Student loan payments are starting up again soon

wyo

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Unless Biden's reanimated corpse extends the pandemic forbearance, borrowers are expected to resume payments in February. This probably isn't going to go well...

A new survey from Student Debt Crisis Center, a non-profit focused on student loan debt, found some alarming statistics about student loans and student loan repayment:
  • 89% of fully-employed student loan borrower say they aren’t “financially secure” enough to restart federal student loan payments on February 1
  • 21% say they will never be financially secure enough to make any student loan payments again
  • 27% of respondents say that at least 33% of their income will go toward student loans when payments resume in February
  • 10% of respondents say at least 50% of their income will go toward student loan payments
  • 44% of fully-employed student loan borrowers said they cannot afford their monthly student loan payments or are in student loan default
  • 45% of respondents say their financial wellness is currently poor or very poor compared with 25% who said said the same prior to the Covid-19 pandemic
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfr...n-borrowers-arent-ready-to-pay-student-loans/

If you have outstanding student loans, will you be able to resume payments?

Do you think Biden will blink and extend the deadline again, given rising inflation, the ongoing pandemic and economic precarity?

Does the "great resignation" signify an impending great student loan default? Personally, I hope everyone refuses to pay. Fuck 'em.
 

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The Almighty Bunghole
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The idea that on a forum where the average age is 40, maybe a little higher, that people here would still be carrying student loan debt is bizarre to me. But then again i was smart enough not to go to college until i could make my employer pay for it.
 

wyo

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The idea that on a forum where the average age is 40, maybe a little higher, that people here would still be carrying student loan debt is bizarre to me. But then again i was smart enough not to go to college until i could make my employer pay for it.
Judging from this statement, my guess is your degree is not in economics...

The 2008 crash and its aftermath royally fucked up the finances of millions of people. Many in their 40s, 50s and beyond have only recently dug themselves out of that hole, and those are the lucky ones. Students borrowed money in good faith, had financial difficulties and saw loan balances double, triple and beyond. Others were misled or outright defrauded.
 

100proof

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The wife has said when she's finally done paying off her loans in 18 months, she's taking all of our friends out to Fleming's for a ridiculous steak dinner. It'll probably cost $1500+ but after 15 years of throwing money in to a hole, she gives zero fucks.
 

heihachi

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I don’t really think Biden’s going to do anything, and I don’t think the Great Resignation is going to herald the end of student loans or anything either.

I do think there needs to be a long term fix for the situation of course, even something as simple as letting people discharge the loans in bankruptcy and lowering amount of federal money any one person can take out. Which should help prevent people from taking ridiculous amounts of loans, make lenders a bit more wary about lending, and drive down costs of education since the money isn’t so easy to come by.

I also think some additional education, disclosures, etc. from lending companies and waiting periods before agreeing to loans above a certain amount should be required—seen enough videos of people who don’t understand interest wondering why their loans are growing despite paying minimums to know financial literacy for most people isn’t very good.

All that said, while I think are a large number of people who have been taken advantage of in some way, there is also a large portion of people who could pay but just don’t want to budget or make paying a priority.
 

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The Almighty Bunghole
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So you have no debt of any kind? I honestly think that's great but it's simply not feasible for most people.
No i do not. Literally zero. Also i will have the option to retire at age 50 if i want to. Only mistake i have ever made financially was borrowing 32k for a trade school when i was 22 years old, and even after not finding work in that field, i still paid the debt back in its entirety in one year. Since then i have never made a financial decision that i did not have ever dollar of it in savings to pay off the credit card or loan or whatever immediately.

Most people dont seem feasible to me, yet they exist!
 

LoneSage

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No i do not. Literally zero. Also i will have the option to retire at age 50 if i want to. Only mistake i have ever made financially was borrowing 32k for a trade school when i was 22 years old, and even after not finding work in that field, i still paid the debt back in its entirety in one year. Since then i have never made a financial decision that i did not have ever dollar of it in savings to pay off the credit card or loan or whatever immediately.

Most people dont seem feasible to me, yet they exist!
Zero debt bro here as well. :buttrock:

Wonder how many Americans decided to not go to college out of fear of it costing too much.
 

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The Almighty Bunghole
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Zero debt bro here as well. :buttrock:

Wonder how many Americans decided to not go to college out of fear of it costing too much.
That was definitely my reason.
The idea of "pay now, you will theoretically get the job later" sets off oh i dont know.... Every fucking alarm in my skull as a really bad idea to sign on the dotted line.
 

hyper

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this is going to hit household spending numbers in January, child tax credits end soon too. the reaction should cause some selling which I'll use to buy some stuff
 

ggallegos1

Cholecystectomy Required.,
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Take out loans to go to school to get a job to pay back loans.

I have some loans that I'll be asking for forgiveness for, mainly from grad school before i earned a ton of military benefits. The fact that people pay the minimum of $25 a month and wonder why their loan never goes away baffles me. I typically pay more than my payment amount, similar to a mortgage, so that it lowers faster and i paying toward capital and not the interest
 

skate323k137

Professional College Dropout
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I don't have any student loan debt but I'm in IT and you can get away with that shit. If you want to be a teacher or work in health care etc., and you don't have rich parents (or any support from your parents in my case) it's really easy to end up in debt.

In 1970 you could badically afford tuition at Michigan State on a minimum wage job. Now you would need 12 of them (minimum wage jobs) to get thru school there without financial aid.

So yeah taking out those loans was a bad idea for many but I can see why. My wife has some outstanding student loan debt but I just do my tax withholding for our joint return to come out with a small refund which they just take and apply to that debt. It'll go away some day, and in the mean time, it was kinda cool to get my return these last couple years.
 
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Heinz

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A part of me is satisfied with having no debt outside of a mortgage. On the other hand I have no degree and thus no education related debts but I also do not earn what perhaps I could if I did.
 

Neodogg

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A part of me is satisfied with having no debt outside of a mortgage. On the other hand I have no degree and thus no education related debts but I also do not earn what perhaps I could if I did.
but are you happy where you are?
 

@M

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I've got zero debt as well. I was fortunate that most of my college education was paid for by grants/scholarships and I paid the difference working scrubbing dishes in the campus dining hall. I had to empty and close out my bank savings account at the time to pay off my final tuition bill, but, I also graduated not owing a dime.

I sometimes like to think of college tuition as a huge bribe you have to pay in exchange for a good job. 😂
 
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neo_mao

Been There., Done That., It Was Shit.,
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I amassed a shit ton of student debt and still have some from grad school.

When payments resume i’ll continue making them and it’s fine...though it would have been nice to have it wiped out if Bernie won :)

I generally don’t mind having debt so long as you are earning more on the money you aren’t putting towards reducing the debt than the interest on the debt itself.

But there is a niceness to not having it hang over your head...so maybe i’ll pay it down in a lump sum soon. Definitely want to do that before I start looking to move in the next couple of years.

Having said all that, if I could do it all over I definitely wouldn’t have gone to grad school - was a good experience but just not necessary. I’m sure I could have gotten to my same job now without a grad school degree.

Undergrad was great though. No regrets there.
 

GohanX

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I made sure I never had student loans so no problem whatsoever.
 

NeoSneth

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I could easily say these kids need to reduce their lifestyles and pay this debt down. and I will say that.
but
Tuition inflation is off the rails. The government needs to stop giving student loans to colleges with 1000% tuition inflation.

At the same time, there's constantly a disconnect from newly graduating students and real work job expectations. You aren't going to get paid shit out of college because graduates are still terrible in the work force. There's no stock options waiting for you. There's a cubicle and some stale coffee.
 

heihachi

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The real sad cases in my opinion are the elderly parents who have to put off retirement or are still paying off loans in retirement because their dead beat kids got them to co-sign for their $50k per semester interpretive dance degrees. Granted the parents really ought to have known better but parental love is a powerful drug.

Saddling old folks with debt or keeping them in the workforce long past expiration shouldn’t be something we encourage, so I’d be cool if co-signers weren’t allowed for student loans.

If the parents really want to give the kids money, they’ll still find ways to do so but don’t let them hang themselves so easily and keep the burden of the student loans on the student.
 

Lagduf

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I think a college education could be for most if the costs weren’t so exorbitant. Not everyone needs to go to some prestigious institution or get an advanced degree.

I went to a state university from 2002-2006 and we had a significant tuition increase every semester, it was crazy.

I have a very small amount of student debt that I could pay off right now. I was delinquent for a time after college but I eventually began to repay and then one month money was no longer withdrawn from my account. I think my loan was sold to another company? I don’t know. Didn’t bother repaying after that.

Maybe I’ll pay it off one day, probably not. Fuck ‘em.
 
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