Student loans

Published on: September 8, 2020

McDaniel v Navient Case: Is this a Game Changer to Discharge Private Student Loan Debt?

This recent 10th Circuit case, McDaniel v. Navient, has gotten a lot of press among those in the student loan arena when it paved the way for discharge of 200k of private student loans. But what does it really mean?

First, here is what wasn’t addressed in this case. Navient admitted that 523(a)(8) (a) (i) (government or non-profit lender/guarantor) and (b) (cost of attendance) didn’t apply. In other words, they agreed that the loans were not guaranteed by a non-profit, and were outside the cost of attendance – so neither argument would prevent a discharge.

Instead, Navient hung its hat on the loans being covered under the “educational benefit” under (a) (ii). But Navient lost. The McDaniel case is consistent with the 9th Circuit BAP case In re Kashikar as far as the determination that educational loans do not equate educational benefit under (A)(ii). The 5th Circuit in In re Crocker found the same thing last fall.

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Published on: August 28, 2020

Pop Quiz: which option will END your private student loan debt?

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

Pop quiz: which option below is more likely going to END your student loan debt?

Investment in Bitcoin (up 60+% this year) or Ethereum (up 300-400% this year);
Winning the lottery;

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Published on: July 31, 2020

Reduce Student Loan Debt – Christie Arkovich, Esq. on Cognitive Rampage podcast – how we got here, how we get out of this student debt!

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

Published on: July 13, 2020

Heartland ECSI – 1 star reviews –

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

We’re investigating this company for potential violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), among other things, and I ran across their Better Business Bureau reviews.

I’ve never seen so many 1 star reviews! They’ve been in business for 48 years, are a major debt collector for universities and colleges for student loan debt. Some of these reviews say they would have given a ZERO review if possible, stating they are the worst

The reviews stem from ECSI charging a service charge for a single payment; misrepresenting the facts on credit reports and making collection calls even when an account is current, and lots more…

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Published on: June 15, 2020

Can I Refi a Student Loan and then File Bankruptcy on it?

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

Nope. At least not at first blush, but keep reading. Not surprisingly, a loan provided to refinance student loans does not change the character of the loan. The Court in Juber v. Conklin (In re Conklin), No. 19-91 (W.D. N.C. Apr. 6, 2020) concluded that “[s]o long as the loan refinanced is a ‘qualified education loan,’ then the refinancing loan may still be considered nondischargeable debt under 11 U.S.C. Section 523(a)(8)(B) whether or not it would itself be independently considered an ‘educational loan.”

So what makes a student loan a ‘qualified education loan’? Certainly not loans taken outside the true published cost of education. Not loans to attend ineligible schools. Nor loans made to ineligible students. All of these are potentially grounds to discharge student loans now — private loans that is.

We successfully discharged/obtained full forgiveness for roughly $250,000 of private student loans for clients just this month. And the month is only half way over.

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Published on: June 3, 2020

Throw Your Private Student Loans Out With the Bath Water

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

A review from another satisfied customer! Private student loans begone!

I didn’t think it would be possible

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Published on: June 1, 2020

Lawson-Ross Win in the 11th Circuit for PSLF borrowers: a Beacon of Hope for other Federal Student Loan Borrowers Fighting False Promises

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

The American Prospect published an article yesterday about our Lawson-Ross Public Service Loan Forgiveness (“PSLF”) success in the 11th Circuit – which was very persuasively argued by Dan Zibel of National National Student Loan Defense Network.

Two quotes that should give student loan borrowers comfort and should give pause to servicers spewing false promises:

Yet, too often the loan servicers have every incentive to put their financial needs ahead of borrowers’ best interests. Servicers are paid a flat fee per loan in their portfolio, leading to chronic underinvestment in customer service. This dynamic leads the loan servicers to shunt students into less affordable plans or botch simple paperwork rather than take the time to get consumers into the right plans that best match their individual situations.

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Published on: May 27, 2020

5 Questions to Ask Before Deciding if Student Loan Forbearance Can Help You

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

Most everyone has heard of the forbearance on student loan payments until September 30, 2020 due to COVID-19 – but like everything, there are nuances to this. I was fortunate to be interviewed to participate in Tiffany Connors’ very insightful article, 5 Questions to Ask Before Deciding if Student Loan Forbearance Can Help You” for the PennyHoarder which went up today.

Lots of good advice on whether forbearance applies to your loans, and the pros and cons of accepting it. I’ve been following PennyHoarder for years and it’s a great publication for those wanting to become debt free and live an independent life! In fact, I’m typing this blog now while camping at Fort DeSoto in Pinellas County, Florida – my husband is out paddle boarding but since it’s near 90 out at noon, I’d really rather be doing this! But I do like looking out over the water!

Also there are more helpful tips on using the CARES Act to help manage your student loans appear in our past few blogs if you’d like to scroll back through a few.

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Published on: May 26, 2020

Attacking Debt During COVID-19 – Radio Interview

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

I was super pleased to be interviewed recently on the radio show Money Talks. In our 4/29/20 radio interview, we spent approximately 30 minutes covering some things people can do to address debt during COVID-19. This includes student loan and mortgage forbearances and limitations under the CARES Act, discharging private student loans in bankruptcy, protecting and restructuring debt in a small business Chapter 11 under new rules and on and on. Take a listen. Maybe you’ll learn something you didn’t know before and can make this time work for you to reduce debt.

Please check out our News page where this interview is linked.

Published on: May 17, 2020

Can the PSLF Program Actually be Fixed in the HEROES Act for Those With the Wrong Student Loan Types?

By Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

We’ve been advocating for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (“PSLF”) to be fixed for a few years now. Our class action lawsuit against Navient went nowhere, but the one against Great Lakes has been commended for a ruling last month by the 11th Circuit to help hold federal student loan servicers accountable when they talk to their borrowers: like how their loans would be impacted by various programs for instance. Something you’d expect a servicer to get right. So when a servicer tells someone that their payments count toward PSLF, you can rely on that.

It’s now possible that Congress may work to fix the very serious problem where not all federal loans are treated the same. Fixing this via legislation will impact a whole lot more borrowers than individual or even class action lawsuits.

Enter the proposed HEROES Act which would address problems with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which allows qualifying public servants to get their federal student loans forgiven after 10 years of repayment. Currently, only Direct federal student loans are eligible for forgiveness under the PSLF program. Borrowers who have commercially-held FFEL-program federal student loans and Perkins loans do not qualify unless they consolidate those loans via the federal Direct consolidation program. By consolidating, however, they would erase any progress towards the 10 year repayment period and would effectively be starting over. The HEROES Act would allow payments made prior to consolidation to count towards PSLF.

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