1y ago

The ‘terrifying’ trade-offs millions of Americans face as student loan repayments resume

www.nbcnews.com The ‘terrifying’ trade-offs millions of Americans face as student loan repayments resume

“It’s really, really scary. We are going to be living on the brink,” one borrower said.

Tens of millions of Americans with federal student loan debt have had a financial reprieve for more than three years as a pandemic-era repayment pause was extended multiple times since March 2020.

Now many face a new reality on Sunday, Oct. 1, when they are due to resume making payments, all while struggling with nagging inflation and rising interest rates.

More than 45 million borrowers together owe approximately $1.6 trillion, according to President Joe Biden's administration, which tried to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for tens of millions of eligible borrowers, only to have the Supreme Court kill the program in June.

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The ‘terrifying’ trade-offs millions of Americans face as student loan repayments resume

www.nbcnews.com /news/us-news/repayment-student-loan-debt-october-resumes-interest-inflation-rcna116955

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25 comments

Almost everyone I talk to about this has the same idea: “I’m not gonna pay that, they proved they don’t need the money, it’s inflated anyways etc”
I agree with them
- The situation is shameful, but it’s wishful thinking that such actions will end in any other way than interest accruing, making the inevitable repayment even more expensive and difficult. The system is set up so you can’t run away from it.
  
  All I have to do is last to death.
  
  Yeah I don't think these people saying they won't don't realize that this can end up at wage garnishment.
- The inability to get out of them and enforcement mechanisms make “not paying” a bad plan if you’re staying in the country. IBR and riding it out until it’s forgiven seems better, even though it’s shitty.
- I have some left and have no plans to pay. Let them sue me. I want them to take me to court, hire a lawyer, spend a week, and deal with collections for the few thousand they claim I owe.
  
  They will find a way to destroy your credit on case you had any hope of purchasing anything with a mortgage \ loan in the next 7 years
  
  Assuming you are employed, they will just garnish your wages. They don't have to sue for it, federal loans don't even need a court order to do it. Private loans do, but they are also able to take more money out of your check.

3 years to make principal-only payments to get ahead of a debt they agreed to repay.
Instead, now their debt will grow faster than their mandatory minimum payments.
Yes, my daughter and son did use the time to pay theirs off and in great careers.
Personal responsibility? Commence the downvotes.
- I mean…I still owe $8K and I spent the last three years paying directly to the principal as well. That said, I still hate this. Rather than being able to pay off in another year or so, it’s going to be closer to five years.
  There’s options available. Like, how about a “step up” rather than just reopening the floodgates? Turn on the repayments, but not the interest. How about keep the interest off the last $20K if you’re not in the rears? Allow people to get a chance to make progress on their debts, or at least give an incentive on keeping the payments current.
  A direct return to the status quo doesn’t get lenders their money in a time of rising rates, and it definitely doesn’t help those in debt nor the overall economy.
  
  "Allow people to get a chance"
  They had 3 years... before that it was expected that they would make payments. Are you under the impression that everyone took out these loans thinking that they would never have to pay them back?
- Personal responsibility gets all screwed up by math. I know school was a long time ago for you but you can use a calculator.
  I graduated over 20 years ago. I paid for it all by myself as I was on my own at 17. My schools annual tuition/fees books was around 3.5K. Lodging/utilities/etc cost me $5,000 (roommates and no car). So a total of around $8.5K/year. I worked 25hrs per week at $7.25/hr for a gross income of around $9,400. I ended up $3K in debt. It took me 5 years to pay it off after I graduated. I started out at $27K.
  My sons a sophomore this year at a the same school. Tuition is 9.7K lodging/utilities, etc around $14,000/year. So around $23.7K/year. Minimum wage in the state just went to $13.20. At 25hrs per week this is a gross income of $17K.
  So my son would end up $30k+ in debt doing the exact same thing I did.
  I start out my career making 27K with 3K in debt. Only 11% of my gross . Itwasn't that hard to pay it off and was never a major concern.
  My son would start out making around 45k/year with more than 30K in debt. 66% of his gross income.
  
  Nothing you said supported your thesis statement.
  Personal responsibility is choosing to take on debt and then paying it off. The money amounts are not relevant, especially not a difference as small as you presented. Even the fact of it being a college loan doesn't matter, any sort of investment borrowing would apply.
- Fuck off
- When the rich strategically default, it's viewed and "smart". When the rest of us do it it's "personal responsibility".
  
  They also got free money then sued here because they didn't get any free money from the student loan forgiveness
- Sounds about white.
- You can fuck right off.

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