I have Sallie Mae Loans. I believe the last payment was made in October or November 2021, after that its been no contact whatsoever. I also don't even live in the country anymore. In October 2024 the debt was sent to a collection agency.

What are the chances this agency sues me? My cosigner has a job and property. On paper I have nothing. The debt altogether is like $17,000.

The SOL in the state i lived in is 6 years so, about 2 years and 9 months to go. But, As i said i don't live in the United States anymore. If they can't physically serve me can a judgement still be awarded to the debt collection agency?

ALSO if they can't physically serve me, and only serve the cosigner, would that mean they would only go after the cosigner and seek a judgement on him only? Or would it include me still?

I really just don't want to be sued and have a judgement for life.

My partner defaulted on his private student loans ($100k+) because he doesn’t make near enough to pay back the $900 per month. He’s talked to Sallie Mae about lowering the cost but there’s nothing they can do. His consigner has passed away so they can’t go after them either.

One issue is that we own our home together - can Sallie Mae do something with that? If they take a lien out, what does that entail? We live in PA. Ideally, they’d garnish his wages, as the percentage they’d take out would actually be doable.

If either a settlement is reached or a default judgement is entered against you, do you have to pay in a certain amount of time? Is there a minimum monthly payment set? Who decides what the monthly payment is? (Getting sued for a private student loan and I’m just wondering what my future holds for me)

I’m a month into default and they’re offering me 33% to settle 200,000 in loans. Anyone get a lower offer than this? Debating whether to pay or hold.

Also, does that settled amount count as forgiveness under the American Rescue Plan, which wouldn’t be taxable?

Quick question so I understand the implications. Had $70k of student debt. Statute of limitations went by 5 years ago. I'm now receiving a 1099-C form for $53k. Does that mean I would have to pay taxes on that? Should I speak with a lawyer or an accountant to see if I need to claim this?

About 9 years ago I defaulted on two private student loans (taken out in 2004 & 2005). My credit took the hit and showed up on my credit reports. About two years ago the default marks on my report were wiped. Since the initial default, I’ve been auto-draft paying monthly on both loans. Today, I received a letter from WF stating that because of the age of the debt (20 yrs!) they have closed the loans. It also states that they have updated the credit reporting agencies that the balance is zero. Will WF closing these loans (charging off??) cause another dip in my credit score and be viewed negatively by the credit reporting companies like when they first reported the default nine years ago???

Received my default letter after not paying for about 6 months but no settlement was offered it just mentioned, should I expect that in the next letter?

I feel it's cheaper to game them this way. I'd rather pay a one time tuition than 780 monthly.

Hi! Another person who didn't know they had a Perkins Loan.

In 2022 I worked with my college, NYU, to set up a REHAB program, and forgot about it, assuming it was just happening. Now I just found out that for some reason that didn't happen? Chase Credit Alerts told me this morning there's a lender who can't get in contact with me I called Heartland, I called ESCI Perkins, and finally Dept of Ed. They all had my address from 4 years ago. They gave me two options: Pay in full, around 8.5K, or pay 6 payments of 1,410 per month for six months. This doesn't make any sense to me. Has anyone else had this experience?

Hi everyone. I owe $30k and was in default for years. I read about the fresh start program and was approved. My loans were sent to Aidvantage. I talked to them yesterday and they put me in forbearance until April. They also want me to do an application for an IDR, which I plan to do today. My question is since I was in default for many years but now am in forbearance will they take my tax return? Has anyone else went through this yet? Thank you

With my mom as co-signer, I took out approximately $9k of private loan debt from Sallie Mae in 2010. In 2019, I filed for chapter 13 bankruptcy because my credit card and student loan payments were out of control and two of three of my private loans had already defaulted. Though Sallie Mae was current when I filed, it automatically defaulted as expected due to the bankruptcy. For those unaware, debtors generally make a claim on your plan and receive monthly payments during your bankruptcy. Mine lasted five years. For whatever reason, Sallie Mae chose not to make a claim and instead let the interest build on the loan. The other services did. The Sallie Mae loan amount now totals $17k. My bankruptcy was discharged in December and Sallie Mae has come back around looking for their cash. So far, I’ve only gotten a letter that states “you still owe the money,” but it doesn’t include an amount or any information on repayment. The debt is now charged off, which bombed my nicely recovering credit score. Seeing the credit dip, I decided to poke around and contact a student loan attorney for a consult to see if what they did is actually allowed in terms of not making a claim but jacking up the loan with interest. The attorney did a free consult and mentioned he does student loan settlement negotiations for a flat fee that is pretty modest. I’m hoping that it would be possible to settle with Sallie Mae for potentially 50-75% of the principle, but am wondering (a) if it’s worth using an attorney to do that and (b) if folks would be willing to share their experiences negotiating settlement with Sallie Mae for a private loan. I’m wondering if I even need his services or if I should just try and get this done myself.

Hello,

I had a private student loan with Sallie Mae at 18% interest. I refinanced all $114k with Earnest in 2024 at 8%. Payments with earnest have been around $1,200 which I’ve been making on-time. I’ve paid around $10,000 so far and I’m still at 0% paid off. I had a baby in 2024 and want to send him to daycare but I can’t afford it because any money I have left just goes to Earnest. Im not putting any money into retirement and I have no savings because I can’t afford to contribute. I have no disposable income and I can’t keep living this way. I’m completely exhausted seeing that payment come out and knowing I can’t even afford to send my son to daycare.

1. Should I default? Should I make tiny payments to stay delinquent but not default?

2. I no longer have a co-signer. I made sure to be refinanced on my own as to not involve anyone else in my own mistakes. Can they go after my husband’s income?

3. If I do go delinquent but don’t default, are they likely to still offer a settlement or will they just hound me and add up interest?

4. Does anyone have experience dealing with Earnest through default? Did they sue? Did you settle?

I have no idea what to do. If they garnish my wages, I’d be paying significantly less than making the monthly loan payment. I honestly don’t care about the repercussions to my credit, it will eventually recover…What would YOU do if you were me?

I live in Indiana.

TIA

Hiii cross posting to this subreddit for possibly more info. I am getting sued by 3rd party - what can I expect?

Sallie Mae sold my loans (2013-2014) to a 3rd party in 2024. I failed to comply with the repayment terms and defaulted on $24,585.00 with an interest rate of 8%.

Today I got served and have no idea what to expect. I lost my job in Nov 2024 because the company I worked for was cutting salaries from 60k to 30k. So they gave me a choice: stay for 30k or leave.

Anyways, I am married - no kids, no assets (no home, car, etc). Been doing my some research. Don’t have a job currently so can’t garnish wages. I’m scared and not sure what to expect. Any advice is truly appreciated.

Just to preface - I read the default guide which was incredibly helpful. Just wanted to post my specific situation to see if I could get more advice / insight.

Where to begin....Theres a lot of extraneous detail surrounding this i can share as needed, but long story short a private student loan under my (deceased) father's name and mine was charged off about 13 months ago. Prior to this point, there was simply no way I could afford to make monthly payments on this loan as well as 3 others (totaling ~40K) on a graduate student stipend. Following years of deferred payments, and a forbearance period, I opted to simply wait until I graduated, was employed, and could afford to pay towards my loans.

Just recently I started to make student loan payments. After a lot of head scratching and investigation, I have discovered my biggest loan (the $48k private loan) was charged off. The account with my original lender has been wiped clean. The only information they are able to provide me is a name and phone # associated with my debt, presumably (they don't have this information) the person / entity who purchased my student loan debt. I have made every attempt to contact this person, both myself via calls and messages left on their machine and even through the credit union that charged off my debt. I cannot get in touch and the number provided to me goes to an answering machine of a person with a different name than what my credit union has on file. i.e. my credit union directs to me Jane @ phone#, but I call and I get John.

From reading the guide it seems like I have involuntarily started waiting for my debt to reach statute of limitations. This was never my intention and I'm honestly just very concerned about this. At this point do I just wait and see if I'm ever contacted? My credit report says the charge off is there until Aug 2029. Do I still owe the debt in the scenario no one ever gets in touch with me by this date? Will I be contacted and expected to settle in Aug 2029 or is this not a given? Should I reach out to a lawyer for guidance? If I am able to get in touch with this person, what does the process of paying them look like?

My original credit union said to make a few more attempts to contact the number then call them back so they can make an annotation on my account for their records. From my perspective I have made good faith attempts to reach out and address the owed debt, but does this matter at this point?

Oh man where do I start. I'm 50. The loans I took out were for my undergrad. Last loan I took out was in 96. I've never been able to repay those loans. I consolidated them in 2006; as I was planning on getting an MBA and was advised that was the best course of action to keep them in forbearance while I was in school. I was seriously injured in a car accident and never went back.

I'm disabled to the point Ive only been able to work a part time job since then, but I'm not so disabled that the government thinks I qualify for any kind of disability.

So here I've been trapped the last 18 years barely scraping by and watching the ludicrous accrual of interest to my student loans. I've played by the rules and applied and kept them in an IDR this whole time. My original loan amounts totaled less than 19,000. As of this writing the debt is over 100,000, and the interest accrual EXCEEDS MY ANNUAL INCOME.

Like an absolute idiot in June of last year I consolidated them again so that I'd qualify for the SAVE plan, and with the way they would have recounted the time my loans were in forbearance they would have been written off.

Then the court injunction happened. I don't know what to do anymore, I'm going to owe this debt for the rest of my life, I'm barely hanging on as it is.

Any advice anyone can give is appreciated. I'm set to inherit a small amount of money when my dad passes away that I don't want to see these vultures steal from me as it's probably the last bit of money I'll see in my lifetime.

Has anyone here defaulted on private loans and was still able to get a mortgage? My spouse and I want to begin saving for our own home (we can finally do that with the money I’ll save by defaulting). He has excellent credit, but I make most of the money in our relationship. Does anyone know if my inevitable terrible credit will negatively impact us getting a mortgage?

Without getting too in the weeds, I have never been able to pay my student loans- I went to undergrad, then grad school- After graduating things hit the fan immediately (fam emergency, med bills, etc) and long story short I have literally never made a loan payment EVER. I graduated in 2013 and have literally never made a single payment- my credit was obviously in the toilet for many years due to about a dozen defaulted loans ($300K+).

I have not and will not ever be able to pay this and have been waiting for it to fall off my credit. Due to being good for about 5 years now my I got my credit back up to 690ish. and have been waiting for those defaults to fall off.

Today, I got a message from my bank telling me that my credit score dropped 110 points, overnight. I checked and it is indeed true. I'm now at 580. This is apparently due to 12 delinquent accts moving to "derogatory accts" -
Can anyone explain why over a decade since being sent to collections, this is happening, seemingly ALL OVER AGAIN now?

I am in student loan hell. A lot happened in 2020 including having a baby, a divorce and job loss. I’m now returning to stability but my private student loans couldn’t wait. I defaulted in 2021 and they went into collections soon thereafter. It currently shows as 2 accounts in collection totaling ~100k. The thing is the statute of limitations is about to run on it, and if that is the case, there really is no incentive for me to pay it now …. Unless it affects my ability to buy a home.

I’m interested in buying a home (approx. $700-850k) with a relative. My relative is new to the USA and has no credit history. However, the relative is bringing about $330k down payment from the sale of her home abroad, and I will be responsible for the mortgage for whatever is left. I earn $210k and get an annual bonus anywhere between $20-$40k. I also receive child support of $24k per year but not sure if that even matters.

Based on all the above, do I stand a chance of a mortgage? I understand it will be best for me to just pay and close the accounts, but I’m just trying to get an idea of my options.

I defaulted on my student loans over 7 years ago and it no longer appears on my credit report . No collection accounts are being reported and I currently have good credit.

However, I'm considering becoming a Law Enforcement officer in California and a background check is required. If I was to restart payment, the default status would reappear and negatively affect my credit. Not really sure how to proceed. Is there anyway a background investigator would be able to look into this? If it's wipe off my credit report, are they still able to see it?

I posted a few weeks ago about the fact that I was finally sued after defaulting 5 years ago. Unfortunately they are still within the statute of limitations, they have my promissory note from 2006, they have all my payments ect. I was served on Dec 13th. Fucking scumbag bottom feeders.

So I contacted two lawyers, got two different opinions. Both said try to come to an agreement before court. I’m in a weird position because I make decent money now ($114k as a hs teacher) BUT I was in a really bad car accident in Nov of 23 and my dr wants me to take a year off of school to really rest (it’s a whole thing, I had 3 surgeries SO FAR, probably need more, plus I’m 39 and I want to have a baby and I need to do IVF).

Anyway…I spoke to two lawyers, one was giving me advice on how to negotiate myself and the other will negotiate for me for $1500 and do all the paperwork to make sure the agreement is legal and they can’t go back on what they say I can pay. I realized I don’t have it in me to do the negotiating. I have so much anger and sadness around this that I need to have the second lawyer do it for me. He’s going to shoot for a $500-$700 a month payment. My goal would be to pay it down a bit, then when I get my car accident settlement, I can have him try to negotiate a settlement. I missed 5 months of work so I should have ATLEAST $50k coming, hopefully the full policy limits at $165k (after my legal fees). When I think about my car accident settlement I think of the scene from Erin brokovich where she asks the lawyers from the other side “how much is your spine worth?”. That’s essentially what my settlement is, payment for completely f-ing up my spine. And now it’s going to be sucked up by predators. But such is life. Anyway, I owe $68k. FML. The lawyer who will take the $1500 to negotiate said when I get my settlement he will renegotiate a lump sum payoff for me as well. Let’s say I pay for 2 years $700 a month, the amt left will be close to $50k. I could try to do a lump sum for $40k. Both lawyers did remind me I am on the hook for taxes for whatever is forgiven.

It’s sad. I’m sad. My husband is sad. We have obviously had a ROUGH year with me recovering from my car accident, and I was served 3 days before I had a surgery to have an artificial disc put in my neck. When we got married in 2022 we were $40k in debt and by our two year anniversary we were debt free and had $40k in the bank. So we can tackle this too.

I wish I had better news but this is what it looks like. Atleast that 5 years gave me time to get out of debt in other places so I do have wiggle room to make a monthly payment. I will circle back around once the agreement is made. I did have $106k of federal loans forgiven a year ago so….theres that atleast!

One final note - I teach hs now. I actually run a club that has a competitive event where students research how to pay for college. And any students who will let me, I try to talk to them about how they will pay for school. I tell them my story. I help them find scholarships or encourage them to go to community college which is free for most of them. So I’m hoping to make a difference in some of their lives out of this predatory mess.

Hello reddit! I’m currently struggling to be able to make my minimum payments with Earnest. They have offered me an “interest only” repayment plan for 3 months, which still comes out to over $500 a month. I’ve been paying my loans consistently since graduating in 2020 and I owe more than I began with. I’ve tried filing for bankruptcy, but didn’t go through with it because the lawyer basically told me it won’t work. I’m trying to find a lawyer to discuss other options as well. I owe over 90k in private loans. My question is: what would happen to me if I only pay like $100 a month forever? I know I would go delinquent, but since they’re private loans could they garnish my wages and take me for everything that I’m worth? Does anyone have experience with making low payments with this, trying to settle, or successfully filing for bankruptcy? TIYA!

Edit: I live in PA and I know they have protections against wage garnishment, but I wasn’t sure how that applies to private student loans. Thanks!

I have about 56k in sallie mae student loans from my time in undergrad (my mom didn’t understand how predatory they were at the time). Interest rates are anywhere from 10-17%. I work for a non profit and my monthly payment is $900 and i simply cannot afford that, that’s almost what I pay in rent every month. I’ve been considering defaulting, especially as I will be going to grad school abroad in the fall and won’t be back for around 2 years. I’m concerned for fall out in the interim though, as my first payment is due in 2 weeks (January 14). I’m also concerned for what happened if/when I come back to the U.S. and the impact on my credit scores and credit cards and ability to rent an apartment. Is there anyone who could offer some advice to someone in my situation? I looked into refinancing my loan with SoFi, but they said they would be unable to do so, so I just feel incredibly stuck and stressed about the whole situation.

hey guys, been planning my moves on here with you all for a while but finally took the plunge. now i need a little more guidance.

i have about $80,400 in sallie mae private loans. i took out my loans originally in NY, now I live in CA. I have a cosigner - I'm trying to get his property in a trust so that it's out of his name. i stopped paying on Nov 9, 2024. I officially default on Jan 14th 2025. I make about $90k a year and they want to charge me about $2k a month in payments. I can't afford it. I've been in the reduced rate program for four years on a hamster wheel paying about $500 a month. my only goal is to try to get back on it - i am pretty scared to default for real, because my cosigner's only asset is still under his name, and I make quite a bit of money, like 90k a year, but i support multiple family members and paying these loans when i first got out of college and made zero money put me into credit card debt. I guess I'm still fuzzy on a few things:

1. when you default, how soon does salle mae charge off the loans?

2. once the loans are charged off: is the new rate the same as the sallie mae interest rate? how does that work? how do they determine what your new monthly rate is?

3. if i get sued - is it more likely that they will settle with me if i hire a lawyer, or is it more likely that i will just have to pay all of it lump sum? does that even happen? not really sure what happens when you get sued.

overall - what's your suggestion? Should i officially let it default on jan 14th? or should i try to get back on the reduced rate program hamster wheel?

I stopped paying Navient in April. Since then they’ve called me and everyone I know (literally even my parents former employers even though my parents were dropped as co-signers years ago) and they’ve been sending mail in increasingly interesting envelopes like hot pink bubble mailers. This time, it’s disguised as a Christmas card. If anything, this just reminds me how determined I am to never give them another dime.

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I have a hefty amount of private student loans (~190K). I pay $1700 monthly & it’s killing us. Were able to stay afloat, but we live rent free with my in-laws. My husband & I want to buy a home someday, but there’s no way we’d be able to save up as long as I have these loan payments. My question is, does the decision to sue & come for wages determined by or more likely to occur if your loan is higher?

Seeking advice as I approach defaulting on private student loans. My federal loans were all forgiven with the Biden-Harris forgiveness in May.  However, I have a great deal of old private student loan debt through Sallie Mae/Navient from when I made the mistake of going to The Art Institutes for one year back in 2008-2009. I’m not sure of the exact amount as I have moved a few times over the years and cannot locate my original paperwork. I also haven’t logged into my account in years and now that Navient is rebranding to Mohela I can’t seem to access the account to discern the amount. I know that it’s a great deal, even though I only attended about a year at AI.

Originally, my father was the cosigner, but he passed away in 2020 and was released from attachment to this debt. I think my last payment to Navient was in April of 2020, then the following month I went back to college to study computer science. I just finished my degree this past May, and what with the deferments from Covid, being in college, etc, I’m not certain where the timer on my SoL might be or if that timer only starts once you’re in default?

I’ve received several letters from Navient noting that I’m approaching default. I changed my phone number and haven’t responded to them at all. Mostly because I can’t afford to pay them, and really don’t want to give them anything. This past week, Navient started casting a wider net, calling people related to me and a close friend to see if they can get my contact information. My current situation is that I am unemployed and live with my significant other and his mother, and I have no assets beyond a car that I co-own with my significant other. I really don’t care if my credit takes a nosedive and am happy to wait out the timer if it means not giving the sharks a dime.

I figured I’d reach out here and see if anyone might be able to offer some advice or possible answers to my questions.

-          Is there any indication of when the statute of limitations timer begins?

-          I am also uncertain as to which state’s SoL I should base it on, because the loan paperwork was signed while I was living in Virginia, and the school I went to was in Illinois. However, I now reside in New Jersey.

-          I know that there is a school misconduct application floating around and that I could likely use it given the allegations and my experience with AI, but have been fearful as to whether or not this might mess with any plans to strategically default? I also know that many of the applicants for this relief have been denied.

-          If I strategically default, are there any dos and don’ts to keep in mind?

-          My greatest concern is the possibility of a lawsuit. Given my current living situation with no assets, no income, no job, is it likely at all that I will be sued?

Apologies for the wall of questions. I greatly appreciate any advice on this. Thank you in advance.

I have 69000 in private loans from Sallie Mae (I know it’s bad) I was a dumb kid who didn’t understand the difference between federal and private loans. My payments are 1000 a month and I cannot afford that. What happens if I default? Should I keep paying a default later? I live in a state with a 6 yr statute of limitations to sue. So I am unsure if that is even wise. I had no co-signer, no assets other that a really old car and 1000 in my bank account

Hi all, I logged into aidVantage for the first time in a long time because I got an email saying I was deferred due to a natural disaster in my area (hurricane). I expected to see the $100k plus I owe, but it is down to $3k. Upon investigation, it says the $100k was paid by the department of ed in a claim payment in 2019. When I go to the link for defaulted loans, I can see the servicer name as of 2019 is now Default Resolution Group.

1. Why has no one from collections contacted me in the past 5 years since this was paid off?? I have never had taxes or wages garnished or any kind of mail/ phone call from DRG.

2. How is it possible these haven’t impacted my credit? I just pulled my credit report and they all say “pays as agreed” even though I’ve literally never made a payment.

My credit score sucks. Just under 700, but you would think it would be a lot worse with a collection of this magnitude. I just want help understanding this. Thanks!