sanantone Wrote:You don't have buy here-pay here places in Canada? That's where people with a low income and bad credit can finance overpriced, used cars at high interest rates in the U.S.Of course we do! Interest rates to match the risk. That's what I meant by "rent-to-own" furniture. The store shows up with a truck if payments are behind. We have predatory "lease-to-own" used car lots, too, where the dealer retains an extra set of keys, handy if someone gets behind on their note. Plenty of people with low incomes and bad credit here! I was talking about what would happen if those same poor people with bad credit could finance new cars, under a government-involved scheme that doesn't exist - and hopefully never will. That would be more like the current U.S. education loan system - and I think it has even worse consequences than "buy here - pay here."
If the mistake is irretrievable, even the worst "buy here - pay here" car deal can be discharged in bankruptcy at any time. "Easy" education loan --- not so. It's still possible in Canada, but nowadays there are some restrictions on bankruptcy discharge of student loans. I think the time-frame must be 10 years or more since leaving school; a decision about the amount, if any, to be repaid after bankruptcy is made by a bankruptcy judge in each individual case, according to the debtor's circumstances. Canada used to have no rules in this regard, but we got to a place where one in eight bankrupts was a former student (sometimes newly out of school) with education debt. So we put the brakes on, but discharge is still possible and the terms are on an individual basis.
J.
![[-]](https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/images/collapse.png)
