chapter 13 or 7 bankruptcy, discharge of school debt tuition if put on credit card

With no income, you will qualify for filing a chapter 7 bankruptcy. Regular income is a requirement for a chapter 13 bankruptcy, so you will not be able to file a 13. Credit card debt can generally be erased in a chapter 7 bankruptcy, but student loans are not subject to discharge and will not, therefore, be erased. I suggest that you consult an experienced bankruptcy attorney in your area.

I have never looked at the question before. I think that the credit card company could try to argue that the debt was non dischargeable, which would involve litigation. This question is a good example of why it is so important to use a qualified bankruptcy lawyer, even for a case that seems staight forward on the surface. You might also consider whether bankruptcy will really help you at this point, in any event, if you are a student and you don't have a lot of assets to protect. I hope that you are successful in your studies.

Without income you qualify to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 7 and the United States Bankruptcy Code. However, discharging your student loans is generally not available except under exceptional circumstances. For example, you could litigate your case for student loan dischargeability if you became disabled and had no reasonable chance of maintaining a decent living wage in order to repay your student loans. This would have to be petitioned by way of an adversary proceeding within the chapter 7.

Student loan debt is only dischargeable in the event the payment is determined to be a hardship. Most courts have adopted a test for student loan discharge based on In re Brunner, in which the debtor must prove: (1) That the debtor cannot maintain, based on current income and expenses, a “minimal” standard of living for the debtor and dependents if forced to pay off student loans; (2) that additional circumstances exist indicating that this state of affairs is likely to persist for a significant portion of the repayment period of the student loans; and (3) that the debtor has made good faith efforts to repay the loans. As a student, you are not even trying to repay the debt and would fail the third prong of the test.

Without income you would be permitted to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy but would probably not qualify for a Chapter 13 because you would be unable to fund payments under a plan.