San Diego, CA asked in Education Law and Bankruptcy for California

Q: Can I get Navient student loans forgiven if I am homeless & was not able to work in the industry i went to school for?

Approx 50,000 in navient loans with accrued interest. Stemming from Los Angeles Film School. I graduated 3.98 goals and worked in the film industry for a couple years but now I live back in SAN Diego, have gone back to working as a programmer (when I'm working), and have recently become homeless.

My creditscore is currently about 500... almostly totallu because of navient

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1 Lawyer Answer
Leon Bayer
Leon Bayer
Answered
  • Bankruptcy Lawyer
  • Long Beach, CA
  • Licensed in California

A: The short answer is that you cannot automatically discharge your old student loan*. However, you may discharge it, if you successfully sue the lender in bk court on the grounds of "undue hardship."

I recommend that you do some simple research yourself on the subject of a bankruptcy "undue hardship" discharge of student loans, and see if you think you have a case.

If you think so, submit a new question with the details of why you think you might be able to qualify for the "undue hardship" discharge, and then you can get the input of various bankruptcy lawyers on this site.

You will probably find that the requirement of "undue hardship" sets a much more difficult standard than what it sounds like it would be.

Almost everyone with a student loan payment probably feels like it is an "undue hardship" on them, but that is not what that term means in the bankruptcy law.

Most bankruptcy court decisions that have granted the "undue hardship" discharge have awarded it to individuals with a serious permanent physical or mental disability that prevents the person from having any standard of living better than what would be viewed as a basic subsistence level, (such as barely able to afford below average rent, drive a very old car, no luxury expenses, etc.

Your status as homeless does not by itself prove undue hardship. However, if your homelessness is caused by a serious mental or physical disability, then you might be eligible for a hardship discharge.

*(The only other exception I can think of might be if your loan falls into a category of loans that are not a "qualified education loan", as defined in section 221(d)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, see https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/221, (which means higher education expenses that are "post-secondary" schools like colleges. Therefore, if your loan was for a school that teaches a non academic curriculum, the student loan might be eligible for an automatic discharge. I can't think of what that might be, but anyway, that's what the statute calls it. Maybe it would be a true vocation, like shoe repair or appliance repair?)

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