San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorney Blog

A San Francisco bankrutptcy attorney answers the question: Will Bankruptcy Remove Student Loans?

Answer: Generally, bankruptcy will not remove student loans. In order to remove student loans in bankruptcy a debtor must file an adversary proceeding and demonstrate the student loans represent an undue hardship. The burden of proof lies with the debtor and is extremely difficult to overcome. An experienced bankruptcy attorney can describe in more detail how to remove student loans through bankruptcy.

If you have questions regarding bankruptcy in San Francisco or bankruptcy in the greater Bay Area please contact our San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys at (415) 946-8882 for a free consultation or visit www.bkanswers.com and we can connect you with one of our experienced San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys. After you have spoken with one of our Bay Area bankruptcy attorneys, we can schedule you for a free face to face appointment in an office location nearest you. Our team of Bankruptcy Lawyers, Bankruptcy Customer Care Specialists and Bankuptcy staff supporting San Francisco and Bay Area consumers in debt can assist you with all aspects of your bankruptcy or bankruptcy litigation case. If you have questions about filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, or would like to learn more about bankruptcy litigation, legal debt settlement, mortgage modification, lien stripping, cram down, stopping a foreclosure, wage garnishment, asset protection, discharging a debt, etc. we can help! We have bankruptcy attorneys located throughout California and Oregon who can assist you with all of your debt resolution questions. Please feel free to complete our free online bankruptcy evaluation and we can quickly determine if you are a qualified candidate for bankruptcy. We look forward to hearing from you, San Francisco Bay Area!

A San Francisco bankruptcy lawyer answers: Will Bankruptcy Remove Student Loans?

Are student loans dischargeable?
Possibly. Generally a debtor cannot remove student loans when a bankruptcy discharge is entered unless it can be shown that the student loans impose a hardship upon the debtor or dependents of the debtor. It is, however, very difficult to prove a hardship exists.

Do I have to list my student loans on my bankruptcy petition?Yes. Even though you generally will not be able to remove student loans from your list of financial obligations, they loans and holders of those loans must be listed in the bankruptcy petition.

If my student loans are the only debt I have, should I file bankruptcy?
Unless you are very confident in your ability to prove a significant hardship it is generally not the best course of action to file for bankruptcy. If you have high student loan debt coupled with other debt, then bankruptcy might be an option because discharging the other debt would allow you to focus on repayment of the student loans.

My student loans are fifteen years old - do I still have to repay them?Yes. There is no cut off period for when student loans become dischargeable. You will still be obligated to repay whatever balance is owed on them.

If you have questions regarding bankruptcy in San Francisco or bankruptcy in the greater Bay Area please contact our San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys at (415) 946-8882 for a free consultation or visit www.bkanswers.com and we can connect you with one of our experienced San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys. After you have spoken with one of our Bay Area bankruptcy attorneys, we can schedule you for a free face to face appointment in an office location nearest you. Our team of Bankruptcy Lawyers, Bankruptcy Customer Care Specialists and Bankuptcy staff supporting San Francisco and Bay Area consumers in debt can assist you with all aspects of your bankruptcy or bankruptcy litigation case. If you have questions about filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, or would like to learn more about bankruptcy litigation, legal debt settlement, mortgage modification, lien stripping, cram down, stopping a foreclosure, wage garnishment, asset protection, discharging a debt, etc. we can help! We have bankruptcy attorneys located throughout California and Oregon who can assist you with all of your debt resolution questions. Please feel free to complete our free online bankruptcy evaluation and we can quickly determine if you are a qualified candidate for bankruptcy. We look forward to hearing from you, San Francisco Bay Area!

A San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorney discusses student loans in bankruptcy...

Often individuals contemplating whether to file bankruptcy wonder what happens with student loans in bankruptcy. It is not uncommon for student loan amounts to exceed $70,000 for individuals who have completed a four-year college, and even with deferred interest and payments, the minimum monthly payments often eat a large portion of an individual’s monthly income. Generally, student loans in bankruptcy are not dischargeable. An individual dealing with student loans in bankruptcy can try to persuade a court that the loans present an undue hardship either on the individual or dependent’s of the individual, although the chances of successfully doing so are rare.

Although filing bankruptcy will not discharge student loans, it can help the debtor better manage student loan payments. If a chapter 7 petition is filed and the debtor’s unsecured debt is discharged, that individual will be in a much better place to allocate payment solely to the student loans because no other credit card payments will be required. Similar with a chapter 13 case, once the repayment plan is completed, the debtor will likely be able to comfortably repay the loans.

While the student loans might still be viewed as a burden, interest rates on the loans are generally much lower than they are on credit cards, and after a successful bankruptcy discharge, no credit card payments will be required anymore.

If you have questions regarding bankruptcy in San Francisco or bankruptcy in the greater Bay Area please contact our San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys at (415) 946-8882 for a free consultation or visit www.bkanswers.com and we can connect you with one of our experienced San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys. After you have spoken with one of our Bay Area bankruptcy attorneys, we can schedule you for a free face to face appointment in an office location nearest you. Our team of Bankruptcy Lawyers, Bankruptcy Customer Care Specialists and Bankuptcy staff supporting San Francisco and Bay Area consumers in debt can assist you with all aspects of your bankruptcy or bankruptcy litigation case. If you have questions about filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, or would like to learn more about bankruptcy litigation, legal debt settlement, mortgage modification, lien stripping, cram down, stopping a foreclosure, wage garnishment, asset protection, discharging a debt, etc. we can help! We have bankruptcy attorneys located throughout California and Oregon who can assist you with all of your debt resolution questions. Please feel free to complete our free online bankruptcy evaluation and we can quickly determine if you are a qualified candidate for bankruptcy. We look forward to hearing from you, San Francisco Bay Area!

A San Francisco bankruptcy attorney speaks a bit about student loan debt....

There have been many students in the San Francisco Bay Area that have asked me, a San Francisco bankruptcy attorney, whether or not their student loan debts are dischargeable in a Chapter 13 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy or whether or not they are included in the debt limits. First, a person can file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case if they have noncontingent, liquidated unsecured debts less than $336,900 and noncontingent, liquidate secured debts of less than $1,010,650.

Like any other debt, student loans actually do factor into the unsecured debt limits for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy and Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It does not matter that student loans are non-dischargeable debts, they would still be included in the calculation for the debt limits. The only way the student loan (or any) debt would not count towards the unsecured debt limit in a Chapter 13 is if one of the following occurred:

1. They already had a judgment against you and created a lien against assets sufficient to cover the amount of the student loan. In this case, that amount would count towards the secured debt limit.
2. The debt is contingent, or you don’t owe it unless some pre-condition occurs; or
3. The debt is unliquidated, or there is no way to readily determine the amount owed.

If you have questions regarding bankruptcy in San Francisco or bankruptcy in the greater Bay Area please contact our San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys at (415) 946-8882 for a free consultation or visit www.bkanswers.com and we can connect you with one of our experienced San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys. After you have spoken with one of our Bay Area bankruptcy attorneys, we can schedule you for a free face to face appointment in an office location nearest you. Our team of Bankruptcy Lawyers, Bankruptcy Customer Care Specialists and Bankuptcy staff supporting San Francisco and Bay Area consumers in debt can assist you with all aspects of your bankruptcy or bankruptcy litigation case. If you have questions about filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, or would like to learn more about bankruptcy litigation, legal debt settlement, mortgage modification, lien stripping, cram down, stopping a foreclosure, wage garnishment, asset protection, discharging a debt, etc. we can help! We have bankruptcy attorneys located throughout California and Oregon who can assist you with all of your debt resolution questions. Please feel free to complete our free online bankruptcy evaluation and we can quickly determine if you are a qualified candidate for bankruptcy. We look forward to hearing from you, San Francisco Bay Area!