Comments on: What Do You Do When You Can’t Afford Your Student Loan Payments?

By: tammy

tammy — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:01:54 +0000

Yes, but did you need a college education for that job? Not so much!! The idea is supposed to be that after people graduate they can get good jobs, have lives, have families.
Most people have much more college debt than you. The whole country can’t just take a year off of work and then find a job with free rent so as to hide income from Mr. tax man.
Student loan payments should be more affordable. Forgiven even. If the best and brightest of our society have to take low paying jobs to get a deferment, or work so much that they don’t have time to have a life, then where will we go??? By the time the brightest individuals have the money to have a family it will be past their time. Infertility creeps up, the best of our population never passes on their genes, and the movie Idiocracy really happens.

Oh but wait, we shouldn’t be worried about the future of the planet, we should be woried about our credit scores??? Who cares about your friggin credit score- do what you need to do- if it sucks, then no one will lend you money. You already owe money so I fail to see how this is a bad thing. Screw the student loan man. Save all your pennies until you can buy a house with cash and keep going that way. The world will be better off in the end.

By: cranio

cranio — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:50:08 +0000

After taking out an original loan of about $47,000 for two years of graduate school in 1995-6 and putting it in forbearance for a couple of very lean years, the balance ballooned up to $54,000. I have been paying back $300 on this every month, faithfully, for the last 11 years, and I’ve got it down to $38,000. Given my salary and history of working in low-paying nonprofits the last decade, that’s the most I can pay. At the rate I’m going, it will be paid off when I’m in my 60s. This is incredibly frustrating — I feel like I am dogpaddling.

One solution I see is to allow student loan debtors to be able to access up to $10,000 in their IRA accounts without penalty in order to pay down their loans. First time home buyers are allowed to do this, so why not those of us who are drowning in student loan debt?

I have $28,000 sitting in an IRA that I can’t access without huge penalties for another ten years or so. In the meantime, I continue paying all this interest on this student loan. Really not fair. If you have any ideas about how to get some traction on this idea, I’d love to hear it.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:41:04 +0000

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.

By: Becky

Becky — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:14:49 +0000

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

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:26:32 +0000

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.

By: Doctor S

Doctor S — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:17:47 +0000

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.

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:13:35 +0000

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.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 09 May 2009 17:11:31 +0000

Excellent way to manage your situation, Reed. There are always opportunities out there if you know where to look. Thanks for sharing!