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Thursday, November 18, 2010

Exercising My Right Not To Forbear

I hate to restate the obvious, but I have been receiving like 15 calls a day from Sallie Mae and Access Group regarding the 2 loans my husband and I had to stop paying because the payment increased to an amount we could not afford to pay detailed here.  Now, this doesn't annoy us because we never answer our home phone anyway and with our cell phones and Google Voice, who needs a house phone anymore?  Heck, I would disconnect the home phone except that I need it in order for our doorbell to work and for the internet.  Anyway, sometimes I answer the phone just for the fun of it, with my new "I can't pay you" mentality and fun, but well-informed attitude to match.  The representative from the start is determined to get me to put this loan on forbearance, so we can get caught up or apply for the Income Based Repayment plan.  I tell, her, "no, I don't want to forbear the loan because you all will capitalize the interest and I'll end up owing more and I still won't be able to pay."  She says, "well, placing the loan in forbearance will allow you to not pay and hopefully things will turn around."  I ask her, "how much is that payment a month?" She says, its $800 something something" (soon as she said eight, I tuned her out).  I tell her, "that payment went from $200 something to $800 something, the only way something is going to turn around is if you turn around that payment back to $200 - can you do that?"  Surprisingly, she say no.  Really?  I mean really?  You can't make the payment $200 again?  I'm shocked and appalled. 

Anyway, she keeps pressing us to forbear the loan and I'm almost laughing hysterically because there is no way she is going to get me to forbear this loan.  Forbearing to not make payments and not making payments because you can't afford it is the same thing to me at this stage - so why delay the inevitable?  Plus, the interest is only being accrued at this point, not capitalized.  But hey, I'm enjoying the banter back and forth for some strange reason.  Then I ask her, "how much is passed due on this loan", she says, "two thousand something something" (again, I tune out after two thousand).  At this point, I really do bust out laughing.  She makes a final attempt to sell me on forbearance and I tell her no and to have a wonderful day!

I'm enjoying my new sense of empowerment and mental freedom.  Now, if I could only get that to manifest in the physical! 

28 comments:

  1. That's really awesome that both you and your husband are in this decision together. My wife and I are preparing to jump ship and move to Africa in April - good bye Big Mama Sallie.

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    1. The real problem with the legal profession is that it has become feminized. The majority of new attorneys are women. Originally only men could practice law. Even when women were admitted to the bar, the profession was still masculine and the vast majority of lawyers were men. The tide has turned. Women are the new lawyers (Cohen, Atlantic, 2013). When women flock to a profession, it gets stained as feminine and the pay plummets.

      Why does this phenomenon happen? Why is their a wage gap? Because women don't like to do real work. They like to gossip, get involved in drama, and sleep around. How many women machinists, welders, plummers, oil rig workers are there compared to their male counterparts? Women are perfectly suited for HR work, sales, clerical, and escort services positions NOT law. Also consider that, on average, women have 7 points of IQ lower than men (Jones, The Guardian, 2005). The average woman cannot function at the same intellectual level as the average man, coupled with an adversion to hard work. The law is no longer a noble profession. It's in the same category as secretaries, hair dressers, and kindergarten teachers pay wise. JD is a girly degree. Might as well get a PhD in Women's Studies to go with it.

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  2. To the commenter above, I wish you the best. Too bad (lazy-ass) Americans don't exercise their right to revolt.

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  3. Recently made the decision to strategically default on my six figure private student loans. Eating Ramen noodles in the projects for the next 20 years so I can continue to service these loans by giving away half my paycheck? Yeah right! I can't believe that this epic crisis continues to be swept under the rug by our govt! WAKE THE HELL UP!!! ONE TRILLION DOLLARS IN OUSTANDING STUDENT LOAN DEBT BY 2012!

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  4. I too am in the same boat! I have $15K+ on a private loan serviced by Wells Fargo and the only reason I am paying that is that my mom co-signed for me! As for federal loans, I owe approximately $88K+. I am currently on IBR (income-based repayment) which reduced the payment from $530 per month to $88 per month. I have been unemployed since 2/2010 and despite my vigorous and diligent efforts have not found a job. My unemployment pays $1800 per month and that is soon to run out. I used to work for a legal aid office for past 5 years and they laid me off. I didn't even get a break on my loans having worked for a public interest firm for that duration. This is fu**ing ridiculous that the federal government doesn't recognize this as a serious issue. It's not that I don't want a job, but no one is hiring! I don't give a flying crap what the stats say about the economy recovering or job rates going up, because I am certainly not feeling the effects. To add insult to injury I have to pay approximately $300 to complete my MCLEs and pay $400 for state bar dues. Why won't the ABA regulate law schools from accepting any new applicants nationwide and stop yanking people's chains, as far as job availability! Schools should be forthright and honest about employment prospects for lawyers! The market is deeply saturated and many attorneys are under or unemployed. I would love to let my loans go and move to another country but that is not a possibility for me! If all similarly situated attorneys got together and made a stand, maybe something would give? My proposal is: stop accepting incoming law school applicants until and unless there are jobs available. Make MCLEs free for unemployed attorneys and not reduce, but waive their bar dues until they are employed! As for loans, they should forgive someone's loans for people who worked in public interest firms for 5 years. This is an epic crisis and something needs to be done!

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  5. Hope your ruined credit keeps you in the poorhouse for years afterwards, you greedy spoiled bitch. No-one forced you to take the loan money when you applied for it, did they? Now, suddenly, they are the devil's spawn? Grow up and take some personal responsibility for your decisions. Spare us the crap about "empowerment".

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    1. I am in the same boat as this poster. I wasn't greedy when I took the loan, I was hoping that I could land a job and that I could pay it back. Didn't suspect that No one would still want me even after with a diploma. So, you can go fuck yourself with that greedy statement 'cause in the end it's businesses like these that prey on the hopeful and sadly to say 'ignorant' to make their money.

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  6. In your other blog post you said that you earn $86,000 a year. I still can't get over how a person who earns more than the average American can feel entitled enough to have a "Donate" button, and rant and rave about a loan that she voluntarily took out. You have the soul of a lawyer ... which is why we hate you greedy fuckers.

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  7. Well I understand your frustration in paying back your student loans and my husband and I can relate on several levels. However I have been laid off for 5 months now and my husband after looking for a job for 1.5 years only makes about 40K and you are complaining? We also just had a baby. He is also an attorney. We also have "huge" law school student loan debt. I mean we complain about the bad job market and our student loans eating up ALL of our money, but it is hard to take you seriously when you make that much money.

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  8. Please update-- I love your blog-- I could care less if you make 30k or 130k-- student loan payback sucks on so many level it's ridiculous.

    The couple I know that earns the most sends the most to their loans- but they are eating ramen noodles just like we are, and will be for at least 5 more years. You should never judge someone by their salary.

    We are 1 sallie mae loan away from paying off my husbands grad degree, then we can start on the undergrad..... it's nice knowing there are others out there trying to dig out!!

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  9. You could suck cock on the side for $5 a hit but that's a lot of cock you've got to be sucking to pay that $800/mo.

    But it's an alternative!!!

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  10. America is screwed because of all the trolls that jump in and demand people are reduced to slave status as if that's their fault.

    Bankruptcy exists for a reason. Stocks and investing don't come with guarantees (unless you're Corporate America, then you have no risk). In fact, it was supposed to be designed that bad business decisions are punished (i.e., lending money to poor prospects that can't pay it back) and people that take risks and go into debt can wipe that debt out and get a new start (bankruptcy).

    To argue against these things is un-American. It's the same way people argue against Constitutional Rights for police stops and harassment of the citizens. "If you didn't do anything wrong then you should give up your rights!!!" It's retarded for that and it's retarded for this.

    Get a clue. It's too bad more of us don't have the cajones to default. If the people took control back from the abuses of the government and the new corrupt system of law making maybe we wouldn't be in the mess we are all in---including the global depression.

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  11. Well, you are right in forbearance being a scam. This will do nothing but increase the amount very quickly as well as give them a free hand to jack up the interest rate into the 20s or 30s.

    If it's a lot of money, there ARE several options, but they are only worth it if the following apply:
    1) No cosigner
    2) You are protected from being garnished
    3) 100% private loans.

    If all 3 do apply to you, you are in luck. Just stop paying them anything. Send SLM a cease and desist and log any and all contact they attempt following. Record every call. They can and do slip up all the time, especially now with their Filipino call centers.

    After about 220 days to a year, you will start getting calls from another debt collector making various threats. These threats are 100% false and they can't do shit to you anyways. They will offer a number, reject it with one you can do (target is about 10% of initial loan amount). They will go off on a rant, just hang up on them. The agency only has 30 days to succeed before it gets passed to the next agency. Wash rinse repeat until you are getting a number that works for you. Keep a record of all threats and debt collection violations. If they ever get to a point of suing you, you will most likely have enough to countersue to entirely negate the debt.

    Phone recordings might not be allowed, however SLM records everything and that is implied consent. Be sure to make transcripts if it comes down to that, as transcripts are admissible.

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  12. i can uderstand what you feel. sometimes it feels terrible to find someone trying so hard to make us like this or that. the representative of loan company or may be bank usually do the same. anyway, you did a good job by saying no over times :)

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  13. I was in terrible student loan debt. But you know what? I paid it all off. Sure it took ten years of living in a studio apartment and working double-time. I never thought about defaulting. I guess I have too much pride.

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  14. Have you read Student Loan Scam by Collinge? He did a great job putting it all together in one place so that you/we can educate ourselves on all these "whys" that baffle us as we try to navigate the student loan nightmare. They want you to forbear so that they can make more money. Period. Also, once you use up all your forebearance time...they can force you into default and make a huge chunk of change (way more than they say you owe). Anyway, I finally got so fed up that I began saving EVERYTHING. I send all of my letters, etc via cerified/return receipt and even record all telephone calls (and voicemails) to electronic files, etc etc...In addition, I make sure that *I* constantly, consistently and unrelentingly contact and reiterate my position and send letters to as many people as I can within the loan company/guarantor/DOE...across the board. Oh it makes them so very nervous. It won't get the debt off your back, but you take back control and will inevitably collect an assortment of proof of their manipulations, lies, fraud, stalling, bullying...etc. I just sent a huge zipped file of my collection to my state representative who has offered to try to help me...we'll see how that goes. I tell my story to everyone...send it to every media source I can think of and hound politicians...Ah, fun times.

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    1. Like many Americans, I am faced with a SALLIE MAE debt that I cannot pay.

      Even with all the OPTIONS Sallie mae offers (and they're not that good, unless you cheat at it, but i wouldn't suggest trying that...)...

      for many, it STILL becomes a "IGNORE...and hope like GOD they will go away!" Even though they're GOVERNMENT...they won't (depsite being PRIVATE, a GSPE)

      BUT, like many americans who WORK FOR A LIVING, I pay SOCIAL SECURITY with the promise that I'd get my stipend out when I reach sixty-something....

      If it's LEGAL for the GOVERNMENT to take from the SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND, and replace what they take with BONDS, that I as a TAXPAYER must be on the hook for...paying MORE of my "fair share" to help government honor those promises....

      then I should be allowed to redirect my SOCIAL SECURITY PAY-IN CLAIMS to offset or eliminate the SALLIE MAE DEBT, NOW!

      If Social security tells me through annual letters how much I have paid in since the start of my working life...then if they're correct, then I should have enough pay-in claims to handle the offset....

      I mean, it's not that much of a stretch of the imagination to figure out that BOTH ENTITIES, after expenses, take all their gains they get, and give it over to GOVERNMENT coffer, unless programmed otherwise to recirculate it...neverthless...

      So...what forms do I fill out, to get this done....who do I need to contact to get this handled? What do I have to do?

      Or, should i just get comfortable on the whipping post, like they tied KUNTAR KINTE...and shut my eyes real tight when the whip me...to make me say my name is "TOBY" just so the slave master can feel righteous when they finally break me to do it?

      Well? what do I do?

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  15. Debtors' Revolt - we must all gather the courage to *default en masse* and collapse the entire predatory system that is currently in place.

    Our Founders revolted against England over much, much less.

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  16. I've got zero debt but understand how easy it is to get suckered by the debt-slavery mills. If they were stupid enough to underwrite a marine biology degree, they should feel as much pain as the poor sap who thought he could make a living playing with dolphins. DEFAULT, BITCHEZ!

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  17. So good post
    and I hope to visit my Blog STD Symptoms and see Antibiotic Therapy For Outpatients
    thanks again Admin

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  18. I'll never pay back Sallie the bitch Mae.

    P.S., I drive an Audi R8.

    FUCK IT SHITTY USA GOV'T.

    GO TO HELL ASSHOLES.

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  19. you guys are morons -do yourself a favor and Google "student loan default". I hope you enjoy it :) and fyi- you mentioned by doing a forbearance that it "capitalize the interest and I'll end up owing more". you are retarded. Same thing it is doing if you are currently making the payment or not. Interest still accrues. I cant believe we have this many dumb ass students in the world. Losers! Pay your obligations or do us all a favor and jump off a cliff.

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  22. I have only been in the work force for a few years now. I am disabled and I am finding consistent work hard to come by. This causes me to not be able to pay much in the way of my student loan bills. Can I get a disability waiver or hardship claim?
    Obama Student Loan Consolidation

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