How to Lower Your Private Student Loan Balance with a Debt Relief Attorney
Are you struggling to keep up with your private student loan payments? You are not alone and many borrowers are even turning to bankruptcy as a way out. In fact, student debt has doubled in the past 20 years and between the 2008 economic crash and the recent COVID-19 pandemic, many of these borrowers have been unable to keep up with their repayments. While there is some potential relief for federal student loans on the horizon, private student loans are unlikely to see any relief. Therefore, ignoring the issue or hoping for a government fix, is likely not a viable solution.
But how can you actually lower your private student loan balance?
Let’s take a look at how a debt relief attorney can help you tackle the issue.
Hiring a Debt Relief Attorney to Reduce Your Private Student Loan
A debt relief attorney is a lawyer that helps students discharge loans, negotiate lower payments and handle credit disputes or misconduct from debt collectors. These attorneys can also provide legal advice and protect borrowers from unlawful or unfair practices which can be especially useful in the event of bankruptcy. In terms of private student loans, an attorney can help reduce the balance and interest on your debt through a student loan settlement program.
Although hiring a debt relief attorney will come with a cost, we almost always save our clients money in the long run. Here is a quick outline to show you how a student loan debt settlement program works:
First Contact – The debt relief attorney will contact the lender and begin negotiations on your behalf to reduce your private student loan balance.
Desired Outcome – After a desired settlement is reached, you will likely need to pay just a fraction of the original balance back to the lender.
Remaining Sum – The rest of your private student loan balance is forgiven and there will be no need for you to pay the initial balance in full.
It takes time to turn the situation around but with the help of a debt relief attorney, you can avoid going down the bankruptcy route. There are also many more reasons why working with an attorney will be of great benefit to you.
Protecting Your Assets and Mitigating Risk
Lenders will often try to sue borrowers when they default on a student loan. That can lead to the lender being able to take a portion of your wages or freeze your bank accounts–not a scenario anyone wants to find themselves in. Hiring a debt relief attorney can help protect your assets and they will fight on your behalf to mitigate potential losses in court.
Negotiations and Legal Representation
Is your private student loan in collection? Debt collectors can be very aggressive and use rather nasty tactics to extract full payment. They also break the rules on occasion and many borrowers will be none-the-wiser when it happens. However, a debt relief attorney can act as your representative and use their legal expertise to negotiate the best possible outcome on your behalf. Most debt collectors are required to deal with your attorney if they know you are represented, and so the stressful collection calls and letters will stop.
Pursuing Outcomes Due to Fraudulent Behavior
Universities will sometimes mislead prospective students as a means of getting them to commit to a course. For example, a college might tout unrealistic career prospects in order to convince students to enroll and attorneys are able to pursue loan cancellation due to such unethical behavior. This is just one of many examples of why a debt relief attorney might pursue a certain outcome as a result of fraudulent or unethical behavior by the school.
Assistance with Filing for Bankruptcy
Filing for bankruptcy is a complex process but one that can potentially remove student debt. However, it’s quite rare for this to happen and a debt relief attorney is usually needed to improve your chances of success. Either way, hiring an attorney will ensure you are getting the best possible advice on how to move forward.
Conclusion
Your private student loan balance is not something you should be worrying about on a regular basis. It’s also best to tackle these financial problems head-on so that you can actually start working your way out of debt. At McCarthy Law, we can help reduce your private loan balance and alleviate much of the stress that comes with financial problems. So get in touch with our team and we can start determining your best possible course of action.