primitives find out what they owe

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1353828

Oh my.

aquart  (1000+ posts)        Thu Jun-23-11 09:50 PM
Original message
 
I found out what I owe today. I'm sick and terrified.

I have an unpaid student loan. I am truly irresponsible. This IS on me. That makes it worse.

I can mitigate. I can say I wouldn't have even applied to graduate school if my father hadn't promised to pay every dime of it. Which is true. Or that Columbia pushed me into a loan more beneficial to them than me, which my sister insists is true but I don't know. I have trouble filling out forms. They did it for me. I wasn't formally diagnosed with Adult Attention Deficit Disorder (God, do I hate admitting being defective but that's how bad it is tonight) until nearly 50, in 1995 and I credit Ritalin with the MFA certificate I have somewhere. But one of the weirdnesses is that small, easily-resolved questions can become huge stumbling blocks. I was on Medicaid until I failed to fill out a form correctly.

In 1992, according to the voice on the phone tonight, I signed papers taking out a $20,000 loan. Of which I received $14,000 because they (whoever "they" were) took out "points," but now owe $77,000.

When the loan was half that, my mother took a reverse mortgage on a then highly valued house and offered to pay off the loan and told her brother the lawyer to do what was necessary. He didn't. They won't negotiate student loans and he wanted to use the ADD to declare me some kind of disabled which I still don't believe and neither do most people. So he let it slide until he died.

The woman on the phone tonight wanted my mother to take every dime she has left in her house and pay them. My mom is 90 with stage 4 lymphoma. Of her two surviving daughters, I'm the healthy one. (Also the one unable to wear shoes due to foot surgery...but I can wear Uggs and certain sandals.) My sister is having neck surgery this fall to prevent further degradation of her spine. If it succeeds, she has been promised three months of truly terrible pain. So I can't tell my mother and my sister about this.

That's more than I ever wanted to tell anyone. It leaves out a lot but that's enough poor pitiful me. As frightened as I am, my bum feet are still there, I still have a home, there are still some people I love who love me. I know that makes me one of the lucky ones. But tonight I am so scared. I don't see any way out and if this ever-increasing amount doesn't crush me today, when will it?

ScreamingMeemie (1000+ posts)        Thu Jun-23-11 10:01 PM
Response to Reply #7
 
9. If you click on the link I provided above, it tells you how you can go about bankruptcy with student loans

http://debtor-creditor.lawyers.com/Renegotiating-Studen...

http://bankruptcy.lawyers.com/consumer-bankruptcy/Stude... 

mimitabby  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-24-11 10:04 AM
Response to Reply #9
 
73. that stuff won't help people with defaulted loans and no income

I really want to know what can be done. my son is in the same boat. he works odd jobs, barely enough to pay rent and eat. he doesn't even have enough $$ to maintain a car. His loan just keeps growing and what? if he ever gets a real job, they'll garnishee his wages!

CountAllVotes  (1000+ posts)      Thu Jun-23-11 10:06 PM
Response to Original message
 
17. a friend of mine ignored her loans

We were in graduate school together. Prior to this time she'd been in an accident and after she graduated she had brain surgery and claimed she was totally disabled. That did not work for her.

She tried to get the loans dismissed but it was a no go for her being the injury occurred prior to her taking out the loans.

Last I heard, she is now getting some social security (she is 71 now) and they are taking the money out of her SS checks!

I'm so sorry to hear about this.

I know you cannot have student loans dismissed via bankruptcy. You can thank Bill Clinton for doing that to you!

Student loans

>>Since 1998, student loan debt has been expressly excluded from being discharged in bankruptcy. It is very difficult and extremely uncommon to receive relief from your student loans while in bankruptcy. In order to have student loans discharged in bankruptcy, your attorney must show that the loan causes an undue hardship on either you or your family. Essentially your bankruptcy attorney needs to show that the cost of the student loans prevents you from providing even a basic standard of living. In Arizona, your Chandler bankruptcy attorney can work with you to establish an undue hardship, if in fact you meet the definition.

more here: http://www.bankruptcyazlaw.com/debts-cannot-be-cleared /

Rabblevox  (448 posts)      Thu Jun-23-11 10:28 PM
Response to Original message
 
21. I am in very much the same boat. I've got very little advice, EXCEPT...

DO NOT LET YOUR MOM MORTGAGE HER HOUSE!

The three things you cannot declare bankruptcy on are student loans and taxes and child support. It MAY be possible to renegotiate the loan terms, but it will not be forgiven unless you are declared permanently and totally disabled. Beware of tax layers, I tried two, shelled out thousands, and got no help at all.

Since you have an MFA, you might qualify for partial forgiveness if you find a teaching job in an impacted community.

I have had to accept the fact that I will never qualify for a loan of any kind again in my life, and never be hired for a job that requires "fiscal responsibility", even though my student loans are my only major unpaid debt.

My heart goes out to you. Hang onto your friends, wake up in the morning and look for something good, and maybe take a perverse pleasure in knowing this insane system is crushing 80% of us, just at different rates. Welcome to the new dark ages.

FirstLight  (1000+ posts)        Thu Jun-23-11 10:50 PM
Response to Original message

23. ...in a very similar dinghy, rowing right there with ya!

I was 22 when I had to go back to school, after being abandoned by my husband (we were both just kids, i know) and having a baby alone.

Since I was on welfare and struggling to do the right thing with school, or not being able to hold jobs when being a mom and student - i spent a good 6 years on welfare & food stamps, and student loans were my tax-free and welfare free way of having disposable income. I admit, i was young and stupid, and the financial aid lady told me more than once to go for the full amount, since "by the time you get done with school, the payments will be EASY..."

student loans pout studded tires on my car for winters, furnished my apt with cheap but okay stuff, and helped me make my son;s early years not so poverty ridden as they could have been.

so it took me 4 years to finish my AA...i got a good job and was okay for a few years...by 2000, the shit had hit the fan. I was really lacking a BA for a real career (which, I have to say i was still trying to figure out)...I had hit 30 and was unable to say I had a grip on how i was going to provide for my son for the rest of his formative years. I tried to go back to school, but the closest university was an hour away, and i was always fighting my parents on the reality of leaving my son in daycare or trying to drive and put myself in jeopardy in bad weather...

so i dropped out after one semester

and then the loan people came calling

my principal was about 17K, over 21K with interest

i was good about filling out the paperwork every year to defer until i could get a grip, which was not forthcoming really, did some temp work, but really struggled...and this time school was not even an option,(no qualification for a loan or a grant at this point) which sucks, because if I had my way i would be in school for life, i love it.

so i stumbled a bit and had another distracting bump in my road of life...ya, don't go there...

fast forward three more years - and I left my abusive ex the day after my 34th bday with 2 more babies no less

of course since survival had been my life, filling out loan paperwork had not been happening
now i was in default, a whole new ballgame

I called the dept of education, the supposed holder of the loan, who had hired out a nasty credit agency pof course

nope $350/mo min pymt, no ifs ands or butts

i was on welfare and hadn't held a job in years and was in serious therapy for a year just to get stable...

"so what?"they said

I even went so far as to research online and ended up contacting the DOJ about abused women's protections
and that there should be a bill to pardon these kinds of circumstances, or grant women a stay of execution for 3-5 years..

never got a call back never got anywhere but mired in the maze and whatever letters i sent went unanswered, all i ever got was a statement and a payment return envelope

Now i live with the fact that each year my taxes will be gone to pay the dept of ed

i am supposed to qualify for an EIC, but they take it out of one packet, and put it in the other...right in front of me

sorry for thinking that if i am poor enough to qualify for the EIC, i may just NEED it more than they do.

oh but there's bombs to buy and people to maim

ya, love how that works, don'tcha?

EFerrari  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-24-11 12:47 AM
Response to Original message
 
40. No advice, just a hug.

Well, whoop whoop de do.  Good for you.

[vadawg]

i think healing white light is needed more than hugs......

[NHSparky]

Okay, lemme get this straight--they're smart enough to get accepted as grad students at Ivy League institutions, but aren't smart enough to figure out that they still owe and that the balance will INCREASE as time goes on without their making payments towards the principal?

The stupid...it burns...

[Celtic Rose]

i think healing white light is needed more than hugs......

I think some cold hard cash would be even more appreciated...

[vadawg]

I think some cold hard cash would be even more appreciated...

yup cash would be good, but i think healing white light is the more likely outcome from DU

[NHSparky]

yup cash would be good, but i think healing white light is the more likely outcome from DU

I'm thinking they'd rather send along pictures of their hands.  Furry palms and all.

[vadawg]

I'm thinking they'd rather send along pictures of their hands.  Furry palms and all.

yup hands and furry paws (homage paid to UGP, Ive always wondered if her boyfriend is kinda normal and just buck ugly, or illegal wanting a greencard or even better still a female dog trapped in the body of a man, now that would be phenomenal).

[BEG]

Same story, different DUer.

[Wineslob]

 

friend of mine ignored her loans

We were in graduate school together. Prior to this time she'd been in an accident and after she graduated she had brain surgery and claimed she was totally disabled. That did not work for her.

She tried to get the loans dismissed but it was a no go for her being the injury occurred prior to her taking out the loans.

Last I heard, she is now getting some social security (she is 71 now) and they are taking the money out of her SS checks!

Ummmm, a bit late in life to take out student loans?

[TVDOC]

Okay, lemme get this straight--they're smart enough to get accepted as grad students at Ivy League institutions, but aren't smart enough to figure out that they still owe and that the balance will INCREASE as time goes on without their making payments towards the principal?

The stupid...it burns...

Not only that, but smart enough to get into Columbia grad school.......but couldn't fill out and understand the loan forms (due to ADD??)........WTF major did he/she/it select.....basketweaving??

doc

[BannedFromDU]

Not only that, but smart enough to get into Columbia grad school.......but couldn't fill out and understand the loan forms (due to ADD??)........WTF major did he/she/it select.....basketweaving??

doc

     The sad part is that the DUmbass is probably lying about some critical aspect of the matter. The SADDER part is that the DUmbass might be telling the truth.

     Life lesson: DON'T BORROW ****ING MONEY TO GET A ****ING FINE ARTS DEGREE UNLESS YOU ARE A FEMALE AND SUPER SMOKING HOT.

[Karin]

One of the loopiest pieces of advice I've ever heard was "do what you love, the money will follow."  This has gotten many a naive person into big trouble.  I love to drink a cold beer in the hot sun, reading a trashy crime novel.  Does that mean money will automatically follow that passion?  I love to design flower pots.  I love to jetski.  Nobody's going to pay me a living wage to do either. 

Taking out a huge loan for a college degree of dubious market worth is just foolish.  A lot of students and parents are waking up to this fact.  Now, I'm talking a big loan here.  If someone wants to work their way through college pursuing some muse, it's a free country. 

Girl working for us is majoring in "Art Therapy."  WTF is that?  She's starting to get panicky and stressed. 

[IassaFTots]

Since I was on welfare and struggling to do the right thing with school, or not being able to hold jobs when being a mom and student - i spent a good 6 years on welfare & food stamps, and student loans were my tax-free and welfare free way of having disposable income. I admit, i was young and stupid, and the financial aid lady told me more than once to go for the full amount, since "by the time you get done with school, the payments will be EASY..."

student loans pout studded tires on my car for winters, furnished my apt with cheap but okay stuff, and helped me make my son;s early years not so poverty ridden as they could have been.

If you really wanted $$ to get into school, you most certainly would have qualified for a Pell Grant, if you had the grades.  And then you wouldn't be in this pickle now.  Sheesh!

[vadawg]

in a way i agree with this in certain circumstanses,  me i love driving fast, shooting guns and messing with asswipes and i get paid for it so for me it works.  I guess if you also love sex with complete strangers then you could make money with that as well unless you have the looks of Dummy nadine or UDP or the odor of Bobo.

[Karin]

Well that's a hell of a job!  What are you, a cop?  You don't have to answer. 

[vadawg]

yup and i get paid for it too, so for me life is good, probuably why i didnt do well on DU, i guess you only survive on DU if you are sad all the time, or you have mental issues.

[TVDOC]

in a way i agree with this in certain circumstanses,  me i love driving fast, shooting guns and messing with asswipes and i get paid for it so for me it works.  I guess if you also love sex with complete strangers then you could make money with that as well unless you have the looks of Dummy nadine or UDP or the odor of Bobo.

Let's see.....that would likely make you a highway patrolman?????

doc

[IassaFTots]

Let's see.....that would likely make you a highway patrolman?????

doc

That was my guess as well.

[Texacon]

So, if I follow DUmmie logic .... If I want I can go take out all the loans I want then become abused and poor and everyone should forgive my debts because ... well, you know, it's obviously their fault!!  I would need the money more than they do!

GMC Chrylser.

KC

[I_B_Perky]

I noticed this little blurb from one of the Dummies:

Beware of tax layers, I tried two, shelled out thousands, and got no help at all.

Ummm... why didn't you use those thousands to help pay off your debt/taxes instead of trying to get out of it?