She met the means test since her hours were cut at work. She got her letter in the mail that her bankruptcy is now discharged and she no longer has to pay all this money back. What happens to all that debt?
The company she owes it to write it off as being irrecoverable.
We do that all the time at work, when a debt is over a certain age and it's not to huge, we just get rid of it. It exists after that as an entry on the write-off ledger, it's not forgotten but it is gone. If they show up later and decide to pay it (surprisingly, sometimes they do) we can write it back on and collect the money.
A debt that a person has when they are made bankrupt though is gone forever and can not be restored for collection, even if they show up with the money in their hand we can't take it as the debt legally no longer exists.
