Studen Loan Horror Stories - What do you think?
Came across occupystudentdebt.com. Holy sh*t there are some scary stories on that site. I pulled this one out because this is one of those cases where I think the borrower is just a total moron. What do you guys think?
Well, here it goes. This story is extremely embarrassing but this is the start of my fight to try and do something about it.
In 2000, when I was 18 years old after graduating high school, I started going to a local university to earn a 4 year degree in Elementary Education. My mother worked for the University and I had free tuition for the first 4 years. I was excited for my future, with a lot of hopes and dreams. However, growing up my parents and family always struggled with money. I had no help and was on my own with all other expenses besides tuition. I worked a part time job all throughout college and it was hard for me to keep up with both working and school full time. In 2003, I was diagnosed with pretty bad anxiety…mostly over money issues. My family doctor put me on anxiety medication, “Effexor”. I experienced rather strange symptoms from this medication which seemed minor so I didn’t think anything of it at first. At the same time I came across advertisement for Sallie Mae. I thought it was a perfect solution for my money troubles. I applied and was approved for a $30,000 loan at an alarming 9.5% interest rate. And I must note I was approved for that loan EVEN though at the time I did have free tuition. But being only 20 years old I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was so happy and excited though because I felt a huge stress relief. The money would help me get through school, buy that computer I needed, pay for my gas, my car payment, etc. It relieved a ton of stress. My intention was only to take out one loan. However being young and stupid, and not knowing a thing about money and finances, that money quickly ran out. I used the money for everything, including clothes, going out to eat, EVERYTHING you name it. And oh how easy it was to just contact Sallie Mae and get one loan right after the other. They kept approving me for loans until after the course of 3 years or so, my loan debt reached a large sum of $120,00!!! As I was taking out all of those loans and spending that money foolishly on all kinds of things…it felt so good. Sallie Mae was my savior. I was able to live the high life I never had growing up because they were there for me to support it.
In 2006 my life turned upside down. I had not graduated yet. I switched majors again due to poor choices I made. But I also started feeling the pressures of having to pay back such a huge loan I wasn’t exactly in a rush to graduate. The longer I stayed in school the better I thought because it would give me more time to start paying the loans back. So I decided to take my time to graduate. I even started going to school part time to purposely delay it. And then somewhere in there reality sank in. My nightmare began. Many things happened in my personal life which I won’t get into but I tried committing suicide and ended up in a mental hospital for 4 days. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It was discovered that the medicine I was taking for anxiety caused me to have manic episodes over the course of all those years (it is embarrassing) That is WHY I racked up all that debt and made very poor choices. I wasn’t thinking clearly. My mind was foggy. But regardless of myself being manic or not at the time, it is so easy for any young kid at 18, 19, 20, 21 years old to get themselves in debt. Unless you have parents who really taught you the importance of money and saving, etc., you are naive to the devastating consequences getting yourself into debt can have on your future. It is easy for any young kid who is NOT manic to take out those loans and not understand the implications they will have on the rest of their lives. Personally, I didn’t even understand the meaning of “interest”. I didn’t understand when I signed for those loans that after 6-7 years my initial $120,00 would turn into $250,000. It more than doubled!
Eventually in May of 2011 I finally graduated with a bachelors in criminal justice. I am now a divorced single mother (my large debt load was a major factor in my divorce) clearing $2000 a month on a $34,500 a year income. I am working in retail management because that is all I could find in this economy. I am still searching for better jobs but it’s been a challenge. I have a 4 year old daughter. Right now I can barely afford to survive off of what I make. When my $2500 loan payment kicks in this November I don’t know what I am going to do. Even making interest only payment my monthly payment will still be $1600 a month. And there is NOTHING I can do to get rid of it. NOTHING. I prey every day that the laws will change so I can declare bankruptcy. I would do it in a heart beat. I am scared for my life and for my daughters life If it wasn’t for my daughter I’d rather be dead right now….I feel so hopeless.
I am SOOO angry. I blame Sallie Mae for everything . What they did to me was called predatory lending without a doubt. A 20 year old still in school should NEVER be approved for a $30,00 loan just because they are a student. It’s insane. An adult with good established credit has a harder time getting approved for a personal loan of that size. Half of the time I was getting these large loans I was only taking ONE or TWO classes. The tuition being $4000 at most. And at the time I actually thought they were helping me. Now that I am 29 years old I know better and I am disgusted that the government supports these monsters. I know there are so many people out there like me who have similar stories. It’s a shame that a grown adult can take out personal loans for $100,00 for house renovations, boats, vacations, you name it and still be able to declare bankruptcy. But people like me can’t? At 20 years old you couldn’t even drink alcohol but you could take out a $30,000 student loan. And are powerless to do anything about it. Its unbelievable. Makes me sick. And we are the innocent victims paying and suffering for it? Sallie Mae won’t do anything to even help out…not even lower interest rates. They don’t care that I won’t even be able to put food on the table for my daughter.
Right now I have a fantastic lawyer that will be fighting for me if nothing happens this year with the bills trying to be passed. I am crossing my fingers the government will wise up. If not, I am ready to put up a large fight.
Wow that put me on tilt just
Wow that put me on tilt just reading it. What happened to personal responsibility? Why decide you're going to bring a child into this world when you're 6 figures in debt?
The parallels to the mortgage mess are striking - companies give out huge loans and people borrow all sorts of ridiculous sums on the assumption that we'll have 5% unemployment forever and that a college degree will guarantee them a job. Until it doesn't. Same with houses: the price of them will never go down so the loan is safe! Until prices fall.
GetOnTop: Wow that put me on
Wow that put me on tilt just reading it. What happened to personal responsibility? Why decide you're going to bring a child into this world when you're 6 figures in debt?
The parallels to the mortgage mess are striking - companies give out huge loans and people borrow all sorts of ridiculous sums on the assumption that we'll have 5% unemployment forever and that a college degree will guarantee them a job. Until it doesn't. Same with houses: the price of them will never go down so the loan is safe! Until prices fall.
Agree to some extent. The story I pulled out is an example where the borrower is unwilling to take any accountability for her mistakes. There are, however, some genuinely disturbing stories where I sympathize a lot with the borrowers. When you have some time, read through some of the other stories on the site.
-MBP
i still dont get why he took
i still dont get why he took out the loan--he was getting free tuition. Just because you can be approved for something doesn't mean you should.
mk0000: i still dont get why
i still dont get why he took out the loan--he was getting free tuition. Just because you can be approved for something doesn't mean you should.
She claims it was her bipolar disorder that made her do it, and Sallie Mae enabled her. Seems like a cop-out to me.
-MBP
Knowing this person exists
Knowing this person exists just ruined my fucking day.
manbearpig: GetOnTop: Wow
Wow that put me on tilt just reading it. What happened to personal responsibility? Why decide you're going to bring a child into this world when you're 6 figures in debt?
The parallels to the mortgage mess are striking - companies give out huge loans and people borrow all sorts of ridiculous sums on the assumption that we'll have 5% unemployment forever and that a college degree will guarantee them a job. Until it doesn't. Same with houses: the price of them will never go down so the loan is safe! Until prices fall.
Agree to some extent. The story I pulled out is an example where the borrower is unwilling to take any accountability for her mistakes. There are, however, some genuinely disturbing stories where I sympathize a lot with the borrowers. When you have some time, read through some of the other stories on the site.
Just browsed through the front page, there are definitely some situations that warrant relief from the govt./lenders. It's obviously not entirely individuals' fault; blame deserves to be spread to the lenders as well as the universities that have been unable to stop the inflation +2-3% a year rise in tuition rates. That said, it's a touchy issue. If you tighten the loan standards more then you could be denying someone "the American dream", whatever that is.
I think she does take
I think she does take personal responsibility for it choices, she is just saying that she wasnt mature or responsible enough at that age to understand the impact that debt can have on her future. I think some responsibility has to rest with the lender. i mean seriously who lends $120,000 to a student with no income and no credit history.
How far up should we move the
How far up should we move the age of adulthood? I understand her general argument, but at some point we've got to become responsible for ourselves. We, as a society, have decided that the age of majority is 18 in the United States. Fortunately, the solution is simply- no federally subsidized loans, period. I can agree with that. Colleges lower prices or suffer lower matriculation rates.
Absorbed in the sacrament of education, many have failed to perform the proper calculus as to the value of education. There is a price at which education is simply not worth it; and, what we are seeing is more and more people hitting the threshold of the return on investment becoming negative. The question is how obvious is the math. A rational 20 year-old who bothered to do some back-of-the-envelope math could figure that $120,000 over four years far exceeds the return expected from a criminal justice degree, I would think.
As for bankruptcy, I don't know. I'm extremely reluctant to support bankruptcy as a means to retire education loans. While I can feel for this lady, she is not really a victim. She got to eat out, satisfy material desires, and live the life on campus. Where exactly is the suffering? There are consequences for profligacy, but that hardly makes someone a victim. Now, I don't like this federally subsidized mess, but I am trying to think what happens next should this policy of bankruptcy be enlarged. In the past, mass bankruptcy on education debt was not observed, but one could argue the social constraints, stigmas, and taboos contributed to stemming it- which do not exist in similar strength today.
She sounds quite eager to declare bankruptcy, when she technically isn't bankrupt. She lives under difficult circumstances, true, but it is not like she has no job, no assets, and no income. The potential for abuse is obvious. If the mass delinquency observed on mortgages in the past 5 years is any indication of the expected behavior of student loan debtors, I would be very concerned if I were Sallie Mae and student loans became dischargeable via bankruptcy.
Bene qui latuit, bene vixit- Ovid
Using student loans to live
Using student loans to live the high-life and then complaining about paying them off later? Yeah, you definitely deserve my sympathy...
MrBroadway: I think she does
I think she does take personal responsibility for it choices, she is just saying that she wasnt mature or responsible enough at that age to understand the impact that debt can have on her future. I think some responsibility has to rest with the lender. i mean seriously who lends $120,000 to a student with no income and no credit history.
I agree. It was definitely predatory lending. Nobody put a gun to her head to take the money, but they were counting on her immaturity and as expected, she took it and blew it on crap. But come on. The principal growing from 120K to 250K? That's insane.
-MBP
rls: How far up should we
How far up should we move the age of adulthood? I understand her general argument, but at some point we've got to become responsible for ourselves. We, as a society, have decided that the age of majority is 18 in the United States. Fortunately, the solution is simply- no federally subsidized loans, period. I can agree with that. Colleges lower prices or suffer lower matriculation rates.
Absorbed in the sacrament of education, many have failed to perform the proper calculus as to the value of education. There is a price at which education is simply not worth it; and, what we are seeing is more and more people hitting the threshold of the return on investment becoming negative. The question is how obvious is the math. A rational 20 year-old who bothered to do some back-of-the-envelope math could figure that $120,000 over four years far exceeds the return expected from a criminal justice degree, I would think.
As for bankruptcy, I don't know. I'm extremely reluctant to support bankruptcy as a means to retire education loans. While I can feel for this lady, she is not really a victim. She got to eat out, satisfy material desires, and live the life on campus. Where exactly is the suffering? There are consequences for profligacy, but that hardly makes someone a victim. Now, I don't like this federally subsidized mess, but I am trying to think what happens next should this policy of bankruptcy be enlarged. In the past, mass bankruptcy on education debt was not observed, but one could argue the social constraints, stigmas, and taboos contributed to stemming it- which do not exist in similar strength today.
She sounds quite eager to declare bankruptcy, when she technically isn't bankrupt. She lives under difficult circumstances, true, but it is not like she has no job, no assets, and no income. The potential for abuse is obvious. If the mass delinquency observed on mortgages in the past 5 years is any indication of the expected behavior of student loan debtors, I would be very concerned if I were Sallie Mae and student loans became dischargeable via bankruptcy.
I think if student debt is allowed to be discharged, the total number of loans will go way down, which will drive tuition down, which is exactly what's needed. I'm all for it. Not that any of it affects me since there's nothing like this in Canada. The best universities charge 5K a year on tuition, and student loans are interest free during studies.
-MBP
manbearpig, Her principal did
manbearpig,
Her principal did not grow from 120,000 to $250,000- it's the interest, penalties, and fees that tack as additional debt. And I'm not sure I accept the use of the term 'predatory lending'. If two parties are rational adults and agree to terms, that's that. Just because one party is faster, more cunning, or more ruthless doesn't excuse the counterparty for playing out of their league.
Bene qui latuit, bene vixit- Ovid
. exactly, we need some
.[/quote]
I think if student debt is allowed to be discharged, the total number of loans will go way down, which will drive tuition down, which is exactly what's needed. I'm all for it. Not that any of it affects me since there's nothing like this in Canada. The best universities charge 5K a year on tuition, and student loans are interest free during studies.[/quote]
exactly, we need some reform in the student loan system. i mean this is no different from the US debt crisis, congress raises the debt limit and the govt keeps spending. expecting an 18 year old to manage debt of 30k or more responsibly is not wise. that is not responsibly lending.
manbearpig: rls: How far up
How far up should we move the age of adulthood? I understand her general argument, but at some point we've got to become responsible for ourselves. We, as a society, have decided that the age of majority is 18 in the United States. Fortunately, the solution is simply- no federally subsidized loans, period. I can agree with that. Colleges lower prices or suffer lower matriculation rates.
Absorbed in the sacrament of education, many have failed to perform the proper calculus as to the value of education. There is a price at which education is simply not worth it; and, what we are seeing is more and more people hitting the threshold of the return on investment becoming negative. The question is how obvious is the math. A rational 20 year-old who bothered to do some back-of-the-envelope math could figure that $120,000 over four years far exceeds the return expected from a criminal justice degree, I would think.
As for bankruptcy, I don't know. I'm extremely reluctant to support bankruptcy as a means to retire education loans. While I can feel for this lady, she is not really a victim. She got to eat out, satisfy material desires, and live the life on campus. Where exactly is the suffering? There are consequences for profligacy, but that hardly makes someone a victim. Now, I don't like this federally subsidized mess, but I am trying to think what happens next should this policy of bankruptcy be enlarged. In the past, mass bankruptcy on education debt was not observed, but one could argue the social constraints, stigmas, and taboos contributed to stemming it- which do not exist in similar strength today.
She sounds quite eager to declare bankruptcy, when she technically isn't bankrupt. She lives under difficult circumstances, true, but it is not like she has no job, no assets, and no income. The potential for abuse is obvious. If the mass delinquency observed on mortgages in the past 5 years is any indication of the expected behavior of student loan debtors, I would be very concerned if I were Sallie Mae and student loans became dischargeable via bankruptcy.
I think if student debt is allowed to be discharged, the total number of loans will go way down, which will drive tuition down, which is exactly what's needed. I'm all for it. Not that any of it affects me since there's nothing like this in Canada. The best universities charge 5K a year on tuition, and student loans are interest free during studies.
Mass bankruptcy, or the risk of it, erodes the trust between borrower and lender. A better solution is simply to get rid of government-subsidized student loans. Loans should be made on the merit of the individual and the activities that the individual plans to use the money for. So, yes, the current economic realities dictate that an art history major should have a harder time getting a loan than a chemical engineer or less favorable terms, whichever the case may be. And one of the effects, I believe, will be a precipitous drop in the price of collegiate education.
Bene qui latuit, bene vixit- Ovid
rls: manbearpig, Her
manbearpig,
Her principal did not grow from 120,000 to $250,000- it's the interest, penalties, and fees that tack as additional debt. And I'm not sure I accept the use of the term 'predatory lending'. If two parties are rational adults and agree to terms, that's that. Just because one party is faster, more cunning, or more ruthless doesn't excuse the counterparty for playing out of their league.
Principal, by definition, is the amount on which interest accrues. Since she now owes 250K, she is accruing interest on 250K.
I think you're basically relying on the caveat emptor defense, but you have to admit that taking advantage of someone you know is completely ignorant about what's coming their way is unethical.
-MBP
Here's another one. In this
-MBP
rls: manbearpig, Her
manbearpig: rls: manbearpig
Bene qui latuit, bene vixit- Ovid
manbearpig: Here's another
It's hard to have sympathy
Man after reading some of
rls: manbearpig: rls: man
-MBP
manbearpig: Here's another
Bene qui latuit, bene vixit- Ovid
rls: manbearpig: Here's
-MBP
What exactly is wrong with
manbearpig: rls: manbearp
Bene qui latuit, bene vixit- Ovid
It wasn't really 'known'
Wow, I don't even know what
-MBP
I feel the tiniest bit of
Zero sympathy for the girl in
Wow, this one takes the
-MBP
Whats up with the
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Nobama88: Whats up with the
-MBP
I mean.. it's worth
"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat."
lol, listen to this
-MBP
Why go to a school you cannot
manbearpig: lol, listen to
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SECFinance, As a side note,
Bene qui latuit, bene vixit- Ovid
I should print t-shirts that
Bene qui latuit, bene vixit- Ovid
Going forward, student loans
Wow. That is all.
The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee
WSO is not your personal search function.
rls: I should print t-shirts
"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat."
rls: I should print t-shirts
MrBroadway: rls: I should
"My friend owns a condo and
I honestly wanna know what
This is basically a sequel to
Short Bus All-Star: The years
Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art - Andy Warhol
How do we make money off
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Nobama88: How do we make
"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat."