If You Can't Make Student Loan Payments
By Armond Budish
From The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Sunday, August 2, 1997
(Reprinted with the author's permission.)
You have completed college and now it's time to pay the piper, or at least uncle Sam.
Your federal student loans that made it possible to attend school must now be repaid.
What happens if you run into problems making payments? If you stop paying and default,
you are asking for trouble. Congress has passed laws requiring vigorous collection
efforts, including garnisheeing wages, taking income tax funds and even filing law suits.
The government's costs in trying to collect from you will be charged to you. And your
credit rating will be damaged.
Thankfully, Uncle Sam has also provides a number of opportunities to avoid default or
to get out of default. By understanding your financial aid repayment rights, you may be
able to salvage your credit record by reducing, postponing or even canceling your loan
payments.
Q- What can I do if I can't repay my student loans?
A- When you accepted your loan money, you entered into a binding contract. You agreed to
repay the loan, and you can't simply ignore that obligation.
But in a few situations the government may allow you to postpone the payments or may
cancel the loan. Here are the most common reasons for postponement or cancellation:
- You died or suffered a disability that makes you unable to work or attend school for at
least 60 days.
- You are unemployed but making good-faith efforts to find work.
- You are in dire financial straits and can't make the payments.
- You are a single working parent.
- You have returned to school.
- You are serving in the military.
- You are performing community service, such as serving in the Peace Corps or assisting
the homeless.
- You attended a trade school that closed before the end of the program.
Q- How can I postpone or get my loan payments canceled?
A- Call the loan holder or the U.S. Department of Education at 1-800-621-3115 for
information and to find out if you qualify. You cannot have your payments postponed if you
have defaulted on your loan.
Q. What can I do if I have defaulted?
A. Congress created a plan in 1992 that may allow you to make "reasonable and
affordable" payments, which may be as small as a few dollars per month.
There is no explicit formula for reasonable and affordable payments. You must contact
the holder of your loan and provide detailed information about your income and expenses.
If your expenses for essentials leave you with little income, you may get your payments
reduced.
Once the government sets a "reasonable and affordable" payments schedule, you
must make the payments. After 12 consecutive payments, you will be considered out of
default and will be eligible for postponement of further payments if you qualify.
Once you are out of default, the guarantee agency or Department of Education can sell
your loan to a loan service company and your reduced payments will end. You will be put on
a regular payment plan, with payments probably scheduled over 10 years until the loan is
paid off. When you are placed on a regular payment plan, your monthly payments are likely
to be well above the amounts set under the "reasonable and affordable" schedule.
If you can't afford to meet your new payment schedule, ask for an alternative plan.
Options include reducing the monthly amounts but extending I your payments over 30
years; lowering payments for a few, years while your income is lower and increasing
payments in future years as your income (hopefully) rises; or basing your payments
directly on the amount. of your income.
Budish is a partner in the law firm of Budish & Solomon in Pepper Pike.
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