What do you do when you can’t afford your student loan payments? This is becoming a more common question in an uncertain economy.
This article is part of the “Ask the M-Network” series. Jonathan recently asked:
I cannot afford my student loans due to my job is doing away with full-time work and only offering part-time work. I pay $200.00 a month, but with my new position I can only afford $100.00 a month. I have tried to renegotiate the terms of my student loans however they will not work with me at all. How will my credit be affected?
Thanks for the question, Jonathan.
What should you do when you can’t afford your student loan payments?
I’m sorry to hear about your job going down to part time. Unfortunately, cutbacks are becoming more and more common in our current economy, as many companies are trying to cut back. Here are a couple answers, and I will chime in at the end:
From Pinyo @ Moolanomy.
I am sorry about your job. Unfortunately, if you can’t repay your loan according to the contract, your credit score will be affected — not to mention all the other fees that you’ll end up paying. In any case, you seem convinced that you can’t make the $100 extra payment to cover your debt obligation. However, I am not and I want to encourage you to think outside the box.
First, are you sure there’s nothing else that you can cut to save money for the time being? There are things that many of us pay for on a monthly basis that we take them for granted, and these things can add up to a lot of money. For example, cable television (or satellite), cellphone, magazine subscriptions, gym membership, club dues, etc. Take a serious look at your monthly expenses and ask yourself if you really need everything that you spend money on.
From Glblguy @ Gather Little by Little.
While I am not real knowledgeable about student loans, I do listen to Dave Ramsey frequently. When people call into his show and pose similar questions, the first thing Dave always recommends is to ask for a forbearance or deferral.
Both will allow you to temporarily stop making payments on your student loan. The difference is that with a forbearance, interest will continue to accrue even though you aren’t making payments. With a deferral, both the interest and your requirement to make a payment will temporarily be suspended.
Here is a really good article that explains how to defer a student loan and provides some detail on the requirements for both a deferral and forbearance.
If for some reason neither of these is an option, than you’ll need to be more creative. You don’t offer any details on your income and expenses, but as Pinyo suggested, I’d take a really hard look at your expenses and trim them where you can. Look for opportunities where you can save money. Do you have some things you can sell to build up a bit of a buffer to help you out? How about getting another job to supplement your income?
I think you have a number of different options you can explore. Situations like this are the primary reason I I stress the importance of income diversity. Not only will this potentially help your current situation by providing some extra income, it will help you weather future storms as well.
My thoughts:
I would definitely look into getting a forbearance or deferral if possible. One way to get a student loan deferral is to take more classes. Your student loans should be put on hold while you are attending school. Some community colleges are very inexpensive, and it may cost you around $100 per month to take a course – delaying your student loan payments and keeping your credit score intact. However, if the classes are more expensive that what you can easily afford, you might have to take on additional debt, so be careful about that. You don’t want to add to the problem.
Earn more money. Another option is to earn more money to help you bridge the $100 per month gap that you are experiencing. You can do this by taking another part time job, doing freelance or consulting work, babysitting, doing yard work, working as a personal trainer, or a host of other ideas. Alternative income can be a great way to help you during rough financial times and can even be a form of insurance against losing part of your main income stream.
You credit score is important. If you don’t make your student loan payments, your credit score will be affected and you will have to work extra hard to improve your credit score. Maintaining a good credit score can have a positive financial impact, so I recommend doing what you can to keep it up.
Do what is best for you. There are a lot of good ideas here: look for ways to save money, try to earn more money, or ask for a forbearance or a deferral. In the end, you will need to find a solution that works for you and your situation. I wish you the best of luck.
What do you want to ask the M-Network? If you would like to participate in the “Ask the M-Network” feature, please send me a question via my contact page and I will submit it to our group. I’d like to remind you that it may not be possible to answer every question and none of use are financial professionals, so please consult with a professional before making any major financial decisions!
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I would try to get another job (or supplement my current-part-time-job with a part-time job). I agree completely with having multiple sources of income and a 6 month emergency fund in cash.
I also can’t afford to pay back my student loan. However, I have applied for (and received) a 6 month temporary interest relief. Of course, that has just run out so I am re-applying, and hopefully I can get another 6 months. They grant it depending on your income. So it is possible, especially if your income has changed.
The best part about it is that if I do happen to make a payment on the loan, the entire payment goes directly to the principle.
Thanks for the info, Alan. I hope you are able to get the extension and get things going again soon!
Hello,
I graduated in 2005 with 8500.00 in stafford loans, no private loans ever. Living with my girlfriend in a studio apartment she paid 325 a month including utilities (average for area was 650.00). Many people do not know that loan companies base re-payment from individual income. With my girlfriend paying the rent I took an entire year off working (I am a master frugalist of course). Taking this year off allowed me to defer my payments but also gave me time to learn how I could payoff my loans fast. I decided to take employment as a resident manager of a 30 unit apartment building. The deal was this: Free two bed including utilities, free high speed internet and free cell phone. This alone saved my girlfriend and I aroung 900.00 a month in expenses. My salary was 500.00 a month plus 15 an hour for fixing problems with the units I managed. So I managed this building for a year and was able to defer my loans a second time because rent credits are not comsidered income (giant loophole anyone?). This allowed me to save for an entire year while maintaining a low income tax status. On Janruary 2009 I began paying back my student loans before the payment begin date. It took me three months to pay 7700.00, now I live debt free. Its not how much we make, but how much we spend. About me: I do not own a car as I bicycle commute. I have my living expenses pegged at 800 a month (included food fun and a little room for eating out). I save a minimum of 500.00 a month. I am learning to create passive income so that I may become free of the rat race someday. My suggestion is to radically reduce your expenses and pay minimum 1000.0 a month to your student loans. Though my girlfriend paid our rent for over a year her investment into me, allowed me to find free rent. She hasn’t paid rent in over 20 months now (return on her investment). I learned debt free can be possible but its very counter culture to do so.
Excellent way to manage your situation, Reed. There are always opportunities out there if you know where to look. Thanks for sharing!
Go back to school– gets you a deferrment if I am not mistaken. Or just ask the lender for an extension– they seem to have more leaway with student loans.
Forbearance is possible for every student loan and is definitely the best option in this situation. I agree w/ some of the other voices above in that you should try and find a way to generate some more income to cover that $100. You really do not have many options if you are at the point that you can not afford such a payment. Then again, if his credit score is affected, won’t an agency come after him to recoup the money? If that is the case I am sure he can negotiate something with that collectino agency.
Doctor S.:A credit score can be affected without a loan going into collections – a few missed payments can affect a score, but won’t necessarily end up in collections. And collections are definitely worse on the score than a couple missed payments. It’s best to avoid defaulting on a loan and entering into collections.
I am in a similar boat as well. I have a BFA, went back to grad school thinking that a high paying career was in my future, currently making 38K. My original loan monthly payment was $796, I did a forbearance on my first loan but the second loan cannot be put into forbearance. I am now paying $569 a month(which is still astronomical). I don’t have any splurges such as gym membership, magazine subscription, cable, go out to eat etc. I tried getting a part time job, so far no call backs, anything harder than trying to get a job is trying to get a 2nd job. The only other choice I have come up with is the Peace Corp or AmeriCorps, b/c they have 20% loan reimbursement. This is an extreme solution seeing as I would have to turn my life upside down. Really is there no other solution? HELP
Becky, I don’t know what to say, other than to continue working hard on trying to find additional sources of income, or to consider taking a job that will help you pay back your student loans. There are quite a few state and national government jobs that offer to pay back some student loans. I recommend looking around.