Need advice re: student loan repayment options

[Patriot Guard Rider]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027516856

Proud Public Servant (1,733 posts)

Need advice re: student loan repayment options
I have a friend who just called me and who sounds well and truly screwed; I want to help him but don't know how, so I'm hoping DU collective wisdom (Dude, you've gone to the wrong place. ALL of DU's collective wisdom doesn't amount to squat) might.

My friend is in his early 50s. He lived overseas on the local economy for decades after college, returning to the US in his late 40s with minimal savings, no immediate family, and a back condition that would ultimate require surgery and get him classified as disabled. Because he also returned without any real marketable skills, he decided to pursue master's degree that would allow him to get a job. The degree did lead to a job, but also left him saddled with six-figure student loan debt. These loans have been in forbearance, but it's time to pay.

The problem is that his income is ok, but ok doesn't get you very far in DC. His rent eats up about half his take-home pay, and cost of living and medical bills (and old credit card debt from his student days) does the rest. Even using a program that pegs his repayment to his income AND forgives the loan in 10 years if he remains employed by the federal government the whole time, he's still having to pay 25% of his take-home pay to he loans, and he has no idea how he'll manage that.

Some other factors to note:
- His job is not one he can do easily outside DC.

- His rent is already pretty cheap by DC standards; he could bring it down a bit by moving farther away from a metro (subway) stop, but with his inability to walk long distances that's not really practical. Nor is buying a car in his straits, obviously.

- He could increase his take-home pay by cutting the amount he's putting into his retirement account but, because he did not paid into Social Security for the first 25 years of his working life, he is unlikely to have much SS and so wants to at least save something.

- He's already looked into the program that provides a subsidy for federal employees who are repaying loans, and been denied access to it by his agency because they only use that for higher-level employees (which is some seriously outrageous bullshit, but totally permissible under the rules of the program).

- He's thought about getting a weekend job, but is unlikely to find anything that doesn't require either heavy lifting or long hours on his feet, neither of which are possible with his back condition.

So my question is: what are the other options out there when you can't afford student loan repayment? I want to help (I'm one of his only friends in town) but I have no idea how this works these days. Or is it really down to living in a boarding house and eating ramen every day?

DU, can you advise? Many thanks in advance.

You have a "friend" who works for fedgov, yet your screen name is Proud Public Servant. Hmmmmm. I think "somebody" is looking for ways to avoid paying the bill myself.

[freedumb2003b]

This whole story makes no sense.  If he was in his 50s how did he get student loans (there is little governmental support for graduate degrees)?  If he was overseas for quite some time why does he have credit card debt (4 year statute of limitations)?  Every single statement contains a fact hole.

In fact he should be shutting down his career, not launching it.

DUmmies lie. All the time.

[SVPete]

This whole story makes no sense.  If he was in his 50s how did he get student loans (there is little governmental support for graduate degrees)?  If he was overseas for quite some time why does he have credit card debt (4 year statute of limitations)?  Every single statement contains a fact hole.

In fact he should be shutting down his career, not launching it.

DUmmies lie. All the time.

Indeed! Given the ages cited, this "friend" already had a BA or BS. So either he racked up a "six-figure student loan debt" in the couple of years it took to get his Masters, or He already had substantial student loan debt from ~25 years ago, and added to it to get his Masters. If the latter, his ~25 years "overseas" was, intentionally or intentionally, dodging payment on his original debt, during which time substantial interest probably accrued. If the former, how in Hades did he rack up that much debt in that short a time?! An Ivy League college? Using the "student loan" to pay his rent and food and ... on top of his tuition?

No matter how you add up elements in that story, it's either substantially phony, or this "friend" is a reprehensible decades-long parasite. In the end, sadly, honest productive people - aka "taxpayers" will likely pay for his decades of being a parasite. And that wasn't a snide remark about the "friend" being a taxpayer-paid government bureaucrat-drone.

[Delmar]

I'll say it if nobody else will--he needs to eat cat food.

It seems like there has been a democrat underground embargo on stories about poor people eating cat food for the last seven years or so.

What gives?

[obumazombie]

I'll say it if nobody else will--he needs to eat cat food.

It seems like there has been a democrat underground embargo on stories about poor people eating cat food for the last seven years or so.

What gives?

Cat food ?
It's too good for them.
Let them have at what the cat dragged into the alley.

[Carl]

Response to Proud Public Servant (Original post)

Sun Jan 10, 2016, 02:10 PM

Star Member hunter (23,494 posts)
6. Personally, I'm in a very "**** it All" place...

... and expecting to end up homeless, or optimistically, sofa surfing.

Been that way before, will be that way again.

The difference from then and now being that I hurt all the time. (Arthritis mostly.)

One of my brother's is already living the "no fixed address" lifestyle.

I don't know what the end game is for big money in the U.S.A., but I've got to wonder what they are going to do when nobody gives a shit anymore, and they have to be suspicious of anyone and everyone of pissing in their coffee.

The only solution I see is to tax the uber-wealthy out of existence, so there is no one left who's able to buy the political process.

I don't mean there should be no wealthy people, only that nobody should be so wealthy that their vote counts more than anyone else's vote in the eyes of the politicians.

I figure the maximum income possible ought to be no more than twenty times the minimum income, and it ought to be accomplished by steeply progressive taxes and some kind of "national dividend" that affords everyone safe comfortable housing, good food, appropriate medical care, and continuing education.

Eat shit and die painfully ****wad.

Response to Proud Public Servant (Original post)

Sun Jan 10, 2016, 02:23 PM

YOHABLO (2,112 posts)
9. I read that it's possible to get student loan debt wiped away if on disability (?)

 

[hillneck]

Proud Public Servant (1,736 posts)

14. Returning overseas wouldn't work for him right now; that window seems to have closed. 

Really, this DUmmies "friend" was there that long and doesn't have any contacts.  Must be a real winner or probably just another DUmmie living off other people.

[Carl]

Really, this DUmmies "friend" was there that long and doesn't have any contacts.  Must be a real winner or probably just another DUmmie living off other people.

My friend is in his early 50s. He lived overseas on the local economy for decades after college

Sounds like a life long freeloader.

[BannedFromDU]

     Lurking DUmmies, I'm about to school you on why it is, precisely, that you are worthless turds:

Response to Proud Public Servant (Original post)



Star Member hunter (23,494 posts)   <-----     Anyone in such straits, such as most of you turds, can point to your post count for the reason.

6. Personally, I'm in a very "**** it All" place... (Believe me, it shows)

... and expecting to end up homeless, or optimistically, sofa surfing.  (As is the typical DUmmy fate, after a certain amount of time)

Been that way before, will be that way again.  (Because you expect very little of yourself)

The difference from then and now being that I hurt all the time. (Arthritis mostly.)    (Guess what, asshole? Everyone has pains and maladies.)

One of my brother's  ("Brother's". And we're the stupid ones.) is already living the "no fixed address" lifestyle.  (Yet I'm sure you both have the answer to the world's woes.)


Here is where you elevate yourselves from "assholes" to pure DUmmies:

I don't know what the end game is for big money in the U.S.A., but I've got to wonder what they are going to do when nobody gives a shit anymore, and they have to be suspicious of anyone and everyone of pissing in their coffee.

Good heavens. You have a severe personal problem that you desperately need to solve, viz., you're about to be homeless, yet all you care about
is what "they" are going to do. Let me clue you in, dumb****: THERE IS NO "THEY."  The closest thing we have to a "they" is the government, which is headed by your Lord and Savior,
0bama. You can't POSSIBLY have a problem with HIM, can you?

The only solution I see is to tax the uber-wealthy out of existence, so there is no one left who's able to buy the political process.

I agree: that IS the only solution you see. You're about to need to shit in an alley, or in the public library, yet all you can think about is
how much money the government takes from other people.

I don't mean there should be no wealthy people  (yes you do), only that nobody should be so wealthy that their vote counts more than anyone else's vote in the eyes of the politicians.

(Now excuse me while I duck into this office building to see if the lobby bathroom is open so I can steal toilet paper.)

I figure the maximum income possible ought to be no more than twenty times the minimum income, and it ought to be accomplished by steeply progressive taxes and some kind of "national dividend" that affords everyone safe comfortable housing, good food, appropriate medical care, and continuing education.


I'm sure you demand all of that, you feckless, worthless, asshole scumbag.

You people have personal problems of your own making, yet we're supposed to alter economy and society to make you feel better about it. You can't be bothered to deal with your own issues; we all have to suffer them.

**** THAT.

And **** you. And die.

[SVPete]

... sofa surfing. Been that way before, will be that way again. ...

Wow! Those "big money" bogeymen and bogeywomen must be pretty ineffective at sucking up all the money for there to be sofas for you to infe ..., I mean "surf"!

More seriously, it's time "hunter" put on his big-boy pants, acknowledge being responsible for his situation, and find a job with some chance of remuneration and a career path. And learn a marketable skill if he doesn't have one.

[USA4ME]

Proud Public Servant

DU, can you advise? Many thanks in advance.

Seems the answer is "No!"

The primitives are getting lazy. Not a single post directly blames Bush, Republicans and/or conservatives. That's really sad.

.

[I_B_Perky]

Response to Proud Public Servant (Original post)



Star Member hunter (23,494 posts) 

<tale of woe>

The only solution I see is to tax the uber-wealthy out of existence, so there is no one left who's able to buy the political process.

I don't mean there should be no wealthy people  only that nobody should be so wealthy that their vote counts more than anyone else's vote in the eyes of the politicians.

I figure the maximum income possible ought to be no more than twenty times the minimum income, and it ought to be accomplished by steeply progressive taxes and some kind of "national dividend" that affords everyone safe comfortable housing, good food, appropriate medical care, and continuing education.

Well dummie, Perky gonna 'splain it to you.  You are a loser. From head to toe, you are a loser.  Your ilk could tax the wealthy straight out of existence... and you would still be in the same position.

Why, you might ask?

Because you are a loser.

No dummie... the key here is in your last sentence:

" some kind of "national dividend" that affords everyone safe comfortable housing, good food, appropriate medical care, and continuing education.

First of all, we already have that. It is called welfare. Second of all, you want free money,  do not want to do a damned thing to earn it and this is the reason why you are a loser.

Understand now?  You want to get ahead? Sit down, shut the hell up, quit your whining and work for it like the rest of us you lazy puke.

[HawkHogan]

Wow! Those "big money" bogeymen and bogeywomen must be pretty ineffective at sucking up all the money for there to be sofas for you to infe ..., I mean "surf"!

More seriously, it's time "hunter" put on his big-boy pants, acknowledge being responsible for his situation, and find a job with some chance of remuneration and a career path. And learn a marketable skill if he doesn't have one.

Dummies don't realize that they are the useless henchmen of the uber rich they hate.  They always complain about the uber rich and demand higher taxes/more regulations/etc, but it only ends up hurting the middle class/upper middle class.  Those uber-rich boogeyman laugh their asses that the Dummies doing their bidding.