Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Rhode Island

I took out a student loan in 2005. I couldn't repay it. I now have a collector harassing me. Anyway out of this?


Asked on 10/09/09, 11:13 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Christopher Pearsall Law Office of Christopher A. Pearsall, Esquire

Student loans pose a more difficult problem than ever these days. You can stop the collector from hassling you by telephone by sending a letter by Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested asking the collection agency not to contact you at specific telephone numbers. This is in accordance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The collector may still continue to send you collection mail but the calls should stop. That is a way to get out of the harassing calls. Unfortunately student loans aren't something you can really get rid of. The new federal bankruptcy laws require an extreme degree of extended hardship and inability to pay a student loan before the bankruptcy court will even consider discharging even a portion of the student loan in bankruptcy. There is no statute of limitations on student loans anymore so they can chase you forever. Unless you meet very extreme standards to justify even a partial discharge of your loan in US Bankruptcy court then the theory is this. You received the benefit of the education that went with the loan and the education can't be taken from you so you should be responsible for the student loan in almost every circumstance.

Unfortunately, aside from the rarity of winning an extreme hardship case in US Bankruptcy Court so a part of your loan is discharged by the Federal Bankruptcy Court there really isn't any way out of a student loan.

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Answered on 10/22/09, 9:22 pm


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