student loans - ack!

[Bella]

when i first started culinary school, jek and i were still together. the $469.97/month payment did not seem daunting because she had a good job and i was working as well. we could have made it. not so anymore. i could maybe make half that payment now, and that would still put me nearly completely under.

i am at a loss as to what to do. i can't default because that's bad, first of all, and secondly my cosigner was jek's good friend and prof during her undergrad. now that we are divorced, i no longer have contact with the cosigner. i could declare bankruptcy i suppose, but that wouldn't keep my cosigner from having to pay the loan and i am not sure what other repurcussions there are that go along with that decision. my school is no help in giving advice, and i am on the phone to my lender but the wait time is 30-45 minutes.

has anyone else been in this or a similar situation? do you need a live-in cook? a sex slave? anything?

[Crumb]

I think a student loan should allow you very flexible deferment periods. My company offered me deferment for up to 3 years. Also I have a progressive payment plan so I do not pay as much now as I will in the future.

[Beth]

I was just about to suggest deferment. Also, maybe you can get it refinaced?

[Legs]

I'm so sorry bree, money problems are just the worst :hug:

Do you have any family that could help? can you take a second job? (forgive me if you already have a second job and I didn't know)

[ChuckF]

What type of loan was it?

[Sock Puppet]

You can consolidate (refinance) the loan once. (According to Citibank, you can do it ONLY once.) This should reduce your monthly payments to something manageable, at least. The interest rate should stay the same, or you might even be able to reduce it. My wife consolidated her student loan and cut the payments nearly in half. We used The Student Loan Corporation, which is owned by Citibank, but there are quite a few institutions out there that will do it.

[Bella]

i have four loans - two from the government (unsubsidised stafford) and two from private lenders - in this case, a bank in stillwater. i got all four through sallie mae. the two stafford loans are not a problem at all; together the monthly payment is $70. it's the other loans that are so fucking expensive.

i'm still on the phone with the sallie mae people (finally got through to them!) and they say i can defer payment on the two private loans for six months only. it is a $100 fee to do so, and my interest rate will increase plus i'll be accruing interest while i am deferred. then in december, after my six months is up, i can go into 'partial' deferrment where i am only required to pay half of the monthly payment - in this case, about $200. but that deferrment is only for three months. so, any way i look at it, i'm just postponing the inevitable.

i asked them about consolidating and i am getting information sent to me about it. apparently i can consolidate the two private loans and the two stafford loans (like with like) and maybe reduce payments, but right now they're not sure until i submit the paperwork.

it is hard to get a second job when your first one is a culinary one. i work at 5AM until whenever i get done - it depends on the day. and my schedule depends on the week - sometimes i only work two or three days, sometimes i work seven, and sometimes i work nine or more days in a row without a break. sometimes i work two or three hours and sometimes i work twelve to sixteen. it all varies so much, it's hard to make a second work schedule.

can you switch around your cosigner? i'd feel better about having my parents cosign (if they're willing; it's hard to tell these days) than with jek's friend/prof. also, does anyone know anything about other loan consolidation, like credit cards and stuff? because when jek and i broke up i got saddled with the credit card debt that was in my name, though we shared the card, and needless to say it was a lot. i am loathe to call those numbers on the TV. any other suggestions?

you guys are great.

[Beth]

Can you take Jek to small claims to pay half of the debt on your cards?

[Sock Puppet]

i asked them about consolidating and i am getting information sent to me about it. apparently i can consolidate the two private loans and the two stafford loans (like with like) and maybe reduce payments, but right now they're not sure until i submit the paperwork.If they don't have a satisfactory consolidation plan, or try to feed you some line about not qualifying, you should check with other lenders on your own. You don't have to stick with sallie mae's answer; there are probably plenty of lenders who would be happy to buy out the loan out from under your current creditors, with better terms.

[Shake]

i'm still on the phone with the sallie mae people (finally got through to them!) and they say i can defer payment on the two private loans for six months only. it is a $100 fee to do so, and my interest rate will increase plus i'll be accruing interest while i am deferred. then in december, after my six months is up, i can go into 'partial' deferrment where i am only required to pay half of the monthly payment - in this case, about $200. but that deferrment is only for three months. so, any way i look at it, i'm just postponing the inevitable.
Yes, but who knows what could happen in that time and besides, that's more time that you definitely will not be in danger of defaulting. If nothing else, it'd give you more time to work out some better solutions.

Could you still send them something during the deferrment period or even during the partial deferrment period? What I'm getting at, is if the whole amount would break you, maybe you could still afford to send something during the deferrment and that would enable you to not fall as far behind.

Worst case, I know that in at least some bankruptcies, the loan amounts are deferred completely. Mine apparently got paid off as part of my bankruptcy, which is not what they told us would happen.

[Adam]

Ditto what Sock said. Aunt Sallie's people aren't going to tell you you can use another lender to consolidate, because they don't want to lose the loan, but there's no reason you can't consolidate with someone else. Shop around.

[roastelk]

check your local laws. up here their are laws saying you dont have to pay back more $3000 year on student loans. regardless of what you ow. (still, thats $250 a month).

[TomJoe]

I consolidated through Collegiate Funding Services.

http://suntech.cfsloans.com/ (http://suntech.cfsloans.com/)

You might want to check them out.

My payment is only $140/month ($20,000 total debt). I pay more on the principal to cut down on the interest I'll have to pay back though.