Student loans

DirtyDirtyVagrant

Is there any way I can talk down the penalties and late fees (not interest) on my student loans?

Deebaser

Yes. Are they calling you? Talk to them and tell them you want to get right.

DirtyDirtyVagrant

Actually they're garnishing my wages and seizing my tax returns. It'd be awesome if I could settle them.

Goddamn promissory note.

Okay. Well, that's good news in any case. Thanks.

Deebaser

I'm not sure that they'll be as willing to deal if they already got an income execution, but christ, call them up. You have nothing to lose.

Elin

This is just anecdotal but ... are the loans private or through the government? I had a buddy with loans being serviced through ...Sally Mae? I think, and they would not work with him at all. He tried for 6 months, documenting everything, then he called the department of education with the documentation. He said the department of ed took over the servicing, gave him a forbearance and worked out terms with him.

Again, second hand info, but it's worth looking into to see if you can do something like that.

Also, my wages weren't garnished, but my taxes were on a department of ed serviced loan. They let me set up a payment plan and lifted the tax garnishment. The department of ed also offered to put my husbands loan into forbearance 3 months early when he was about to go back to school (he was not behind though), so talking to them generally does good.

Slider

I have loans through Sallie Mae and...they suck. I've been able to defer my payments for the last year, but I've also been unemployed for 2 years. And, it doesn't exactly help when my new job only pays me $800 a month. How the hell am I supposed to save money when Sallie Mae wants $100-200 for student loan payments? It's not easy to support yourself on $600 a month.

DirtyDirtyVagrant

My loans are through Citigroup, although they are federally backed? I am not sure how this works. They called them "stafford" loans.

Elin

DirtyDirtyVagrant wrote: »

My loans are through Citigroup, although they are federally backed? I am not sure how this works. They called them "stafford" loans.

It sounds like your federal loans are being serviced through a bank. That means you are dealing with a bank for repayment instead of the government directly. Banks are known to be more hard ass about getting cash back and notoriously poor at negotiating terms to keep you out of the red. Talk to them though and see what you can do, it doesn't hurt to try.

Six

How long have you gone without paying them that they're garnishing your wages and tax returns?

DirtyDirtyVagrant

Uh. Going on...3.5 years now.

Six

You can try to talk, but if you haven't been paying in three and a half years, they may not be inclined to listen.

Slider

Federal loan payments, based on your income, can be...altered. I haven't paid anything toward my federal loans for a long, long time. Obama passed something that regulates your payment amounts based on how much money you make, and since my income is $0 my payments are $0.

Sentry

Sometimes they will work out an arraingement where you make consecutive payments for like, six or nine months and at that point you are able to modify your loans. However, going 3.5 years is kind of crazy.

Shogun

Are your loans subsidized? If they are help is available but because you're so late and seemingly haven't done anything that door might be shut. If your loans are not subsidized you're pretty much fucked.