According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, Texans are defaulting on their student loan debt at an alarming rate.
The article said:
“In Texas, 9.3 percent of borrowers defaulted on their federal student loans last year – the highest rate in nearly a decade. Only Arizona had a higher rate, 9.8 percent. The national average was 6.7 percent, based on the data released this week.”
Many Texans are graduating from college are unable to find jobs or if they find a job it may not pay enough to cover their everyday living expenses plus the cost of the student loan. Just in the past three years, student loan default rates climbed from 5.8 percent to 7.1 percent to 9.3 percent.
That’s nearly 10% of all Texas student loans falling into default. But most of these former students don’t need to default because they have options. Although student loans generally cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, other debt such as credit card debt can be discharged in Chapter 7 bankruptcy , freeing up more money to commit to the repayment of the student loans. Also, student loans borrowed directly from the government have deferments and flexible repayment plans that can be essential for Texans struggling to repay student loans and other debts.
If you have already defaulted on your student loan, it is not too late to take action to correct the problem. Remember, student loan debt cannot usually be discharged in bankruptcy and student loan lenders have incredible power to garnish your wages, seize your bank account or other assets. But you can stop student loan lenders from taking aggressive collection actions against you by filing bankruptcy. Filing bankruptcy will prevent student loan lenders from seizing your assets while you’re in bankruptcy. And it will also give you the opportunity to put your student loan accounts on an affordable repayment plan.