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I became unemployed 3 years ago after nearly 30 years of stellar work after an acute mental health event and was subsequently fired from my job (first time fired and I didn't freak out at work).....I've since been helped by medication but have been unable to find employment in my previous field (60k per year). It is all I've done for nearly 30 years. We relocated to Austin Texas 2 years ago. We have drained our retirement accounts. My wife has been unable to find work in her field (3.0 student / top 10 undergrad business program) as an older student (mid 40s) with bad credit and has instead been employed to do data entry. As a result, my wife's student loans (around $45K ) went into default and she is considering filing Chapter 7 BK for another non-education related bill for which a garnishment will likely be sought. Unfortunately, her employer is from out of state and the JDB attorney had the judgement domesticated to her employer's state. As a family of 4 we are unable to get by on $30k per year with pending garnishments. Some of the student loans were originated in the 1990s and then again in 2007 Sallie Mae student loans were returned to the Department of Education for collection and a few others were apparently (ALPN) private alternative student loans which National Collegiate Trust has sold. West Asset Management is already receiving a garnishment for a student loan but has filed another request for garnishment on the same student loan account (I didn't know that was even possible). I just spoke with National Collegiate Trust and they indicate a $9,183 was defaulted 3 years ago and subsequently sold to NCO Financial (CA). NCO Financial has filed paperwork to get a garnishment. Garnishment paperwork is starting to come in from 4-5 companies associated with the student loans..... We just can't get by, I sell plasma and my wife stops by food banks. Amazing how far one can fall. I don't even recognize myself anymore. We both joined the Army to get an education so we could pull ourselves out of poverty and nearly 30 years later we're worse off than when we were children. We've pulled our 2 children down during the fall.....very bright....both in gifted and talented programs, eldest in Duke TIP, straight A's, top ten student .....but here we are...drowning. I've read conflicting information regarding the ability of debtors to discharge private student loans and have not been able to determine a definitive answer as a result. 1. Are private student loans dischargeable within the normal course of a chapter 7 bankruptcy in Texas 2. Are there statute of limitations associated with private student loans? 3. Are there different enforcement rules based on the governing statutes at the time of the loan origination? Any assistance on this would be greatly appreciated. As with everyone else, this is a particularly difficult period of time and apologize for the lack of brevity. It is easy to feel despondent. Two observations: 1) The ALPN (private) loans carried variable interest rates which reflect the discounted "value of money" .In essence, debtors pay a risk premium for interest rate and repayment uncertainty. How then can creditors have it both ways? 1. TGenerate higher ROI by charging a variable rate (present value of money / pricing risk) and retroactively imposing no default risk when that was already implicitly accounted for in the initial contract. 2) How can a contract be enforceable if one of the parties is retroactively disadvantaged by a change in the terms ex post facto? Admittedly sour grapes but if 2 parties enter into a contract based on specified terms, their evaluation of risk and benefit, how can one party retroactively have their position enhanced years later for the duration of the contract? As I indicated above, the creditor has assumed the risk and has been compensated via a variable risk premium based on the terms at the time the contract was executed. If the terms of enforcement of the contract changed, then why didn't the interest rate drop to reflect the reduction of repayment risk? Thanks again. Very much appreciate the community as a silent lurker.....