Defaulted options- Failure seems to be my only option

[redneck18]

Student loans from way back when, late 90's I believe. Original amounts somewhere around 15k, now they are over 40k. 2008/9 destroyed me, my business, and my family. Everything defaulted. I went through rehab in 2014 after I get the Mrs. out of school, only to have more disaster strike near the end of that rehab program. I think Navient had the loans after rehab, they wouldn't work with me, claimed my wife made too much money. Not sure what that had to do with it, these weren't her loans. However, our AGI is and has been in the negative for years, this didn't matter. I had no choice, there was no money to pay. They have defaulted again. Now GL has them, I spoke with GL and was told I could either pay off (ha!), rehab, or consolidate. They won't even look at AGI to determine payment amount and I am told any payment arrangements will keep these in default until paid off. Consolidation adds 18%, I'm already MORE THAN DOUBLE what original amount was. I have been reading a lot in the credit repair section, not as much here. Just feeling lost right now, thought I had a way to correct all of this but this just hit me like a brick, literally don't know what to do now. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. I have NO MEANS to PIF or settle for even a little lesser amount. Anyone know what options I have? Just spoke with DoE, eveidentally these loans are not through them, although as far as I know they are government backed loans. Happy to provide any other info you guys may need to assist me, 

[redneck18]

I misspoke above, these loans are not eligible for rehab, my only options are PIF, pay on them every month and they remain in default, or consolidate. Consolidation adds the 18% collection costs. Just feel like I will never get out from under them. Can anyone provide some insight?

Thanks

[SCF]

If you previously rehab'd these loans, then you are correct that consolidation is your only option (other than just paying it off in a lump sum) to get the loan out of default.  It sucks that consolidation adds those collection costs, but it seems like this is your only viable option.

I would read up on the different income driven payment plans and how they consider household income, because some of them will use only your income if you are married filing separately.  On an income driven payment plan you can keep these loans in good standing, and the worst case scenario is that the balance is forgiven 20-25 years from now.  That's a lot of payments, but it's also a light at the end of the tunnel if you genuinely cannot improve your income to pay them down faster.