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What happens to people who are in the “Other” category?
| Poll: Anyone else in this situation? Total Votes: 0 |
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|---|---|
| If yes, what are you doing to survive? | 0  |
| For those 50+ years old how is this affecting your ability to retire? | 0 |
| For those 50+ years old are you able to save any money? | 0 |
Any new legislation is an important first step to stem the tide of crushing student loan debt - keeping in mind it is not only young people, it is those of us who are in our 50’s and 60’s who have no hope of ever paying off our debt because the cumulative interest rate over the life of our loans has made that an impossibility.
I do not qualify for any loan forgiveness program as it only pertains to loan payments made on an eligible Direct Loan, after October 1, 2007 -
I don’t think I have made an actual payment in over 10 years because I could never afford the payment amount (my interest payment alone is close to $800 a month) all I do is every year figure out a way to legally keep it at bay so it does not show as defaulted - If they could come up with an affordable amount for me to pay - again it would only be throwing money at a growing amount $124,000 today) that will never diminish in the hopes my wages or future SS is not garnished.
The biggest obstacle for me is because of the accumulated interest (now more than the amount I actually initially borrowed) I am not eligible for any of the standard re-payment plans and they base what they believe I can afford to pay (even for income based repayment) on my Gross income not my net. So even though I can document my net income every month vs documented expenses - they do not take that into consideration. I live paycheck to paycheck even working two jobs and rent rooms in my house with no savings or safety net.
I am in a grey area that is not being addressed by any of the current or proposed plans because it has gone on for so long (I was ineligible to refinance because I chose to consolidate lo those many years ago) that unless they do some sort of interest forgiveness - I could never hope to pay it down in any significant way.
I am sorry you are facing this situation. Payments under Income-Based Repayment should be affordable for most borrowers unless they have extraordinary expenses. The payments are based on Adjusted Gross Income and family size, not the amount of interest or the principal balance of the loan. It can be hard to see an end in sight but getting an affordable monthly payment you can live with may be a more realistic goal for some of us.