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

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 23:58:50 +0000

If your loans are federal loans (and not private) you need to look into the Public Loan Forgiveness program. Once you have made 10 years of qualified payments, your loan is forgiven. You should qualify as you work for non-profits.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:49:21 +0000

Derrick, check out this link for more information about what I would recommend: Can’t Make Ends Meet? Try a Three Fold Approach to Better Finances. Best of luck.

By: Derrick

Derrick — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:27:09 +0000

For one yearI took a forbearance on my student loan after college, because there were no jobs avaiable from this economic downturn . I couldnt even bust tables or wash dishes for cash. Even with shared expenses the student loans esculated to 52k for a BS degree in five years. As of last year , April 09,I started to pay back when I obtained a job , thinking I would start the ” American Dream”, then three months later was informed that I had to take a paycut or reduced hours . I have a 2 year old kid and a wife that also is currently looking for work. Tutoring and doing odd jobs that i can find to supplement the loss income is not working out. Seems I only see them when I shower and sleep. Paying back a $438 per month loan is not avaliable to me now. I was making enough to pay the bills and live somewhat comfortably, but now sacrificed the car payments, out of a home to a small apmt, and watching my wife cry almost everynight from out fiancial woes. Sometimes looking after my credit score is the last thing on my mind. I’m not even get any help from the state beacause I make $5 over the limit for state assistance.. $5 .. are you kidding me. Is there anything else that I can do to have the student loans forgiven or not proceed with interest. Who knows how long this recession will last or I will last?

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:18:41 +0000

Rebecca, student loans are one of the few types of loans that are nearly impossible to discharge. Student loans even remain in place if you file for bankruptcy protection. The best option is to try and apply for a deferral or forbearance, either of which would give you a temporary reprieve from making payments. However, you will still owe the amount; it does not wipe the debt away. Best of luck.

By: rebecca fields

rebecca fields — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:57:53 +0000

I heard that if you could prove you arew in serious debt and can not pay your student loans, you may obtain a portion of your loans to be deleted

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.