Student Loans in Schedule J and Disposable Income

[MAS]

1.

I am filing for ch 13 in florida for a 5 year plan. My lawyer is telling me that i cant include my student loans payments in the schedule J but i am concern that the compounding interests wont stop. I owe around 60K in student loans.

What should i do ?

2.


Reading the different blogs i got confused with how the calculate my disposable income ?

My Gross Income is $4,400 my deductions are around $1,200 which leave with a net income of $3,200.

My expenses are aproximately $2,800 per month

[justbroke]

1. I am filing for ch 13 in florida for a 5 year plan. My lawyer is telling me that i cant include my student loans payments in the schedule J but i am concern that the compounding interests wont stop. I owe around 60K in student loans. What should i do ?

Listen to your lawyer. Student loans go into deferment during a Chapter 13, so the payments are not contractually due. However, interest does accrue. This is not your lawyer telling you that you can't do this, it's the Bankruptcy system.

If you have private student loans (not government backed) you may be able to include them, but you need to talk to your lawyer. I'm thinking that your lawyer already looked at your student loans and saw that they are governmental or government-backed so go into deferment.

2. Reading the different blogs i got confused with how the calculate my disposable income ?

Don't read a blog. Take the means test. There's a calculator at LegalConsumer.com. Look for the "Free Means Test Calculator" link.

My expenses are aproximately $2,800 per month

I'm unsure if you're over or under median for your State. If you are over median, you can't just "guess" at your expenses. You have to use the IRS allowances. Take the means test to know for sure what's allowable for your particular case.

[woeisme]

Some districts do allow government backed student loans as part of your expenses (Southern District of Ohio, for example) and others, apparently yours, do not. It is a bad situation if they don't, because as you say, interest accrues while in the CH 13. It's a catch-22 that has prevented some people from filing CH 13 because their student loans will increase so much over the course of the plan that they won't be in any better financial shape after discharge. Sorry to hear you are in one of the regressive districts.

[h0usekeeper]

[QUOTE=MAS;293524]1.

I am filing for ch 13 in florida for a 5 year plan. My lawyer is telling me that i cant include my student loans payments in the schedule J but i am concern that the compounding interests wont stop. I owe around 60K in student loans.

What should i do ?

http://www.************************/...13-bankruptcy/

[woeisme]

that link is to a very specific and odd case housekeeper, as I understand it. The debtors put their student loan included as debt for discharge in their filing, and the student loan company failed to object, and the trustee and judge also missed it in the paperwork. Unless that exact same scenario happens, putting in the claim incorrectly and then everyone missing it in the paperwork, student loans aren't discharged. I imagine everyone in the student loan business has heard about that ruling and are making extra sure not to make that same mistake when anyone files now.

[njguy1972]

I would see if you can include it in:
Other installment payments on the J

Also try to get it on the 22C.

Your argument to the trustee is that if you do not make payments for 5 years that your 60k will become over 71k. Depending on your age this can be an issue. If you are 35 you may not be paid off until you are 50.

I ran the numbers at 3.5% for a 10 year payback
$593 a month if you continue paying - paid back 10 years from today
$700 a month if you defer - paid back 15 years from today.