hi... the two of you were referred to me on my other post "my situation is helpless. : (" i have copied and reposted my info again... i pray you can help... my student loan defaulted while i was caring for fiance that was sick with cancer. i returned to mass from louisiana the day it defaulted (after 13 months) and had the money to bring it current but asa (american student assistance) would not tell me or afsa whether they sent the loan purchase check out. they told me to "wait and see how things play out". by the time i heard back from them, i didnt have the money to pay, so, i was lied to by them, then they attached a $14,000 fee to my balance that they say must be paid before anything is applied to my principle. this cant be legal. they take weeks and even months to return any phone calls i make to them. it seems that when they found out i could not find a job, that they started forcing me to meet deadlines which were not reasonable, not to mention that every time i called i got a different answer about how much had to be paid by when... my problem is that im 37 and dont even own a house. i tried to do the rigth thing by caring for a loved one and now the rest of my pathetic life is completely destroyed.
tdean, Just to give you the "heads up", Roni and girl6 are the same person. She had to change her username. "girl6" is the new one, so she'll be responding back under that one.
Dear TDean, In your other thread you said: "well, thank you both for the kind words.... i just tried to do the right thing. anyone else would have done it too. i just cant understand how these people can be like this... they even send me demand letters filled with spelling and grammar mistakes. i thought they might be a fake company, but unfortunately they are very real. i just got a job, so im headed in the rigth direction, and i never concidered NOT paying these people back, but they have made it impossible now. its almost like they screwed themselves by making their demands so outrageous. when i went down south, my loan was ~$37,000... now with their fees and inflated interest, its over $60,000. that just doesnt seem fair." To go from 37,000 just to 60,000 represents an internal annualized interst rate of 62%. And you said it's MORE than 60,000 so it would be more like 65 - 73%. I'm no student loan expert but I do know how I would start MY negotiation; ARE YOU F*C%I#NG CRAZY ?!?!?!? Give this thread a few days time to accumulate response. Be patient. Many here will want to help you. It's just the kinda people they are.
tdean while I am not girl6, I do have knowledge about student loans. Your situation is NOT hopeless. As others have said, you can rehabilitate your loans. The process nominally takes 12 months. You send them 12 consecutive monthly checks for the amount that they,through their collection agency, require and then apply to have your loans declared rehabilitated. Under HEA they are required to do so. All negatives concerning your loans are also supposed to be removed from your credit profile with all 3 CRAs. After rehab it takes 3-4 months usually to have your loans removed from default status, that is because the loans have to be sold back to a servicer by the guarantor (BTW ASA is a guarantor...AFSA is a servicer). The reason that your loans went from about 27K to over 60 is basically 2 fold. First upon default, your interest rate goes from around 7% to about 18%. Secondly, there is a monetary penalty that interest is also charged on. In your case I think that the amount is about 12K (not sure what factor for penalty amount is). After rehabbing most of these onerous fees and interest rates will be removed, but there will be a penalty to be paid. Also, I would strongly recommend that you talk with the ombudsman as others have suggested. Explain your situation and see if they won't allow you to get a retroactvie forbearance for the time you were not working and were caring for your financee. Forbearance is one of your rights. If none of the above helps and you don't care about having the negatives on your credit for the next 7 years and also don't mind having the extra fees added to your loans, then there is one additional option available to you. Direct Loans (www.dlservicer.ed.gov if I remember right) is the only servicer that is allowed to consolidate your loans while you are in default. Good luck fla-tan
I would have to reiterate fla-tan's post. I would also say that you may want to e-mail "mozilla" to investigate the penalty and collection interest charges. He successfully sued a guarantor over this precise issue and won.
well, heres another kicker..... mbna just cancelled my credit card so now i cant do any business and will probably lose my job that ive had for 2 weeks. there is just no way for good people to get ahead in this world.
Tdean, I feel for you, I really do. People should be forewarned how deceptive and sleazy government funded school loans really are. They are the ONLY creditors that seem to get away with shafting poor hard working people like yourself. I'm in a similar situation. I went to a trade school, but dropped out 3/4 of the way through the program. I could not continue because of fiancial and personal reasons. When I did decide to return, I found out the school closed, and lost all my records (its as if I never even attended) Of course now California Student Aid wants me to pay up - but I have nothing to show for it and no credits at all. The worst part is that NOBODY seems to give a damn - they just say "you need to pay" The school was a fraud and the program was a fraud (they never got jobs for any of the student I knew) -Sal
IF THERE IS NO PROOF YOU EVER ATTENDED~~~how can you be required to pay??? AND WHAT ABOUT THE FRAUD PART OF IT...
well fla-tan, i am definately going to get in touch with the ombudsman at asa.... the only thing im bummin about now is that i have to pay so much / month.... they told me they wanted $800+ each month... who the hell can do that for the rest of their life.... not me.... im sure in my case that they wont remove any of their excessive charges though. i just dont have that kind of luck.
tdean it really has nothing to do with luck. Just explain the facts and see how they respond. Before accepting anything less than what you are looking for, post here and let some of the people here assist you. Good luck fla-tan
After you rehab the loans, consolidate them. Your monthly payments will be MUCH lower then $800 a month once you get them rehabed and consolidated (So, no, you won't have to pay $800 a month for the rest of your life). I'd guess your monthly payments would be around $350 once everything is taken care of. Get started now though, these loans won't go away.
tdean, e-mail me when you get a chance. I have a contact in the dispute resolution department at ASA. Although I just started working with him he seems very reasonable. EdG
well, still waiting to hear back from someone at asa. those people are unreal. also, i tried settling with first usa at 50, then 57, and 60% of what i owe them and they keep coming back with 80% or nothing.... and i have to pay $1800/month or nothing. so i said, "ok...nothing then". what the hell is wrong with everyone? these people are rediculous. grrrrrrrrr
*UPDATED*:Girl6 Stu loan ETC help? i forgot to add this..... since first usa has screwed up my credit by losing my info 3 times after i was enrolled in their "auto pay" program (they're supposed to take a fixed amt out of my bank acct so the situation im currently in doesnt happen) which they admit.... they still WONT HAVE IT REMOVED FROM MY CREDIT REPORT. they told me the "procedure on their end is too involved" and would take a "presidential pardon" to have THEIR ERROR removed from my credit report. so basically, they can screw up and destroy you, admit fault and still not be liable in their own eyes to have to make any ammentments. i am getting so friggin mad im gonna explode.... why bother????
Regardless of whether or not you could return, I believe that if your school closes and you could not complete your degree you can get a full cancellation of your student loans... I remember reading that. Look into it with the Dept of Ed... I truly think you can get all your loans, in essence, voided. by the way, I wouldn't tell the dept of ed anything except the school closed... they can confirm that
