Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Florida

School Loan Default

I have a 16 year old defaulted school loan that I avoided for several years because I suffer from clinical depression and other problems related to a head injury, and I couldn't handle the stresses in my life, along with family problems and so forth. The loan went from 7,000 to 18,000 and I cannot afford to pay that. It was garnished from my pay for over 3 years until it stopped by mistake, and now I'm getting letters again and am currently not making enough money to pay my mortgage and expenses let alone 18,000. I do want to pay my debt but not at the massive amount that it's ballooned to.

I'm trying to move on with my life and several people have advised me, due to my cognative problems from the head injury, to go on disibility, but that is a hard choice for me to make. Is there a way to get the Dept. of Education to allow me to repay the original 7,000 and forgive the added costs, or to be forgiven of this debt entirely, since I really can't handle it?

I have no credit card debt and all my other loans are paid on time. The school loan is the only debt that I cannot handle.

Thank you for any advice or info you can give me.


Asked on 2/17/06, 2:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Samira Ghazal Ghazal & Gomez, P. A.

Re: School Loan Default

Student Loans are a real problem. First, President Bush (#1) signed by executive order that any and all student loans statute of limitations would be waived -- meaning they can collect literally forever. There are issues as to whether the loan was federally funded or not and that does make a difference. I would consult a student loan attorney. E-mail me privately and I will get you some names.

One other solution I have seen is asking for the foregiveness of the debt. I recall having a client who presented papers to Sallie Mae and it was done, but that was a while ago. I do not know their current procedure. You may want to call and see if you can qualify.

This is the best answer I can offer.

Samira Ghazal

For the Firm

Ghazal & Gomez, P. A.

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Answered on 2/18/06, 10:24 am


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