Is there anything I can do if a company is trying to garnish my wages after bankruptcy? 12 Answers as of December 28, 2011

Student loans are not dischargeable, and thus, the garnishment is legitimate. Filing an undue hardship would not have been successful given that you have a job. You might consider filing a Chapter 13. This will protect you for up to five years and allow you to make payments that you can afford.

The loan is probably not dischargeable.

That is the danger of doing the bankruptcy yourself. It looks easy, that is a misconception. You need to consult with a lawyer.

Private student loans are NOT dischargeable. While the law does allow application for hardship discharge, you (1) missed on the timing if the stay has been lifted and (2) were almost certainly ineligible anyway (about the only people who qualify are people who will never have an income due to major disability). Since you work, you are likely not within the very narrow guidelines for hardship discharges. You have learned a lesson as to why you should not file pro se. Very likely a lawyer would have at least preserved the stay until your case ended.

Its not too late to file a complaint for hardship, but hardship discharge of educational debt is hard to get and few people qualify for it. I would need to review your situation in order to give you advice about whether this would be worth pursuing. As another alternative, you could file a Chapter 13 plan to pay the debt back under bankruptcy court protection.

Student loans are non dischargeable. It appears that this is a student loan and you will not be able to discharge of the debt.

Student loans are non-dischargeable. If you didn't file an adversary proceeding in your bankruptcy you haven't excepted this loan as an undue hardship. You should contact the lender and make arrangements to pay. Alternately, you can file a chapter 13 and do a payment plan to pay it in full.

To begin with, your question simply has too many implications to be able to run them all down in this forum: so I will respond to as many points as I can. But you should definitely call and consult with an Attorney as well. First, it sounds as if the debts in question predate your bankruptcy. Bankruptcy releases the debtor from all dischargeable obligations that predate the filing. Second, the real issue here is whether this debt was dischargeable at all. Obviously you know that government-related expenses like guaranteed student loans cannot be discharged absent undue hardship. But was the loan in question guaranteed by the Dept. of Education and was it used primarily for educational purposes? That distinction is important here. Third, if you think that you could have brought an adversary case *pro se *in your bankruptcy to establish undue hardship and discharge your student loans, you are jumping to conclusions. Undue hardship sufficient to allow student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy is a tall order. There is no guaranty that you could have met that standard in the past, or that you meet it now. Overall, as I wrote at the beginning of this answer you need to consult with a qualified Attorney in your area in order to meet this challenge head on. I hope this information has been helpful. Good luck in your future endeavors.

A Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing will prevent garnishment and allow you to make payments that work with your budget - at least for 36-60 months. Unless you are permanently disabled, you are not going to get a discharge of your student loan debt. If you are permanently disabled, you can contact Legal Services Corporation and see if they can help you file an adversary complaint to have the student loan debt discharged.

Any student loan guaranteed by a government entity is non-dischargeable. It is not a question of what you used the money for, it is the fact it came from a lender with a government guaranty. You would have to reopen the case to file the adversary proceeding. However, after two years and the difficulty in proving hardship (basically it has to be your financial situation is a choice between paying rent or the student loan), you probability of success of reopening or proving sufficient hardship is small.