OK, questions about my student loans now

[radonskies]

I tried to search the board to read more about this topic, but the search isn't working for me. Please bear with me as a newbie.

the big OUCH with our filing was that we are still stuck with about $18,000 in student loans (and neither one of us finished school, dangit!). all the loans are currently in forebearance (and I guess in a "stay" until our discharge?)

Do I need to be making student loan payments now, or can I wait until after we get our discharge?

Our student loan payments are currently over $200 a month. Is there anything I can do to lower these amounts? Maybe consolidate them all into one? I want to keep paying them if we can to help rebuild our credit, but that's a big chunk to pay each month.

is there ANYway to get out of student loans? Has anyone successfully not paid them and gotten rid of them?

Thanks again for all your help.

[Danielle1981]

Depends on when you got them from what I understand. I talked to my attorney and he said anything before 1997 is dischargeable. However, usually not. As for lowering the payments on them....at least in my state they will definitely work with you so you should maybe talk to them first. They may be able to help you out....even if it's temporary.

[Allfund Mortgag]

Refinance them?

[so-beyond-broke]

Welcome Radon:

I plan to file bk too and I am over 40K in student loan debt which I will have to start to pay in May after deferring 2 times due to unemployment. Prior to July 1 2005 there was a mad rush for everyone to consolidate their SL's before the % rate increased affecting the amount one would have to repay. My mailbox was flooded with offers. I selected Nelnet to consolidate my loans. For the next 25 years or 300 payments, I will have to pay $170 a month. I am sure yours would be alot less since you owe less than half of what I owe. Nelnet also has different types of payment options i.e. income sensitive based on your present income and there's also one that is graduated meaning your payments will increase with time because its presumed that as we get older we earn more, but we all know that this is not always the case. Just enter Nelnet in Google's search engine if you are curious.

so-beyond-broke

I tried to search the board to read more about this topic, but the search isn't working for me. Please bear with me as a newbie.

the big OUCH with our filing was that we are still stuck with about $18,000 in student loans (and neither one of us finished school, dangit!). all the loans are currently in forebearance (and I guess in a "stay" until our discharge?)

Do I need to be making student loan payments now, or can I wait until after we get our discharge?

Our student loan payments are currently over $200 a month. Is there anything I can do to lower these amounts? Maybe consolidate them all into one? I want to keep paying them if we can to help rebuild our credit, but that's a big chunk to pay each month.

is there ANYway to get out of student loans? Has anyone successfully not paid them and gotten rid of them?

Thanks again for all your help.

[FlaMama]

student loans

From what I understand, student loans are pretty much never discharged, you have to prove lifetime hardship or something like that. Mine have been in either forberance or deferrement since 2000.

My student loan guaruntee company urged me to consolidate after my discharge. In July rates are going up (again) so I'd call and ask about consolidation. It's not based on credit, but you do have to be current on your loans (which being deferred or forbared means you are current.)

[lostsoul23]

Do I need to be making student loan payments now, or can I wait until after we get our discharge?
Our student loan payments are currently over $200 a month. Is there anything I can do to lower these amounts? Maybe consolidate them all into one?

is there ANYway to get out of student loans?

Thanks again for all your help.

Okay. I used to debt collect on student loans, so, here's what I got for ya.

You can make payments now, BK just stops the active collection of the account. The gov't is not one to turn down money. You can consolidate them, and in fact, the sooner you start, the better, because the process can take up to three months. When you do it, and get the 'paid' notes from the orginal loan holders, for the heaven's sake, treat it like gold. I can't tell you how many people I would deal with that swore they paid it but had no proof.

The only way to get out of student loans now is a) die, b) become total & perm. disabled, and c) prove to a BK court that paying your student loan debt would be the difference between living in a house to a box. In 1997, the proverbial 7 year rule was done away with, and now, the go ahead has been given where they can garnish social security if they need to in order to get their money. Good luck.

[Rona123]

Thanks for your great input Lostsoul. Here's another question for you, or anyone else who might now:

My student loan holder (Sallie Mae) has now stopped active collection of my loan payments and I understand that I can continue making them before discharge, but does it make a difference if I do or don't? What happens if I wait until after my discharge to start paying again? I'm sure interest will accrue, but will missed payments add up, so that if I get a discharge in May, I'll owe all my payments from now up to that point, or will I just restart my monthly payment from that point on? Also, will it affect my credit report differently if I pay now vs. not paying until discharge?

Thanks!
Ron

[JeepMom]

We did 27K over 20 years on a graduated payment, Right now the min payment is $93 and in the end it will be $150, we are paying $150 right now because we have the means to do so.

We used www.acs-education.com to consolidate.

If you can pay now by all means do it! It will make a difference on your CR because you're not paying and it will reflect that. It's always to show "paying as agreed" rather than "Not in repayment".