cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Please help With student loan!!!!

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

Please help With student loan!!!!

Hi am 22 years old with 60k in a private loan with 7.8% interest making only 25k a year and with other payments like rent food ect. I have $5 to last for a month. I was wondering is there any federal programs or assitance that would be able to help pay some of this loan
Message 1 of 6
5 REPLIES 5
LynnInMN
Frequent Contributor

Re: Please help With student loan!!!!

No...there is no relief for private loans.  The only thing you can do is increase your income by changing jobs or working an extra job.
Ex-Financial Aid Officer

Ex-Student Loan Collector
Message 2 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Please help With student loan!!!!

so im pretty much !@#$%^ great!!! how can I pay it off in this hard financial times. I could get a second job but where I live to work nights its all minimum wage which is $8. By working a second job I still wouldnt make enough to pay the payments. I already work 60 hours a week to barley pay the loan. Is there a way I would be able to get a lower rate from the feds or other banks. My score is around 750
Message 3 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Please help With student loan!!!!

This is why it is inadvisable to take out large amounts in private loans when the jobs you can/will get on the other side of the degree will not enable you to pay back the loan.
 
No federal programs or assistance for private loans.  I would assume that with that amount in private loans, you have maxed out your federal loan eligibility.  Federal loans are where you can get deferments, forbearances, all that stuff.  With private loans, you are really at the mercy of your loan company.  I don't know why you would end up with only private loans and no federal loans--to me, that's terrible planning somewhere.
 
If you haven't already, get whatever deferments and forbearances you can get on your federal loans.  That will free up some cash in the short term for your private loans.  Stay in touch with your private loan lender, and make whatever payments you can.  Once you default with them, they are merciless, and will sue you and your cosigner.  From experience, I can tell you that it gets very ugly. 
 
The goal is to stay in their good graces just enough that they won't send you to collection, and won't go after you in a legal sense.  I think that LynnInMN would tell you that the only way to do that is to make the full payment each month.  My experience is that private loan companies will work with you to a certain extent, but at the point that you ignore them, they treat you like a deadbeat until the loan is paid off in its entirety.  Which at 60k, will be years (and judgments and garnishments) later.
 
If you're not making payments on these private loans, then you are in the kind of trouble that doesn't go away (and your cosigner is too).  As LynninMN said, you either need to get a "better" (read: higher paying job), or a second job.  Complaining about minimum wage jobs is no good.  Complaining about not being able to do public interest work is not good.  When you talk to the loan company, you'll need everything you can get on your side--two jobs, 80 hours a week, and you still can't make the minimum.  And they'll ask for documentation.  And they still might go after you.  They really only respond to extremes.
Message 4 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Please help With student loan!!!!

Well, you have a couple of choices. You can find a different job that pays more. Working 60hrs a week for $25K is ridiculous, if you can avoid it. Or, move to a cheaper city, move back home, get a roommate, etc etc. Whatever you can do. Also, call you private loan company. They may grant 6-12months of forbearance, or have payment plan that meets your needs. Our lender has an interest-only for 2 years plan, etc etc.
 
Nothing federal will touch your private loans. 7.8% is actaully a pretty good rate, and unless you can find a consolidation loan with better repayment options and/or a good fixed rate(not likely) then you are going to have to deal with your income.  I don;t know what your degree is in, where you live, or what you do, so I can't advise further.
Message 5 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Please help With student loan!!!!

My degree is in automotive/collision technology with applied service management I live in central Ca working as a manager of a body shop. Yes I know I need a different job been looking for about a year now in and around the city i live in. i live in apartment with my gf in which her dad pays 500 of our rent. The reason I have such a high private loan because I came from a very poor family and went to school out of state to specialize in the field that I am in. The feds only gave me a small loan it was only 5K which is no where near  what the school cost. While i was in school i had a full time job to help keep cost down. Some thing happened and I needed more money and this is where I'm at. I pay the loan every month on time. Its the other other financial obligations that I have to pay which I don't have money for like food gas clothes for work. I probably could've approach getting the loan a different way but this is what I was advised to do from lenders financial aid from my high school and from the college. So there is my situation.
Message 6 of 6
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.