Q: I'm a single mother going to school to finish a nursing program. I have 30000+ in studLdebt. Can I prove unude hardship?

A: Incorrect information about your college enrollment status can cost you warns the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In a Consumer Advisory published February 2017, the CFPB outlined the ways the bad information about enrollment status can wreak havoc for student borrowers. The sale of your loans would not have caused a default. If you are in repayment status and have not made a payment in 270 days is what triggers a default. If you default on a federal student loan, you lose eligibility to receive federal student aid and you may experience serious legal consequences.

If you are enrolled in an eligible college or career school at least half-time, in most cases your loan will be placed into a deferment automatically, and your loan servicer will notify you that the deferment has been granted. If you enroll at least half-time but do not automatically receive a deferment, you should contact the school where you are enrolled. Your school will then send information about your enrollment to your loan servicer so that your loan can be placed into deferment.

Three Things you can do to catch errors in your information

1. Monitor your enrollment status especially if you recently have left school or returned to school.

When leaving school, make sure you know when your first payment is due. Inform your servicer if you are going to leave college early or returning to school.

2. Review your enrollment status. If it doesn’t look right contact the student loan servicer. Their information may be out of date. You may have to submit updated documentation from your school to confirm your status. Verify your enrollment with your student loan servicer. Check up on your enrollment status with your school. If you recently transferred or returned to school you can also update your information on the Department of Education’s National Student Loan Data System student website.

3. If you cannot get accurate or prompt information regarding your enrollment status from your student loan servicer, you can file a complaint online with the CFPB or call the CFPB at (855) 411-2372.

There are a number of ways to get out of default. Check studentaid.ed.gov for your options. You can search for an attorney using the Justia "Find a Lawyer" link at the top of this page.

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."

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.

*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.

A: My colleagues provided excellent information for you. This analysis of whether the student loan might be dischargeable in bankruptcy can only be analyzed by a bankruptcy attorney who is knowledgeable about this issue. The undue hardship requirement is a difficult one to meet for discharging student loans - looks at a totality of circumstances and also looks into future possibility of repayment. Get qualified help to assist you.