How it works
How student loan discharge actually works.
Six steps, start to finish, with honest time expectations. Most of the steps are mine.
First time hearing this is even possible? Start with the basics: Student loan discharge, explained.
The division of labor
Six steps.
One is yours. Five are mine.
The one that’s yours is the one only you can do — tell me the truth about your situation. Everything with a court’s name on it is mine.
We talk.
The first conversation is free, and it’s where everything starts. You tell me about the loans and the years behind them. I tell you straight whether this is worth pursuing.
I get your actual loan history.
Most people are partly guessing about their own student loans. Federal or private, original balance, what happened across the years: it all matters, and the records exist. I get the real history, so the case runs on facts, not memory.
The bankruptcy case gets filed.
The loan case lives inside a bankruptcy, so the bankruptcy comes first: Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, whichever your situation calls for, with everything a filing brings, including the freeze on collections.
The loan case gets filed inside it.
This is the separate case about your loans. For federal loans, the heart of it is a detailed financial picture: your income, your expenses, your history with the loan, laid out the government’s way. You hand me the documents. I build the picture.
The government takes its look.
The government reviews that picture against its own guidelines. When it lines up, they can sign off rather than fight, and the judge makes it official. When it only partly lines up, there’s room to negotiate. And if they push back, that’s the work I trained for: the courtroom side of consumer debt.
The answer: full, partial, or not yet.
Cases end one of three ways: the loans discharged entirely, discharged in part, or left standing. Partial is real and worth having; half a burden is half a burden. And “not yet” is sometimes the honest answer: some cases get stronger with time, and I’ll tell you if yours is one worth waiting on. Whichever way it lands, you’ll understand exactly why.
How long it takes
Months, not years.
The cooperative path moves on a reasonable timeline, and most of that time is the government taking its look — waiting, not working. Your file is the one moving; your meter isn’t.
The shape of it
No dates promised
Your involvement
The first call
The document handoff
The first call
The document handoff
The whole arc
Start
Answer
Filing. The bankruptcy and the loan case get filed.
Government review. The government takes its look. This is most of the calendar.
Answer. Full, partial, or not yet.
Segment widths show relative time, not dates. Yours may differ.
One borrower’s arc
“I thought the loans just followed you forever. Mark didn’t promise me anything on that first call — he just told me the truth about what was possible, and what wasn’t.”
Jane Placeholder
Composite case for layout — to be replaced with a real, anonymized client story before publish.
A note from Mark
“You don’t have to show up organized. All I need is one honest conversation. The rest is mine.”
Mark Atchley · Bankruptcy & Student Loan Attorney · Mesa, AZ
What it costs
One flat fee. No hourly clock.
The fee for the loan case is a single flat number — not hourly, not ticking. No meter running while the government takes its look, no surprise invoices for the months in between.
In Writing
Your fee quote
Fee
Flat
Each case is different. You’ll have your exact number after the first conversation, before anything gets filed.
Affordable payment plans are available.
What it covers
Come talk to me
Step one is free.
And you’ll leave knowing exactly where you stand.