OPINION
Don't Cancel Student Loans. Let Bankruptcy Law Forgive Them
| Opinion
SARAH SHARER CURLEY , RETIRED FEDERAL BANKRUPTCY COURT JUDGE
ON 6/21/22 AT 3:52 PM EDT
OPINION
Don't Cancel Student Loans. Let Bankruptcy Law Forgive Them | Opinion
SARAH SHARER CURLEY , RETIRED FEDERAL BANKRUPTCY COURT JUDGE
ON 6/21/22 AT 3:52 PM EDT
BANKRUPTCY
I'll never forget a case I presided over while still a bankruptcy judge in the District of Arizona, the case of a woman I'll call Myrna. Myrna had taken out student loans in the early1970s, and then decided to work in public health as a children's psychologist for San Diego County, CA. Myrna bought a home and helped troubled children, and she made sporadic payments on her loans over the years.
Years later, Myrna retired, sold her home, and she and her husband moved to Arizona. Her husband did odd jobs, and they collected social security. Then the student-loan debt collector came-a-knocking. In 2010, he demanded immediate payment. Myrna filed a bankruptcy petition in response. Myrna had few records of her payments over the years, and, tellingly, the collector was having difficulty calculating the total amount owed. By the time Myrna appeared in my courtroom for trial, she was seventy-three-years old, and she owed $584,854.99.
The creditor presented no evidence, but Myrna carried the burden of proof. She had little documentation to support her repayment of her student loans or her salary over the years, because she had taken out the loans so long ago.
I saw incredible inequities in this case. Myrna did not meet all of the legal criteria to have her student loans forgiven. However, if she had filed her bankruptcy petition before 1998, the law in place at the time would have forgiven her loans after seven years. If she had filed a bankruptcy petition prior to 1976, she would have received forgiveness of her loans as any other consumer debt. But Myrna didn't think about bankruptcy back then.
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https://www.newsweek.com/dont-cancel-student-loans-let-bankruptcy-law-forgive-them-opinion-1717664