A federal court recently issued a ruling that could affect borrowers’ abilities to receive relief from their student loan debt. The Department of Education and Secretary Betsy DeVos were found guilty of improperly holding up and implementing a rule that would give student loan borrowers relief from their payments.
The lawsuit was brought by attorneys general from 19 states, as well as the District of Columbia. These entities sued Secretary DeVos after she halted a rule created during Obama’s administration known as the Borrower Defense to Repayment. This rule allowed students to receive debt forgiveness of their student loans if they believed they were “cheated” by their respective college.
This rule came from the fall of a popular for-profit school, Corinthian College, during Obama’s presidency. The college was found to have misled its prospective student base by inflating their numbers on how many students were successfully placed in jobs following graduation. Corinthian College and other ‘for-profit’ schools gave out financial aid money freely to students leaving them with an ‘education’ that was unable to get them a job upon graduation.
Since the rule was created, it is estimated that approximately 130,000 student loan borrowers applied for debt forgiveness since 2015. Many of these students were from for-profit colleges like Corinthian College.
Student loan advocates have expressed concern that the current administration is seeking to completely undo any protections that were created during the Obama’s presidency to protect students from predatory lending practices from for-profit colleges.
The Borrower Defense to Repayment Act gives student borrowers the right to fight these for-profit colleges if they believe they are victim to one of these illegal or deceptive lending practices schemes.
Discharging student loan debt has always been a challenge in bankruptcy, but it is possible. Our law firm has successfully wiped out student loan debt in bankruptcy.
If you are struggling with your student loan payments, you should also look into the Income-Driven Repayment Plan, which sets your monthly student loan payment at an amount that is intended to be affordable based on your income and family size. There are currently four income-driven repayment plans to choose from:
- Revised Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (REPAYE Plan)
- Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (PAYE Plan)
- Income-Based Repayment Plan (IBR Plan)
- Income-Contingent Repayment Plan (ICR Plan)
Click HERE to apply for any of the above Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plans. These are completely free and are offered through the U.S. Department of Education.
Call me if you are having problems paying your debts. Having debt makes you stay up at night. It stresses you out. It ruins relationships. I went through it. Boldly, I mustered up the courage to call a bankruptcy attorney and I pressed the restart button in 2008. And even though ten years has passed since I made that decision to reset my life, I never forgot what it did for me and how it helped me start over.
It even inspired me and my law firm to become the largest filers of bankruptcies in the country and in the top two in Florida all from our offices in Orlando and Kissimmee. Remember, we are local in your hometown. We make our hours convenient for our clients and offer free consultations on Saturdays (9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.) along with our normal business hours throughout the week. Go to https://www.407bankrupt.com/ or call 407-777-7777 to set up a free private consultation and learn more information. Because Life Has a Restart Button.