Your pandemic relief payment is subject to seizure by your creditors if they have a garnishment order on your bank account.
If you're behind on child or spousal support, the support enforcement agency can be extremely aggressive. Chapter 7 doesn't help much. Chapter 13 CAN.
This $36 billion is owed by 2 million older Americans. Garnishment of their Social Security benefits to pay these student loans has skyrocketed.
Once garnished, that portion of your wages or salary is forever gone. With one exception.
Bankruptcy protects your paycheck because it's more powerful than a creditor's garnishment court order.
Don't react to getting lawsuit papers by avoiding them. Treat the lawsuit as a great incentive for taking the first step towards a better life.
Don't disregard bankruptcy as an option just because it does not write off the debt which is your immediate headache. There's likely some good medicine for that headache after all.