Student Loans Can Ruin Parents' Credit

As a newbie, I am always searching online for articles that can help me.

Thank you for sharing this !

Cash Advance of AL 6:51PM September 30, 2009

I took out parent loans for my son and he has now graduated but cannot find a job that pays enough for him to take on his loans which are coming into repayment now and the loans I took for him. I am a school teacher and the repayments come to over $900 a month and I am going under trying to keep up with these payments and my own bills. I am feeling hopeless. What can i do?

Ann of TX 12:29AM September 28, 2008

When I was in school, I had every intention of paying back my loans and hoped i would be successful. I was told that my social security was exempt from collection and could not be touched by any creditor as well as student loan creditors if I was unable to pay.

Now I am on a fixed income of social security disability, and HESC and Sallie Mae are garnishing my social security payments for the past 1 and 1/2 years making it impossible for me to support myself and get the most basic of necessities.

If I had been warned that my social security would be at risk, when I was in school, I would have never taken out any loans and would have not gone to school, and would not have incurred student loan debt. That would have been better for me than to be in this trapped situation being hounded every day by the Government and their education policies. Not only do they garnish my social security 15% every month, but they phone me 3x a day every day of my life demanding that I pay up what I owe and have added obscene interest rates and collection and court fees and they have never taken me to court. Sallie Mae and HESC are ruthless predatory student loan lenders.

I have learned more about this and what they are doing to millions of other students at htttp://www.studentloanjustice.org

Bleed Dry of NY 2:41PM January 06, 2008

I agree with the author that payments need to be made on time but the parents are requesting information about an issue that is not being addressed here or anywhere else that I can find. I don't know if it was intentional on the part of the article author or not. The cost of education has gone through the roof - it is impossible to get classes at state and local colleges because of cuts in funding at the state and fed level due to "other priorities" As a result if a student wants to graduate by the time they are thirty or if they are going back to school later in life loan debt - and huge loan debt is a reality. Loan companies also know they have students cornered so they charge obscene interest rates, 17% and up is not unheard of. They also will not work with you if your forbearance and deferment time has run out, assuming you had any to begin with. Sallie Mae does service loans but they are some of the more fair. That being said they are also incredibly tight with who and what they will add to a loan. I personally had only a very small part of my loan debt consolidated by Sallie Mae. They would not consolidate other lenders - only their own loans. Those other lenders also refuse to consolidate instead gouging me with high interest rates and a short pay back period. Private Student Lenders are the credit gougers of the new millenium and as a result our children can't compete with the world economy and more and more of our jobs will get shipped over seas and it will get harder and harder to find a job in this country. We can't afford to work for 15 dollars an hour if we pay 200,000 dollars for an education. Maybe I am missing something but it seems pretty simple economy to me.

of CA 7:29PM December 20, 2007