I, like many and hopefully some of y’all, stopped paying my student loans during Covid and never restarted paying because we’re supposed to have gotten relief from this debt that should’ve never existed in the first place. Now we have Trump coming back which kills the possibility of debt relief. So should I start repaying so I don’t get my wages garnished? Or do we think the government is going to be too inefficient to come after it?
Edit: At one point when I heard that it was the only way to get forgiveness, I moved all my debt from a third party to being a government loan. Does that change anything?
I moved all my debt from a third party to being a government loan. Does that change anything?
Yes, that is the wisest move you could have mmade considering your circumstances as I understand. I am not an accountant, lawyer or professional of any kind that’s relevant. Some of what I say here may be incorrect. To the best of my knowledge it’s accurate. I am someone who had the entirety of their student loans forgiven, thanks to president Joe Biden. It took a large amount of time spent reading legalese, time on the phone with loan servicer representatives and way too much time worrying about shit which I could not change quickly or easily.
First thing: No one should ever be trapped in a situation, where they feel they must choose between bills/food/rent or paying loans granted for educational purposes and enabled/encouraged by the government. No one. Honestly it’s ironic in my opinion, that there is a lack of educational resources available for mitigating debt gained solely for the purpose of education.
Thankfully, there are also many, many rules in place, made to prevent your situation and others like it from occurring.
- Call your loan servicer or spend time on their website.
If you suck on the phone, go to their website. If the website sucks or is confusing, take short notes and write down any questions. The most likely best option for you is an Income Driven Repayment plan. IDR. However, some people may not qualify due to whatever loan scams were available when the loan was first taken out.
- The servicer representatives are paid regardless of what you do.
The person you talk to is not getting a commision. Your payments do not go to them. They are there to answer your questions. Their job is to keep the account out of default. They (probably) do not want you to go into default or declare bankruptcy. They (hopefully) want you to communicate, work with them and eventually make payments or contribute to society (more on that later). The government owns your debt. That debt is also probably insured or negligable. The government probably does not NEED your balance in full on time. They have other ways of generating income, like literally generating physical currency. Having wages garnished and getting drops in your credit score are from not doing anything and gnoring the debt and their notices.
- IDR.
On an IDR they will look at your income and any other expenses you might have. Some things count in your favor like paying your electric bill and rent, other things are irrelevant like a nyetflix subscription or paying for ubers. They determine through algorithms or math or something if you can afford to make payments or not. If you are truly in dire finanacial stress, you probably will get a deferment if you aren’t already on one.
- There are other debt forgiveness programs.
If you work as a teacher you can get loans forgiven. Same goes for certain types of public service. There are other repayment plan options. Check studentaid.gov, it has a forgiveness page with a wealth of information. It isn’t always easy to understand because there is a lot of nuance and circumstances covered. You can try calling their hotline number too but I had better luck with the servicer. Mine were forgiven due to being totally and permanently disabled. I had no idea it was an option.
- Conclusion.
There are other comments here basically saying “jUsT pAy it” which aren’t contributing to the conversation at all. They should be treated as what they are: trolls and losers. Fuck them. They deserve nothing, not a second glance, not a reply, not even a downvote. Fuck. Those. Pricks.
Good luck, don’t let your past define your future. Unless you want it to.
I appreciate the great info listed here. And yes absolutely to your conclusion. I am wondering your thoughts on the Trump admin’s ability to come collect / how that might affect me long term.
The key words there are ‘long term’. It takes forever to get these rules and regulations in place and they aren’t going to be dismantled immediately. Rome didn’t fall in a day. I think IDR’s and most of the alternative payment plans have fixed interest rates. You’re likely at a fixed rate already. Ask about those if you call the loan servicer. Any significant change will take time and have pushback. Get your shit sorted out ASAP for sure, you should be doing that anyways. Then worry about what changes a bankrupted pedophile might try to pull.
As much as it sucks, we most likely aren’t getting student loan forgiveness. It didn’t happen while Biden was in the height of his presidency, so it’s even less likely to happen now. It’s especially not happening now when the next guy up would most likely just repeal anything shoved through for it at the last minute before he takes office.
Switching to a government backed loan like you did should give you more options to potentially continue deferment based off your income, but that is something you would need to sort out with your loan provider. The term is “income based repayment”.
It didn’t happen while Biden was in the height of his presidency
It didn’t?
In his first year in office I remember loans were getting partially forgiven through the public service forgiveness, (for firefighters, teachers, first responders and other civil servants) Prior to Biden, that program forgave ~7,000 loans in full or in part since it started in 2007. Overall, the current leadership has forgave some or all student loan debt for over 4 million people so far. That’s pretty great I think. Hopefully they manage to help a few more of the remaining 10 million victims.
I think I acknowledged that first paragraph. But is the new administration going to have the manpower to do anything about it?
Start paying, even if it’s minimum payments.
You want to be in good standing (if you aren’t already) before the changing of the guards. They will garnish your wages, and it’ll be worse than whatever you were gonna pay. It’ll so fuck up your credit. Check the interest and see if you can at least start tackling that if it’s not too egregious. Republicans are securely on the side of the loan companies and there a chance they’ll let them loose with the right bribe or two, and it make get worse before it gets any better.
At one point when I heard that it was the only way to get forgiveness, I moved all my debt from a third party to being a government loan. Does that change anything?
Unfortunately, no. You can’t even get rid of that debt with bankruptcy. I have the same government loans. You can apply for forbearance to at least protect your score a bit if you can’t pay.
It continues to gather interest. If you don’t pay it down, you will have a larger loan in the future.
Pay your debt.
I cant afford it either way. Before the pandemic there was more student loan debt in the US than credit card debt. It’s the 2008 housing bubble all over again, only this time there aren’t even millions of worthless homes to compensate lenders.
Did the interest rates change over time for your student loan debts?
Why cant you afford it? Didn’t you think about how you were going to pay it back when you signed the papers agreeing that you would pay it back?
You can fuck right off with that bullshit. An 18 year old pressured into signing a predatory loan does not have the capacity to understand the bullshit they are in for.
Why do you blame the consumer instead of the scam loan company?
You’re never stopping predatory businesses from being predatory.
There are many ways to get assistance with student loans. There’s FAFSA before you start, there are federally backed ones that can’t pump up the interest rates, there’s income based repayment plans (that can go as far as full deferment), and if for some reason someone made the mistake of not using any of that there’s still options for loan consolidation/refinancing to better rates when better rates are available. On top of all that, most loan providers will work with you. They want your money, not the hassle of selling your loan to a collections agency for a lower amount.
None of that eliminates predatory loan providers, or the targeting of unprepared 18 year olds, but the impact can be blunted.
Beyond all that, at some point, some amount of personal responsibility must be taken for one’s actions. None of us will always have the capacity to fully understand every choice we make, or the knowledge to make those decisions from a fully informed position, but we all have to make certain decisions in life anyway and live with the consequences. Not fair, but that’s life.
In what other situation would we be okay with allowing an 18 year old with no income to take out tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt? The system is purpose built to fuck over the better part of two generations of people.
Is that meant to be a counterpoint? It doesn’t counter anything I said.
I acknowledged that it’s a shitty, predatory practice. That’s not something that I think any reasonable person could debate against. It still doesn’t invalidate any of my points.
There are many resources out there to assist, and in life we are regularly made to make decisions we aren’t adequately prepared for while we are still responsible for the consequences.
Why should we be accepting shitty predatory practices? We regularly protect people from the decisions they’re not adequately prepared for, as I think we should.
That is a remarkably shitty argument. “Sure, I know the system is wrong and only hurts people, but it’s the system! You can’t just go and reform systems so they stop hurting people! Think of the investment bankers!”
We can and should change things, and part of that is helping the people who have been hurt by the system.
I was 17 and had never even seen $1,000 before, never had an actual job, and had no concept of what it could mean to lose a job. I was paying everything i owed plus extra until 2022, then i could only afford the massive minimum payments, then i lost my job this year and couldn’t afford that anymore. I can either put all my money into payments that ultimately do nothing for me, or i can put what little i have left into rent and food. If you can’t understand that, then you are very fortunate and i hope you never have to face down these sorts of choices because it is a truly terrible way to live.
All the adults in my life told me (an 18yo kid) if I wanted to have a decent future I would have to sign that contract for an unknown amount of debt (it’s just student loans you’re not borrowing a specific amount until you’re actually done with school). I was told the job I would get would be able to pay for that loan (which was not true), and the loan started accruing interest before I even got that mythical job to pay for it. How is any of that my fault?
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I asked why they can’t afford it. My studant loans were very clear on the terms when I signed. I recall being forced to watch a video as part of the process. When you agree to do something, I believe you should follow through. That’s the foundation of society. Imagine how you’d feel if the situation was reversed: the lender didn’t follow through on giving you the money they agreed to give. Wouldn’t you think it was fraudulant?
Student loans are collected by contracted third-party loan servicing organisations, not the Government.
If you don’t pay, the servicer can initiate legal proceedings against you on their own regardless of what’s happening within the Education Department.
At one point when I heard that it was the only way to get forgiveness, I moved all my debt from a third party to being a government loan. Does that change anything?
Don’t gamble with your future. You should have never stopped paying. Your loan is probably in a worse position now than you were 4 years ago due to interest. The longer you wait the worse your situation will be.
Only assuming they made enough to cover interest. I certainly don’t.
Interest was paused for 3+ years due to covid.
That ended quite a while ago. Their loan could have grown by thousands since then
I hate that, as someone who was truly on top of this 4 years ago and submitting paperwork for public service forgiveness and all, I have no fucking clue as to what is happening now or what’s next. So, as someone who definitely owes money on that, and had a kid right before the pandemic hit, and is desperately adrift keeping shit together, I really hope someone has a great ELI5 coming on this thread lol
An interesting essay I read at some point: https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/the-waste-stream-of-consumer-finance/
Especially the following sentence:
This effectively makes paying consumer debts basically optional in the United States, contingent on one being sufficiently organized and informed.
Now, I don’t know how risky that would be and whether it also applies to student debt, but the system seems to be pretty wild, to say the least.
This would not be effective for student loan debt because it’s still non-dischargable, unlike consumer debt.
You are correct, while rereading I also noticed that the essay is specifically talking about consumer debt. And for that it would probably not be helpful to ruin credit scores over a few hundred dollars, if one ever wanted to finance a house or something like that later in their life.
