Student loan for my daughter

[Bigleap]

In 1999 I took out a college loan for my daughter. I think the principal was about $22,000. Since then I had to sell my house at a short sale, the company I worked for went bankrupt, and I had cancer in 2008. Now I am cured! But things have worked out pretty well. New work, new life, doing a lot of great creative work in TV and film.

But here is the problem. I had the student loan in forbearance and then in income-based payments. But now I can’t afford the payments at all. They should be about $360 a month which I can’t afford. So what I’m doing is just sending them $30 a month and hoping for the best. That’s when I found your organization. Thank you so much!

Any ideas what I can do?

[Love]

Hi big leap,

Wow. So happy to hear of your wonderful, new life. And overcoming cancer.

About the student loan you mentioned, i would say the most important thing is to stay in contact with the lender/loan servicer. That’s number one.

As to what can happen if you are unable to make the minimum payment on the income based repayment program? It depends on the laws of your state. Since you are the parent borrower, it might be treated differently, too. I think a judge might even discharge the debt under a bankruptcy due to all that you have been through, but i am not sure, of course.

First thing, I would call the loan servicer and see what they can do. If your income is lower than it was prior to forbearance or original calculation of the payment, the monthly payment would be lower now, as well.

Under the income based repayment program, it should be recertified yearly based on your current taxable income. So you can request to have your payment recalculated, if that is the case.

Hope that helps !

Peace,

[Bigleap]

Thanks . Some good thoughts. I did contact the servicer many times and they can’t get the payment below about $350 which I can’t afford. Thanks.