Sign up for Canadastudentdebt Newsletter!
(Registration is separate from Forums)
E-Mail Address:
First Name:
Last Name:
Subscriber Action:
I personally recommend his services.
- Mark O'Meara, founder Canadastudentdebt.ca


Forum Home Forum Home > Other Topics > Stress & Mental Health Dealing with Student Loans
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed: disabled & just trying to survive
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Register Register  Login Login

disabled & just trying to survive
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <12
Author
Message
  Share Topic Share Topic  Topic Search Topic Search  Topic Options Topic Options
bullwinkle View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie


Joined: 01/June/2005
Posts: 5 		Post Options Post Options   Quote bullwinkle Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: disabled & just trying to survive
    Posted: 09/February/2007 at 12:55pm
Good luck Casey and Tired Senior, with trying to get your federal loans forgiven. As I'm in a similar situation to both of you (see my posts above) I'll follow your progress on this issue with great interest.

It is my understanding that even if the feds remove your debt from active collection, they keep it on the books (that is, they don't "forgive"it) in the event that one day you will come into some money (lottery, inheritance, etc) that will enable you to repay the loan. I think this is the case even in the event of a bankruptcy, the feds can still keep your federal debt alive even if you declare bankruptcy.

Please keep posting the results of your efforts, as I am most interested in discovering where they lead you, the kinds of responses you get, etc.
Back to Top
Tired Senior View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie
Avatar

Joined: 04/February/2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 7 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Tired Senior Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/February/2007 at 6:17pm
Bullwinkle you helped clear up some questions I had about the accrued interest.  I've been declaring hardship since 1996 but my loan goes back to 1993.  I made efforts to pay it back but life has a way throwing you curves doesn't it?  For years while I cared for my son and husband, my doctors would tell the government that I was capable of working although I was unable to do so because of family circumstance.  This year I'm pushing to have it placed in active collection because my doctor has finally declared me permanently disabled even though I have been disabled for years.  Because I was a caregiver no one wanted to admit that I was disabled even though everyone knew it.  They just considered me a strong woman and a survivor.
 
I feel the same way about that d### interest.  In fourteen years, my debt has doubled even though I paid half of my original loan back.
 
I've been studying the Student Loan Act and the Student Financial Act, and  looking into the 6 year provision amendment. If I find anything, I will certainly pass it on to everyone. 
 
 I feel the same way you do Bullwinkle and will fight to the grave to get rid of this debt.  I do not feel my son should be stuck with a loan to repay that isn't his, especially when it's all interest.  If any action is going to be taken against me, it will be after Feb. 29th, that was my deadline before they threatened me.
 
I am so glad I found you guys and this site.  Even though, I worked for years to help people get out of their legal problems it hasn't been easy to for me to handle my own, especially under pressure.  It activates my disabilites but we are all facing this stress.
 
It seems we are all in the same boat? Keep me posted.
 
Burnt out in the Yukon
Back to Top
administrator View Drop Down
Admin Group
Admin Group
Avatar

Joined: 25/January/2003
Posts: 1006 		Post Options Post Options   Quote administrator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/February/2007 at 11:26pm
There is one clause in the Student Loan act... regarding debt reduction.... if you have had exceptional expeneses.... then the minister can make a gratuitous payment... HRDC doesnt publicize this... not sure how to apply... you'd have to demonstrate exceptional expenses... and show that you cant pay...

Administrator
-------------
Mark O'Meara
Back to Top
Tired Senior View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie
Avatar

Joined: 04/February/2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 7 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Tired Senior Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/February/2007 at 8:03am

I found this little gem that applies to all of us.  We are all permanently disabled and declared so by our doctors.  We all qualify for “exceptional hardship”.  So, why aren’t our loans forgiven?  We’ve been doing this year after year? I’ll pursue this further. 

Hope this makes your day.

CANADA STUDENT LOAN REGULATIONS

PAYMENT ON PERMANENT DISABILITY

25. [Repealed, SOR/95-331, s. 13]

26. For the purposes of subsection 13(1) of the Act, the prescribed information is

(a) a statement signed by a responsible officer of a lender to which the borrower is indebted under the guaranteed student loan, that certifies the amount of principal outstanding on the loan at the time the statement is made, the rate of interest payable on the loan and the date from which such interest is accruing on the loan;

(b) a statement signed by a duly qualified medical practitioner that the borrower suffers from a permanent disability; and

(c) a statement signed by or on behalf of the borrower setting out the borrower's family income.

27. Where, pursuant to subsection 13(1) of the Act, the Minister is satisfied that a borrower, by reason of permanent disability, is or will be unable to repay a guaranteed student loan without exceptional hardship, the Minister shall notify

(a) the borrower; and

(b) any lender whose rights against the borrower terminate pursuant to that subsection.
Burnt out in the Yukon
Back to Top
administrator View Drop Down
Admin Group
Admin Group
Avatar

Joined: 25/January/2003
Posts: 1006 		Post Options Post Options   Quote administrator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/February/2007 at 11:16am
You probably need to be looking at the Student Financial Assistance Act and regulations, not the Canada Student Loan act -which is older.

The government keeps saying that loans to the crown cant be forgiven but the legislation says it can...

Welcome to the crazy world of HRDC. at least they send out the forms now if your in default... that took six months of my lobbying to prove that there was no such regulation in my case.


Mark
Administrator
-------------
Mark O'Meara
Back to Top
Johnny View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar

Joined: 05/November/2003
Location: Canada
Posts: 4199 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Johnny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/February/2007 at 3:55pm
The government has a tendency to make rules and laws up as they go. One can have a loan forgiven if the disability will prevent them from ever repaying. However, the government now simply says that they will remove it from active recovery for periods of time providing that the borrower continues to be disabled (?)

The government takes all cases of short/long term, and permanent disability with a different outlook. A medical professional may deem certain illness a disability, but the government looks at it while asking themselves:

"... Well, we understand that this borrower has Chrones Disease as well as clinical depression, but is this person employable?".

The Canadian Financial Wellness Group (CFWG)

www.cfwgroup.ca
Back to Top
Johnny View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar

Joined: 05/November/2003
Location: Canada
Posts: 4199 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Johnny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/February/2007 at 3:55pm
A doctor can deem a person disabled but rarely can they deem a person unemployable. People have to take into consideration that the lawmakers who write laws in this country do so without really understanding what they are writing, or even how to interpret what they are writing. If someone on government hill can find a porthole in legislation that gives them an advantage point, they jump on it. If they cannot find any portholes to squeeze through, then they resort to making rules and laws up as they go. The day the BIA changed overnight with respect to student loans clearly illustrates that they have the ability to make up rules and laws whenever they want. This amendment was passed without anyone having a say.

Johnny
The Canadian Financial Wellness Group (CFWG)

www.cfwgroup.ca
Back to Top
Tired Senior View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie
Avatar

Joined: 04/February/2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 7 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Tired Senior Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14/February/2007 at 7:03pm

Hi Everyone,

 

I negotiated a suitable monthly payment arrangement with HRDC, not NCO.  My loan should be paid off in about three years, when I turn 65, yeah!

 

I have decided to apply for my CPP now instead of 65 years.  It won’t make any difference in payments I was told by HRDC because I haven’t worked in 6 years and don’t plan to do so before I turn 65.  Once I start receiving CPP, the Yukon government has a grant called YSIS (Yukon Seniors Income Supplement) and that will help my budget.  I am already receiving a low- income disability pension from the Yukon government.

 

Also, I am expecting a forgivable loan from Canada Mortgage and Housing this Spring for some necessary repairs on my home, I don’t want this to be held up. 

 

Once you acknowledge you owe them, and that happened to me very quickly on the phone before I realized who I was talking to, you owe them.

 

I certainly do not want lose any entitlements that I am eligible for and as long as I’m paying them something they’ll leave me alone to enjoy my retirement.

 

Don’t bite the hand that feeds you....
Burnt out in the Yukon
Back to Top
SocialismNow View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie


Joined: 03/May/2004
Location: Luxembourg
Posts: 33 		Post Options Post Options   Quote SocialismNow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13/April/2007 at 8:27pm
Can the student loan KGB chip away at CPP once you start collecting it ?.
 
Because I'm in my 40's now, and the six thousand dollars I was able to pay down from the original principal is nearly negated now with interest/usury. In the last six years, I've been either under-employed, unemployed or had no income for months on end. We've lost over 200, 000 manufacturing jobs since 2002, and now our burgeoning low wage workforce is second only to the U.S. in a comparison of richest nations.
 
The community college where I earned my engineering technology diploma did a nice sales job on me as I remember. They said high tech was the new economy. I was guaranteed a job. They don't talk about "Silicon North" anymore. Not since the corporate accounting scandals and tech bubble burst.
 
I'd like to leave Canada. I hate what this country has become since Mulroney and Chretien lied to us on the campaign trails about FTA and NAFTA.  My father was better off than me by this age, and he grew up in the 1930's and was a grade nine graduate, WWII veteran. I'd leave this country if I knew they would claw back the last income support available to me after a life of low wages. They're already snatching my GST and income tax refunds from me while I'm subsisting below LICOS. Does anyone know if they plan on being so miserable as to put a grab on our CPP at 65 ?.
The federal NDP will offer affordable education. University is free in the social democracies of Europe, and their national debts aren't as large as ours or the U.S.A's.
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <12

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down