Almosthesven351:
That was one of the articles I read. I'm sorry, you're correct. To split the loans you would need to a private loan and your wife to sign saying a portion is here which sounds like she'll never do. That's not right!
At $8000 (not $80,000) it's going to save you more time, energy and money just to pay it off. I hate to say that, I absolutely do not think this is fair, but what will end up happening is the interest will accrue and you'll owe that much more. I'll not sure how the bankruptcy works, but when you can start making payments again, throw what you can at it (over there minimum). Forbearance is a last resort. It will not be reporting good payments to your credit report and you'll need that to rebuild; the one good thing is that this old tradeline will help with your age instead of having to start from scratch.
I would say yes to the petition but I've seen them removed a while thread if a guy asking if people wanted to join a class action against Servicer. I think another platform would be more appropriate.
Writing your congressperson seems to be the recommended move. I'm cynical though because I've seen them do very little to fix these horrible effects of good ideas. It's happened for decades, parties and administrations are irrelevant. The higher education lending system is broken imo.
Maybe your efforts or your story can change things for someone else, even if it's just someone in a similar situation feeling like they are not so alone.
Anywho, keep us updated and when the bankruptcy is done this forum is great for helping people rebuild. I've seen it only take a few years for most people who work at it. Things will get better. 🙂