Discharging a student loan requires meeting the difficult condition called undue hardship. Chapter 13 can help through more flexible timing.

Discharging a student loan requires showing undue hardship. The timing of your Chapter 7 filing can determine whether you succeed in this.

We’re in a series on the smart timing of your bankruptcy case. Last week we introduced the special condition you must meet to discharge (write off) student loans: “undue hardship.”

Discharging—permanently writing off—student loans can be difficult. You may be able to make it easier to do with good bankruptcy timing.

Discharging Student Loans in Bankruptcy

It takes certain circumstances to discharge student loans. Those circumstances can involve the right timing of your bankruptcy case.

The recent coronavirus relief law includes help for some student loan borrowers—suspending payments, interest, collections, credit reporting.

The 880-page Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES”) has 4 pages of help for certain student loan borrowers. Section 3513 of CARES. It provides meaningful albeit temporary help, for those who qualify by having the right kind of student loan.

Writing off student loans is not easy. You must convincingly show that paying the loan causes you undue hardship, a tough condition to prove.