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I'll try to make this brief but I feel like I need to give the full story in order to get your advice. I did my undergrad from 1990-1994 in Ontario. I took out student loans every year of my degree (OSAP and NSL = about $40K in total). When I graduated I moved out to BC and foolishly forgot about dealing with repaying my student loans until they tracked me down to tell me my loans were in default. I immediately negotiated a repayment schedule and dutifully paid every month, never missing a payment. Flash forward to 2001 and I decide to go back to school and get my masters degree. I took out more student loans (BC and NSL = $22K). Again I dutifully paid the loans down without missing a payment. In 2004 I had to declare bankruptcy because of some personal hardships and the student loans weren't included so I had to continue to pay them down. About 4 years ago I spoke with a student loans rep and he tells me I could stop paying the loans because it was past the 10 yr limit. Of course I didn't believe him but he managed to convince me that "they wouldn't come after me". Sure enough last year they came after me. No big deal, after blowing a couple gaskets I started paying the loans back. I've gotten that roughly $62K down to $8K after regular payments, CRA keeping my tax refunds, etc. Last year I decided to go back to school again after losing my job. I was accepted into a PhD program. I decided to check to see if I could get student loans - just as a Plan B. I was told that because of the bankruptcy and other stuff I couldn't. I was advised to rehabilitate my loan. So i did that, paid outstanding interest, and was told the loan was rehabilitated. That's when Tricura started harassing me. They told me my loan was outstanding and I owed x amount. After jumping through their hoops - they made me ask my university to provide proof of my full-time status 3 times - and paying the outstanding interest, I thought I was in the clear. But no! Today I got a call saying all bets were off. The manager had surmised that because of the bankruptcy all bets were off and I had to repay the loan. I lost it and told the guy to eff off. I'm at the end of my rope. Aside from that initial default, I've played by their rules and in the end I'm getting screwed. I've fantasized about getting a lawyer and suing for the stress and impact to my health this is causing, writing to the Minister in charge of student loans (Minister of Finance?). I feel like giving them the middle finger just based on principle. Maybe when I calm down I'll have a better perspective but I could sure use some advice at this point. Is there a way to ask for loan forgiveness? Has some statute of limitations expired? Has anyone had any luck pursuing other avenues?
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