Dealing with a defaulted Student Loan

You are not alone. I just looked at my overall numbers and it's scary how much I owe and what it can inflate to if I don't play my cards right.

You are lucky you have someone who can help you pay off the loan. I don't think it's worth it to hire on a legal team because you'll still have to pay them basically what you would have paid to the lenders.

You didn't screw up. You did what you were told to do. I bet from basically kindergarten onward it was beat into your head "you need to get good grades now to get into a good college or you'll be flipping burgers". So you did what you were told, went to school to get good grades, got into a reputable college, did whatever it took to get through and then came out to a bunch of recession crap and loans. I will be honest with you -- I went to graduate school because I had nothing else going for me after undergrad and it was the only way to secure myself financially.

I feel you brother. It is parasitic to charge that much in collection fees and I am right there with you. Two degrees, 80k in debt, working a job in which I use intellect but nothing I learned in school, renting and trying to pay my loans off before 35. Maybe then I can start a family? Probably not.

You can discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy. There are special conditions to do so, so no telling if you qualify for that or not.

Student loan debt is also subject to the statute of limitations in your state. That can be a pretty short time, so it is possible you may have already passed it.

There is no telling if either of those things apply to you unless there were a lot more facts known. The key point is that the entire student loan collection business rely on people thinking they do not have any leverage to discharge and/or ignore their debt.

Don't talk to these people until you determine what your actual liability and leverage is. If you need to engage some advice, it may be worthwhile to do that.

It is likely that if you had fallen behind significantly that this collector bought your debt for a severe discount. So they would almost surely settle for much less than a full repayment if you could pay all at once.

Thanks for the response. You nailed a lot of my situation. Except...Ouch... you owe 80k? I shouldn't complain then about my measly 30k.

Kindergarten teacher: Before we play duck, duck, goose we have a very special guest here today to speak with you...

Special Guest: Kids, it is vital for you to college. College is important. If you don't go to college you will be poor and working fast food.

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5th grade teacher before assessment tests: Kids it is important to do well. If you get good grades now you can get into advanced courses in middle school and advanced courses in high school. This will help you once you get to college. This is why your decisions now are important and the results of this test will tell you what you have to work on to be on your way.

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8th grade high math teacher randomly in class:

This stuff is really important, guys. You need to get to know this now so you can get ahead in high school and then be ahead before you get into college. Because once you are in college you are on your own. College is important. You need to go to college to get a good job.

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AP Biology teacher for 11th and 12th grade upperclassmen high schoolers:

Alright kids. The results of the recent test blew me away. You are doing advanced work that people in college aren't able to do. Congratulations, you're getting ahead! Some of you that are going off to school next year will be thankful for the hard work you've done here because now you are better prepared and won't have to take intro level classes. Every credit counts and nobody wants to be flipping burgers for a living!

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Required course instructor freshman year:

Students of this 101 pre-requisite course that you probably don't need for your future, I remember when I was college. Then I went for my master's and eventually got a PhD. Here I am stroking my ego in front of 18-20 year olds. I am the smartest person you have ever met. Do other smart people have my vocabulary? Go home and belittle your parents at Thanksgiving time and regurgitate what I've taught you. Remember, use big words to confuse your relatives and make them feel stupid. You all get an A. Thanks for buying all $300 worth of books for the course, it paid for both my family vacation this year. We are terribly sorry you will only get to read one chapter of them and only get $20 during the buy back. Remember, college is going to help your future in this globalized society.

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Advanced 700-level course instructor senior year:

Welp, I don't know how to tell you this but it is my job to be transparent with you all. The job market has crashed and many of you will struggle to find meaningful work after graduation. We pushed you to vote for change. We pushed you to vote democrat to help pad public instructor salaries. We pushed you to study hours and hours worth of theory that has no applicability to jobs in the "real world". I feel sorry for all of you who took out loans and struggled to be here. I feel sorry for those of you that worked two jobs in the summer to help pay costs while taking out loans to cover the rest. This is a crisis, this is a crisis.

Please turn to page 312 in your $250 textbook...

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Human Resources form letter for the 100th job in your field you applied for:

We are sorry. While you possess the education you lack experience and we found a better candidate that more closely matches the job requirements. We encourage you to apply again!

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Human Resources form letter for the 200th job in your field you applied for:

We are sorry. While you possess the education you lack experience and we found a better candidate that more closely matches the job requirements. We encourage you to apply again!

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Human Resources form letter for the 300th job in your field you applied for:

We are sorry. While you possess the education you lack experience and we found a better candidate that more closely matches the job requirements. We encourage you to apply again!

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Inner monologue:

How can I gain experience if I can't get a job? How can I get a job if I don't have experience? This is a total rip off and I am not going to work fast food...

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Student loan counseling from your former university:

You are defaulted. Pay now or go to court.

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Pestering phone calls from the same area code as your former university:

Pay now or go to court.

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Automated phone calls from the collection company 5 times per week:

Pay now or go to court.

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Advice from all of your elders:

When I was your age [insert hard working story here]...so my advice is to take any job that you can. Even if it means flipping burgers! Everyone has to start somewhere because your mother and I are sick and tired of bailing you out.

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Automated phone calls from the collection company 10 times per week:

Pay now or go to court.

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Front page local and national news:

Millennials can't find jobs, can't pay back student loans! We are in a student loan crisis!

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Front page local and national news:

Fast food industry to invest in robotics and artificial intelligence backed technology. Soon enough, people who flip burgers will be out of work...

Thanks for this. I don't think I'm past the statute of limitations. I do bet this collector bought it for a discount though. I think even if I have to pay a lawyer to read over and approve of a final settlement contract, it could be worth it.

some loser wrote:

Thanks for this. I don't think I'm past the statute of limitations. I do bet this collector bought it for a discount though. I think even if I have to pay a lawyer to read over and approve of a final settlement contract, it could be worth it.

In some states the statute of limitations is as little as three years.

I would pretty much guarantee they bought it at a discount.

The other question is whether you have any attachable assets or salary. If not, it is a worthwhile strategy to just ignore them and just run the clock on the statute of limitations. They already know what you are earning at a level that makes suing you profitable. If you are not, they will not do it.

The best thing to do is to find a very reputable consumer bankruptcy/debtor's rights lawyer and pay a few bucks to have them review your student loans. Every now and then a debt collector will screw something up and exceed usury limitations or engage in a violation of state or federal debt collection laws. If that happened to you, you will have some leverage to deal with the collection agency.

If not, you will still be wise to have a consumer bankruptcy/debtor's rights lawyer on your side because most of the deals debt collection agencies will strike with borrowers are pretty terrible and set you up for failure. A lawyer can also help you protect your assets from debt collection companies in case they obtain a judgment against you.

It may help to know that your era is not unusually challenging and that those who came before you figured out how to get to a normal life without looking for a way to weasle out of your obligations.

Did you have to go to war?

Has the great depression started?

Do your student loans have 13% interest rates

as they did 35 years ago?

You'll figure this out. Get some good professional advice and you will be glad down the line that you acted like an adult.

Go to college timeline wrote:

Fast food industry to invest in robotics and artificial intelligence backed technology. Soon enough, people who flip burgers will be out of work...

there's a valuable lesson in all your rambling: get a job in robotics and AI.