student loan debt forgiveness Archives - Page 2 of 3

Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Debt Relief, Student Loans, Timothy Kingcade Posts

False Promises of Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Contributing to the Default Crisis

Posted on July 11, 2017by Admin

The rate of borrowers who are in default or more than 90 days past due on their student loan debt is approaching 40%, pushing the total amount of student loan debt in the U.S. to $1.4 trillion.

A number of those who have defaulted have legitimate reason. Some were victims taken in by the over-exaggerated promises of for-profit colleges that really just wanted students for the student loans they were taking out that was a vast majority of their revenue. Others never finished college, due to life circumstances or changing events that interrupted their studies.

But another group, termed “strategic defaulters” is emerging. These borrowers are pulled in by the promises from politicians and the possibility of student loan debt forgiveness. Why should they pay their student loans if there is a slight possibility that all remaining student loan debt will one day be wiped away? With these empty promises and no action being taken, it is expected that student loan defaults will continue to rise.

Most recently, education secretary, Betsy DeVos, scrapped an Obama-era plan to streamline the government’s system for servicing student loans. An education budget obtained by the Washington Post revealed a proposal to end a student loan-forgiveness program for public servants, creating uncertainty for some 400,000 borrowers.

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For borrowers who are struggling with student loan debt, relief options are available. Many student loan borrowers are unaware that they have rights and repayment options available to them, such as postponement of loan payments, reduction of payments or even a complete discharge of the debt. It is important you contact an experienced Miami bankruptcy attorney who can advise you of all your options. As an experienced CPA as well as a proven bankruptcy lawyer, Timothy Kingcade knows how to help clients take full advantage of the bankruptcy laws to protect their assets and get successful results. Since 1996 Kingcade & Garcia, P.A. has been helping people from all walks of life build a better tomorrow. Our attorneys help thousands of people every year take advantage of their rights under bankruptcy protection to restart, rebuild and recover. The day you hire our firm, we will contact your creditors to stop the harassment. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade & Garcia website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Debt Relief, Student Loans, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Signed into Law in New Jersey

Posted on December 7, 2016by Admin

Governor Chris Christie signed a bill into law this week that will eliminate student loan debt in the event of death and total disability, and allow for deferment of payments and interest accumulation for those who are temporarily disabled.

The change comes after an investigation into the case of a mother who was forced to continue paying her son’s student loans after his senseless murder. It brought to light New Jersey’s punitive lending practices. The bill’s sponsors in the lower house called its success a victory for students and parental co-signers who could have been left with insurmountable debt after a tragedy.

The primary sponsor of the bill, State Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, made the following statement:

“Imagine you’re a family who always pays their bills, has good credit and then you lose a child and in the midst of your grief, you’re saddled with tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars in their remaining student loan debt,” Mazzeo wrote. “That’s just something we can’t allow to happen on our watch.”

Fellow sponsor Andrew Zwicker also praised the change.

“To expect a student’s family or other survivors to pay their college loan debt in the event of their death is cruel and unacceptable. We can do better than that,” Zwicker wrote.

New Jersey’s Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) will now be obligated to forgive those debts. In cases of permanent or temporary disability, borrowers will have to provide a written statement from their physician attesting to their condition.

Unlike other states, New Jersey does not allow for payments to be adjusted by income and charges higher interest rates than similar federal programs. The state can also garnish a borrower’s wages for non-payment and revoke professional licenses without court approval.

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Debt Relief, Student Loans

Four Ways President Trump Could Affect Your Student Loans

Posted on November 16, 2016by Admin

President-elect Donald Trump has plans to address student debt and college affordability, but many of the details remain unclear. Trump and the Republican Party did not emphasize higher education in their campaign platforms and any changes to the current federal student loan system would require congressional backing.

Here’s what we may be able to expect:

Income-driven repayment changes are likely. According to Trump’s proposed student loan program, he would cap repayment at 12.5% of a borrower’s income. He did not indicate whether this repayment cap would apply to all federal loan borrowers or only for those who apply for income-driven repayment, as is the current standard.
Private Banks may begin issuing federal student loans. Trump wants to restore a system where private banks issue federal student loans as opposed to the government. This was a process that occurred up until 2010, when the federal government revamped the program and began originating all federal student loans through its Direct Loan program. The Obama administration cited billions of dollars in cost savings as a result of the switch, and used the savings to offer more Pell Grants for low-income students.
Students’ prospective earnings could dictate their ‘loan worthiness.’ Trump wants to let colleges have a say in lending decisions and make them share the risk of student borrowing with lenders. It would be up to colleges and banks to decide together which students could take out student loans.
College costs could be reduced by limiting the ‘administrative bloat.’ Trump said in an October speech that he would take steps to cut tuition costs. In that same speech he said he planned to reduce the tremendous ‘bloat’ in college administration. By reducing the unnecessary costs of compliance with federal regulations, colleges would be able to pass the savings along to their students.

Related Resources:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-trump-student-loans-20161111-story.html

Bankruptcy Law, Debt Relief, Student Loans, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Government Likely to Forgive Billions in Student Loan Debt – but only if you qualify

Posted on October 12, 2016by Admin

Student borrowers who have been working since 2007 in public service are looking forward to next year. This will be the first time the government will forgive debt under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. The program states that individuals who work for ten years in specific careers are eligible to have the remaining balance of their loans forgiven.

These areas include working for:

Non-profit organizations;
Libraries;
Schools;
Certain government jobs.

To qualify, borrowers must make on-time payments on their student loans during the ten years they work in public service. The payments can be made under an income-based repayment plan if the borrower qualifies.

With as many as 25% of working individuals qualifying, the government may have to forgive more than anticipated. More borrowers took advantage of the program than the government had expected. The average amount of loans carried by those in the program is $60,000. About 30% have debt over $100,000. This means the government will have to forgive more than $12 billion in student loans between 2017 and 2027.

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Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Debt Relief, Student Loans, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Common Sense and Compassion enter the Student Loan Bankruptcy Arena

Posted on June 30, 2016by Admin

In the case, Nightingale v. North Carolina State Educational Assistance Authority, the debtor, Alice Nightingale, 67 years old, suffered from “intractable foot pain,” hypothyroidism, obstructive sleep apnea, and chronic fatigue, all of which had worsened over the course of her chapter 13 bankruptcy. The condition prevented her from engaging in employment and from taking part in many day-to-day activities.

She was granted full disability from her teaching job by the County School Board. In a hearing in October, 2015, the court found Ms. Nightingale had established the first and third prongs of the Brunner test with evidence that she had attempted to repay the student loan, that she was “elderly” and unlikely to find future employment and that she suffered from significant medical problems. Although Ms. Nightingale’s testimony concerning her medical disabilities was credible, the second prong of the Brunner test still needed to be satisfied.

Over the lender’s objection, the court held a second hearing in which Ms. Nightingale presented medical documents to corroborate her testimony, including letters to Ms. Nightingale’s attorney from two of her doctors, a medical report for disability eligibility, and a physician-provided list of Ms. Nightingale’s current medications.

The subsequent hearing specifically addressed the second prong of the Brunner test: whether there existed “additional, exceptional circumstances, strongly suggestive of continuing inability to repay [the debt] over an extended period of time.”

While the court agreed with the lender that Ms. Nightingale could have presented evidence of recent tests and evaluations, it found that it was not necessary that she “provide every possibly available piece of evidence that could further corroborate the unrebutted evidence in this case.”

The court concluded: “Taking into consideration the Plaintiff’s age, current living situation, inability to walk or stand for long periods of time, chronic fatigue, lack of stamina, lack of strength, diminished cognitive ability, and the likelihood that these conditions will all last for a significant period of her possible repayment period given her age and the duration of her illnesses, the Plaintiff has demonstrated that exceptional circumstances exist in this case and has met the second prong of the Brunner test.”

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Related Resources:

http://www.ncbrc.org/wp-content/uploads/Nightingale-Bankr-MD-NC-opinion-April-2016.pdf

Bankruptcy Law, Debt Relief, Student Loans

Obama Administration Unveils NEW Student Loan Forgiveness Program

Posted on June 17, 2016by Admin

This week, the Obama administration announced new guidelines for the forgiveness of certain student loans. The program would forgive student loan debt for those borrowers who were the victims of scams perpetrated by for-profit colleges that used fraudulent or illegal practices to convince students to enroll. While there are already federal laws in place for this, these new guidelines would make it easier to apply for this type of forgiveness.

If finalized, the new program would go into effect in July 2017. Under the new plan, borrowers would be able to ask for debt forgiveness if they can prove one of the following:

The school had a court judgement against it;
The school breached their contract with the student;
The school made a “substantial misrepresentation” about their offerings, graduate job prospects or the debt the student would accrue.

Under the new proposal, students would be able to request debt forgiveness up to six years following their discovery of the school’s wrongdoing, an increase from the current two-year limit.

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Bankruptcy Law, Debt Relief, Student Loans, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Survey Reveals Student Loan Debt Hurting the Housing Market

Posted on June 15, 2016by Admin

Approximately three-quarters of people who have student loan debt say it is hindering them from purchasing a home, according to a recent survey. Although a college degree increases a person’s chances of obtaining a good job and a secure future, the survey found that many would-be homeowners are increasingly burdened by student loan debt.

Seventy-one percent of those surveyed said their student loan debt is delaying them from buying a home. More than half said they expect that delay to last longer than five years.

With 43 million Americans carrying nearly $1.3 trillion in student debt, the burden is affecting all parts of the economy. The home ownership rate among those 35-and-younger has declined from 44 percent at the height of the housing boom to 34 percent today.

Forty-three percent of those surveyed carried between $10,001 and $40,000 in student loan debt, while 38 percent owed $50,000 or more. The most common debt range was between $20,000 and $30,000.

As a result of their student loan debt, 69 percent of borrowers said they did not feel financially secure enough to buy a home, while 80 percent said they cannot save up enough for a down payment. This is not only affecting first-time home buyers, but also “move-up” buyers. A third of those surveyed who are current homeowners said they cannot afford to sell their home and purchase another because of their student loan debt.

Among the reasons cited were the expense of moving and upgrading to a new home, credit problems caused by student loan debt and owing more than their home is worth because student loan debt has limited their ability to pay more than the minimum on their mortgage payment.

The 33-question survey was sent to 75,000 student borrowers, of which 3,230 responded. Among the respondents, 67 percent attended a four-year college and 27 percent attended a graduate/post-graduate school. Two-thirds went to a public institution. Seventy-one percent are employed full time while 14 percent are part-time but seeking full-time employment, according to the National Association of Realtors and American Student Assistance, who conducted the survey.

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Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Debt Relief, Student Loans, Timothy Kingcade Posts

This Bill would make Certain Forgiven Student Loan Debt Tax-Free

Posted on June 7, 2016by Admin

Owing on a debt you cannot repay is bad enough, but owing federal taxes on that debt after you no longer have to repay it is even worse. Federal tax law requires that in most cases when a loan is forgiven, the amount that is written off by the lender is taxable income to the previous debtor.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, thinks that it is unfair when the debt was incurred under fraudulent circumstances, specifically to pay for college. She has introduced a bill that would protect defrauded borrowers from being taxed on their forgiven student loan debt, called the Student Tax Relief Act.

Her bill, S. 3008, was drafted in the wake of the Corinthian Colleges, Inc. downfall and the federal investigation that followed. The Department of Education discovered that the now-defunct for-profit chain defrauded students at more than 100 schools in more than 20 states across the country.

Following the fraud finding, the Education Department told students who borrowed money to attend Corinthian classes that they would not have to repay those loans. Affected students can apply for loan forgiveness through the department’s Federal Student Aid division.

As of March 1, nearly 9,000 claims have been processed from former Corinthian students nationwide, totaling more than $132 million, according to The Education Department. The Corinthian students were also provided special tax relief on the amounts written off by the Department of Education.

Stabenow’s bill, which has 7 Democratic co-sponsors in the Senate, would give the same tax relief to students in similar educational fraud cases.

“When students take out loans to attend college, they should get a fair deal and a fair shot,” said Stabenow in announcing the introduction of the Student Tax Relief Act. “No student should be the victim of false advertising from a college that promises skills or job placement. And the last thing they deserve is to be hit with an enormous tax burden on their forgiven loans.”

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Bankruptcy Law, Debt Relief, Student Loans, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Court Revives Lawsuit over Fraudulent Student Loans

Posted on May 19, 2016by Admin

A federal appeals court has determined that former beauty school students can pursue claims that the U.S. Department of Education violated federal law by collecting student loans it knew may have been fraudulently obtained.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit brought back the lawsuit by former students of Wilfred Academy over the Department of Education’s alleged failure to abide by two federal laws requiring student loan holders to be told that their loans could be discharged if issued under fraudulent premises.

Plaintiffs in Salazar v. King, 15-832-cv, claimed the agency had knowledge, as evidenced by its conclusion in 1996 that misconduct at Wilfred Academy was widespread and that students enrolled improperly. As early as 1988, the U.S. Justice Department brought charges against Wilfred employees for misuse of federal funds and falsifying loan applications.

The plaintiffs argue that to this day they are burdened with loans from education and job training that did not prepare them for a profession.

Judge Gerard Lynch, writing for the panel, found that the Department of Education did not provide notice about the possibility of discharge that is required by the Federal Family Education Loans and Direct Loans statutes.

“Plaintiffs plausibly argue that the fact that the DOE has already determined that any Wilfred borrower who presents a facially valid application alleging false certification will automatically receive a discharge is powerful evidence that the DOE has in its possession reliable information all such Wilfred borrowers ‘may’ be eligible for discharge,” Lynch wrote.

Plaintiffs are also asking the court to compel the department to do something that is not a discretionary function of the agency: comply with the two loan laws and stop collecting loans from the students.

“The presumption in favor of judicial review applies to this case, because plaintiffs challenge what they contend are unlawful actions that the agency has taken, and continues to take, against the plaintiffs themselves,” Lynch wrote. “Such challenges are at the core of the judicial review function.”

According to the Department of Education’s investigation of Wilfred Academy in the 1990s and to the circuit’s ruling, the question of fraud surrounding the student loans focused on whether the school ever certified that students who did not graduate high school had an “ability to benefit” from its program. The plaintiffs allege that they were never asked if they had a high school diploma or given any test to determine if they had an “ability to benefit.”

It is unclear how many former Wilfred students would be involved in the putative class, or how many are still paying loans arranged through Wilfred that could be discharged. More than 61,000 Federal Family Education Loan program loans were issued to Wilfred students between 1986 and 1994. When the action before the Second Circuit was filed in 2014, lawyers for the plaintiffs estimated that there were 40,000 or more students who took out federally guaranteed loans to attend Wilfred campuses.

At its height in the late 1980s, Wilfred operated 58 schools and had an annual enrollment of 11,000 students. Its advertisements featured an eager young student promoting the tagline, “That Wilfred winner—she knows where she’s going.” The Wilfred American Educational Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 1990 and the last Wilfred school shut down in 1994.

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Bankruptcy Law, Debt Relief, Student Loans

Three Questions to Ask about the New Student Loan Repayment Program

Posted on December 24, 2015by Admin

Some financial counselors are advising caution when it comes to the federal government’s new income-based student loan repayment program. If you do not plan ahead, the lower monthly payments under this option could have long-term financial consequences.

The REPAYE program (Revised Pay As You Earn), which launched December 16, gives those Americans with Federal student loans the option of capping monthly payments at 10% of disposable income. For example, someone earning $30,000 a year would see payment capped at around $103 a month. It also includes a forgiveness feature- Any loan balance remaining after 20 years of payments will be wiped away for undergraduate loans. If you have loans from graduate school, the forgiveness comes after 25 years.

To make sure you weigh all the costs and benefits of the new plan, here are three questions to ask before you sign up for REPAYE:

Will your monthly payment reduce your balance? Check to see whether your monthly payment will cover both the principal and interest due on the loan. If it does not, your balance will keep growing, which can mean financial trouble in the long run.

How much more in interest will you pay? By stretching out your loan, you inevitably pay more in interest, which is money that could have been saved for your financial goals. This can also hurt your credit score if the loan balance keeps growing.

Will you be able to handle a large tax bill? Under current law the loan amount that is wiped out will be treated as taxable income. If the forgiven debt is a large amount, wiping it out may push you into a higher tax bracket, so you could end up paying the tax at an increased rate.

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