Student loan debtor help

[StudentLoanSlave]

Don't know if anyone here is familiar with this website but it is gathering steam and clout. I figure there are more than a few people here who are saddled with SL debt.

http://studentloanjustice.org/

"Student loans have become the most profitable, uncompetitive, oppressive, and predatory type of debt of any in the nation. This has occurred due to legislation that was largely paid for by the the lobbying machine of Sallie Mae, the largest student loan company in America. Vast personal fortunes are being made by both Sallie Mae executives, and others who paid for this legislation, at the expense of decent citizens who were not able to capitalize on their education. This has effectively crippled MILLIONS of decent citizens who want to repay their original debt, but are prevented from doing so by staggeringly higher amounts being demanded from them by both "non-profit", and for-profit student loan companies. This has truly created a swath of economic destruction across our land.

It is time to shine a bright light on these individuals, and this problem.

It is time for Congress to listen to the borrowers, not the lenders.


If you are a student borrower hurt by your student loans, do not be intimidated or ashamed. Please tell your story for the record. It needs to be told. If you are a legislator, please review this site. Your help is greatly needed. If you are a Student Loan Company Employee, and want to come clean, this is the place."

There is also this Yahoo group for support and direct action:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentLoanJustice/

[rucky]

1. are you affiliated with this group? n/t

[StudentLoanSlave]

2. I have student loan debt

and am affiliated with anyone trying to improve the situation.

I am intrigued by your question, why do you ask it?

[rucky]

3. It's fine if you are.

but you'll get a better reception here if you're up-front about it.

[StudentLoanSlave]

4. Why?

My post is in no way inappropriate. It is there to offer help. There is no profit incentive whatsoever. This issue is going to grow to the point that it will rival the IRS abuses uncovered in the mid '90s. People are very, very desperate.

[rucky]

8. It looks like a good site.

If you're involved, you should be proud, and it's just some unsolicited marketing advice.

If you're not involved, then I was off the mark, but you've gotta admit that it would be easy for someone to reach that conclusion.

[intheflow]

5. Probably asked b/c of your screen name.

StudentLoanSlave is so obviously in step with the goals of the web site you posted, it does seem as though you might be formally affiliated with the group. As the other poster said, no problem if you are, I did not perceive that person's comments to be an attack on your personal integrity, or the integrity of your post.

That being said, I checked out the site and gave this post a recommendation.

I'm at $90K in loans myself, for a four year Master's degree. I worked all through the program and still had to take the maximum amount of loans to get by. And that degree only gets me a job that will pay at the most $45K a year--if I get one of the relatively few full-time positions available in the country. Most of the jobs I'm elligible for will only be part-time, $30K at the most.

Thankfully, the state of Massachusetts paid for my undergrad degree, back 20 years ago when the welfare system paid 100% tuition at the college of your choice to get people off the welfare roles. Of course that program is now as dead as John and Robert Kennedy. :(

[StudentLoanSlave]

6. So what are your options?

I am saddled with $60,000 and see no way out. Scares the living hell out of me.

[intheflow]

9. I'm currently on full deferment.

Unemployed. When I get a job, they'll get whatever I can give them a month. Regardless of what they say, if you are making regular payments, even below what they say is the minimum, they can't really do anything. You are acting in good faith. And they can't get blood from a stone!

This will work until the Repukes and the DINO Corporatists figure out how to bring back debtors prisons.

[StudentLoanSlave]

12. You sound like the kind of person we need

Please join the group and spread the word. It's all free!

[intheflow]

14. I've just been poor a long time.

I get totally stressed out sometimes, but the stress has decreased over the years as I have dealt with so many collection agencies. They seem to be like Dementors from harry Potter--they can sense fear and and desperaton feed on it. I always got harrassed when I got upset with them; now I just tell them "This is what I can pay, take it or leave it," and they always take it.

[ima_sinnic]

11. who is your lender? I feel lucky in that I consolidated w someone other

than Sallie Mae, though I was with them for a while before consolidating in 2006. I am also $60K+ (about $66K) but at 5.6% interest, which is not too bad, is it? I can recommend Chase Student Loan Servicing if you are able to change lenders--they just took over Collegiate Funding Service, which also had seemed okay to work with. I don't know what to do except keep paying, as with any loan.

After reading the horror stories on the website, I feel very very fortunate that, except for a period when I was unable to make payments and accrued quite a bit of interest, I don't believe I was screwed over or bilked. Somehow I "slipped through the cracks" at Sallie Mae; they did not treat me poorly--i.e., maintaining the 5.6% interest--unlike some stories I read at the site that said the interest rate kept increasing/changing every month and no progress--in fact, "reverse progress" was being made.

[ret5hd]

13. You could get a job as a cop.

[StudentLoanSlave]

16. No, I could not

Over the age limit.

Stop spreading mis-info please.

[ret5hd]

17. i was working on the premise of "find what you love then get someone to pay you"

and you seem to have a fixation with defending cops, so...

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[StudentLoanSlave]

19. Do me a favor

Send me a mail with your cute remarks please. This is a serious issue that I don't want you to fuck with.

[ret5hd]

20. Heck, ya' try to help a guy...

:rofl:

[StudentLoanSlave]

21. Again, save it for private mail

and get a life while you're at it. Thanks sweetie

[Swamp Rat]

7. How can joining this group help me get out of debt?

SallieMae owns me. :(

[StudentLoanSlave]

10. They are a political action group

We have activists applying pressure on Capital Hill. We are going to make it easier to file bankruptcy, offer settlements and compromises and limit how much can be taken from us in the form of garnishments.

People who have deliberately cheated on their taxes are allowed to make settlements with the IRS. Student Loan debtors can be hounded for decades while their loans double, triple and quadruple.

Some have killed themselves, some have moved out of the country, some are laving in the underground economy.

[Swamp Rat]

15. And some are unemployed

like me. I have worked in the underground economy playing music on the street but that does not even provide enough on which to live. Suicide is right out. I am considering leaving the country for good the next time I travel abroad. I'd rather be poor and working the streets of Europe than the USA.

[Midlodemocrat]

22. This is a good resource, thanks for posting it.

I don't have student loan debt myself because I worked full time while going to grad school. I was beyond poverty stricken, but I was able to keep that particular wolf at bay.

I don't know how people can possibly be expected to start recovering from that kind of debt that is incurred with education. It makes no sense.

Now it seems that every kid who goes to college is saddled with debt. They're behind the eight ball before they even get a chance.

[intheflow]

23. kick

[intheflow]

24. another kick

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

25. The OP is no longer a member of our happy little family. n/t

[muffin1]

26. Thank Buddha

I first noticed this fool on Nance's last rant. He was berating her for her poor writing skills. What a fucking tool. Then, I noticed he was starting threads all over the place. His only motive seemed to be baiting us. What a tool. :evilfrown:
So long, loser.

[hedgetrimmer]

27. Sallie mae burnt me

After college I applied for a deferment and was granted one... six months later I applied again and received no reply.... I contacted the bank who informed me that "sallie mae" owned my student loan... I applied to sallie mae, they granted me another deferment... that was the last time I was able to confer with sallie mae.... my next dealings was with new york state who contacted me in regards to my defaulted student loan (that was in deferment) and NY slapped on a heavy penalty.... then NY proceeded to garnish my wages and take my tax returns... in protest I chose not to pay... however, interest rates are accumulating and I think I might have to start paying....

along the way to where I am now I made several mistakes that would have helped me if I would have acted promptly... my advice is, get to the punch before they do, stay active with your account and save all your records... everything, even checks... ask for things in print that have been agreed to on the phone... be diligent and never forget you have a student loan... until it's paid.