Student loans, especially multiple student loans, are like the death to a young adults credit rating. When I was attending college, I attended an extremely expensive school. This resulting in multiple federal loans, and multiple private loans being taken out for my education. Now that I am trying to set up repayment plans for the loans, they all want to do income contigent payments. Which could be great, if I had one or two student loans. Unforuatnely I have 11 out still. I am trying to make the loan companies understand, that I am doing my best to make monthly payments. However my monthly payments cannot be as high as they want them to be. Each loan wants around $135/month, on 11 loans, well my monthly income does not equal the amount I would need to pay. Plus I have two children to support. I understand I took these loans out, and at the the time I did not realize what I was doing to myself. If I would have realized I had to pay on all 11 loans at the same time, I may have rethought my schooling. Does anyone have any suggestions that may help me in this sticky situation. I currently have to alternate which loans I pay each month. Or I send a small payment to each loan. Neither method seems to make them happy. I have already considered bankruptcy, but that would not help with with the federal or private loans. Plus the number of loan i have out, has lowered my credit score to the point where loan consolidation is not an option for me.
I don't know much about this, but I've had friends who have put all of their loans on credit cards. In some cases, there have been lower interest rates. Also, they like the idea of owing the money to a private company vs. the government. Either way, good luck. I'm struggling to pay my measly little $5000 loan right now. I keep having to get them to start over when I miss months.
Student debt is one of the BIGGEST reasons kids are so afraid to go to college. And for those that DO complete, they can't even enjoy it for a good 5 - 10 years later because they find themselves having to pay back so much student debt. It's ridiculous.
I understand, however I have to ask if you have spoken to the government owned loan people? If you are having financial difficulties they are pretty good at letting you have a deferment or forbearance or lowering the amount you have to pay back at any one time. As for the private companies I really don't know how to help you although I would think that they would also have a department given over to helping folks like you. I understand your pain I currently owe 24,000 dollars to the Feds (and my company has been having difficulties staying afloat. I was really lucky though that most of my schooling was paid for with grants and scholarships (over 30,000 USD).
Have you tried getting them deferred for a little while? Claim "economic hardship" because the total amount of loan payments will exceed a certain percentage of your income. It'll give you a break for up to a year to move forward with your job, budgeting, paying down other bills, etc.
NI am going to have to ask about the forebearances and economic hardship programs again. Thank you both for your recommendations.
I also had student loans, I still have one remaining. I did find that contacting the consumer protector office or similar in your area can help. There is very little they can do. Also, see that anything you own is not in your name (you can open a trust though, they cant touch it). I mean really, if you cannot pay, what can they do? You can agree on a smaller amount with all of them. But first speak to the consumer protection people...and then go on from there. Do not allow them to bully you.
I would pick one with the least amount owed and concentrate on paying that one. The rest i would send a nominal amount to. When I get one paid off . I would then take the money I was paying and apply to the next lucky dept collector. As long as you are paying something Screw them. They will get their money eventualy.
Is there some way to consolidate them? I thought the government had some programs to help releave student loan debt so I would start looking for those programs. If that doesn't work, I would try talking with a ligitimate debt reduction service and see if they may be able to help you out with them. If so, they will basically consolidate all your debts for you but make sure they are ligitimate! If they are not, you could end up in a bigger mess.
I feel for you. I have been out of school about 2 years and my loans are about $1500/month. Even though I have a decent job that is really REALLY hard to pay. I also worked two jobs all through college, but unfortunately school was just expensive. Like I said I was able to good a job because of school but $1500/month is a lot for someone just out of school and to pay for 12 years. I tried consolidating but was unable to get approved from anyone. If anyone can help any of us or has any ideas, please let us know!
I would look into consolidation and get that interest rate knocked down on them. Think long term. When I graduated from university I was lucky enough to get a job. My banker took my three student loans which had ridiculous interest rates and gave me a personal loan at one point above the prime lending rate and I paid them all off. I paid off my bank loan in a year. Because the interest rate was so much lower I was able to pay it down much faster.
Getting blood out of a stone is not possible. The loans are attached to someone who is a loan officer;a person. Go to that person to completely explain the real life situation. Some loan officers will extend the time for the loan and defer payments until the money is there to pay those debts. It is so sad for me to read that loans for schooling is a problem. I do wish college or extra educational classes would be more affordable than they are. You might also inquire from your state representative about grants to cover part or all of the loans forever or at the very least until you can pay the loans off at a pace you can manage.
My sister was having the same problem. She called and the people who run the government loans said she qualified in to a government sponsored consolidated loans. They took all of the loans, and mushed them in to one loans. It is saving her a lot of money doing it that way, and she pays less a month.
I was stuck in horrible debt and I got my loans consolidated and that dropped my interesnt rate to a fixed 5.5%. The Dept of Education also granted me a year of forbearrance without me asking for it since the reason I needed the consolidating was due to financial hardship.I guess they figured I could use the break and they could get some interest racked up on my account but either way I needed that year of break (since I am currently 7 months pregnant) and I got them all under one controlled amount so its not so crazy!
I understand all about student loans. Me and my husband both had them. He paid his off but I still have mine to pay off. I agree with what you said, if I would have known how much money it would cost me now, I would have rethought going to school. Plus, I'm angry at myself for having to pay it off when I didn't even complete it. I wish I would have at least completed it.
This is NOT a good idea. I would rather owe the government, because appeals can be made and plans can be arranged, etc. Private companies will come back and bite your ass in the future. Your friends are making a serious mistake making this kind of trade-off. I highly advice anyone against this method.
Most of the students are paying their money to living expenses. Because he missed so many payments, his balance now stands at $18,000 and counting.College seniors who graduated with student loans in 2010 owed an average of $25,250, according to the latest data from The Project on Student Debt. That’s up five percent from 2009.The most recent report from the U.S. Department of Education found that more than 320,000 borrowers had defaulted on their student loans as of September 2010. That is, they were 360 days or more late in making their payments.But the student can not handle the cost sometimes.
I would advise you to crunch the numbers as to which loans have the highest interest and see if you can pay for those first. Try to see if you qualify for any leniency on certain loans since you have children to support are you a single parent? Be proactive when it comes to looking for ways to get the payments deferred as long as it won’t earn interest or at least a bare minimum. Look for any other government assistance you can get for free. We have a lot of benefits you just have to look really hard. I’d hate to suggest if you can ask for a loan from a relative but there is no interest for that and pay off a student loan with proceeds from that. At least that would be a less stressful loan.
I was in the same position, student loans are big mistake. They make it seem so good getting a student loan to attend school and all it does is drown us in debt. I just focused on paying one at a time and I had to live without some things. My mom did help me out but now I owe her, but I rather owe her than them. Try to get it down because sooner or later they may garnish your check.
My brother is going to university this year and he is concerned about the debt he will incur. He has prepared well with savings to fund his education through the years and he plans to work online for a supplemental income, that should help.
