Sallie Mae is still billing my mom

[tdawg]

My mom cosigned for 1 of my student loans that I got through Sallie Mae. After I filed, they sent a bill to her (which I expected). I made the next 2 payments just to make sure everything would be fine. I was discharged from ch 7 the end of February 2010. My mom just called me to say that she received a notice from Sallie Mae saying the loan is past due and it can be reported to the credit bureaus as past due.

I have a few other loans with Sallie Mae, and I got online access back after my discharge. I just logged in, and all of those say they're deferred (because I'm still in school). But the private loan my mom cosigned for is not listed. Right after I was discharged, I called Sallie Mae, and faxed them a copy of my discharge. Does it usually take them almost 2 months to put the loan back in my name?

[OHBOY]

I thought student loans are not dischargeable in bk ?....don't understand why bk would change anything about your mom being responsible for the loan as a co signer.. also, don't understand why the loan would be put back in your name.....confusing.....

[Amy26]

I did not have a co signer on my private loans so my situation is slightly different however it did take sallie mae a very long time to get their acts together. I actually have federal loans with sallie mae and 1 private student loan. I did not receive online access to my accounts at all due to them being slow as piss at reinstating my private loan. My federal ones were apparently reinstated pretty quickly but for some reason the private one took some time.

I did call and harass them a lot about it ... it took them about 2 months after I was discharged to figure out what the left hand was doing. I would definately call them though and see what's up with your mom still getting the bills and it being past due etc... you may have to speak to a few different people before you find out what is really going on.

[69corvair]

If your mother co-signed on a student loan, private or public, your Chapter 7 discharge doesn't impact her obligation to repay that loan one bit. Even if you filed an adversary & got the loan discharged as to you, there is no codebtor stay in Chapter 7 & that proceeding doesn't impact her relationship with the creditor at all.

[LeelaSeville]

I find it really odd that all of this is even going on! From what I've learned (and I could be wrong), bankruptcy and student loans don't coincide with one another. You can hold off on payments with student loans as often as you need to and with credit cards you don't. In other words, I think you're stuck with the student loans. Then again, I may call up my student loan provider so I can see what options I DO have. I'm having trouble paying everything off.

[69corvair]

You can still file an adversary proceeding (a lawsuit) within your bankruptcy case to determine that the debt is dischargable because requiring repayment would "create an undue hardship on the debtor or on dependents of the debtor." With the new income based repayment options, I'd guess obtaining such a judgment will become even harder than it has been in the past - but it's not impossible by any stretch.

Do NOT expect your student loan lender to help you in any way, or even acknowledge that discharge through an AP is an option - heck, I've noticed from personal experience that they will do everything possible (offer deferments, forbearances, their own income-based payment plans, etc) to avoid you entering the federally established IBR. Don't be fooled by that - for example Sallie Mae's income-based plan is MUCH less favorable than the federal one, but their telephone reps have been trained to confound the two & steer you into their plan.