MMFBT 019 – Doug Hoyes – Can Bankruptcy Erase Student Debt?

“I got it all figured out man… Sure I’ll be in school for a bunch of years, but I’ll live the good life off of student loans!  The government is so dumb that they’re going to pay for me to become a lawyer/engineer/doctor and then when it’s done I’ll just declare bankruptcy and the slate will be wiped clean!  Sure, my credit rating might be rough for a couple of years, but that’s definitely worth getting rid of a 150K in student loans right?”

While you might have heard some smart ass spout off and sound awfully similar to the quote above, it just doesn’t work like that in 2014.  Personally, I’m kind of a fan on this because just declaring bankruptcy and “getting rid” of your student loans essentially rips off the rest of us as taxpayers.

Today on the podcast we bring on Doug Hoyes, who is a bankruptcy expert to fill us in on some of the finer points surrounding student loans, young adulthood and bankruptcy.  Doug is a regular on the Canadian TV scene (yes, those channels you skip on your way to HBO, Showtime and AMC).  He has appeared on CTV Douglas has appeared on Canada AM, Til Debt Do Us Part,CBC Newsworld, and CTV’s Provincewide.  You can also catch him writing for the Huffington Post or view his website at: http://www.hoyes.com/.

Tune and listen to us chat about:

• Can you get rid of student loans through bankruptcy?
• How does student loan debt differ from credit card debt and a line of credit?
• What are the benefits to declaring bankruptcy?
• What are the drawbacks to declaring bankruptcy?  What does it look like the day after and how does your life change?
• We comment on the student loan vs student grant debate that Newfoundland and Labrador have started.
• Doug lets us in on some of the mistakes he made as a student and why he would definitely avoid them today.
• We wrap by talking about how cool our student budget is and why you should use it – see we aren’t the only ones that think nerdy excel spreadsheets are ok!

As a sidenote, if you missed my appearance on the Because Money Google Hangout you can catch the replay here.  I think podcasting is still my thing – it’s pretty nerve-wracking watching yourself talk!  Maybe I need a better makeup guy…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

As always please fire away with any questions, comments, or ratings.  We respond to all of our emails and comments on the site and love hearing what you guys want to listen to on the podcast and the information you want to get at.

More Beers More Cheers That’s It That’s All!