Question: Dear Steve, Owe approx $150k on an original loan of approx $58k. Been paying steadily while trying to raise a family for years now. Did an IBR, making approx the same monies and they almost doubled my new payments starting this month. I don’t feel I can comfortably make these newly adjusted payments. What …
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just published a report examining Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) programs and how they are being managed. The findings are not encouraging. The Department of Education approved forgiveness for a total of 157 loans under Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans as of June 1, 2021, but has not taken the steps necessary …
A couple of weeks ago Rodger asked me how many people have actually completed an Income-Based Repayment plan. I didn’t know the answer so I went and asked the Department of Education and surprisingly they got back to me relatively quickly. Don’t Be Shocked As of January 27, 2020, there have been 19 people that …
Question: Dear Steve, I have been trying to find out how many people have actually completed an Income-Based Repayment plan because the Dept of Education always argues this in an adversary proceeding. Any idea on how many people there are who have actually completed it? Rodger Answer: Dear Rodger, Nobody. Nada. Zilch, Zero. The Income-Based …
The National Consumer Bankruptcy Rights Center (NCBRC) and National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) have decided to support the bankruptcy discharge in ECMC v. Murray with an outside briefing supporting the effort. The Murray case is very interesting in that the bankruptcy court agreed a substantial part of their student loan debt should be …
By the end of his first term in office, President Obama knew the federal student loan program was out of control. Default rates were up and millions of student borrowers had put their loans into forbearance or deferment because they were unable to make their monthly payments. Then in 2013, early in Obama’s second term, …
by Richard Fossey & Robert C. Cloud. The federal student loan program is in crisis. More than 40 million Americans now have outstanding student loans totaling almost $1.3 trillion and 8 million borrowers are in default (Cao, 2016). As reported recently by the Brookings Institution, in the for-profit college sector, default rates are especially high. …
In a recent post, I wrote about Alan and Catherine Murray, who won a partial discharge of their student-loan debt in a bankruptcy case decided in December 2016. Educational Credit Management (ECMC), the creditor in their case, is appealing the decision. We should all hope ECMC loses the appeal, because the Murrays are the poster …
Question: Dear Steve, Just got out of Chapter 13 Bankruptcy (finished all five years faithfully). NOW am getting tons of student loan (Parent Plus) for my two kids. I lost my job over a year ago and was forced to take early social security at 62. Could NOT find a job I could do. I …
Question: Dear Steve, When going to school for my undergraduate degree, I was denied any federal aid or grants because of my parents’ income being too high. However, they were (and still are) in an extreme amount of debt and were extremely close to losing their house and declaring bankruptcy. Because of this, I was …