Dear Steve,
I went away to school my freshman year for college. I transferred to 4 more schools and have yet to obtain a degree. I've been taking a class here and there, sometimes dropping the class.
That freshman year, I had a private student loan (Lehman brothers, soon to be bought out by Wells Fargo). I work full time trying to support my child and just simply do not make enough income to pay for all of my bills including student loans. I tried attending online classes but just simply do not have the time.
Can I at least file bankruptcy, to remove the student loan debt from the private lender?
Shane
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Dear Shane,
Sadly you are not alone. The majority of people who have student loans, never graduate or obtain a degree. They have all the debt and not much of the benefit to show for that investment.
With the multiple transfers of your debt it might be a good first step if you could try to figure out if the current loan holder even has the proper chain of custody or "title" to collect on the debt.
With all the debt buying and selling that went on in the past decade, lenders got very sloppy. Many loans now simply can't be collected on because the current debt owner never had the debt properly transferred to them.
In the grand scheme of things, child support has to be a priority debt. Failing to pay child support can land you in court, in jail, and prevent you from getting a passport.
If you can't make payments on the private student loan debt after paying child support and other priority debts, and it is not possible to increase income, then defaulting on your private student loan debt is a real possibility. If you do default and the collectors start calling, why don't you follow this advice and send them one of these letters to get the ball rolling.
It is a bit of a reach on a debt you have already been paying on but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
While it might be possible for file bankruptcy with the right bankruptcy attorney who has experience in handling this, I'd suggest following my advice above first for a less expensive option.
If all the above does not work then contact me again for some advice on how you can make the private student loan debt collection calls stop.
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