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This is a tough situation. You should know that bankruptcy itself wont help with student loans. You will need to file an "adversary proceeding" seeking discharge of your student loans. There is no guarantee of a full discharge as you need to prove to the court that by continuing to pay the student loans puts in an "undue hardship". In order to prove this you will have to convince the court of three things:
There is also "The Defense Against Repayment Provision" if you can prove to the Department of Education that your school commited fraud in order to recruit you.
Good Luck.
What does your income look like if you don't mind me asking? I know you say you can only afford to pay a certain amount but if we know more about what you make and what you spned it on maybe we can pinpoint an area to cut back on.
The simplist solution is to go to an Income Based Repayment plan. There are several options and the differences are a little complicated so it will take some research on your part to determine what is best for you but they make a huge difference. My payment is 1/3 of what it would normally be. You make 20 years of payments and the remainder is forgiven (there is a tax consequence but it still puts you way ahead). If you work for a non-profit or government you can get them forgiven after just 10 years and there is no tax consequence. I had student loans 20 years ago when I filed for BK 13 and that was the one debt that they would not include, it is my understanding they are very difficult to get included unless you have extreme circumstances like disability.
Are your loans with Navient private student loans? Or are they also Federal?
I agree with others. For the loans that are Federal Student Loans (even if they are serviced by Navient) then you can sign up for an IBR plan. That should make your payments more manageable.
Also check with them to see if you may qualify for a financial hardship deferment to provide you some relief for a few months from payments. This can help you get your finances in order and see where you might be able to cut back in other areas.
The companies do NOT want you to default. So, contact them and get your options so you know how best to move forward.
So it sounds like Navient is Personal Student loans. If that is the case, you are correct, there are typically less options for the loans that are private.
So, what amount of your payment is for private loans and what amount is for Federal loans? You can still work to have the Federal loans put on a IBR plan so that can help with your monthly payment amount.
The payment on your private loan will likely stay the same, but contact the servicing provider of your federal loan and ask about an Income Based Repayment (IBR) plan that could allow you to pay less than the $250 that you are paying now for the federal student loan. Or you may be able to get a financial hardship foreberance on the federal loan.
Have you looked into deferment and forbearance options? These will allow you to hold payments off for a period while you get your finances in order which would be helpful in knowing some more so we can pinpoint some options for you. If you're not sure on your spending then I would suggest putting all your accounts into Personal Captial which will be able to track and categorize your cash flow so you can get a better idea.