Many federal student loans placed in in-school deferment will accrue interest during school and capitalize upon graduation: Loan types that do not require payment of interest when deferring student loans include: Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans Subsidized Direct Subsidized FFEL Consolidation Loans Direct Subsidized Loans Federal Perkins Loans Consolidation Loans Loan types that do…
Reboot Your Life: Tampa Student Loan and Bankruptcy Attorney Blog
Very Interesting Article this Week about Certain For-Profit Schools Receiving Federal Loans Although They Were Not Actually Eligible!
Interesting times to be a student loan attorney. Just this week, a key decision was issued by the Fifth Circuit in In re: Crocker, No. 18-20254 which discharged private student loans. Why is this important? Well, it’s the first published Circuit level case on this issue. And the Court ruled…
Trend to Allow Separate Classification of Student Loans Is Not Always the Case
Sometimes, in a bankruptcy, we want to separately classify student loans, particularly federal student loans, where our client debtors can benefit from public service or income driven plans with debt forgiveness. It’s also helpful to separately classify private student loans if we’ve otherwise reached a settlement agreement with the creditor. …
Court Connection Published Our Article on the New Student Loan Management Program Today!
The Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida maintains its own newsletter called Court Connection which is distributed among court personnel and attorneys throughout the Middle District of Florida. This Court is the third most busy bankruptcy district in the country! One of the reasons it’s so active is…
How to Avoid Arbitration Clauses in Consumer Contracts — Bankruptcy Court Can Help!
Are you looking down the barrel of an arbitration clause in your consumer/creditor agreement? I’ve posted before (Arbitration Clauses in Consumer Contracts – How to Avoid Being Thrown out of Court) on some local case law here in Florida to help avoid arbitration clauses – but here’s a new case…
Scathing Audit of the Department of Education’s Oversight of its Servicers Show 61% Noncompliance
As a student loan attorney, I find this appalling. What if someone hired me as their attorney and I failed to comply with the law 61% of the time? I bet I’d be hearing from the Florida Bar pretty quickly and I’d probably lose my license to practice law. But…
Office for Rent for Solo Attorney in South Tampa
We have a 10 x 12 office for rent in our building on Cleveland St. in South Tampa. Nice central location. Use of conference room, free parking, copier/scanner/wifi/phone line included if needed.
Upcoming Student Loan Seminars (for our attorney friends)
We are speaking at a number of student loan related presentations over the next couple months. Please put any of interest on your calendar and send to other interested parties! 11/6/19 2:00 – 5:00 Bench Bar presentation on Student Loan Management Program (Tampa) (this is the day before the View…
When Does the FDCPA Come Into Play?
First off, to be covered under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the debt must be a consumer debt. i.e. not a business debt. Examples are credit cards used for personal/household items; a home loan, a student loan, a phone bill/utility bill, dishonored personal check, rent etc. Second, there must…
Little Known Process to Discharge of Federal Student Loans due to Disability
There is a separate process from the Social Security Administration’s process that is available through NelNet to discharge federal student loans (no matter who the servicer is). It’s called a Total and Permanent Disability Application. The good news is that it has been taking our firm only about two months…