I took out some private loans for college and racked up quite the debt - about 100k. I had a really hard time finding a job after graduation and was only making 29k a year for several years. I struggled paying those loans about 1100 dollars a month and I was only bringing in about 1300 bi-Weekly. On top of some other debts and payments I didn't have much for myself. Fast forward a couple years and I got a better job but have more payments that I can really handle at this point. The job pays better than the previous one.. but now I am now having a reduction in payment now. So I'm basically back to square one for a few months until the end of the year. I'm afraid to talk to the lenders about my situation bc I know that they really don't care about my financial hardships and just want their money. They're now emailing me and threatening to default on my loans with a laundry list of actions they could take. Should I default on the loans ? What should I do ?.[m sort of in a panic and very very stressed out

I have a student loan in default due to my ability to not able to work (soon to be disabled) unless there is some type of healing miracle worker around. If my doctor later deemed me TPD will I be able to apply for forgiveness even when my private student loan is in default status?

Hello there to whom I am speaking too,

I have 4 loans with Sallie Mae and my forbearance ended on October 11th, and I found out how much I owe, like $405.50, for November 7th. I know that after 15 days as a mini grace period; you are considered late. I owe 24,000 in debt. I am applying for SSI, and going to talk to my lawyer about my application summary for SSI my cosigner is my mother, who is on SSI due to her back problems and can't work anymore. I will call them tomorrow to say that I am filling out for SSI, with my mental problems like GAD and PSTD will this help delay the payment, or able to lower it too? Or a bad idea to mention that to them? I am not working right now, and I am trapped in a corner. I have been having a major freakout for days, completely scared of them taking everything from my mom. I had major mental breakdowns for weeks. I am terrified of Sallie Mae. Thank you all for the help.

So yeah I just got off the phone with a representative who said I owe this loan or else I have to make an arrangement with sali Mae in relation to an attorney. I was pretty pissed since I spoke to them late August regarding the loan of about 13k, me and representative who got my information regarding my living and economic situation results in lower my monthly bill to 102 dollars a month but pay the 1st month to be around 240 since I'll be attending school but I also handed in a in school deferment form to pause the payments for until the semester is over since it's my last semester.

Rush to mid to late October, now, they sent me a paper mail around 15-18, received it today, telling me my loan has defaulted. I was pissed, the card payments didn't go through. I was livid. It was hard for me to focus but yeah he told me that Sallie Mae sent me emails through my email but it got full and now, I didn't pay attention since I don't normally check it and I was sure the payment went through since either was using a debit card. I spoke to him if I could reverse this and he told me to call a number to send them if I was indeed attending school prior to default. Idk I feel like them mentioning an attorney or civil case or whatever is just a scare tactic and he wants to speak to my co-signer to figure out the matter, like what we can currently pay, he's retired, which I already stated months ago. Also now I think about it I already sent them an in school deferment, so they already should know that I am in school.

Funny how they can send me mail for months and months about not making payments, or making phone calls every few days for months! But they can't bother to contact me through either when the payment was first rejected. Fuck this company. He told me it was my responsibility to keep an eye on the payment but he'll I would appreciate a phone call.

Not sure if I should call back or simply ignore, I did say I was going to call back with my cosigner. But fuck, fuck my credit score and it's only 13k, I asked him if I could let it go in collections. Idk what do you guys think? I'm starting to think it was better off ignoring, since every time I'm notified of something and call, it always makes me anxious AF.

I have $55,000 in student loan debt with Sallie Mae. No co-signer but I am married. My spouse wants a kid. If we have a kid, that means I won’t be working for at least the next 5 years with no income and I wouldn’t be filling taxes since no income.

I don’t plan on paying all this back. I’d be willing to settle though. How likely would it be for Sallie Mae to just eventually fuck off? Anyone in a similar situation?

Hi I finally had the courage to seek help and speak the truth about my disability & my doctor said it’s severe enough that I could possibly obtain social security checks. I was wondering can Sallie Mae garnish EDD SDI or SSDI checks to pay for the student loan? I’m scared bc I’m not working anymore.

I’m planning to refinance soon my loans with Sallie Mae ( to get rid of my dad as the co-signer) and then default.

Context: I live and work in France.

My statute of limitations is 4 years and I’m going to assume they will sue because the amount will be about 125,000 dollars.

For those of you that defaulted and were sued, how long did it take for your company to sue you? I would love as much time as possible to save up for a settlement as well as lawyer and would definitely need at least 2 years to do so but know that’s not in my control.

Also how did you go about finding a lawyer? What kind of lawyer would you hire for this kind of case?

PLEASE READ I need advice. Today, I received a summons from my local sheriff’s dpt that MEFA (Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority) and their attorney, Zwicker & Associates are suing me, 25 y/o, and my co-signer, my 78 y/o grandmother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s this year for ~$26, 261.39. In the Summons I received, I do not see a court date but I was told that I have 20 days to respond with an “Answer”- a written response to the statements made by the Plaintiff (MEFA) in the complaint. In my Answer, I must state whether I agree or disagree with each paragraph of the complaint. In the Complaint, it states, “as a result of the default by Defendant(s), Plaintiff has accelerated the full balance due”. In the statement of damages, it says, “principle plus referred interest as of date of complaint plus court costs- $26, 261. 39”.

Context: I’m providing this context not for sympathy or pity but to help understand my situation. This private loan was signed by myself and my grandmother in 2017 when I was graduating highschool. I was living with her at the time and received a pamphlet from MEFA, and because I was going to be a first generation college student, I went ahead with the first thing I saw about “how to afford college”. I have had little to no family support my entire life. I’ve never lived with either of my parents, they rely on “under the table” income and government assistance to live. They are financially illiterate, as am I (but I’m now forcing myself to ask these questions that I’ve been avoiding). I was not prepared to have made those big life decisions at the time.

This loan is for an institution that I transferred from. I did not graduate from this institution. Actually, I have never graduated from college with a degree. In 2022, I completed a certificate program. So these loans were all a complete waste. I’m a 25 yo woman and I’ve struggled my entire life. As a toddler, I watched my parents run out of gas on the highway and steal from loved ones to get by. I vowed to myself as a little girl that I’d never live like them and here I am. In 2009, I was hospitalized and diagnosed with chronic anxiety, OCD, major depression and ADD. Other health issues include: Crohn’s disease, PCOS, chronic anemia and possibly Lupus (my mom has it and I have symptoms). In 2017, I developed binge eating disorder and gained 85+lbs. I stopped living and dropped out of college but returned in 2021 and got a certificate. I’ve been on SSRIs since 2009 but it is still nearly impossible for me to live my life outside of whichever family member I’m living with. I’m typically tossed around from grandparent to grandparent. I haven’t paid taxes since 2019, I’m currently unemployed with absolutely no income. I’ve been babysitting part time thru the years (which I genuinely enjoy and think it’s the only thing I’m good at), getting paid via Venmo. I currently live with my abusive mother, no, I’m not paying rent. I do own a 2005 Jeep. I have no savings account. I am $2K in credit card debt and also owe ~$27K in federal student loans. My co-signer for these private loans is my 78 yo grandmother who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Her condition is deteriorating progressively. The court will most likely take away her house bc of this which my mom is supposed to get for my 3 innocent sisters to have a home one day. I learnt about Disability relief for fed loans but I think I need to apply for Social Security disability first? My psychiatrist told me SS doesn’t approve for disability benefits unless I undergo a neuropsych eval but the waitlist is ~1 yr. I can see no way out of this. I’m experiencing harmful thoughts. The little girl who promised to never live a life like this is broken. I cannot commit to a full time job because something always goes wrong. Whether with my family life, my health or simply just because I lack motivation and desire. My life seems to be worthless.

Please. If you read this. Please advise me on what I could do to save myself. Thank you so much.

Hey guys!

I am about to stop paying on my private student loans. I am a married mom of two young daycare aged kids making $65k (w/o my spousal income) with $107k in private student loans debt. I live in Alabama

What are my options/worst case as my second kid is about to enter daycare and I won’t have enough to pay them.

I’ve defaulted on my private student loans (Navient) more than 10 years ago. I haven’t heard a peep from them since the pandemic and now I randomly get an email from a collections agency kindly reminding me I owe $200k+ in private student loans, and lists each loan. They note that I cannot be sued for said loans. Is this something I should or can ignore?

I was stupid in college and took out a shit ton of student loans; I even lost track. From what I can tell, $200k in private and $100k in federal. After college I couldn’t get a decent job for a long time, so I couldn’t pay a dime to any of my loans. I would get calls dozens of times per day from collections. I still get PTSD when I hear a phone ring. I eventually got a okayish job making 40k, when my wages were garnished for a couple of years. The pandemic happened and the garnishes stopped. I worked hard and got a $200k/year job during the pandemic and used the opportunity to get out of default on my federal loans. Now I make $1700/month payments on those.

Out of the blue last week I get an email from a collections reminding me that my private student loans are still around. The email mentions that I cannot be sued over it. I immediate checked my credit report and found none of that is on there (just my federal). Is this something I can safely ignore or should I expect more similar emails? Is it worth replying asking for proof, or will any communication make them harass me all over again? I don’t plan on making any private loan payments.

Hi everyone. My sister went to college for 3 years and during her third year the school closed. My mom was a co-signer on her student loans. The government loans were forgiven bc the school closed, the private ones were not. I’m not sure if she didn’t know this or just didn’t have the money to pay, I don’t know. So it’s been 4 years since she payed on her private loan. She just got a civil action summons in the mail. After speaking to the (whatever entity has control over the loans now I guess) the offered her a payment plan so it doesn’t go to court or whatever. The payment plan is $662/month for the next 4 years. He said the loan HAS to be paid in full in the next 4 years. He said that’s the only option if you call the educational financing authority directly they’ll just refer her to them. Is on her own she definitely can’t afford the $662, I mean she never got her degree bc the school closed and she has gone through periods of homelessness/having no financial stability. My mom is terrified that if she doesn’t pay that amount every month they are going to take her house bc she is the co-signer. Is there anything that can be done? She’s going to call the “free legal assistance number” that they gave her, but what can they do? Is it possible to get this loan spread out more than 4 years so it’s not so expensive? My mom is so upset that she cosigned.

Recently had two private student loans charged off. I have one credit card that I’ve had for almost 3 years now. Just curious on how your credit card(s) were affected after you had a loan charged off/default. Did they lower your credit limit? Did they close your account? Or did it have zero effect?

Just trying to get a sense of what is to possibly come. I know my credit score will drop from the charge off, therefore opening a new cc will be quite difficult. But curious about credit cards preexisting to the default.

I defaulted on a private student loan in Spring 2023. It's been crickets for awhile, but I was served last week. I owe about $44k. I consulted with a lawyer who advised me to seek a consent judgement or file Chapter 13 (although he told me it would not be discharged, just a payment plan). He said he would help me negotiate the consent judgement. I asked about the possibility for settling for less and he did not seem to think this was possible. He told me I should call and request the consent judgement.

I called today and asked about my options. I was told if I settled for a lump sum the case would be dismissed and there would be no legal fees. I was told if I entered a consent judgement that they would file that, and then I'd begin the payment plan. Ok, great.

During that first call the guy offered $40k settlement. I said I need to think about it and hung up.

I called later today and spoke to someone else. I asked what their absolute lowest offer was and she asked me for my income information (like my monthly income, some expenses, etc.). This had alarm bells ringing. I asked if this was required and she said it was (I know, I know, they can probably say anything). She made it sound like it was required to generate the lump sum offer.

After she told me it was required, I gave her the information. I stretched it a bit (in my favor), but not much. I am now FREAKING OUT and the worst part is they said their lowest number for settlement is ~$37. This is after I offered other possibilities like $20k, and $25-$30k.

What would you do? I was served on 10/1 and have 30 days to respond. I know I still have time. Should I wait a bit and call back and try again? Or should I just go for the consent judgement?

(PS I don't have any of the "defenses" - they provided the promissory note, served me correctly, are within SOL, etc.)

Long story short, I lost my job end of 2023 and after being unemployed 1 year later, I am now considering chapter 7 and defaulting on majority of my private loans. Mainly concerned with what will happen to my co-signer during the default process on my private loans. I’ve read several threads on how to strategically default, changing your contact information, not speaking with the lender or even logging into your account. I plan to default on 4 of my 5 loans under Navient, continuing to pay off the loan my father co-signed on. Does anyone have any experience defaulting in this type of scenario? I cannot refinance as my credit has taken a huge hit this year while being unemployed. Will Navient do anything to my co-signer during the default process, for the loans he did not co-sign on? Can Navient do anything if I choose to pay on 1 of 5 loans.

Hey y'all,

I'm a bit nervous - so sorry if post is inappropriate - just grasping at straws here.

When I moved to Germany from the US, I borrowed about 14k last year in private student loans with Sallie Mae, paid maybe 100-200 bucks for five months until I realized I wasn't making a dent due to predatory interest rate.

Then I figured a dent to my credit score for seven years won't matter cuz I won't be going back to the states.

Can they reach me overseas? Will they? Do I actually have anything to be concerned about?

Pls and thx

.

I got a phone call within the last week from Navient. This is the first and only time a message has ever been left for me. It was as follows:

“Hi, this message is for (my name here). If you could listen to this in full, my name is (agent name here) reaching out to you because your account has been turned over to me for review this month of October. This is now an attempt to avoid the termination or ending of our relationship with you here in this office at Navient moving forward if you could please call and update me with your current situation so we can review all options while you still have them. We're here to help but we need to hear from you at 866-xxx-xxxx and we are available Monday through Friday 8 AM. To 9 PM Eastern time thank you…”

What are my next steps? A few weeks ago I received letters saying they wanted to settle at 70%. Mohela takes over later in the month. I do not work. I have a lump sum payment on hand of 10% or less that I can offer. I don’t know how I’d ever pay this monster off.

.

I am getting these monthly emails from NES saying they’ll settle my loans for pennies on the dollar. Are they legit?

My College avenue loan payments have been more than my monthly rent. While doing my best to pay as much as I can it’s come to a point where I just can’t keep up and have depleted my savings trying to stay afloat with them. At this point I have stopped paying them because I simply cannot afford to. The current status on a couple of them is now showing “write off” I’m curious if anyone has defaulted with college ave and what their experience has been? I’m hoping they will go to collection and I can negotiate a lower payment but am worried they will go straight to a lawsuit. Has anyone defaulted with college ave before? What was your experience?

This was posted a few days ago in another sub and I need more advise.

I just got served with a Citation (Small Claims or Debt Claim Case) from SLM Private Credit Student Loan Trust and I need to answer within the next few days and hoping someone can help me.

I took out two loans from Sallie Mae in 2005/2006 with my mom as co signor. After making minimum payments for several years I was not able to pay since April 2023. Navient was servicing the loans and sold the debt to SLM Private Credit Student Loan Trust and have filed with the court (TX) and have me listed and my mother. I need to file a response with the court to see what can be done.

The Art Institute has since gone bankrupt and I realize that I can file for borrowers defense. Can anyone direct me in where I can find information to help? I can not afford an attorney but I want to respond to the court.

I didn't want them to get a default judgment and went through solo suit to send in an answer to the court. It just denied things and asked them to confirm. I am still waiting for a few bankruptcy lawyers to get back to me. Someone came to my house today and left their phone number and asked that I called them about the civil case. This is really spooking out my folks. I have filed a CFPB complaint against Navient and asked for the School Misconduct application and received a response from Navient saying they will look into and nothing else. I emailed Navient from the PSSL site and Navient sent a response they will look into and get back to me.

I'm at a loss at what to do next. I have filed for borrows defense but that is for federal loans and not private for Navient. What can I do while I wait for a response to get the form or is there anything I can do at this point without having to file bankruptcy, which I am not sure if the private student loan can even be discharged even with all the law suits against Navient.

I'm in my early twenties and owe about 179k in student loans. However I have been paying 2k a month for roughly 2-3 years and it only took the loan down by 10k(principle). At this point I'm strongly considering defaulting and settling for 60-70k just for the fact that a lot of my income is going to this loan and it's not doing much damage which means I'll be close to my late 30s early 40s when this will possibly be paid off. It's not that I financially struggle paying these off I make well enough, I just am thinking long term that this money can go towards a house or my future children or a car. Basically 312,000 over 10-12 years. My credit rn is 750 I have a few credit cards all being paid off on time. I've already contacted a lawyer who's dealt with cases from navient where they were able to settle. Not looking to get a house now, my goal by the end of the year is to get a nice apartment and decent car, so I won't have to worry about my credit for a while and by 30-32 get a house which about 7 years from now. I can pay the settled amount maybe 3-4 years max. Realistically can my credit bounce back from this and will I be able get a house or better car in future without hassle? Is this plan feasible? Any one else have similar situation.

Have not received frequent/regular collection notices for years. Maybe an occasional notice. Did receive COVID related updates. Last amount I remember was a lot - in the hundreds of thousands (4 years undergrad, 5 years grad). Always took out the maximum Fed loans (plus private). Basically, my family lived off the loans.

I assume all my private loans are past SOL, so I'm only concerned about govt loans.

At this point, I have no idea how much I owe. Have never been garnished. Got the letter in re Fresh Start. Should I enroll or continue to hope I stay under the radar.

I have no idea why I have not been garnished. I was not making much money for long time (since 2007), but recently started new job earning $100k.

I'm single, no assets or savings, and I'm 59.

Q:

I'm a stay at home mom with no income. I have been in default (private and federal) for 10+ years and it's off my credit report. I got a letter saying to sign up for fresh start by tomorrow. Should I? I know I sound dumb AF, and hoenstly I probably am. I was an immigrant kid that didn't know any better with zero financial knowledge. I have a house with my husband and kids. Don't want anything to come after him or his income for my mistakes.

In 2014 I started college with the notion that my mother and her husband would be helping me pay for it (directly out of high school). They divorced and my second term I needed to take out private loans. My mother never saved for my college and was relying on her now ex-husband to pay for it. She co-signed over $90,000 In Sallie Mae loans for me not once taking the time to explain what they were to me. After graduation I used all my forbearances and went into repayment on a payment plan.

Then I went back to school. They did not tell me I would lose my payment plan. I now am $3,000 behind because I could not afford school anymore so payment started back up. They are threatening legal action and I my mother REFUSES to help me with the payments that are over $1,000 a month. I am at a loss and don’t even know if there is anything I can do to work with them…. Any advice appreciated

Hey all. I'm about 110k in the hole with Sallie Mae private loans. Since 2020, I have been in the Rate Reduction Program. First time I applied I defaulted for 3 months and they gave me a deal for 2 years. Second time I did the same thing and they gave me another 2 year deal. My current 2 year deal is going to end in November. I'm prepared to default again for 2-3 months to make sure they let me into the RRP again (and because i CAN'T PAY OVER $1,000 a month ANYWAY!!), but I wanted to check in here first: is my memory correct in that when they ask you to break down your income and expenses, you're not legally required to report ALL of your income in that breakdown? I am trying to remember if they say something like "report all income that can go towards these payments" aka they have like a caveat about what you deem to be discretionary income? Am I making this up?

Hello, I did a little searching on here and couldn't find anyone exactly in my same position, so I figured I'd try to reach out for some advice here. I have 10 private loans of varying amounts serviced by Navient. The monthly payments got absurd ($1900/month) and I decided to intentionally default with the hope that I could get some kind of reduced payment plan or if I'm lucky a settlement offer. I am now in their "120 Day Bucket" for late payments. When I spoke with them on the phone they said I was delinquent but not in default. They also said that the next step would be to move me into the "150 Day Bucket" but were unwilling or unable to describe to me what that would be or what it would look like.

I have the ability to pay off about 2/3rds of what I owe, but if I get a 1099, I'll be in real trouble, so I'm more realistically somewhere in the 40-50% range if I were to pay them.

My options as I see them right now are to pay some of the higher interest ones off and enter into a reduced payment plan on the rest, but this would involve re-applying with them every 6-9 months and frankly I'm just so sick of dealing with them at this point that I want to get out from under them altogether.

I live in the state of Michigan. Our SOL is 6 years for sueing on the debt. I really don't know what to expect from here or what would be my best course of action. I spoke with a few attorneys and none seem really willing to help me out until I get sued. Also, I haven't been able to get a lot of answers about what next steps might take place. I do have a consigner and I'm very concerned about getting her involved and definitely don't want to have her property liened or anything like that.

Has anyone gone through this with Navient? Am I on the right path for defaulting "correctly"? Really, I just want to be able to make a settlement offer but don't have a lot of confidence in navigating this.

Currently being sued for several student loans (navient).

what is the worst they can do to me in FL? wage garnishment? Home lien? Take property ? (I don’t have anything of value but just curious how it works).

I paid a lawyer for some of the suits but they basically told me to settle or do a chapter 13 bankruptcy to buy time. I don’t qualify for chapter 7. I don’t have any money to settle with. I stopped paying all my other unsecured debt about 6 weeks ago to save up for a bankruptcy attorney. Currently screwed with disposable income as myself and spouse had taken temp jobs over the last few months to make additional money for legal fees.

what should I do at this point? just let them get a judgment and garnish me forever? Do the bankruptcy even with my disposable income like $900 more than it would typically be? I have a pre trial conference soon in one of the cases that I have not paid an attorney for and I can’t afford to pay one for that and bankruptcy too-it has my anxiety so high I‘m physically I’ll over it and starting to perform badly at work because I can’t focus. what happens if I don’t show for the pre trial? This will be the 1st meeting on this case. Also, I have a co-signer that can not help financial and they have not been named in the suit. Now that I am behind on all my other debt I think bankruptcy is the only option but I can’t afford to file for another month or two ( after the student loan court date) and I won’t be back to my average income on the means test until around February.

any advice/input welcomed. If I didn’t have kids I would consider just leaving the country. If I didn’t finally have the job that I worked years for I would quit and wait it out to at least qualify for chapter 7 and have nothing to garnish.