Austin Smith has spent years working with student loan borrowers. The crusade – and his success – earned him the moniker the "Don Quixote of student debt."
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Each year, about 250,000 student loan debtors file for bankruptcy.
Of those, fewer than 300 get their educational debt canceled in bankruptcy. That's a success rate of 0.1%.
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But those figures don't tell the whole story.
In 2017, only 447 out of the 241,000 student loan borrowers who filed for bankruptcy actually sought to have their educational loans discharged.
The remaining 99.8% didn't bother trying.
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Why do so few borrowers crushed by student loans seek cancellation of their debts?
One reason is a widely-held belief that student debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Even a presentation on a bankruptcy court's website made this point.
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But that's not correct, reports @Cezary.
There are exceptions under which borrowers can get their loans canceled. And judges are taking a fresh look at these provisions as student debt, at $1.7 trillion, is projected to exceed $3 trillion by 2030.
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Austin Smith is a young lawyer who discovered that courts had systematically misinterpreted the bankruptcy code in lenders' favor.
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Smith has successfully convinced bankruptcy judges that certain types of private student loans that were previously viewed as exempt from cancellation are actually just regular consumer debts with no special protections in bankruptcy.
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Smith doesn't run an average law firm.
After battling cancer, he decided to dedicate his life to helping student loan borrowers and has taken out loans to finance legal battles aimed at helping as many people as possible.
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One lawyer credits Smith with providing the "intellectual genesis" behind a whole line of court cases that are now challenging years of case law that had gradually built up in lenders' favor.
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Smith's hard-knuckled tactics have also irked judges.
In March, a federal judge ruled that Smith acted in bad faith when he sought to push the loan-servicing arm of Navient Corp. into bankruptcy.
Smith disputes this.
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Days later, Smith launched a run for Congress from New York in 2022.
He says he wants to help change bankruptcy law to help student loan borrowers, a tactic already championed by @SenWarren.
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🎓 Do you have a story or a news tip about student debt?
We'd like to hear from you. Email us at studentdebt@insider.com. 📧
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