Retirees' Social Security checks garnished for student loans

[Quackers]

Joshua Cohen works with troubled student loan borrowers.
What's surprised Cohen lately is the increasing number of gray-haired people walking in his doors with a problem: A portion of their meager Social Security benefits are being taken by the government to pay for old student loans they had mostly forgotten about.

It's a growing national trend. Last year, 156,000 Americans had their Social Security checks garnished because of student loans they had defaulted on. It's tripled in number from 47,500 in 2006, before the Great Recession. That's according to analysis done by the U.S. Treasury for CNNMoney.

More at link:
http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/24/news/economy/social-security-student-debt/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

This is so sad.

[hollysmom]

1. There are some things I don't understand

I was talking to my sister, her husband is 80 and they are still paying off their children's college loans. She said they took over their loans because 1) the kids could not pay them off and 2) she promised them an education.

Now, they were never poor, both professionals. But what I don't understand is why they did not just prepay them with an equity loan. I thought student loans were not tax deductible and they are frozen at high rates. Wouldn't that make more sense?

Personally, I would ask the kids to pay off their own loans, but I know her kids, they would not do it, they would probably try to get out of it some way without thinking of the consequences, these kids are now in their middle 40's, it is just odd.

Maybe t is me, I saved and didn't have kids, and I want some people to travel and have fun with, but Sis is buried in her kids debt, I think they still owe 60K. You can blame that on her youngest who took out loans to live on and he lived well, Of course, married with kids of his own, he is wallowing in living above his means and can in no way pay off this debt.

I guess not being a parent myself, I just don't understand this long standing debt.

I am currently trying to talk my younger brother to send his kids to Rutgers, since it is in the state and the tuition is only 20K a year for instate, but he will probably suck up going into debt, even though he is near retirement (had kids late in life). I know my mother and I had giving him over a thousand a year for those kids since they were born and he invested his inheritance into their college fund as well, so he has to be in a decent amount of savings, but not enough for a top charging school. Rutgers is a good school though, The family looks down their nose - Oh well, not my problem I won't be paying for it.

[Turbineguy]

2. It's the opportunity to be

an educated indentured servant or a minimum wage earner. It's the pre-revolutionary French aristocracy, institutionalized.

[Laelth]

3. The comments following that article are downright revolting. n/t

-Laelth

[blkmusclmachine]

4. The late, great USA

[Prophet 451]

5. Fuckin' sick

Here (UK), there are rules that you don't start paying back yoiur student loans until you make £20k or above and it can't ever go above 11% of your income.