Forgive Student Loans?

[Sea Ray]

I hope the court blows this illegal action by Biden away. It's a BS move by him to try to use Covid as an excuse to fulfill a campaign promise

 

[hog88]

I hope the court blows this illegal action by Biden away. It's a BS move by him to try to use Covid as an excuse to fulfill a campaign promise

They are hoping the USC throws it out too.

 

[WoodsmanVol]

Forgive the loans. II had the good fortune of having nearly a full scholarship for my college education. Due to my grades being so high. I also remember college counselors shunting me over to financial reps, wanted me to sign for funds to cover books, fees, and allowances of noticeable amounts. A few who were upset when I declined. Who were loath to accept NO, as an answer. There were even notices from the admissions office (so the papers said) I had sign papers showing I had received funds from banks, savings & loans, and others. I refused to even go to the office or return papers I found stuffed in my on campus mailbox. My belief is that many students, who didn't realize they were being setup for debt before even graduating, did sign forms. Only to see fees and interest stacked on and increase before, during and after they finally got jobs. Those greedy conniving bassards preyed on these cash short, and inexperienced young folks. So screw them, forgive the loans. I escaped only, only, only because I had a severe distrust of the man. I believed a NO was the best answer you could give him, even if he told you the sky was blue and clouds were white. You said NO.

 

[hog88]

Forgive the loans. II had the good fortune of having nearly a full scholarship for my college education. Due to my grades being so high. I also remember college counselors shunting me over to financial reps, wanted me to sign for funds to cover books, fees, and allowances of noticeable amounts. A few who were upset when I declined. Who were loath to accept NO, as an answer. There were even notices from the admissions office (so the papers said) I had sign papers showing I had received funds from banks, savings & loans, and others. I refused to even go to the office or return papers I found stuffed in my on campus mailbox. My belief is that many students, who didn't realize they were being setup for debt before even graduating, did sign forms. Only to see fees and interest stacked on and increase before, during and after they finally got jobs. Those greedy conniving bassards preyed on these cash short, and inexperienced young folks. So screw them, forgive the loans. I escaped only, only, only because I had a severe distrust of the man. I believed a NO was the best answer you could give him, even if he told you the sky was blue and clouds were white. You said NO.

The only student loans being forgiven are those backed by us the taxpayer.

 

[Sea Ray]

They are hoping the USC throws it out too.

Why is that?

 

[allvol123]

Why is that?

For one, I believe they would love to point at the evil conservative justices for doing it. Tens of millions of dopey young future voters in your pocket.

 

[Sea Ray]

Forgive the loans. II had the good fortune of having nearly a full scholarship for my college education. Due to my grades being so high. I also remember college counselors shunting me over to financial reps, wanted me to sign for funds to cover books, fees, and allowances of noticeable amounts. A few who were upset when I declined. Who were loath to accept NO, as an answer. There were even notices from the admissions office (so the papers said) I had sign papers showing I had received funds from banks, savings & loans, and others. I refused to even go to the office or return papers I found stuffed in my on campus mailbox. My belief is that many students, who didn't realize they were being setup for debt before even graduating, did sign forms. Only to see fees and interest stacked on and increase before, during and after they finally got jobs. Those greedy conniving bassards preyed on these cash short, and inexperienced young folks. So screw them, forgive the loans. I escaped only, only, only because I had a severe distrust of the man. I believed a NO was the best answer you could give him, even if he told you the sky was blue and clouds were white. You said NO.

I think forgiving the loans based on them being predatory is a poor argument but if that's where you stand, fine. Take it to your Congressman and get it forgiven through the legislative process. The President doesn't have the power to wipe out $400B of my money on his own

 

[hog88]

Why is that?

So they can use the ruling as political fodder in the upcoming general election. That is worth more to them than forgiving a few thousand loans.

 

[SDV]

I had to take out student loans to pay for part of my undergrad and all of law school. I’ve been paying down the debt for almost 19 years now with a couple of years of deferments, etc at a very low interest rate. I still owe over $70,000.00. I was an adult and chose to take the loans, knowing that I would have to pay them back. So did everyone else. My only suggested solution is to allow them to be discharged in bankruptcy just about like any other debt. If someone wants to file bankruptcy and ruin their credit to discharge their loans, then I say let them do it. But just forgiving them, is asinine. It’s a binding contract.

 

[hog88]

I had to take out student loans to pay for part of my undergrad and all of law school. I’ve been paying down the debt for almost 19 years now with a couple of years of deferments, etc at a very low interest rate. I still owe over $70,000.00. I was an adult and chose to take the loans, knowing that I would have to pay them back. So did everyone else. My only suggested solution is to allow them to be discharged in bankruptcy just about like any other debt. If someone wants to file bankruptcy and ruin their credit to discharge their loans, then I say let them do it. But just forgiving them, is asinine. It’s a binding contract.

Only way to do that is to get the .gov out of the student loan business. Let private lenders take the risk without taxpayer backing.

 

[McDad]

I had to take out student loans to pay for part of my undergrad and all of law school. I’ve been paying down the debt for almost 19 years now with a couple of years of deferments, etc at a very low interest rate. I still owe over $70,000.00. I was an adult and chose to take the loans, knowing that I would have to pay them back. So did everyone else. My only suggested solution is to allow them to be discharged in bankruptcy just about like any other debt. If someone wants to file bankruptcy and ruin their credit to discharge their loans, then I say let them do it. But just forgiving them, is asinine. It’s a binding contract.

I think there is an opportunity to have student loans forgiven after 25 years of payments as long as no disruptions to payment schedule. If so, you are close to that option. May want to explore it further.

 

[hog88]

I think there is an opportunity to have student loans forgiven after 25 years of payments as long as no disruptions to payment schedule. If so, you are close to that option. May want to explore it further.

I could support forgiving the interest but the principle must be repaid if it was in conjunction with the .gov getting out of the student loan business.

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

Forgive the loans. II had the good fortune of having nearly a full scholarship for my college education. Due to my grades being so high. I also remember college counselors shunting me over to financial reps, wanted me to sign for funds to cover books, fees, and allowances of noticeable amounts. A few who were upset when I declined. Who were loath to accept NO, as an answer. There were even notices from the admissions office (so the papers said) I had sign papers showing I had received funds from banks, savings & loans, and others. I refused to even go to the office or return papers I found stuffed in my on campus mailbox. My belief is that many students, who didn't realize they were being setup for debt before even graduating, did sign forms. Only to see fees and interest stacked on and increase before, during and after they finally got jobs. Those greedy conniving bassards preyed on these cash short, and inexperienced young folks. So screw them, forgive the loans. I escaped only, only, only because I had a severe distrust of the man. I believed a NO was the best answer you could give him, even if he told you the sky was blue and clouds were white. You said NO.

This is the dumbest thing I have read today.

Why don't you fix the core of the problem? Let those loans be bankrupted.

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

Only way to do that is to get the .gov out of the student loan business. Let private lenders take the risk without taxpayer backing.

I guarantee you that if this ever happened, these ******** woke degrees would disappear overnight. You want a loan for gender studies? Good luck with that.

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

I could support forgiving the interest but the principle must be repaid if it was in conjunction with the .gov getting out of the student loan business.

Not me. I paid all the interest on my home loans. They can pay theirs.

 

[Vol8188]

I had to take out student loans to pay for part of my undergrad and all of law school. I’ve been paying down the debt for almost 19 years now with a couple of years of deferments, etc at a very low interest rate. I still owe over $70,000.00. I was an adult and chose to take the loans, knowing that I would have to pay them back. So did everyone else. My only suggested solution is to allow them to be discharged in bankruptcy just about like any other debt. If someone wants to file bankruptcy and ruin their credit to discharge their loans, then I say let them do it. But just forgiving them, is asinine. It’s a binding contract.

I’m open to allowing them to file for bankruptcy but only if you remove the government from the picture and allow the interest rates for future loans to be set by the government.

That’s a big reason for the bankruptcy exemption. The only way someone is going to loan 30k a year or more to an 18 year old with no job and no credit for 5% (probably lower, I don’t actually know current student loan rates) is if the government says “we will guarantee the loan and they will be exempt from bankruptcy”.

A lot of people see the bankruptcy clause as evil, without realizing it keeps rates lower. Granted I’d prefer we remove the bankruptcy clause and allow markets to set the rates, no matter how high that may be

 

[RockyTop85]

Point 1: I finished undergrad with $0.00 in student loan debt thanks to lottery and merit based scholarships. I started at the University of Tennessee College of Law, an in-state school that was regarded as a good value law school at the time, on a partial scholarship.

I took out student loans for food, cheap apartments, and to cover the remainder of my tuition; I also worked a part time job. My principal balance when I graduated in May ended up being about $44,000. By the time I passed the bar in October and started making payments, my loans had accrued more than $3,000 in compounding interest. I paid $10,000 in interest before my 36th (of 120) payments.

Now, I’ve made over 100 of those payments, the government has been repaid over $68,000 in less than 12 years for the $44,000 it loaned me. I still owe around $10k, and my interest has been paused for 3 years. Assuming I pay off the balance before interest resumes (I likely will) the government will have nearly doubled its investment in just 10 years, and that’s after foregoing three years of compounding interest. If not for the circumstances of COVID, I imagine that the sum would have doubled in less than 15 years from the date of the first subsidized loan, and that’s with a more aggressive repayment than I could afford, to start.

This isn’t an argument for even this small sum of loan forgiveness, it’s just making the point that this isn’t the government giving away your money. In almost every case, it is the government taking less of someone else’s.

 

[RockyTop85]

Point 2: I opted for linear repayment, meaning I elected to pay the same amount from the month I passed the bar through satisfaction of the debt. For five years, my loan payment was my biggest monthly expense. It was more than my rent on my first apartment. Some life things happened and the loan became truly more than I could actually afford. I know during that time I maxed out a credit card and hopped the balance across three or four of those 0% interest starter cards until it was paid off, I borrowed $3100 from my parents, and I eventually terminated a lease on that apartment and moved back in with them… for almost two years. I had to pay the Obamacare penalty because health insurance didn’t make the monthly budget after August 2014 and I “made too much” to get a subsidy.

Some of my classmates and colleagues didn’t have those options. (I really shouldn’t have. My parents are saints.) Some of them got decent but not spectacular jobs in bigger, more expensive cities with no family close by, we had accidents or health problems, some of them had spouses or children and couldn’t just go live with their parents. For some of those classmates, linear repayment being “more than they could afford” really meant more than they could afford. So they took less aggressive repayment plans, meaning they ultimately owed more. Meaning the government stands to make an even better return off of their loans than it did off of mine. In short, I know more than one attorney who has made the regular, scheduled payments on their loans, probably in excess of their principal balance, but still owes more than the original principal balance.

Again, this isn’t an argument for for any amount of forgiveness. It is an argument for reform or privatization of the student loan program. If the problem were just “people making bad decisions” getting degrees that don’t pay or choosing overly expensive schools, or ****ing around in college, there might be some justification for the common sentiment. But I made economical choices and made paying off my loan a priority above things that others couldn’t just do away with. I’m in a much better financial situation than I would have been without law school, but not enough that I could afford the combination of my inescapable life events and an inability to forego rent for two years, if that’s what had happened. That combination actually happened to several of my classmates who now owe more than their principal balance despite having paid more than double their original principal balance. In short, if repayment is that burdensome for people who obtain a good paying degree and a low-cost university, then that I think that’s evidence for reform.

 

[Sea Ray]

Point 1: I finished undergrad with $0.00 in student loan debt thanks to lottery and merit based scholarships. I started at the University of Tennessee College of Law, an in-state school that was regarded as a good value law school at the time, on a partial scholarship.

I took out student loans for food, cheap apartments, and to cover the remainder of my tuition; I also worked a part time job. My principal balance when I graduated in May ended up being about $44,000. By the time I passed the bar in October and started making payments, my loans had accrued more than $3,000 in compounding interest. I paid $10,000 in interest before my 36th (of 120) payments.

Now, I’ve made over 100 of those payments, the government has been repaid over $68,000 in less than 12 years for the $44,000 it loaned me. I still owe around $10k, and my interest has been paused for 3 years. Assuming I pay off the balance before interest resumes (I likely will) the government will have nearly doubled its investment in just 10 years, and that’s after foregoing three years of compounding interest. If not for the circumstances of COVID, I imagine that the sum would have doubled in less than 15 years, and that’s with a more aggressive repayment than I could afford, to start.

This isn’t an argument for even this small sum of loan forgiveness, it’s just making the point that this isn’t the government giving away your money. In almost every case, it is the government taking less of someone else’s.

They're not "taking" your money. Interest owed is your obligation to your lender. My student loans taken out in the 80s were at 9%.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

So they can use the ruling as political fodder in the upcoming general election. That is worth more to them than forgiving a few thousand loans.

It's the same reason Obama didn't propose significant gun reform in 2010 when they had the SC, Congress, and the Presidency...

 

[RockyTop85]

They're not "taking" your money. Interest owed is your obligation to your lender. My student loans taken out in the 80s were at 9%.

They’re more “taking less of my money” than they are giving away yours.

 

[W.TN.Orange Blood]

 

[NorthDallas40]

Point 1: I finished undergrad with $0.00 in student loan debt thanks to lottery and merit based scholarships. I started at the University of Tennessee College of Law, an in-state school that was regarded as a good value law school at the time, on a partial scholarship.

I took out student loans for food, cheap apartments, and to cover the remainder of my tuition; I also worked a part time job. My principal balance when I graduated in May ended up being about $44,000. By the time I passed the bar in October and started making payments, my loans had accrued more than $3,000 in compounding interest. I paid $10,000 in interest before my 36th (of 120) payments.

Now, I’ve made over 100 of those payments, the government has been repaid over $68,000 in less than 12 years for the $44,000 it loaned me. I still owe around $10k, and my interest has been paused for 3 years. Assuming I pay off the balance before interest resumes (I likely will) the government will have nearly doubled its investment in just 10 years, and that’s after foregoing three years of compounding interest. If not for the circumstances of COVID, I imagine that the sum would have doubled in less than 15 years from the date of the first subsidized loan, and that’s with a more aggressive repayment than I could afford, to start.

This isn’t an argument for even this small sum of loan forgiveness, it’s just making the point that this isn’t the government giving away your money. In almost every case, it is the government taking less of someone else’s.

Just a second. You stated the government will have nearly doubled its investment in those 10 years. Did you borrow directly from the government and indeed are paying the government back directly or did you borrow money from third party banks with a government backed payback guarantee with the banks pocketing their interest?

It’s an honest question and I don’t know the answer but I’ll speculate it’s the latter case. Which I would submit a better solution is to remove the government backing as you make a case that it’s a lucrative business with no risk. And thus make the loans dischargeable via bankruptcy

 

[RockyTop85]

Just a second. You stated the government will have nearly doubled its investment in those 10 years. Did you borrow directly from the government and indeed are paying the government back directly or did you borrow money from third party banks with a government backed payback guarantee with the banks pocketing their interest?

It’s an honest question and I don’t know the answer but I’ll speculate it’s the latter case. Which I would submit a better solution is to remove the government backing as you make a case that it’s a lucrative business with no risk.

Honestly, I don’t know the complete answer to that. I’ve always assumed it was a loan from the federal government.

My loans are now serviced by some company called aidvantage, it used to be myfedloan.

If it were a private loan with government backing I assume the banks would be trying to stop this because that 10k would be coming off of their bottom line for each account.

What you’re saying works out either way. Once I started practice, it became apparent that some “students” were getting fasfa loans to live off of with no intention of ever going to school or paying them back. It was just free money. We’ve already been paying for those folks for who knows how long.

 

[NorthDallas40]

Honestly, I don’t know the complete answer to that. I’ve always assumed it was a loan from the federal government.

My loans are now serviced by some company called aidvantage, it used to be myfedloan.

If it were a private loan with government backing I assume the banks would be trying to stop this because that 10k would be coming off of their bottom line for each account.

What you’re saying works out either way. Once I started practice, it became apparent that some “students” were getting fasfa loans to live off of with no intention of ever going to school or paying them back. It was just free money. We’ve already been paying for those folks for who knows how long.

Ok thanks. Your case does show it is a lucrative business. Those are pretty damn nice returns. If it’s all private party transactions with only government protection in default then the lenders need more flesh in the game I’d submit. If it is indeed all federal there isn’t a good reason for the Feds to be making those margins from citizens that they’re lending to with other citizens money.