1
student-loans
student-loans
Law Dropout Debilitated By Asperger Syndrome Gets $339,361 In Student Loans Forgiven
By Laura Northrup on May 24, 2012 9:08 AM
93 Comments
College debt is one of the few debts that can't be discharged in bankruptcy, unless you have a really, really good reason. You pretty much have to be dead or have a debilitating disability that keeps you from working. So it caught the attention of the National Law Journal when a Maryland woman in her 60s had $339,361 in college debt discharged in bankruptcy court earlier this month. More »
Sallie Mae Opts Not To Go After Family Of Dead Woman For $120K In Student Loans
By Chris Morran on May 14, 2012 11:15 AM
57 Comments
As we wrote last week, while many parents consider it a no-brainer to co-sign their children's student loans, that decision can come back to bite them later. And if that child passes away, there's little stopping loan servicers from piling debt on the parents' grief. But here's one story where Sallie Mae ultimately opted to not go that route. More »
Aspiring Nun Has Too Much Student Debt To Take Vow Of Poverty
By Laura Northrup on May 14, 2012 9:30 AM
86 Comments
In news stories about the student debt crisis, we hear about American young adults delaying the typical milestones of adulthood due to their student loans. They (well, we) postpone marriage, childbearing, and purchasing first homes. But what if you're interested in a holier, more altruistic path? Men and women who want to join Catholic religious life must be debt-free before they even think about making their vows, and that's a challenge for people who don't realize their calling until after they've taken on student debt in the mid-five figures. More »
(jadavids)
Why Private Student Loans Are A Dangerous Game
By Laura Northrup on May 10, 2012 8:04 AM
118 Comments
Co-signing a younger relative's private student loans doesn't seem like such a reckless idea. After all, it's an investment in their education and careers, they'll certainly be able to pay it all back once they're educated, and they're going to outlive you, anyway. That's not always the case, and the risks can be substantial. Jessica's best friend had her grandfather, now 80 years old, co-sign her private loans with Citibank. After her sudden and shocking death, now he's on the hook for $70,000. More »
Key Finally Decides Not To Make Family Pay Dead Student's College Loans
By Laura Northrup on April 27, 2012 8:00 AM
79 Comments
When a person dies and their estate is settled, any remaining debt dies with them, including student loans. But there's an exception: if a parent or other responsible grown-up co-signs a loan and the borrower dies a tragic young death, that co-signer is on the hook for the entire amount of the loan. That's how co-signing works, after all. But after a Rutgers student died in 2006 after two years in a coma, most of his lenders (credit cards and student loans) deferred, then forgave his debts. Key Bank was the holdout, since the student's father had co-signed his college loans at Key. Since 2006, the family has paid $20,000 of the $50,000 balance. It took an awful lot of negative publicity, but Key says that they will forgive the debt, and might not even put future families in the same terrible situation. More »
(matneym)
Effort To Keep Student Loan Interest Rates Low Gains Bipartisan Support
By Chris Morran on April 24, 2012 12:45 PM
76 Comments
Yesterday, presumed Republican candidate for President Mitt Romney mentioned his support for extending the current cap on interest rates for federal Stafford student loans, meaning that this is one issue both candidates appear to agree on. The question is, can something be done before those interest rates double in July? More »
Law Would Forbid Colleges From Using Federal Money For Advertising
By Chris Morran on April 18, 2012 3:45 PM
39 Comments
The nation's 15 largest for-profit colleges get nearly 90% of their annual revenue from federal aid programs for students. New legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate today would prevent any of that money being used on advertising, marketing and recruitment. More »
130,000 Students Petition Congress To Not Double Interest Rates On Stafford Loans
By Chris Morran on March 13, 2012 5:11 PM
90 Comments
While interest rates on federal Stafford loans have stepped down over the last several years from 6.8% in 2007 to 3.4% for the current school year, that number is set to bounce all the way back up to 6.8% on July 1, leading 130,000 students to deliver letters to lawmakers in protest. More »
Got A Student Loan Complaint? Take It To The CFPB
By Chris Morran on March 6, 2012 3:30 PM
10 Comments
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has opened up its latest portal for American consumers to register their complaints with various types of lenders. Now people with issues regarding their federal or private student loans have a place to connect — and hopefully reach some sort of resolution. More »
(Scoboco)
5 Student Loan Terms To Learn
By Phil Villarreal on February 13, 2012 10:30 AM
105 Comments
The process of applying for student loans, using them and eventually paying them back can be a decades-long class that teaches you a plethora of difficult lessons about personal finance. One of your first quizzes is something of a vocabulary test when you're trying to wrap your head around what the terms mean. More »
Have A Private Student Loan Horror Story? Today Is The Last Day To Tell The CFPB
By Meg Marco on January 17, 2012 11:15 AM
16 Comments
We see enough horror stories about private student loans that we know there must be quite a few of them out there. If you'd like to contribute to the public good by sharing your experience, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would like to hear what you have to say. And if you actually had a good experience the CFPB would like to hear about that, too. More »
(Scoboco)
A College Financial Aid Primer
By Phil Villarreal on January 9, 2012 12:15 PM
21 Comments
Students need to call upon several sources to cover the massive expenses college drops on them. Unless they're independently wealthy or have a large college fund set up for them, they'll scramble to come up with the funds to pay for tuition, fees, books and living expenses. More »
(eric731)
Average Student Loan Balance For New Grads Is More Than $25K
By Phil Villarreal on November 3, 2011 9:45 AM
101 Comments
If college sent you into the real world last year saddled with $10,000 in student loan debt, take solace in the realization that there is someone out there who owes $40,000 in order to average things out. A newly released study found that the average balance of a student who took out loans and graduated in 2010 was $25,250 — a 5 percent increase from the previous year. More »
White House Announces Plan To Cut Some Student Loan Payments
By Marc Perton on October 26, 2011 5:30 PM
157 Comments
The Obama administration has announced two initiatives to lower student loan payments for some borrowers. One, an update to the existing income-based repayment program, will cap loan payments at 10% of discretionary income for certain borrowers. The other proposal will let some borrowers merge older student loans with newer ones. More »
Dept. Of Education's New Site Giving Headaches To Folks With Student Loans
By Chris Morran on October 13, 2011 5:55 PM
76 Comments
Paying your student loan is enough of an annoyance without the Dept. of Education making it more difficult. Unfortunately, the new site for the Federal Student Loan Servicing Center has people tearing their hair out in frustration. More »
(Ross)
Obama's Debt Reduction Plan Includes Letting Debt Collectors Robo-Call Cellphones To Collect On Federal Student Loans
By Ben Popken on October 4, 2011 5:00 PM
79 Comments
One part of the debt-reduction bill Obama sent to Congress is a provision that would let debt collectors robo-call cellphones to collect on what's owed to the government, like federal student loans. More »
4 Debt Traps And How To Avoid Them
By Chris Morran on September 28, 2011 3:30 PM
104 Comments
One of the best ways to keep out of debt is to be mindful of the many pitfalls that are waiting to swallow you up, and how best to avoid them. The problem is, some of these debt traps don't look so deadly until you consider the consequences. More »
(afagen)
More College Grads Defaulting On Student Loans
By Chris Morran on September 12, 2011 2:36 PM
179 Comments
According to the latest numbers from the Dept. of Education, there was a sizable increase in the percentage of college students who defaulted on their student loans in 2009. More »
Money-Saving Tips For Students
By Phil Villarreal on September 2, 2011 3:30 PM
61 Comments
Newsflash for college students: That student loan money may seem like a never-ending fountain of easy cash, but you'll probably be paying for the ridiculous junk you buy now well into your 30s. Pennies you manage to save now will pay off in the long run. More »
Agents For Dept. Of Education Kick In Door, Handcuff Woman's Husband For Six Hours
By Chris Morran on June 8, 2011 12:55 PM
109 Comments
UPDATE: A Department of Education reps tells Animal New York that the search warrant, in spite of what was reported by local TV outlets (see video below) was for a criminal investigation and not in regards to a defaulted student loan. More »
