. By 2024, we would have ended up paying a total of $224K that is, of course, if we don't default on the loans. All I can say is the bank was stupid for having done what they did, but it turned out to be in our favor. This bank is a multi-billion dollar bank . . . Huge! I would think this bank can afford smart, reliable lawyers. Oh, well. All I can say is and I can't seem to say it enough--THANK YOU GOD! And THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Bkfiler, I don't know if you remember me, but I filed a question under lawyers.com, too, as needinganswers2. I didn't feel the support I needed from that site as I do in this forum.

And as for you HHM--thank you again for having faith in our case. I wish you could read this right now because I know that you would have been happy for me.

Merry Christmas! I hope each one of you get the results you've been hoping for out of this BK. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I know. There is one for me.

[bkfiler]

whoo hooo great to hear! very nice!

[badjob]

Hate to be a jerk but...

I have busted my but to pay my student loans every month. I have always thought that it might be a fair idea that people who shirk their student loans should have their degree revoked and any professonal liscences resulting from that degree revoked. Isn't the degree and the results / jobs from the degree basicly the security for the loan? I know that this sounds harsh but I lived in my car and in a tent for several years to afford college. I think that this would make people consider getting student loans more carefully (just like credit cards) and schools make sure that their students get high quality degrees and skills. I also think that every school should have to publish in their recruiting info the student loan default rate (just like they are required to publish the crime stats in some states). Let's face it, stuffing a bunch of loan paper work in the face of a teenager and parents often desperate to get their kids an education is a recipie for abuse (along with the easy credit from the govt.)

This isn't meant as an attack on the OP, it sounds like she may have made some mistakes.

[audreyl]

I have always thought that it might be a fair idea that people who shirk their student loans should have their degree revoked and any professonal liscences resulting from that degree revoked. Isn't the degree and the results / jobs from the degree basicly the security for the loan?

I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you, badjob. What good will it do if you take a person's degree away? In the case of a professional, they wouldn't be able to work. One example is my mom. She busted her butt to get her medical degree. No, we didn't live in a tent, but we struggled. (Mom going to school full time, with 4 kids) She had crazy student loans, but has never defaulted. What if she did default and they took away her degree?

She would have to shut down her practice, all of her patients would have to find another provider that took Medicare/Medicaid, etc. She wouldn't be able to keep up her insurance. The rural area that we live in would loose one of the few providers, and the only one that takes Medicare/Medicade.

Now I'm not saying that people who default on their student loans should get off scott free, but taking away peoples degrees would also take away their jobs and is a bit unrealistic.

I guess that I think the people that have the highest degrees/ most student loans are the people that others count on the most. (Ex. Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, etc) And others that have gone back to school to gain more experience or earn another degree.

This of course is only my opinion

Congrats Needinganswers, if I would have been able to file before the deadline, I would have been in the same boat as you. How exciting!

[Pinktiger]

Your argument is flawed.

I have busted my but to pay my student loans every month. I have always thought that it might be a fair idea that people who shirk their student loans should have their degree revoked and any professonal liscences resulting from that degree revoked. Isn't the degree and the results / jobs from the degree basicly the security for the loan? . . .
This isn't meant as an attack on the OP, it sounds like she may have made some mistakes.

Yes, and there are people out there who pay off their credit card debt and sacrifice to do so. The fact is, if it can be discharged, and a person is under so much financial pressure that they are considering bankruptcy, then they should discharge the debt.

I understand the argument - but the argument doesn't hold much water. It is an argument used by the financial forces to make debt look normal, when it ireally isn't, at least not in the numbers most Americans are in debt.

[bkfiler]

i dont think bk is, at least at the core of it, about the type of debt. it just turns out the since the government made the rules/laws for bk they just became greedy and said you cant discharge, gov loans, fees, taxes, traffic tickets and to be good guys we will throw in DUI so we look decent.

at its core is just a chance to let us escsape the financial burden. so we are not trapped out entire lives. makes sense to me. some deserve it more then others. some dont but get it anyway. no system is perfect.

so it does no good and isnt the correct logic to argue about wether the degree should be recinded or not if the student loans were discharged. its not about that. they cant usually be discharged becuase its from the government. thats the only reason. same as taxes. yeah sure they cuit you some slack and say 3 years on taxes and only if you are handicapped or destitute on student loans.

bottom line is those that made the laws dont want to have it apply to them. even though they dont pay their bills either lol

[robivi3]

needing... I don't care what anyone says. THANK GOD!! What an obscene amount of money. These loans help drive up the cost of education. Just as surely as stretching the payments raises the cost of an auto. I am sure that future income looked bright when you took them out. I am happy for you, that sort of debt is crippling in every way.

[SteveInColorado]

This post brings to mind another question I have, so let me slightly hijack for a sec, please. When we filed, we didn't realize student loans were non-dischargable (well, except this one ). Should we be making payments right now? My wife's been deferring hers for years, and the last deferment ended right about the time we filed. We didn't worry about it because we WERE filing, but later found out we're still obligated to pay. Haven't heard from the bank, but if we should be paying during the BK, we may as well get started.

Thanks for any advice,
Steve.