Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Iowa

personal loan

I took out a personal loan in 1992 on which my former spouse was a co-signator. (joint debt) It was an encumbrance whose sole purpose was familial and for the embetterment thereof. (student loan), and it fell within the time restrictions of the bk law changes.

Subsequent to our divorce (5/1996), we both unfortunately filed bankruptcy (2/1998). Her responsibility for this debt was discharged in her bk, and mine very apparently was not discharged. To this day, I am still being hassled by a collection agency to pay the debt. Enough time has elapsed the account/debt no longer appears on my credit report(s), but I would like to put an end to this once and for all. Questions: What can I do to get these people to leave me alone? Can I file some sort of discrimination suit regarding the disparity of this situation? Can this be put back into my credit file again after was already in there for 7-10 years, and if so, can I file an injunction or some legal instrument to keep that from happening? My FICO scores are on the rise, one is over 700, and I don't want this to cause me any more problems. Please advise as to what I should or should not do to properly resolve this. Thank you in advance.


Asked on 8/15/07, 5:12 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Nancy Delain Delain Law Office, PLLC

Re: personal loan

There's a huge difference between a *personal* loan and a *student* loan. Was the loan in question here made through a qualified student loan program (Stafford, PLUS, private student loan)? Or was it simply a loan (like a home equity loan or personal line of credit) taken from a bank or credit union or other lending institution and the proceeds used to fund the student?

Qualified student loans are damnably difficult to discharge; basically the debtor has to have become a permanent vegetable before the bankruptcy courts will even consider discharging a student loan debt.

A personal line of credit or personal loan used for student-related expenses is NOT a student loan, and these are reasonably easy to discharge, even under the new bankruptcy laws that went into effect in 2005.

It sounds to me like this loan may not have gotten properly listed on the schedules in your bankruptcy petition. Talk with the attorney who handled the bankruptcy for you (I presume you had an attorney; if not, it's time to hire one) to see if it might be possible to re-open the case and properly list the loan.

Can you file a lawsuit against your ex-wife? Probably not; you apparently have no case against her. She had nothing to do with the listings on your bankruptcy petition, and you have stated that her duty for this debt was discharged in her bankruptcy.

How can you get the collections agency to leave you alone? Again, talk with the attorney who handled the bankruptcy for you. There ARE ways to do this. Some of them are even fun.

Good luck.

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Answered on 8/17/07, 5:34 pm


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