Please help me overcome my loan anxiety

[EasterJoy]

If you are healthy you might think about joining the national guard. You would be obligated to once a month training and get paid for it. Food and travel is provided and I think you would be protected by law for any time you are called up. Ask a recruiter. I think they take girls, too!

The military actually has loan-forgiveness programs:
thesimpledollar.com/student-loan-forgiveness-joining-the-military/

There are also other lines of work that use student loan forgiveness as a carrot to attract educated or academically-superior candidates for unpopular job assignments:
thesimpledollar.com/student-loan-forgiveness-jobs-that-pay-off-your-debt/

This is a topic, BTW, that is not without advice on the internet. I’d look into that:
thesimpledollar.com/15-ways-to-deal-with-student-loan-debt/

In any event, I’d say that carrying a loan that eats up 2/3 of your salary and provides no housing, no food, and nothing else is not tenable. Nobody can live on $350 a month, and an adult should not expect others to support her unless she is has no options or she is giving the one(s) putting her up something they also need. (For instance, if you are taking room and board from a relative who can stay in their own home because they have you there, that is not a one-way benefit, but a mutually-beneficial arrangement.)

She needs to do something about that debt, because paying it off as she’s doing now is an option that ought to be seen as a very last resort.

 

[CthgeDelendaEst]

I thought you absolutely couldn’t discharge student loans via Chapter 7…private or federal.

Isn’t that law still in effect?

Lenders want you to believe this, but it’s not necessarily true. There is also statute of limitations law to file a lawsuit for collection of non payment of private debts, which I believe is 6 years in OR. The OP needs good legal advice on how to proceed.

 

[EasterJoy]

Lenders want you to believe this, but it’s not necessarily true. There is also statute of limitations law for collection of private debts, which I believe is 6 years in OR. The OP needs good legal advice on how to proceed.

Defaulting on this loan is something she should avoid like the plague. When she can avoid default, it is not just to her creditors to leave them with nothing. It will put a smudge on her credit history that she is not going to want. Some people find they have no other choice than to declare bankruptcy, but others ought to find a way to pay off their debts.

 

[1ke]

The military actually has loan-forgiveness programs:
thesimpledollar.com/student-loan-forgiveness-joining-the-military/

There are also other lines of work that use student loan forgiveness as a carrot to attract educated or academically-superior candidates for unpopular job assignments:
thesimpledollar.com/student-loan-forgiveness-jobs-that-pay-off-your-debt/

This is a topic, BTW, that is not without advice on the internet. I’d look into that:
thesimpledollar.com/15-ways-to-deal-with-student-loan-debt/

Loan forgiveness programs apply to Federal student loans, not private student loans.

 

[Lorelei12]

I had around $65,000 (for a BA and MA) and now I’m down to less than $10,000. I accomplished this with the help of my husband. We lived only on his paycheck and just threw everything I made at the debt. I also, for a few years before we were married, moved to a different state where I had a higher earning potential. That might be something you need to consider. Some companies will pay your relocation expenses.

I completely understand your anxiety. It’s truly crippling. The live-in childcare idea is a great one. Also, don’t discount a Master’s program if that’s really what you want to do. It was the only way I have managed to find decent enough jobs, and I received an assistantship (this was also in the social sciences) which both paid for tuition and gave me a stipend to live on. I worked an additional part time job at the time as well. It was also a great networking opportunity.

 

[CthgeDelendaEst]

Defaulting on this loan is something she should avoid like the plague. When she can avoid default, it is not just to her creditors to leave them with nothing. It will put a smudge on her credit history that she is not going to want. Some people find they have no other choice than to declare bankruptcy, but others ought to find a way to pay off their debts.

There are millions of young people in the OP’s situation - tens of thousands (or more) in student loan debt, just starting out in life, can’t find a good paying job out of college so they are working as baristas, bartenders, etc. Most bought into the line that education is the key to success, and are now finding out what a bunch of hooey that really is. They need to be able to reclaim their lives from debt bondage, and the government should get out of the loan guaranty business. Don’t worry about the banks, the Fed will just print up a few trillion to make them whole.

 

[slh3016]

I have $60000 in student loan debt from my bachelor’s degree program and my payments are $700 a month. I tried talking to my bank but they refuse to go any lower. Unfortunately all of my loans are private because my parents’ income was too high to qualify for government financial aid.

My job only pays $1050 a month (after taxes) even though I work 10+ hours a day, but it was the only one I could find and I am lucky to even have that. This area is very economically depressed and there isn’t a lot of opportunity. I have no car so I ride my bicycle to work and live with friends and family as a couch surfer. I’m praying I’ll find a better paying job, hopefully something in my field, so I can make my loan payments and live a somewhat normal life. I want to get married and have a family some day but I’m feeling every day like that is becoming more and more hopeless.

Please I need prayers and advice from people who have been in a similar situation. I just feel like I’m trapped and there’s no way out.

Ok, so let’s crunch #'s (after a few questions are answered)…

1. How many hours are you working a week? You say 10+ hours a day but if you only work 20 hours a week, that’s not full time work.
2. How much do you make per hour?
3. Let’s say you are working 5 days a week and 10 hours a day:
   

    40x$9.25/hour min wage = $ 370.00 
    10x$13.88 OT rate         = $138.80
   
    Total per week is then $508.80 x 52 weeks per year /12 months = $2,204.80 per     month.

So, are you saying that taxes are more than 1/2 your income?

I’m confused, especially until we get real #'s and a more accurate representation of your financial situation.

 

[EasterJoy]

Loan forgiveness programs apply to Federal student loans, not private student loans.

I stand corrected: You are right. This is because Uncle Sam has full control over loans that Uncle Sam makes, but cannot control loans that private financial institutions make.

forgetstudentloandebt.com/student-loan-relief-programs/private-student-loan-relief/private-student-loan-debt-forgiveness-programs/

This young woman could be looking at many years of living with someone in order to lower her living costs. She might be able to find an older person who can’t stay in his or her own home without the help of someone living there to handle taking care of the house. That could be a mutually-beneficial arrangement.

 

[Xantippe]

The OP is making $1000 per month and couch surfing. Her prospects for making more money in the near term are poor. This debt will hang around her neck like an albatross and keep her from ever getting ahead. Say her income tripled tomorrow. How is she going to be able to afford an apartment, car, insurance, pay taxes, and oh yes feed herself while making a $700/month student loan payment? She cant. She needs to get some legal advice and put this behind her. I feel no sympathy for a lender who went $60000 deep into someone getting an anthropology degree.

She isn’t yet in trouble. She doesn’t have the money and that’s that. They can go pound sand.

When she has a little more, than she can think about what to do.

Also, you have to say you’ve had a bankruptcy on a lot of paperwork from then on. Also, I think a lot of romantic prospects would regard it as a sign of bad character if she didn’t even TRY to ever pay it off.

She can always declare bankruptcy later–she can’t undeclare bankruptcy.

The debt isn’t stopping her from doing anything right now that she wants to do. So, there’s no point. Also, bankruptcy costs money.

 

[EasterJoy]

If you are still in Portland, as your information says, there should be more opportunities for you. While there is still some recession job recovery that needs to happen in Portland, it is not really an economically depressed area. The other thing that bothers me is that, unless you are having to pay something like medical out of your paycheck, even with taking no federal and state allowances if you are working 40 hours or more you should be taking home more money than you say you are getting. Oregon minimum wage is $9.25/hr unless you are working for some private person doing something like babysitting or similar. I mean $9.25 x 160 hours (assuming a paycheck every other week in most months) would give a gross of $1480. You would get around 75% of that even after taxes if you chose no personal exemptions (assuming there isn’t some other extra thing being deducted from your pay) which means you should get $1109 minimum. If you claimed your exemption allowances for 1 person for both federal and state, you should net $1171.
This is what I would suggest:
-Go to your college to see if they have a job list for graduates.
-Check out the state employment division resources. You don’t have to be unemployed to use the job finding resources. They can help with resume writing, job finding techniques, etc.
-Look for jobs online in places like craigslist, snagajob.com, indeed.com.
-Go to some temporary job agencies and tell them you are interested in long-term jobs. Some employers actually use temps as a way to try people out before hiring permanently. Plus it is a way to make connnections for future employment.
-Get a job as a waitress. In Oregon tip credit cannot be used against paying minimum wage, so you would be entitled to minimum wage plus tips. It may not be the best job but you could make more money quickly.

I don’t know if it is because we have several good private universities in the area, but if there are millions of people in the OP’s situation, I’d guess that about 100,000 of them live in Portland. OK, maybe not that bad, but seriously: there is a reason that the TV show Portlandia referred to Portland as “The City 'Where Young People Go To Retire.” It* isn’t *where they go to retire, but it is where they go to be grossly under-employed. (The other joke is that while the phrase mostly likely to be uttered by the high school drop-out is “do you want fries with that?” the phrase most likely to be uttered by the college liberal arts graduate is “did you want that as a grande or a vente?”)

There are people every year who get better-paying jobs with a sociology degree, but it would appear she is not one of them. The placement office at her alma mater may be able to help her find a job in her major in an area with a far lower price of living than Portland, too. I think she can find a financially-smarter place to live for the next ten years than here.

 

[1ke]

Most bought into the line that education is the key to success, and are now finding out what a bunch of hooey that really is.

It’s not hooey when one pursues education-- whether college or a trade-- for a skill and career that are marketable.

No one forced the OP to major in anthropology.

They need to be able to reclaim their lives from debt bondage, and the government should get out of the loan guaranty business.

The OP didn’t borrow money from the Federal government. She entered into an agreement with a bank. The bank didn’t force her to borrow the money. It’s a contract she freely signed.

Yes, it stinks that she has these debts to repay without many choices for employment. But the OP needs to get outside the box- be a teacher, take two jobs, look at larger cities, look into freelance writing and editing. Someone with anthropology, social science, and history should be able to write well.

 

[Xantippe]

I had around $65,000 (for a BA and MA) and now I’m down to less than $10,000. I accomplished this with the help of my husband. We lived only on his paycheck and just threw everything I made at the debt. I also, for a few years before we were married, moved to a different state where I had a higher earning potential. That might be something you need to consider. Some companies will pay your relocation expenses.

I completely understand your anxiety. It’s truly crippling. The live-in childcare idea is a great one. Also, don’t discount a Master’s program if that’s really what you want to do. It was the only way I have managed to find decent enough jobs, and I received an assistantship (this was also in the social sciences) which both paid for tuition and gave me a stipend to live on. I worked an additional part time job at the time as well. It was also a great networking opportunity.

Wow, there are some very inspiring student loan repayment stories on this thread.

That is excellent.

 

[1ke]

They can go pound sand.

Or they can go get a judgment against her. Then she faces wage garnishment when she does have work as well as a poor credit report, and she still owes the debt.

You say there’s nothing the creditor can do, but oh yes, there is.

 

[Xantippe]

Ok, so let’s crunch #'s (after a few questions are answered)…

1. How many hours are you working a week? You say 10+ hours a day but if you only work 20 hours a week, that’s not full time work.
2. How much do you make per hour?
3. Let’s say you are working 5 days a week and 10 hours a day:
   

    40x$9.25/hour min wage = $ 370.00 
    10x$13.88 OT rate         = $138.80
   
    Total per week is then $508.80 x 52 weeks per year /12 months = $2,204.80 per     month.

So, are you saying that taxes are more than 1/2 your income?

I’m confused, especially until we get real #'s and a more accurate representation of your financial situation.

Could health insurance costs be the mystery expense here?

 

[Xantippe]

Or they can go get a judgment against her. Then she faces wage garnishment when she does have work as well as a poor credit report, and she still owes the debt.

You say there’s nothing the creditor can do, but oh yes, there is.

On a $1,000 a month, I have my doubts. What are they going to do, take $700 of it?

When they do that, she can declare bankruptcy (if that’s even a legal possibility). Until then, why bother?

 

[CourtneyAnn]

Ok, so let’s crunch #'s (after a few questions are answered)…

1. How many hours are you working a week? You say 10+ hours a day but if you only work 20 hours a week, that’s not full time work.
2. How much do you make per hour?
3. Let’s say you are working 5 days a week and 10 hours a day:
   

    40x$9.25/hour min wage = $ 370.00 
    10x$13.88 OT rate         = $138.80
   
    Total per week is then $508.80 x 52 weeks per year /12 months = $2,204.80 per     month.

So, are you saying that taxes are more than 1/2 your income?

I’m confused, especially until we get real #'s and a more accurate representation of your financial situation.

I don’t get paid for all of the hours I work (the time I spend opening/closing the store, or staying late when there are customers), and I definitely don’t get overtime.I normally average 35~ paid hours, although sometimes it is closer to 30 depending on if the store closes early for an event. I do work 5 days a week (most weeks, except when there are holidays). I won’t lie, a lot of the practices of the people who employ me are a bit questionable. There have been times I’ve waited weeks past the day I’m supposed to be paid for a paycheck. This isn’t to say I’m not grateful for my job, because I am, so I hope it doesn’t come across that way. I am still actively looking for another job, but until then I need the money so I can’t justify leaving this one unless I have another lined up.

On days I don’t work I try to do odd jobs for neighbors and friends, such as petsitting and babysitting, but that if often spotty and I can’t rely on it for a steady source of income.

I will try to find ways I can cut my expenses more. Part of the stress I think comes from the fact that my parents cosigned on the private loans for me because I had no credit, so if I end up defaulting on them, then it will go back to my parents. I don’t want them to suffer because I couldn’t get a good enough job to pay my bills. Right now I’m on a 10-year repayment plan, but I’m hoping that if I put extra money toward my loans every month I’ll be able to shorten that. Possibly finding a live-in situation like was discussed previously in the thread could help free up more money to put toward the loans.

 

[CourtneyAnn]

I had around $65,000 (for a BA and MA) and now I’m down to less than $10,000. I accomplished this with the help of my husband. We lived only on his paycheck and just threw everything I made at the debt. I also, for a few years before we were married, moved to a different state where I had a higher earning potential. That might be something you need to consider. Some companies will pay your relocation expenses.

I completely understand your anxiety. It’s truly crippling. The live-in childcare idea is a great one. Also, don’t discount a Master’s program if that’s really what you want to do. It was the only way I have managed to find decent enough jobs, and I received an assistantship (this was also in the social sciences) which both paid for tuition and gave me a stipend to live on. I worked an additional part time job at the time as well. It was also a great networking opportunity.

Wow that is very inspirational! It sounds like you really took control of your situation and turned it around. I am definitely favoring the relocation idea, so it is nice to hear that it worked out well for you. I live in a small, rural part of Oregon, and there just isn’t any economic growth here. If anything, opportunity is shrinking as more people and businesses are moving to the cities.

 

[Xantippe]

I don’t get paid for all of the hours I work (the time I spend opening/closing the store, or staying late when there are customers), and I definitely don’t get overtime.I normally average 35~ paid hours, although sometimes it is closer to 30 depending on if the store closes early for an event. I do work 5 days a week (most weeks, except when there are holidays). I won’t lie, a lot of the practices of the people who employ me are a bit questionable. There have been times I’ve waited weeks past the day I’m supposed to be paid for a paycheck. This isn’t to say I’m not grateful for my job, because I am, so I hope it doesn’t come across that way. I am still actively looking for another job, but until then I need the money so I can’t justify leaving this one unless I have another lined up.

**Wow–so shady!

When you move on from this job, I encourage you to ask for EVERYTHING that they owe you. And if they don’t give it to you, report them to the relevant state office.
**

On days I don’t work I try to do odd jobs for neighbors and friends, such as petsitting and babysitting, but that if often spotty and I can’t rely on it for a steady source of income.

Very good!

 

[Xantippe]

I will try to find ways I can cut my expenses more. Part of the stress I think comes from the fact that my parents cosigned on the private loans for me because I had no credit, so if I end up defaulting on them, then it will go back to my parents. I don’t want them to suffer because I couldn’t get a good enough job to pay my bills. Right now I’m on a 10-year repayment plan, but I’m hoping that if I put extra money toward my loans every month I’ll be able to shorten that. Possibly finding a live-in situation like was discussed previously in the thread could help free up more money to put toward the loans.

Yes, if you eventually achieve an income closer to $40k a year (and I don’t think that is unreasonable as a goal), you will be able to knock out $60K much faster than in 10 years.

When you relocate, if you have a choice, I’d go for an area with convenient access to a community college. If you take a course a term in more career-oriented subject areas, that should help you figure out a long-term career plan.

Best wishes!

 

[EasterJoy]

It’s not hooey when one pursues education-- whether college or a trade-- for a skill and career that are marketable.

No one forced the OP to major in anthropology.

The OP didn’t borrow money from the Federal government. She entered into an agreement with a bank. The bank didn’t force her to borrow the money. It’s a contract she freely signed.

Yes, it stinks that she has these debts to repay without many choices for employment. But the OP needs to get outside the box- be a teacher, take two jobs, look at larger cities, look into freelance writing and editing. Someone with anthropology, social science, and history should be able to write well.

Those running sociology departments rarely say this–I’ve got to be fair, I’m sure there are some that do–but the typical return-on-investment for a sociology degree is among the worst of all the degree programs. Anthropology, likewise, is a degree for which it is notoriously difficult to find a job in one’s field of study, if one is not open-minded about the careers for which the academic preparation could prove useful. If the OP had it to do over again with no concern but finances, she *might *have chosen differently–that is, either a different major, a different minor, or a cheaper university.

As it is, though, she *doesn’t *have her education to do over again. She may as well be happy about what she got for her money and make the best out of what it will cost her to pay her loans back. It is kind of like spending a whole mess of money to travel around the world. Look back on that trip with fondness! Why rob yourself of the satisfaction of how that trip enriched you, when you’re going to have to do the work of paying for it? Likewise, she presumably chose to study things that enriched her. Now she needs to look for ways that her enrichment might also make her attractive to an employer in a job market with a low cost of living, so she can pay for this and get on with her life. A positive attitude will make her a better employee and a more satisfied person, whereas a negative attitude will help nothing.