in July, 2021, the United states Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, agreed with a New York federal court’s ruling that found private student loans are not explicitly exempt from being discharged in a chapter 7 bankruptcy.
This ruling joins two others — from the Fifth and Tenth Circuits — one from 2019, one from 2020, that have begun to examine the notion that to qualify to discharge a student loan in bankruptcy is only possible if continuing to pay would impose “an undue hardship.” This is a standard that few even attempt to meet.
In the case in front of the Second Circuit, an Emerson College alumnus sought to eliminate, through bankruptcy, $12,567in private student loans he took on in order to finance his education. The Second Circuit agreed that certain kinds of private student loans could be canceled through bankruptcy without a display of “undue hardship.”
if you want to know if your private student loan may be discharged, please contact experienced Brooklyn bankruptcy attorney Bruce Weiner, for a free initial consultation.