Student Loan Hell

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May 18

This is a post from Carrie. I admit, I'm being selfish in lifting this from the comments section of the last post to put it up here, but I have a friend--Yalitza, one of the founding members of the WIR, actually--who is in a very similar situation. The one thing I'd ask, Carrie, if you're reading this, is if you can clarify the situation. If you qualify for financial aid for the last two classes--I gather the problem is simply that you have to first pay back the school what you owe? If so, have you tried myrichuncle.com or prosper marketplace? i have read that these online loan sources can help people who can't get student loans otherwise...but i'm not -recommending- these, since i haven't yet investigated them. i only saw them written about in the wall street journal.

I am sorry to kidnap this article but it does lead into a segway that I have been itching to get some help on. I have student loans and such but I also have only two classes to go before I can graduate. I owe the school some money, I have been paying them back diligently, but it seems as though I am paying more interest than anything else. I qualify for financial-aid, more than enough to pay what I owe and for my last two classes. I have a small income, less than $20000 annually and I do not have sufficient credit for a private loan. I have tried to borrow with a co-signer but have been denied. I spoke to a counselor and she said that this situation to happens to only 5% of students. I have been applying for scholarships but have not had any luck. Does anybody have any alternative suggestions that can help my search? I go to a private school and I have no cooperation there;The business office will not respond to calls and emails and my advisor blatently said that if I cannot pay, then she will not help me. I need help - I am frustrated and have been waiting to graduate since 2003. Thanks for listening.

12:41 AM | Blog it | Money

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	Mary Margaretwrote: Would your school's residency policy allow you to take the two classes somewhere else?(read your catalog) Can you apply for the Goal II loan and get it to cover the last two classes plus what you still owe the school? Or are you maxed out on what can be borrowed? I work at a private college (not in financial aid), email me and maybe we can come up with ideas. Apr. 6
	Jennifer Anne wrote: Best way to pay back student loans take only the ones that are subsididsed by the federal government. The unsubsidized loans increases in acrument of interest and can be costly. Take out only what you need and return the rest. Otherwise, you will have large payment. College is expensive, The payments can be arranged according to your income if you arrange it when you fill out your FAFSA form when filling out a grant or other State Aid if you qualify as an independent student if your income is withing the lower income range and if you are applying for certain cirriculums as medical and or educational which will give you certian incentives as to waive you with certain fees because of the shortage in those professionss and their needs for the need for qualified individuals for their services. This is one advantage if this is your choice . Don't bite off more than you can chew. Too much of a plug of good tobacca chaw can make you sickIin other words you will have too much debt an can't move and will have one big head ache where you cannot do anything to enjoy your life because of all the college debt you have to pay. If you have kids to feed thats one more morsel of food out of their mouths for your mistake because you didn't make the correct choice] . Just call and make the arrangement. They wil gladly talk to you My mother always told me when you don't have it they "can't squeeze the blood out ot the turnip",but it is up to you not to make the blood in the first place. so do not make more of a bill than you have to so they do not have to squeeze you or your check or social security check or your assets! June 3
	Jennifer AnnE wrote: paybacks I was reading your blog AND YOUR SIGN OF DISTRESS OF NOT BEING ABLE TO PAY! Girlfriend! FAFSA and others that obtain and give loans thru the federal government that are subsididisdized and unsubsided thru FAFSA are to give you at least a forbearance agreement if you are unable to pay in the amout of 3years with in the time of 6months if you have not attended classes. If you have not attended classes and if you are ill or not able to pay the amount due to bankruptcy or other means of unemployment or death you or a family member are to contact them to let them know that you are not able to pay that amount . Then if you are not able to pay that amount then the standard payment will to to a premium payment amount( an amount that is largrer than one that does not fit your income status) amount if you let it slide will be attached to your account and or your wages any even social security if you have those. That's right the govenment now attaches those if you owe for any amount owed to them for taxes and or etc. June 3
	Dawn wrote: Regarding private loans, there are places that may consolidate them, but no one will give you a fixed rate-so the interest rate on these is just going to continue to climb. My husband and I have talked to several banks, various organizations, colleges, etc. and the simple fact is a private student loan is just like a credit card. Here's a question, it was suggested to us to take out a home equity loan and pay off the private student loans--lower interest rate, tax deductible interest. I dislike this because ti makes a n unsecure debt secure and it means if the one of us that has the loans were to die, instead of the loans being discharged, the loans would still be the other persons' burden. May 25
	kh wrote: WOW! I went online and read the article by 60 minutes on Sallie Mae and that is really disturbing. After reading that article I would rather not do business with them, but now I don't have a choice. If you login to Sallie Mae and click on Account Paymen History you can see the breakdown of where your payment was applied. I believe that this is what Lynne was referring to. I only started paying back in December, and now I am nervous that something is going to go wrong. I checked on consolidating private loans and they said if you do not have a problem with the payments as they are and your interest rate is not somewhere around 15% it is not worth it to consolidate. While going through college I did not think about how much money I was borrowing or how long it would take to pay it back. Now that I am in repayment mode I am mortified to look at the fact that on their schedule I will have them paid back by 2030! I only went to school for 4 years and now I would pay for it for 25? That is ridiculous. Final thought: student loans are a NIGHTMARE! I am not sure if I am more mad or jealous when I see someone come out of HS and make millions because they can throw/catch a ball and here I am in debt up to my eyeballs because I wanted to better myself with an education! Sorry for the rambling. This is a sore subject for me. May 25
	Lynne wrote: Oops, K2 I finally realized what you are talking about. You are right, they did apply money to the interest May 25
	Lynne wrote: Wow, I am feeling lucky I have not had any problems with Sallie Mae. I was pre-paying one of my loans with them, and finally paid it off. They did advance the months (i.e., after a big payment I technically would not have to make my next payment until several months later) but the money was still being applied to my principal. There is a place on the web site where you can check each payment and see the breakdown of how much went to principal and how much went to interest. If you can't find it write back and I'll go surf the web page for it. That way it was easy to track - when I made 2 payments within a couple of days, it is clear that only a couple dollars went to the interest and the rest to bringing down the principal. Also, Heidi - I was also paying online. I say every time you get a few extra dollars, send it to them right away - don't save it up and pay a lump later. With online you aren't wasting envelopes and stamps, and every day you pay down is less interest you pay. (unless, of course, you can save in an investment vehicle that gives a greater return than the interest you are paying off. But since the interest payment is also tax deductible unless it's a really low rate it isn't likely to happen) May 25
	K2 wrote: Heidi they are supposed to pay down the principal once you have paid off the accrued interest, but the problem is they often ignore you, so you have to stay on top of them. to make sure that you are paying the interest plus the principal, you need to write separate checks - one for interest and one for principal with "principal only" specified on the second check as well as including a letter stating your wishes. you can check your interest accumulated by calling them or checking online, write that amouint and then write a separate check for the rest. However, like I said, they will ignore you. My parents had the same problem and they immediately asked to talk to a supervisor and then that fixed the problem, but they had to call every single month to make sure it was getting done. the problems with Sallie Mae is that you don't get a statement - you get those stupid coupon books, so they can just do what they want with your account and you never ever know. and if you call, you get passed around forever. so like I said for my last 16K, I'm just socking away $1500 per month in a saving account and I'm going to pay them off all at once because I don't want the hassle. I had a direct loan with the US goverment and they were wonderful, though so not all loan companies are the same. it's frustrating. May 25
	Heidi wrote: I have a question about the last post on Sallie Mae...I pay on-line and have been adding and extra $20 to my payment for around 2 years now. Does anyone know how to check and see if that was applied to my principle? I just finished paying off all my DH's cc debt and was about to tackle my student loan of 5500. It was my plan to pay it off by Christmas by making payments of $900 a month between now and then. Obviously that is much more than my minimum payment of $80 a month. How do I look into this? Should I just save the money up and make one lump payment? I'd appreciate any advice...I've seen plenty of bad press (60 minutes etc.)about Sallie Mae lately and don't want to get stung by that. I just want to rid myself of my last bit of debt. We will probably live with my husband's student loan debt for a while (30K) because we want to save for kids and my being able to work part-time. May 25
	K2 wrote: Andrea private loans are very hard to consolidate. I personally would treat that sallie mae loan like credit card debt, just pay it down as quickly as possible after setting up a small EF One warning about Sallie Mae - when you pay above your minimum payment for them, be sure to write a separate check with "pay only to principal balance" written onit. Also, include a letter specifying which payment goes toward interest and which toward prinipal. I would personally cc this letter to an attorney. Even with this, Sallie Mae may ignore you and simply pay your loan forward and apply your payments only toward interest. They did this with me (and did it with my parents)- you will have to fight them to make sure they do what you want, and they have to by law. my strategy with them is now to set up a ING account and dump tons of money into it to pay off my loan all in one fell swoop in 9 months, but then again, I don't have a high interest rate working against me. Has anyone else had this problem? May 23
	SK wrote: Google "consolidate private student loans" and you'll get a number of options. You are usually unable to consolidate different "types" of student loans - you can consolidate all federal together and then consolidate all non-federal together - but not non-federal with federal. This has to do with (among other things) the risks the lender faces. If you default on the federal loans they can eventually collect from the government - on the private ones they have to come after you. No matter how much you want to get through school (I paid my own way and I remember) try to avoid private loans (think about switching to a public school and working more - I did both). The private loans have horrible rates/repayment terms. good luck May 23
	kh wrote: I also have a private loan through sallie mae and one through aes. I was able to consolidate my federal loans, but I have not had any luck with the private loans. Since December my interest rate has already gone up twice. It will keep rising unless I can find a way to lock it in. I would appreciate any advice on what to do with these two loans. May 23
	Andrea wrote: Hi. I also have a question about student loans. I had to finance my education completely by myself and had to rely 100% on loans. When the federal loans weren't covering enough, I took out a private loan from Sallie Mae. At the time, I was just thinking about how much I needed the money to stay in school, not about the future and paying it off. I have $9k at 11.3% from Sallie Mae and $7K at 5.0% from Citibank. I recently tried to consolidate through Citibank but was told my loan from Sallie Mae wasn't eligible for consolidation because it wasn't a federally secured loan. Does this mean nothing can be done about that absurd interest rate they're charging me? Does anyone know what to do here? I really need help with this. May 23
	K2 wrote: carrie have you tried applied for federal subsidized and unsubsidized loan programs? For undergraduate loans, you can try to qualify for a Federal subsidized Stafford Loan, for graduate (and maybe undergrad too) you can try for the US department of education Direct Loan Program. There used to be Perkins Loans, but I believe that program was cut completely (thanks to "Dubya"). Sallie Mae also has some competitve loan programs and they might overlook previous credit. Do not forget your local banks and credit unions - some may be willing to work with you, bad credit notwithstanding. Good luck - I navigated the system for 10 years total and just when I thought I was done with the whole student loan business, now I have to pay them back for another 10 years LOL. May 22
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