Shonnita Leslie's side-hustle as a DoorDash driver helped her pay down around $20,000 of her six-figure student loan debt. Here's how she spends her money.
I will never understand why people work so hard to pay off student loans…If you’ve been paying off a loan for years and the balance just keeps going UP, the sensible thing to do is default on the loan, accept the consequences of that (which is minimal with student loans) and move on with your life
Edit: everyone saying they will garnish your wages, this is not something that is common, its fear mongering. If anyone has personal antidotes about having their wages garnished I’d love to know how long that process took and what it was like but I doubt we will see any.
I thought one of the big problems with America’s student debt was that you can’t effectively default on it? That it will still persist even after filing for bankruptcy for example?
By default I just mean stop paying. You can’t get rid of the debt by bankruptcy or anything, you still owe it, but it also doesn’t affect peoples credit score as much as many seem to think it does.
You can’t escape student loan debt by default, bankruptcy, etc.
The best thing you can do is sign up for IBR and accept that 5% of your income is lost for 20 years, and hope that whoever is president at that time isn’t a sadist cunt. Also try to save some extra money for possible income tax on the forgiven amount.
That’s assuming your loans are subsidized. If they’re private, try delivering for DoorDash on the side!
I’m saying you can stop paying, Im not saying you won’t still owe them, but I know people who owe tens of thousands in student loans and have not paid them a cent in over ten years, they have a credit score of around 800, its never affected their ability to get any kind of credit or housing.
I think people over estimate how important they are or what kind of consequences there are for not paying as if it ruins your credit score forever or something, and its just not true.
You may have missed this link someone else posted, but if you stop paying, your employer may be required to withhold some of your wages to make the payments
Okay but what I’m saying is, why work extra hard and take a second job? Why not just make a single minimum payment every 270 days to avoid them moving to the next steps? There are just so many other options besides working a second job to pay them, and so many delay tactics you could employ to avoid getting to the point of garnished wages.
thank you! Ive yet to hear a single story from anyone who’s actually defaulted and had wages garnished for student loans. Sure it can happen but its pretty rare.
I’ve had two employees at my work get their wages garnished for defaulting on student loans. It definitely happens.
Edit: One of the guys told me flat out that he will never willingly give a cent towards his student loans ever again. The other guy was going through some financial hardship after leaving here and we got a notice to garnish but he was no longer employed with us so we just had to respond back to the notice.
Interesting to hear, and yeah one of the main issues with garnishing someones wages is, even the government has to do a bit of work to actually track down your employer and people who default on student loans don’t tend to have very good employment (i’m not at all arguing you shouldnt pay them if you can actually afford to, just that you shouldnt go out of your way for it if you’re struggling).
I wonder how much they got from 15% of that one employees wages, I’ll bet it was less then they’d have to pay to actually pay off the loan… and of course if that person ever changes jobs they have to track down the new employer each time. also wonder how common it is for wages to be garnished over say child support compared, or back taxes to student loans…
Same- all threats, don’t know anyone actually being garnished.
When my choice was pay loans or eat, i ate, and i sure af am not going to call someone and offer them money just because it got slightly better a couple years later. Ive never owned a new couch, i am not well off.
If debtors prisons come back, I’m fucked, but until then, frankly, what can they do? I can’t afford a house or kids either way, and i am not throwing away anything on interest that will only grow and stress me out.
I have no idea what i must owe now, over triple my salary, min.
Be sure not to say that out loud before you do it though… taking out loans with the intention of jumping the country and never repaying them could end up with you wanted for fraud. Unlikely it’ll matter if you never come back, but it could bite you in the ass.
Other than the fact that college tuition has become absurdly expensive, the predatory fees and interest structures of student loans means that most people who have been paying theirs to the best of their ability for several years actually still owe MORE than the original amount borrowed, which I’m guessing is the case here.
The terms and conditions that people who are usually 17-18yo and know fuck all about contract law are coerced into agreeing to in order to “ever make something of themselves” would make Franz Kafka disown The Trial for being utopian sentimentalism in comparison.
Most 4-year universities in the US average around $15k after federal aid, plus rent in a city like Boston or Atlanta will probably cost you a lot more than $15k per year, not including cost of living. Interest rates for student loans can range between 4% and 17% monthly. $100,000 is a little high but very realistic.
Which part of “most people who have been paying theirs to the best of their ability for several years actually still owe MORE than the original amount borrowed” didn’t you understand?
10k/y for 4 years comes out to 40k and it’s not at all unusual for people to end up owing 2.5 times the original amount or more in spite of doing the literal best they can to pay it off. That’s how awful the terms and conditions of student loans are.
You might try reading up on it (or the link someone posted) as you’ve got it wrong. That’s why this has been such a huge issue, they are unlike other loans.
I know people who’ve defaulted on student loans, I’m not making anything up, you are assuming a lot.
The one thing I did not know was that a court case isn’t needed for fed loans to garnish wages
but what I do know is none of the people I know ( in mid 30s-40s, college was 10 years ago), who have stopped paying, have not had consequences that prevented them from getting credit or housing or other loans, nor does wage garnishment just automatically happen and is actually pretty easy to avoid. This isn’t just due to the pause on it either, they stopped paying long before covid hit.
I will never understand why people work so hard to pay off student loans…If you’ve been paying off a loan for years and the balance just keeps going UP, the sensible thing to do is default on the loan, accept the consequences of that (which is minimal with student loans) and move on with your life
Edit: everyone saying they will garnish your wages, this is not something that is common, its fear mongering. If anyone has personal antidotes about having their wages garnished I’d love to know how long that process took and what it was like but I doubt we will see any.
I thought one of the big problems with America’s student debt was that you can’t effectively default on it? That it will still persist even after filing for bankruptcy for example?
And guess who is president and responsible for that?
Not how it works you utter fucking moron
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By default I just mean stop paying. You can’t get rid of the debt by bankruptcy or anything, you still owe it, but it also doesn’t affect peoples credit score as much as many seem to think it does.
They can garnish your wages
You can’t escape student loan debt by default, bankruptcy, etc.
The best thing you can do is sign up for IBR and accept that 5% of your income is lost for 20 years, and hope that whoever is president at that time isn’t a sadist cunt. Also try to save some extra money for possible income tax on the forgiven amount.
That’s assuming your loans are subsidized. If they’re private, try delivering for DoorDash on the side!
I’m saying you can stop paying, Im not saying you won’t still owe them, but I know people who owe tens of thousands in student loans and have not paid them a cent in over ten years, they have a credit score of around 800, its never affected their ability to get any kind of credit or housing.
I think people over estimate how important they are or what kind of consequences there are for not paying as if it ruins your credit score forever or something, and its just not true.
You may have missed this link someone else posted, but if you stop paying, your employer may be required to withhold some of your wages to make the payments
https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/what-is-wage-garnishment
Okay but what I’m saying is, why work extra hard and take a second job? Why not just make a single minimum payment every 270 days to avoid them moving to the next steps? There are just so many other options besides working a second job to pay them, and so many delay tactics you could employ to avoid getting to the point of garnished wages.
You’re right. Im late 30s, took out tons of loans at 17yo, and my dad swindled me out of anything that didnt go directly to tuition.
I stopped paying a decade ago, keep waiting for my checks to be garnished, but hasn’t happened yet.
I don’t use credit, im financially not an adult in many ways, but i kept waaaaay more of my money than anyone else i know.
thank you! Ive yet to hear a single story from anyone who’s actually defaulted and had wages garnished for student loans. Sure it can happen but its pretty rare.
I’ve had two employees at my work get their wages garnished for defaulting on student loans. It definitely happens.
Edit: One of the guys told me flat out that he will never willingly give a cent towards his student loans ever again. The other guy was going through some financial hardship after leaving here and we got a notice to garnish but he was no longer employed with us so we just had to respond back to the notice.
Interesting to hear, and yeah one of the main issues with garnishing someones wages is, even the government has to do a bit of work to actually track down your employer and people who default on student loans don’t tend to have very good employment (i’m not at all arguing you shouldnt pay them if you can actually afford to, just that you shouldnt go out of your way for it if you’re struggling).
I wonder how much they got from 15% of that one employees wages, I’ll bet it was less then they’d have to pay to actually pay off the loan… and of course if that person ever changes jobs they have to track down the new employer each time. also wonder how common it is for wages to be garnished over say child support compared, or back taxes to student loans…
Same- all threats, don’t know anyone actually being garnished.
When my choice was pay loans or eat, i ate, and i sure af am not going to call someone and offer them money just because it got slightly better a couple years later. Ive never owned a new couch, i am not well off.
If debtors prisons come back, I’m fucked, but until then, frankly, what can they do? I can’t afford a house or kids either way, and i am not throwing away anything on interest that will only grow and stress me out.
I have no idea what i must owe now, over triple my salary, min.
They sold a for-profit bullshit degree.
Fuck em
Or just flee to a developed country
Yep, learn to do something in high demand, move the fuck out and don’t look back.
Be sure not to say that out loud before you do it though… taking out loans with the intention of jumping the country and never repaying them could end up with you wanted for fraud. Unlikely it’ll matter if you never come back, but it could bite you in the ass.
You can’t.
You can’t do this with student loan debt which seems incredibly dumb. I also don’t understand borrowing 100k for school.
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Wow Americans start accruing interest on student loans while you’re still in school?? That’s crazy.
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Other than the fact that college tuition has become absurdly expensive, the predatory fees and interest structures of student loans means that most people who have been paying theirs to the best of their ability for several years actually still owe MORE than the original amount borrowed, which I’m guessing is the case here.
The terms and conditions that people who are usually 17-18yo and know fuck all about contract law are coerced into agreeing to in order to “ever make something of themselves” would make Franz Kafka disown The Trial for being utopian sentimentalism in comparison.
Are in-state tuitions not a thing anymore? I’m old but when I went to school it was the difference between something like $30k a year and $5k a year.
Edit: for one local major university in a kinda shitty state (but a good school), I guess now it’s 10k/year vs 30k/year
Also, how many 17-18yos are deciding on this stuff without parents’ help?? I mean, clearly not all, but surely most?
My parent encouraged me to take out loans including housing, then overcharged me rent from it lol
Not all parents are helpful
State university in my city is 10k a year
Stop lyin
Most 4-year universities in the US average around $15k after federal aid, plus rent in a city like Boston or Atlanta will probably cost you a lot more than $15k per year, not including cost of living. Interest rates for student loans can range between 4% and 17% monthly. $100,000 is a little high but very realistic.
Which part of “most people who have been paying theirs to the best of their ability for several years actually still owe MORE than the original amount borrowed” didn’t you understand?
10k/y for 4 years comes out to 40k and it’s not at all unusual for people to end up owing 2.5 times the original amount or more in spite of doing the literal best they can to pay it off. That’s how awful the terms and conditions of student loans are.
You’re thinking of bankruptcy, you can absolutely stop paying student loans, you’ll still owe them but they can’t force you to pay them.
They sure as fucking hell can garnish your wages.
I’d love a little extra on top of my wages. I just hope it’s not parsley.
https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/what-is-wage-garnishment
You might try reading up on it (or the link someone posted) as you’ve got it wrong. That’s why this has been such a huge issue, they are unlike other loans.
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I know people who’ve defaulted on student loans, I’m not making anything up, you are assuming a lot.
The one thing I did not know was that a court case isn’t needed for fed loans to garnish wages
but what I do know is none of the people I know ( in mid 30s-40s, college was 10 years ago), who have stopped paying, have not had consequences that prevented them from getting credit or housing or other loans, nor does wage garnishment just automatically happen and is actually pretty easy to avoid. This isn’t just due to the pause on it either, they stopped paying long before covid hit.