Student Loan Question...

[desperate&broke]

I am going to be filing a Chpt 7 w/in the next month or so. I have an attorney retained. We have started all the paper work. I do have a question (which I did ask her but would like your thoughts on).

I have a student loan which my sister co-signed on. Apparently when I file the loan will show up on my sister's credit report as 'included in BK'. This bugs me to no end because I truly wanted to keep this from my family.

I am paying the loan monthly. Is there any reason to actually 'include' it in the BK? Is there ANY way around this?

Your thoughts would be appreciated

[woeisme]

There is no way to avoid it that I know of. We paid on our student loan, never late with a payment by even 1 day, and not only did they put included in BK on the loan status on the credit reports, but the student loan company put on our report that we defaulted on the loan, just by the act of filing bankruptcy, and demanded payment in full from the Guaranteeor agency, which paid them for the loan and now we are making our payments to the guarenteeor instead of the original student loan company. So while the loan can't be discharged in BK, they can claim it was defaulted on even when you make all your payments just because you filed, which totally shocked me! I'm considering whether or not to even fight with them over it, since I don't really care about my credit rating (I'll be in CH 13 for 5 years, and after that it will only be 2 years before it should fall off my report anyway, and i'm in no hurry to get back into the credit mess that led me to CH 13 so don't plan on applying for credit cards and the like and plan to still live on a cash basis after discharge anyhow.) But it still ticked me off because the student loan company didn't even notify me of the default or that they no longer owned the loan, I found out when I was trying to get my student loan interest amount for my tax returns and they claimed that they didn't have my name or SS# on record as having a loan with them!

But I digress, back to your original post, all your debts, whether dischargable or not, are part of your BK filing, and so there is no way to prevent it from being marked as included in BK. I know co-signers are notified of BK filings, my brother filed and had a loan my Mother had co-signed, and even though he reaffirmed the loan and continued making payments as scheduled, the bank still notified my Mom as a co-signer that my brother had filed. Sorry, I know that's not the news you were hoping to hear.

[desperate&broke]

There is no way to avoid it that I know of. We paid on our student loan, never late with a payment by even 1 day, and not only did they put included in BK on the loan status on the credit reports, but the student loan company put on our report that we defaulted on the loan, just by the act of filing bankruptcy, and demanded payment in full from the Guaranteeor agency, which paid them for the loan and now we are making our payments to the guarenteeor instead of the original student loan company. So while the loan can't be discharged in BK, they can claim it was defaulted on even when you make all your payments just because you filed, which totally shocked me! I'm considering whether or not to even fight with them over it, since I don't really care about my credit rating (I'll be in CH 13 for 5 years, and after that it will only be 2 years before it should fall off my report anyway, and i'm in no hurry to get back into the credit mess that led me to CH 13 so don't plan on applying for credit cards and the like and plan to still live on a cash basis after discharge anyhow.) But it still ticked me off because the student loan company didn't even notify me of the default or that they no longer owned the loan, I found out when I was trying to get my student loan interest amount for my tax returns and they claimed that they didn't have my name or SS# on record as having a loan with them!

But I digress, back to your original post, all your debts, whether dischargable or not, are part of your BK filing, and so there is no way to prevent it from being marked as included in BK. I know co-signers are notified of BK filings, my brother filed and had a loan my Mother had co-signed, and even though he reaffirmed the loan and continued making payments as scheduled, the bank still notified my Mom as a co-signer that my brother had filed. Sorry, I know that's not the news you were hoping to hear.

Great! SO no way around it huh?
Ok, fine, tell her! But why put it on HER credit report? Will it affect her negatively?

[woeisme]

I don't think it affected my Mother's credit negatively. She wasn't doing any major purchases like a house or car though, so couldn't swear it wouldn't have affected her, but she was never rejected for a credit card or had any of her cards increase their rates or anything like that. I'm not even sure that it showed up on her credit report, as she wasn't pulling her report at the time (still doesn't, probably never looked at her FICO in her life.) She only knew because the bank that made the loan she co-signed for my brother sent her a letter, but since he kept making the payments after reaffirmation (not a student loan, just a regular bank loan, by the way) it never impacted her in any way.

[desperate&broke]

I hate this! I am now terrified of even the thought of filing and it showing up on my sister's (IMMACULATE) credit report. I can not do this to her. I have literally been sick to my stomach since Monday (when the attorney told me this would happen). I am even considering NOT filing. It's just wrong of me to do to her