Re: Re: Student Loan Nightmare Uhh, No Aiki, my plan was for the company that gave me a 4 million dollar contract to not go belly up 1/4th of the way through and kick me and my investment in the rear. My plan was to keep you and your family in a minimum wage job the rest of your life. I'm sorry I didn't come through for you and you had to go back to Mexico, but it wasn't my fault..... Read before you spout off. Jeez.... Anyway, Yes, I have called them, and been told no I cannot consolidate again. BUT, then I see stuff on here and it makes me wonder. Do we put it past a creditor to lie to us? I don't. That is why I was questioning. If someone knew of a definite way to reconsolidate, because all I have been told is no. I've went through the ombudsman. They told me that they really couldn't do anything until I used up all of my forbearance time. That will run out about 1 year from now. I guess, I'm stuck here watching interest accumulate at 9% on 120k until a year from now. Trust me, guys, I've tried all these avenues, several times, to no avail. I went through direct loans even and applied for the income contingent. My wonderful creditor never send the info to them so they cancelled the application. What could I possibly do in that? I sent them a letter, I heard nothing. My wife does have a job, she pulls in about 1200 per month. Even, with that considered, though. My student loan payment would be 1/3rd of my wife and I's take home pay for the next 30 years of our life. That, to me, sounds like a hardship. Is it just me? I've traveled every road on this thread and reached nothing but dead ends. What do you guys think I should do about the income contingent thing? I will definitely post results. Sorry.
Re: Re: Student Loan Nightmare Uhh, No Aiki, my plan was for the company that gave me a 4 million dollar contract to not go belly up 1/4th of the way through and kick me and my investment in the rear. My plan was to keep you and your family in a minimum wage job the rest of your life. I'm sorry I didn't come through for you and you had to go back to Mexico, but it wasn't my fault..... Read before you spout off. Jeez.... Anyway, Yes, I have called them, and been told no I cannot consolidate again. BUT, then I see stuff on here and it makes me wonder. Do we put it past a creditor to lie to us? I don't. That is why I was questioning. If someone knew of a definite way to reconsolidate, because all I have been told is no. I've went through the ombudsman. They told me that they really couldn't do anything until I used up all of my forbearance time. That will run out about 1 year from now. I guess, I'm stuck here watching interest accumulate at 9% on 120k until a year from now. Trust me, guys, I've tried all these avenues, several times, to no avail. I went through direct loans even and applied for the income contingent. My wonderful creditor never send the info to them so they cancelled the application. What could I possibly do in that? I sent them a letter, I heard nothing. My wife does have a job, she pulls in about 1200 per month. Even, with that considered, though. My student loan payment would be 1/3rd of my wife and I's take home pay for the next 30 years of our life. That, to me, sounds like a hardship. Is it just me? I've traveled every road on this thread and reached nothing but dead ends. What do you guys think I should do about the income contingent thing? I will definitely post results. Sorry.
OK, I just filled out the Direct Loan consolidation forms. I'll mail them tomorrow morning. I don't know if you can do it or not, I've tried it once to no avail. I'll give it another shot since someone seems to think it's possible. I'll let you guys know what I find out.
Hey Marci, how much did you pay in collection fees when your loan consolidated? Was it more than 11.1%?
Negative, you don't need to consolidate in order to get into an income sensitive repayment plan. Yes, a person can generally consolidate under an income sensitive arrangment, but you can start repaying based on your income without consolidating again, I'm pretty sure.
OK, Nothing has worked.... New plan. I wrote a letter to the ombudsman telling them that I have a loan I consolidate 8 years ago. I've made scarce payments on them and to make a long story short, I have received over 7 years worth of financial hardship forbearance. I was wondering about the 3 year limit on forbearances and how I have been granted 7 years and a double in my loan amount. I started with $63k and am now approaching 120k today. Anyway, I wrote to find out if there was ANY chance of getting any of the interest removed. I thought it was a long shot but worth a try. Anyone have any, or heard about any, experience with that sort of thing with them? Lastly, I've come to the point in all of this that I'm not a kid anymore and it's time to face the music no matter how bad it is. I have a 3 yr old son, and a 7 yr old daughter. I made $28k last year and the wife made $32k. My wife doesn't owe a penny of this loan and thankfully she's still willing to stay around....lol. Anyway, We've had a few rough years with my business failing and then the bankruptcy. What I'm thinking now is to try the ombudsman and the creditor for any sort of reprieve. If I get it great, if I don't - face the music and buckle down. Our tax returns in 2000, 2001, 2002 showed less than 35k joint income for the year, in 2003, it was $48k. This year, it was $61k. Now, while the 2000-2002 period was tough, we did live through it. How many of you, in my situation, would simply place my entire paycheck on the student loans for 3-4 years until they are paid off and live off the wife's 32-35k per year? It's tough for a family of 4, but we've done it before and we could do it again. I'm thinking 4 years from now, we could have no debt other that our home mortgage, be down the road 5.5 years after our bankruptcy and be bringing home about 70k per year. How many of you would make the sacrifice I'm saying. Am I completely crazy or is this a logical step for me? If I ever want to have nice things for me and my family, I think we have to make this commitment. The other alternative is nearly $400k in student loan payments over my adult working career ($1000 and change per month for 30 years). 3-4 years of scrimping alot is better than 30 years of scrimping, am I right?
over 70,000 is SL debt, William Ford Direct Consolidation Loan using the income contingency plan, payment is less than 20.00/month. With Federal Student Loan debt, you can not be in repayment for more than 25 years I believe that adds up to less than 6000.00 of repayment in 25 years at current rate. If your income remains at the current rate you wont be paying too much more than that, unless they include a spouses income. No sure if they would? You can apply for the William Ford Direct Consolidation (Student )Loan online, you CAN be currently in default, yes I said CAN, as soon as the loan is paid to the lenders you defaulted with, you are considered out of default. You also qualify for more Title IV funding as soon as the consolidation loan goes out to pay your old loans. You do not need to be creditworthy to qualify, there is no qualifying other than loan type you borrowed with (some loans can't be included, but subsidized and unsubsidized can) I did not read all 4 pgs of this post, so if this info is redundant, please excuse. I.M. Poore
Hi, I just read the last few post of this thread and had previously only read the first few posts on the first page, so I see I posted some "already posted info". But I did go through the WFDL process and would be willing to share info with you if you need it. You need to really stay on top of these people when you are going through the approval process. Call your Uni's Financial Aid office and talk to the person in the office who deals with consolidation, let them know that they will be contacted by WF and then call them every week to make sure that they send out the info WF needs also, call WF weekly and make sure they are getting the info they need. I had to apply twice, the first time it took 8 months and WF finally gave up and said to reapply because: WF said they didn't get info from school. School says they sent it out. Blame , blame, blame. The second time I applied, I called weekly and kept on them and made sure everybody stayed on task. You can have relief on the Income Contingent plan in about 6 weeks. It is definitely worth the trouble, my interest rate is 4.5% or near there. It was actually lowered by consolidation. The first couple of months you may be required to pay the interest only on the loan while they process the income check with the IRS, so your first two months payment may be quite a bit higher than your IC plan payment, but it gets a lot better once you are on "the plan". hang in there, it will get better! I.M Poore
Re: Re: Student Loan Nightmare Marci, What happens if your income has default? what route can you go?? MY student loan has defaulted since I havent been paying them for 7 months before filling BK. And right after filling BK, I thought they are discharged. Now, After seeing this forum and reading it, It looks like I cant go around it except to pay it. I do have a better job now. So I can afford to pay. But, I cant afford to pay the additional 25% they add on top of the loan from the collection. What do you suggest?
Re: Re: Student Loan Nightmare The Ombudsman is the federal student loan"police" I don't know much about them, but they're who you contact if you have problems. My problems with the income contingent repayment plan are two fold. First, My wife and I made $60k this year. Our loan payment would be $700 even under the ICR plan. Second problem - I could pay 700 per year for 25 years and not even be paying the interest. The ICR plan caps the interest growth at 10%, so - 25 years from now, I've payed in close to $200,000 and I still owe $132k to the government. They forgive the amount after 25 years in the ICR plan, BUT you owe taxes on what they forgive. So, I throw $200,000 aftera debt that doesn't reduce for 25 years and then owe about $50,000 in taxes as soon as they are forgiven. Is it just me or does that not look like an attractive scenario? You said you have $70k in loans and pay less than $20.00 per month. Jeez, how'd you rate that? I wish I'd have used them to consolidate the first time, I consolidated $62k, with the 10% cap, I'd owe $69k today. With the freaking law the way it is, I owe $120,000 and no relief in site. What is it going to take to get the freaking government to wake up to the potential disaster that the law is allowing. I weigh the options, hmm, I'd have been better off pushing freaking shopping carts at the Wal-Mart my entire life. It is ridiculous.
Re: Re: Student Loan Nightmare The Ombudsman is the federal student loan"police" I don't know much about them, but they're who you contact if you have problems. My problems with the income contingent repayment plan are two fold. First, My wife and I made $60k this year. Our loan payment would be $700 even under the ICR plan. Second problem - I could pay 700 per year for 25 years and not even be paying the interest. The ICR plan caps the interest growth at 10%, so - 25 years from now, I've payed in close to $200,000 and I still owe $132k to the government. They forgive the amount after 25 years in the ICR plan, BUT you owe taxes on what they forgive. So, I throw $200,000 aftera debt that doesn't reduce for 25 years and then owe about $50,000 in taxes as soon as they are forgiven. Is it just me or does that not look like an attractive scenario? You said you have $70k in loans and pay less than $20.00 per month. Jeez, how'd you rate that? I wish I'd have used them to consolidate the first time, I consolidated $62k, with the 10% cap, I'd owe $69k today. With the freaking law the way it is, I owe $120,000 and no relief in site. What is it going to take to get the freaking government to wake up to the potential disaster that the law is allowing. I weigh the options, hmm, I'd have been better off pushing freaking shopping carts at the Wal-Mart my entire life. It is ridiculous.
Re: Re: Student Loan Nightmare Talk to someone at William Ford, explain your situation fully. They WILL work with you. The govt woud rather have you paying something, than nothing at al or defaulting. Tell them what you can afford. You will be suprised what they can do. They do take into account family size, if you are making quite a bit less this year than last What about your wife quitting her job? If she makes 1200.00 / month. 1000.00 loan payment ------------ 200.00 month discrepency if she doesn't work and then only your income would qualify on IC plan. Also, why don't you teach in a Special Ed program after three years , most if not all of your loans can be forgiven. Go back to school half time, take some classes with a special ed emphasis/credential and get that entire loan wiped out and your loans wil be in a "in school "deferment for the time you are taking the classes. Just some thoughts. I.M.Poore
Re: Re: Student Loan Nightmare I teach special ed right now, but have never seen anything about a loan forgiveness program. My current lender has told me no such thing exists. Do you have any info? As for the wife's job, she brings home about $2000 a month. She makes more than I do probabaly. Her not working would be less income and no debt reduction. What has William Ford told you about owing a boat load of taxes on the forgiven debt after 25 years?
Here is some pertinent info, you may already know all of this. Federal Perkins Loan Teacher Cancellation You qualify for cancellation (discharge) of up to 100 percent of a Federal Perkins Loan if you have served full time in a public or nonprofit elementary or secondary school system as a: teacher in a school serving students from low-income families; or special-education teacher, including teachers of infants, toddlers, children, or youth with disabilities; or teacher in the fields of mathematics, science, foreign languages, or bilingual education, or in any other field of expertise determined by a state education agency to have a shortage of qualified teachers in that state. Eligibility for teacher cancellation is based on the duties presented in an official position description, not on the position title. To receive a cancellation, you must be directly employed by the school system. There is no provision for canceling Perkins Loans for teaching in postsecondary schools. Note that you also qualify for deferment while youâ??re performing teaching service that qualifies for cancellation. Contact the school that holds your loan for information on applying for deferment. Stafford Loan Deferment/Forbearance Provisions If you have a FFEL or Direct Stafford Loan and you're teaching full time in a teacher shortage area, you might be eligible for deferment (postponement of repayment) if you borrowed before July 1, 1993. For more information, click here. If you borrowed on or after July 1, 1993, you might be eligible for forbearance (a temporary postponement or reduction). Stafford Loan Teacher Cancellation Cancellation for teachers applies to Stafford Loans made to â??new borrowersâ? on or after October 1, 1998, and to the portions of a Consolidation Loan derived from these loans. You might be able to have up to $5,000 of your Stafford Loans canceled if you are teaching in a low-income school and you are a new borrower. A new borrower is one who received his or her first Stafford Loan on or after October 1, 1998, or who, when the new loan was made, had no remaining balance on a Stafford Loan made prior to October 1, 1998. To qualify, basically you must work as a full-time teacher for five consecutive years in an elementary or secondary school that has been designated as a "low-income" school. You may find more info here http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/cancelperk.jsp?tab=repaying
Mine are Stafford loans. My loans were made after the 1993 date and before the 1998 date. Good gosh, I might be the most unlucky person in the world. Neither of those will work, I graduated at a time and consolidated my loans at a very high rate. I filed bankruptcy after the time they were dischargeable. This is just unbelieveable. How could my situation get worse?
Well, today I found out that my lender turned down my consolidation with Direct Loans again. They refuse to release it because it is the only loan I have. (Why don't they just admit they refuse to release it because they have a guaranteed 120k loan at a whopping 9% interest, This crap should be illegal.) Anyway, I called them and basically said I have no way of paying it, I have no way of ever paying it, what do I do. They gave me a phone number to the student loan counseling service and told me to try them. I called them, told them my story and they wanted to do a conference call with my loan holder. The lady with the SLCS chastised the rep from my loan holder repeatedly and said that it's amazing that they're unwilling to budge when I'm setting here trying to do something. They didn't budge. They flat out told me my only hope was to default on the loan. (Of course they want that, they cash in from the govt on the 9% interest that's been costing them about 1-2% for the past few years.) What a country...
uhh. If you default it is going to cost you a bit more than interest. Right now collection fees hover between 18.5% and 22% (at a minimum). That is going to run you over 20,000.00 in collection fees. I would avoid that. You should appeal your case to the Guarantor and Lender Oversight Division of the Department of Education at the DOE Division office closest to your home. You have posted a really long message here, which I don't want to read all of. I don't know if you qualify for a consolidation loan or not, or an income sensitive repayment plan, or if you already consolidated once and now cannot consolidate again. I only know about defaulted loans. But, I can tell you there is a fundamental principal in student loans. Such payments must be reasonable and affordable. There is also another principal. Any communications not sent certified mail return receipt requested are ignored. I would send you documentation and request and appeal from the DOE, but send it certified mail. This might work for you. If I'm right, (and I might not be), you should not have to make payments in excess of your budget and be released after 25 years.
