In Obama’s War on Seniors: some losing part of their SS check to repay defaulted student loans

coachisright.com ^ | AUGUST 24TH, 2012 | Derrick Hollenbeck, staff writer

[jmaroneps37]

Barack Obama’s war on America’s seniors knows no limits. The Treasury Department is withholding part of the Social Security monthly payments of about 115,000 seniors because they have fallen behind on student loan payments. There was a time when Social Security benefit payments were untouchable, but that is a thing of the past.

Obama’s War on Seniors is growing at such a rate that the number of effected seniors has almost doubled in just the last year. These size of the payments being withheld are not insignificant.

Depending on the circumstances some run up to as high as 15%. With the average retiree’s benefit payment at about $1,234, the monthly bite could be nearly $190.00.

What’s worse is that many seniors don’t realize that they are still liable for their student loan payments even though they have been pushed out of the working mainstream by Barack Obama’s fiscal policies.

Thanks to younger relatives, often grandchilderen, who are out of work and unable to repay these loans (for the same reasons their elders are either retired or working as Walmart greeters), people who never set foot in a college classroom are having to suffer these reductions in their small Social Security benefits.

New Jersey attorney reports he has represented six clients in last two years who have fallen into this repayment trap because they co-signed a student loan application for a grandchild.

Still others have gotten into trouble because, in an attempt to improve a personal resume, they took out a student loan for Graduate school degrees that ultimately came to naught.

“…attorney tells of working with 83 year old veteran co-signed to cover the tuition of his son in e 1990s only to find that because both of them have fallen behind…

[jmaroneps37]

It's sad to see who the greeters in Walmart are these days?

[PLMerite]

They’re being held responsible for their debts, what a concept.

[svcw]

If you take out a loan and fail to pay, your wages/social security are attached to pay for those loans - good.
If you co-sign on a loan and fail to pay, your wages/social security are attached to pay for those loans - good.
Don’t take out loans you can’t afford to pay back, and never co-sign for loans you can’t afford to pay back.

[utahagen]

If you don't want to be on the hook for someone else’s loan, don't co-sign the loan. If you do co-sign a loan and the loan isn't repaid, you will have to pay it. If you don't pay off the loan, you'll get hit somehow. I feel sorry for geezers whose grandchildren are deadbeats, but it is just that their SS should be docked.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Just ginning up support amongst Senior Citizens for Obama’s upcoming Student Loan Forgiveness proposal.

[oh8eleven]

What’s worse is that many seniors don’t realize that they are still liable for their student loan payments
Really? Did they think all their debts would disappear when they turned 65?
Just another example of 21st Century irresponsibility. If you owe it - pay it.

[bravo whiskey]

good. i’m paying off my school loans again. first time 1990 i paid the minimum because the interest rate was higher on my savings than the loan. now (another stint at school in 2000s) it may be more cost effective to just lump sum pay off the rest. only a couple grand left.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Seems like Sympathy for seniors on this issue can be found in the Dictionary between the words sh!t and Syphilis.

What a novel concept, having to repay your loans. An what is more amazing is Freepers backing an Obama action.

[RWGinger]

This is a tough one.
That Generation believed in paying their debts
so this must hur them
and slide them into poverty.

lesson learned
NEVER co sign a loan for a relative or actually anyone Ever

and FYI our walmarts did away with greeters
but kroger still hire plenty of seniors.

[douginthearmy]

War on Seniors... I get the idea of illustrating the left’s abuse of language by using it against them, but I think it is ineffective, immature and equally moronic as anything they say. Play tit for tat with a boob and you’ll always be the tat.

[SkyPilot]

The college and university tuition scam rolls on.

The "education mafia" has been escalating the costs for decades now. They have bankrupted families who were gullible enough to fall for the scam. Salaries of college and university employees have likewise skyrocketed, while the quality of education has plummeted. We now have "McStudy" degrees of every political boot camp stripe. Obama is robbing Social Security the same way his Treasury raided Federal retirement pensions during the budget crisis of last year.

The "Occupy" vermin who majored in "Gay-Bisexual-Transgendered-Feminst-Greivances" want someone else to pay their ten ton loan bills.

[libstripper]

Cosigning a loan for a relative is one of the worst things most people can do because the realtive is likely to pay off all of her other creditors first and then try to guilt the cosigner out of his repayment. Remember, she only went to you because she believed you'd never really ask to have the loan repaid.

[Kenton]

They’re being held responsible for their debts, what a concept.

Yeah, but it's not necessarily "their" debt.

Back when the "seniors" were old enough to be in college, few people needed to take out college loans. The easy availability of government-subsidized student loans today has been matched by exponential increases in college costs, so that's not the case so much anymore.

I'd expect that these seniors are getting their SS payments cut because they co-signed for their kids' student loans, not because of student loans of their own.

I have a sister and brother-in-law caught in that trap, and neither of them went to college, but their kid ran up $100 grand in debt at Loyola of Chicago, and now she can't make the payments, so they are struggling.

[ArmstedFragg]

Worked for the Social Security Administration in the 60’s, recovering overpayments from little old ladies who forgot to tell them about that part time job they held. We went after them hammer and tongs. Nothing new here.

[onyx]

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[listenhillary]

Sounds like a conservative thing to do. Do we support deadbeats now on Free Republic?

[TheBattman]

Exactly - I despite Obama and his Klan of racist America-haters... but these “Seniors” have a debt they are responsible for. I see this as no different than garnishing wages...

[dblshot]

If you don’t pay your income taxes the SS deduction doesn’t go into SS so you don’t get credit for those quarters to qualify either. You aren’t going to get away with not paying in and still taking out just because you are old and poor.

[harpu]

Hmmm...sounds to me like OBozo’s team is actually doing something right. ‘If you made the debt, you owe the debt...now pay up.’

[albie]

“This is a tough one.
That Generation believed in paying their debts”

...time has passed by quickly. These “65” year olds were in school in the mid to late 60’s. “Great Society” entitlement mentality. I’ll bet if they took a closer look at these loafers they’d find left wing, wirey white haired Subaru driving hippies.