Considering Chapter 13- Looking for Information

[Anonymous]

Hi there! My husband and I had a Chapter 7 discharged March/2015. Things were going well and we were rebuilding, however, in 2017 I have a Grand Mal seizure and couldn't drive or work for 6 months. We had to break a lease and move in with family but it has been downhill since with our credit. I have a consultation with an attorney this week, it is free for one hour then the attorney charges $250/hr so I'm trying to do as much research as I can. I do have a few questions, maybe y'all can help me out with. 

We both have student loans, all of my husbands are under a IBR plan and we currently don't have a payment. Most of mine are under the same plan with no payment, however, I do have a Perkins loan that I do have to pay monthly. 

Are all student loans usually included in the Chapter 13 payment plan or would it likely just be my Perkins?

We have two cars but we were thinking about letting one go and just purchasing one outright with our tax return in March/April. I have seen conflicting information about tax returns. Ours is mainly EIC and Child Tax credit. 

Can the wildcard federal exception be used for tax refunds? 

We will likely use the federal exceptions because my husband receives VA disability. 

I know I can ask the attorney all of this but only having an hour isn't a lot of time. 

[Anonymous]

I'm not a bankruptcy person, I only know student loans.
"We both have student loans, all of my husbands are under a IBR plan and we currently don't have a payment. Most of mine are under the same plan with no payment, however, I do have a Perkins loan that I do have to pay monthly. "
Since you are both on IBR (IBR and not another IDR plan?) and have no payments, I don't see how it could be said that you couldn't "pay" off your student loans. You're both headed to forgiveness it sounds like, so if I'm not mistaken there is no struggle with the IBR loans.
I'm not certain why you would have a payment on the Perkins loan though as this is also a federal student loan and I believe is also eligible for an IDR plan. Again, not my area of expertise.

"Are all student loans usually included in the Chapter 13 payment plan or would it likely just be my Perkins?"
It is my understanding that it is up to a lawyer on whether they will even take them on. I think you need to ask the attorney. I think it would also suggest you provide further information about the Perkins loan if you are comfortable with that.
The people who answer here at really helpful. Hope they can answer your questions more accurately.

You might also want to give this thread a read:
https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Student-Loans/TPD-Loan-forgiveness-with-VA-disability-rating/td-p/4...

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your reply, Perkins is only eligible if you consolidate them into a federal Guaranteed (FFEL) or Direct loan.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry. That's correct. And after consolidation you'd still only be eligible for ICR, right?
Have you looked at consolidation with only one other loan? From what I understand you don't have to consolidate all of them. Sometimes if you have one really small Direct Loan you can combine only it and the Perkins. It would reset your count for forgiveness (which would be in 25 years now?) on that one loan but enable to to do ICR on the consolidated loan. It really depends on your situation.