Vacation has thrown me off my game
I survived the vacation and had to come back to reality. Our spending on vacation was pretty close to where I thought things would be, so that’s a positive. On the other hand my wife’s car was being repaired over the week we were gone, so that expense has wiped out our EF. We also have a bill coming from the kennel that took care of our dog while we were gone that has to be paid. Everything is current except for one thing: my wife’s student loans.
We are having a really rough time getting a forbearance on her private student loans. They are expecting a large payment next week and we have no way to pay it. When she called them to explain that there’s no way to make this payment, they act like they could care less. I’m glad her other student loans are on a deferment, although the interest on them is building each month, these private loans have blindsided us. I am at a complete loss on what we’re going to do about that payment.
She is still interviewing for various schools to find a full time teaching job with decent income. Right now she has one offer for a school an hour and a half away, in a really bad area and for the lowest pay I’ve seen so far. I don’t want her to have to take that job and feel like she mad a bad choice to become a teacher. We need her to have a good first teaching job with a decent income so a large chunk of it can get rid of her student loan debt quickly. I’m confident something good will come for us, it just takes time.
August is soon coming and we have to really watch where the money is going. My wife doesn’t get paid for the week she took off for vacation, or any other day she has off like holidays, so her paycheck is going to be reduced for the first half of the month. The two weeks to the middle of the month will be a struggle but I think we’ll make it. We just have to watch where the money is going instead of wondering where it went.
The private student loan lenders are the worst! Mine denied my deferment/forebearance so many times that I gave up, ignored them and went into default. I know you’re too smart to let that happen so keep working at it and good luck!
I’m not smart enough to figure out a way to keep from her credit being trashed as a result of not paying them. If we just ignore them the balances will continue to increase through interest and late fees and balloon to way more than she borrowed in the first place. The only plan I have is to get some money and start throwing it at them. She is fighting with her mom about these loans because all my wife did was sign the paperwork. I don’t think she even knew what she was borrowing and now it’s a problem.
Jim Welcome Back! We missed you! To me it does not make any sense why your wife is fighting with her mother.She can not blame her student loan amount anybody but herself. Hasn’t she wondered where the money is coming while going private graduate school? I dont mean to be harsh on your wife bt she needs to act like an adult and take responsibility.
Chicky the private loans were not for private grad school at all, they were only for her undergrad at a state school. She was able to do the federal loans for her grad school. The reason for finger pointing is she didn’t do this herself, her parents helped her get to this point. Her name is the only one on the loans and thus she is responsible for them. She didn’t start paying attention to the student loans until the middle of grad school. Looking back at just the undergrad loans, she borrowed way too much.
Sound like a tough situation. I’m in some similar situations. No doubt you’ll get through it.!
Have you inquired whether they will grant a forbearance if you brought the loan current?
I suffered a similar fate as well. I fell 90 days behind back in 2003. The collection agency calls came in and started harrassing my parents, my sister, etc. Long story short, I was able to get a forbearance once I brought my private student loans current. I brought it current by using my credit card. Once I got the forbearance, I used the forbearance period to pay off towards the credit card amount. I think I renewed the forbearance once or twice after that.
I’m not suggesting you do what I did. But if there is someone you can borrow the money from, this may be an option.
Welcome back, hope you had a wonderful time on vacation!
Student loans are a double edged sword. You need them to get where you want to go in life, however the payback is the most painful process. As a student I focused completely on GRADUATION. There was no-way I was going to flip burgers…ever again. I signed loan application after loan application, requested extra money to live on, and to pay for books. I was aware, but not “conscious” of the debt. Six months after graduation, with life expenses like: house payment, car payment, the heating bill, food, clothes for work…I didn’t factor these bills into my monthly student loan repayment plan. “Oops!”
Whose fault is this? Mine, (your wife’s in her case)? The schools for not providing loan counseling and a better explanation consequence of the loan(s)? I take responsibility! (Remember I was not returning to work fast-food, “FRENCH FRY GIRL”). Aside note, I do hope that school loan officers and finical aide officers, today, are educating students about their future debt load.
I left the Field of Education…I couldn’t support myself, on my wage as a teacher (with my debt). Sometimes the dream education, is actually a path to the “dream career”. Leave the window and the doors open for the right opportunity to find you. You have a degree! Take advantage of it. Use your education, not only the certificate but the years of knowledge you gained. And finally, may many opportunities come your way.
Welcome back! I hope you had a good time on your vacation, though I’m sorry to hear about the student loan situation that awaited your return. How stressful it must be for you two! And I guess your wife has learned a valuable (and very expensive) lesson about signing papers without reading them.
You’re right about one thing: The lenders absolutely do not care less. They’re a business, and their business is to make money. Your stress level is not their concern. Expecting anything different is just going to lead to disappointment.
Things will come together. Hang in there.
Welcome back from vacation.
I can totally feel your pain and frustrations. When I was making a lot less money, I had to go back to school in order to put them back in a deferment status. I enrolled in 6 units at Cerro Coso which is an online school. I was able to do the work in the evenings when I had spare time. It wasn’t the funnest idea while working, but it put my loans in deferment until I could afford the payments. I’m not sure how that works with private loans though.
Oh, I wanted to add that I have a good friend who started with a bit over $100K in student loan debt from law school. He went back to school and got a master’s degree so it would get deferred. And then it was $150K. And then it was deferred for a long time since he couldn’t afford the payment. Then it was $200K. He consolidated his various loans to get a lower rate, and started paying it. But then he deferred them again because it was stretching him too thin. Now he owes $250K, most of which is federal loan debt.
I’m not trying to scare you at all, but I am saying that you don’t want to defer the loans too long. The interest will only make it worse. (I say “you” but I know that the loans are in your wife’s name and, as you said, her responsibility.)
The only school my wife will be going to is to work as a teacher. I don’t like the idea of putting these loans off because the balances are always going to increase if you don’t pay them. It was well known long before that I do not make enough money to take care of these loan payments. When she does get a salary that pays decent, 1/2 to 2/3 of it will more than likely go to the loan companies to make them go away quickly. It will be a huge relief to pay off these student loans quickly. After the loans are paid off, I might suggest something crazy like paying off the house. How cool would it be to have absolutely no debt before we hit our 40s?
Update on my wife’s private student loans. They granted her a forbearance because there is no longer a payment due next month. I also checked the interest rates on her loans and somehow they went DOWN which is very good. Even with this good news that doesn’t mean she gets to rest easy, getting a teaching job with a good salary is first priority.
Congrats on getting a forbearance. What exactly happens to interest during a forbearance?
I only gave the suggestion of going back to school as a last resort if you had no way of making the payment.
Oh…. Being debt free by 40 would be awesome. By 40, I will be debt free except for maybe a mortgage/car payment. Depending on what happens with my mortgage, it can be quite a few years before I could have enough saved for a down payment.
very good post help you to become debt free today. So what are you waiting for.