Law Office of David Hernandez
Bankruptcy Services in the Chicago and Suburban Areas
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Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Frequently Asked Questions (2023 Update)
Chapter 13 FAQ's
Frequently asked questions
Your student loan is not discharged. You can pay late payments through the plan. But in certain circumstances, new guidance for Federal Student Loans effective as of November 2022 suggests that the following loans may be dischargeable when: (1) the debtor presently lacks an ability to repay the loan; (2) the debtor’s inability to pay the loan is likely to persist in the future; and (3) the debtor has acted in good faith in the past in attempting to repay the loan. This is a multistep process and by now means is it automatic. But it is clearly a significant change in the handling of student loan debt in bankruptcy.
The automatic stay is a court injunction for all actions to stop while the bankruptcy administers your estate. This means all lawsuits, foreclosure actions, wage garnishments, repossessions and other such action must halt, at least temporarily and each will be dealt with in tandem with your bankruptcy Chapter 13 plan.
If your are keeping your house, you continue your payments as normal and life goes on. If you receive a Chapter 13 discharge, you are not personally liable for the debt, but if you do not pay, the property will be foreclosed with no liability to you. Late payments can be paid through the plan over 60-monthly payments. All foreclosure activity such as foresclosure sales must stop.
This depends on many factors. The advantage of the Chapter 13 is that typically you are no longer charged interest and the lender must accept your plan proposed in good faith. In addition, you may be able to pay unsecured creditors as little as 10-cents for ever dollar owed. For example, if you owe a credit card $2000.00, you will pay $200 over the course of 5-years and the balance gets wiped out. This is a huge advantage over consolidated loan programs.
If you stop paying, or never started, your case will eventually get dismissed. If you make an earnest effort to pay back your late amounts, you can usually get 14-30 days to catch-up your payments before dismissal if you aren't to far behind. Once dismissed, you no longer have bankruptcy protections and creditors are free to take action against you as before.

