Posted on 01/01/2024 9:53:56 PM PST by SeekAndFind
It’s been three months since the federal government resumed student loan payments, but many borrowers have refused to pay a single penny...
Activists say borrowers have staged a “massive student debt strike” as they await progress—any progress—on the White House’s student loan forgiveness program.
“Faced with the impossible choice of feeding their kids, keeping a roof over their head, or throwing an average of $400 a month into the Department of Education incinerator, borrowers are rightly choosing to keep themselves and their families financially afloat,” said Astra Taylor, co-founder of Debt Collective, a union advocating on behalf of debtors.
According to the Department of Education, 22 million borrowers had payments due in October but only 13 million settled their bills.
That means 40% of borrowers failed to make payments.
Creditnews reported in September that the resumption of student loan payments would hit American families hard, but very few expected four out of ten borrowers to miss payments. Before the pandemic, about one-quarter of student loan borrowers were dodging payments.
Some experts think the transition back to loan repayment after more than three years of forbearance will be bumpy. As it turns out, students aren’t the only ones to blame.
Student loans went into forbearance in March 2020 just as Covid-era lockdowns forced millions out of work. Over that period, Americans grew accustomed to not paying back their loans and used the money to tackle other expenses like rent or grocery bills.
Reallocating up to $500 a month to student loan payments was always going to be difficult—especially with high inflation and elevated borrowing costs.
But according to Persis Yu, deputy executive director at the Student Borrower Protection Center, it wasn’t just borrowers who were unprepared for the October shock.
“Neither borrowers nor the student loan system were prepared to resume repayment,” Yu told CNBC.
“Servicers are overwhelmed and are failing to help struggling borrowers navigate the options that are available to them,” she said.
Carolina Rodriguez of the nonprofit Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program agrees. “Servicers are having a very hard time getting people back into repayment,” she said.
Many student loan borrowers are waiting for debt relief promised to them by the Biden administration, but those efforts have hit a major snag.
President Biden initially proposed a $400 billion bailout program that would erase up to $20,000 in federal debt for roughly 40 million borrowers. The Supreme Court struck down the plan in June, claiming that the president overstepped his authority.
Since then, the Department of Education has been working with a panel of experts to negotiate a watered-down version of the program. But even they have failed to reach a consensus so far.
An Education Department spokesperson said the panel is on track to submit a new student debt relief proposal by May, but there’s no guarantee that it’ll get passed.
2024 is an election year, and student loan forgiveness is a hotly debated issue, with several conservative lawmakers promising to block any attempts to erase student loans with taxpayer dollars.
Tuff crap, should have been paying during covid, I sure did.
Hunt them down like the deadbeats that they are. Garnish their wages until the debt they VOLUNTARILY undertook is paid off in full.
Concurrently, eliminate 100% of federally funded college tuition loans. If states want to do it, that’s their business.
> …” borrowers are rightly choosing to keep themselves and their families financially afloat,” said Astra Taylor <
Oh, wow. I would love to borrow some money from Ms. Taylor. And preferably a large, unsecured amount.
I agree with all of that.
Where did these idiots get the idea that they can take out a loan without being expected to pay it back? Don’t borrow money you can’t repay, spoiled little morons.
Why would one pay off a loan with 0% percent interest and no payments due? Better of investing the money and paying when payments became due.
> Don’t borrow money you can’t repay, spoiled little morons. <
Right. And pick a sensible path. Work part-time while going to your local community college. Get the basics out of the way there. And I’m not guessing when I say this: those basic courses are taught better at a community college than at a university. No doubt about it.
Then after two years, go to a state school to finish your degree. Continue to work part-time, over the summers if nothing else.
But, no. Those brats demand to go to a fancy private college, from the get-go. Party round the clock as you borrow more and more.
When they started getting participation trophies.
The student loan forgiveness plan was the brain child of Little White Dove Warren and Schumer the tumor. It’s a reward to the Dems most loyal base: college educated women. It is a terrible idea.
Permit me to add something to my post #7. While attending community college, stay at home if at all possible.
I foolishly moved out. I wanted to be on my own. Well, being on my own meant paying rent and utility bills. And so I incurred a debt I didn’t have to (all long payed off now).
It’s the same crowd that goes ‘shopping without money’
BTTT
It took me a while to completely pay off my student loanS. (Yes, capital S, I had several). While I did sometimes have a job during college, not always. After I finished school, I obtained a job and started paying for the loanS. As time passed, there were some difficult years. I called them and told them I would send what I could each month. After a nasty car accident (not my fault) I could not work at all, for months. I again called and informed them. They didn’t like it, but at least I called. Eventually my career improved, and the day of my final loan payment felt really gooooood.
I am not surprised at some of this loan forgiveness insanity. Any university that promotes, provides ‘safe spaces’ is disabling their students.
I am also reminded of one of Rush’s main lessons. The cost of college tuition has always risen. Unlike regular businesses that cut prices for competition, colleges would never dream of it. The Harvard Endowment has about $40 BILLION. They could pay for the undergraduate and graduate schooling for decades.
Ah yes, privelaged young dem party debt slaves wanting those that could not afford college, taxi drivers, retail workers, waitresses, laborers, etc to pay for their irresponsible debt.
That should make it impossible to get a car loan or a house loan. Or a credit card.
This nation is f**ked. Because eventually, the Milennials, and worse the Gen-Z’ers, who demand student loan “relief” will eventually be IN POWER and force this change, along with others that will destroy our economy.
Let the little bitches go bankrupt. No one owes them a single thing. Especially working people.
I would love to know how many of them have expensive upgraded phones.
Has any college thought to make a basic course in financial planning a degree requirement?
And get Starbucks regularly and weekly or biweekly manicures and pedicures, eyebrow waxing and have multiple streaming subscriptions…and no job.
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