Do my student loans qualify for discharge?
Let's find out.
Rather see what the process looks like first? How student loan discharge actually works.
The three questions
Three honest questions. That’s the whole test.
Can you pay the loans now?
Not “could you, if you gave up everything.” Actually pay them, while covering life.
Sounds like you if
After rent, food, transportation, and medical costs, there’s nothing left.
Making the payment would mean skipping essentials.
Other people count on your income.
Is that realistically going to change?
Courts look forward, and some futures speak for themselves.
The calendar
Ten or more years out of school, and income has flattened.
Retirement is close, or already here.
Long stretches of unemployment sit behind you.
The body and the story
Health limits the work you can do.
The degree never got finished, or finished and never delivered.
Have you made honest efforts along the way?
“Good faith doesn’t mean a perfect payment record.”
Deferments count. Forbearance counts. Small payments when small payments were possible count. If you did what you could with what you had, that’s the answer.
— Mark
A note from Mark
“You’ve seen the questions. The call is where you get your answer. And it’s free.”
Mark Atchley
Bankruptcy & Student Loan Attorney · Mesa, AZ
One thing to know going in
Discharge happens inside a bankruptcy case.
You don’t file a standalone student loan case. You file a bankruptcy — Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 — and the loan question is decided as part of that larger filing.
For a lot of people that’s a feature: the same case that takes on the loans deals with the credit cards and medical bills riding along behind them.
You bring honest answers. I handle the rest.
Before you count yourself out
What doesn’t disqualify you.
Consolidated loans. Consolidation closed no doors.
Being in default. Default usually just proves the hardship.
A decent salary. The test is what’s left over, not the number on the paycheck.
There are people this isn’t for. If you can pay the loans, if you’re early in a career that’s about to take off, if you’re on pace for PSLF or another forgiveness track, this might not be yours yet. I’ll tell you that on the call. I’d rather tell you no in one free phone call than charge you to find out slowly.
The next step is just a phone call
You’ve got the questions. I’ve got the answer.
If you were nodding through the three questions, it’s worth the call. If you were nodding through some of them, it’s still worth the call: ‘partly’ is exactly what a conversation sorts out.