[Biteplate]

Does anyone know of assistance for public and private student loans if an individual is on disability? I have both and no idea how to pay off these on a low income. I wasn't disabled when I began college but life happened.

Can you talk to representatives of your specific lenders?

[Yzen]

If a loan is a US federal student loan, you may get assistance here and the IBRinfo site might be useful for repayment options.

[Biteplate]

Thank you for the help. I think the biggest hurdle it looks like is the private loan. I can't seem to find any help there. Which is annoying cause when I started college I wasn't offered enough aid to cover expenses. It was either not go or borrow private.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

The federal loan may be dischargeable. Mine was discharged after I went on SSDI and all it took was a form, my pdoc filled out another and then every year for 3 years I signed that I was not working or capable of working. Then it was over.

But someone said that her understanding is that this doesn't work now. I would still look into it; I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't been able to get rid of that debt. Somewhere on the direct loan website there is a link to a servicer that works with you in the application for loan discharge.

I don't know about the private ones as I got those paid off before I was too sick to work, thank God.

[qwerty68]

It might take the services of a lawyer but it is difficult, but possible to discharge all types of student loans through bankruptcy.

It's a drastic step I know, but it might be the only way to get out from under a private student loan. Yes, you will need a lawyer but you might be able to get a free or low cost one through various organizations.

I did a non-student loan bankruptcy in 2004 or so and yeah it sucks but if you are careful, you can come out of it in really good shape credit-wise.

I am currently under an income-based repayment plan for my student loans($0.00 a month) and have an application in for total discharge, which is supposed to be a slam dunk as a 100% disabled vet, we shall see. I am more worried about getting an IRS insolvency done then the discharge. Getting a disability discharge makes that amount taxable, which is absolutely cruel, but if your assets are less then your debts, you can qualify for insolvency and duck the tax bill. That is what the tax guy I talked to told me.

At least with a bankruptcy, taxes aren't an issue unless things have changed in 12 years.

Maybe you can get a discharge for your federal loans and then deal with the private ones in bankruptcy to help keep things simpler. It might sway the court if the department of education has granted you a disability discharge.

Income-based repayment is an option for your federal loans, I don't think it works for private loans.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

The tax thing is annoying but I did it myself without problems. It took a while to figure it out but once I did the form was just one extra one in the regular filing.

[misscath007]

I could not discharge my student loans through bankruptcy. If I am approved for disability I will attempt to get them discharged. My credit is garbage anyway.

Hope you have some good luck with this.