May 19, 2008 - 10:38am
News

Bart proposes student loan amnesty

Republican Rick Bart, the former Snohomish County Sheriff running for Congress in Northwest Washington's 2nd District against incumbent Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Arlington) has announced a new policy initiative. In a press release sent out Monday morning, Bart pledged to put forward legislation that would help college graduates ease the increasing burden of student loans.

"If elected," Bart said, "I would propose legislation that allows citizens who have seen their student loan balances balloon with penalties, fees, and accrued interest for 7 years or more a window of opportunity to repay what they originally borrowed and move on with their lives.

"Most borrowers wind up paying back double, triple, or far more than the original debt- all under the protection of law," he acknowledged. "The reason for this is that nearly all standard consumer protections have been removed for student loans.  This includes bankruptcy protections, refinancing rights, statutes of limitations, and even 'Truth in Lending' requirements.  Combine this with the fact that the law allows for lenders to garnish borrowers wages, their income tax returns, and even their Social Security and disability benefits, and one can see how the student loan system is ruining the lives of people."

Bart blames the bloated influence of lobbyists for the loan situation, and believes this policy would give students more confidence to enter college and improve their quality of life.

Bryan Bissell is a PolitickerWA.com Reporter and can be reached via email at bryan.bissell@politickerwa.com.

Comments

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01/05/09 10:22 pm

It is not the students fault


It is not the students fault that the government did not do its duty to ensure that its interest in the contract phase was properly represented to the students. Thats the responsiblity of the government. A responsiblity they neglected and one that we are haveing to pay for.
thanks..
regards,
Lautsprecher

12/23/08 3:43 pm

good post


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12/15/08 4:36 pm

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11/03/08 12:38 pm

thank you sohbet


11/01/08 9:34 am

It's Suicide or Exile Sallie Mae...


To make a long story short...

Single mother with a GED on welfare decides voluntarily (before the welfare reform act) that I needed to learn how to type at least so I could become a receptionist something akin that that. The adviser at the community college convinced me that the 2 + 2 program was the way to go because I HAD to have a 4 year degree to make any kind of money to support my child and get off welfare and once I completed the 2 years at the community college I could go to the University to complete the Undergrad degree. I had no money and was living with my parents and was on foodstamps, welfare, wic, etc. Financial advisor assured me that was NO problem, just signed on the line and we will get you all the money you need and you don't ever have to even think about paying a dime back until at least 6 months after you graduate from your final degree. Well that sounded like light years away at that point and I also was GED educated at that point...so you get my POINT. I signed. Of course I got the pell grants and the perkins and the all the federal loans I could get, I began to look forward to them because as the years rolled around things got tougher for me and my daughter and we did not have a place to live anymore at one point, I had to send her away with family on more than one occasion while I slept in my broke down car (paid for with a student loan). Many times I didn't have a pen to write with let alone a pad to write on and thankfully had friends in class who would let me copy pages of their text books so I could read for the assignments. SO, it wasn't like I was living high and mighty off of the $2,650 or so we got each semester!
I did graduate, even after having to take (and pay for) extra classes because I did not graduate high school. I moved out of state to live with my parents because I could not afford to live on my own and I didn't find a job, even with my almighty degree. So, I did the obvious, I went back to school. Masters program in Public Administration. More student loans, this time at the graduate level. Wow, I didn't know you got more money for graduate school. I also worked by the way the whole time through college and grad school part-time on and off campus. Then I got accepted to law school. I graduated in 2000. Took out ever possible loan, bar study loan, law school signature loan, private co-signor loans, as well as all of the federal loans. My 1st law job started out paying $30,000.
In the last 18 months I have been out of work 5 months due to being laid off, had my car repossessed due to a nasty anullment, took the cab to work and bring my son to daycare, was without a car for 5 months (b/c of my credit and the student loans) until I finally got financed. Do you know what Sallie Mae asked me on the phone before I hung up on them the last time? "Well why didn't you take the city bus?" (there was no city that ran where we lived and that wasn't even the point) And they also wanted to know why I couldn't trade down my vehicle. I tried to calmly explain to them that it took me 5 friggin months to get approved for ANY vehicle and it was special financing so they wouldn't finance a car that was older then 2 years. Its not like I'm driving the Jag I used to drive that actually cost over $250 LESS a month then what I'm paying NOW!!
Current status: Appx Student loan debt: $250,000 (yes, I've consolidated all federal loans. no, there is no forbearance time left on the private ones)
Current Tax Debt: Appx $30,000
Current Gross income: $75,000
Current amount of Credit Cards: 0
Current amount of Bank Accounts: 0
Current amount of dependents: 2
Current amount of child support/alimony: 0
Current amount of repossessions: 1
Current amount of Divorces/Anullments: 1

So, for all you posters that mentioned you are exiling or already have, I am interested in hearing more. I am actively researching the issue and seriously considering the option. I've already considered the suicide route as they can't collect from me if I'm dead (but I wont give those bastards the satisfaction of knowing they got to me like that!) It is a very, very sad, emotional thing for me as my law practice actually consists of U.S. immigration law, helping people come to this great land of the free, home of the brave...and here I sit pondering running away so that I can in fact be free.

10/26/08 10:39 am

When I was a little girl, it


When I was a little girl, it was my dream to be a teacher. I wanted to get out of the world in which I was raised, where abuse and poverty made for not so good childhood memories. I wanted to be like those adults that seemed to have it all, the nice home, the new car, the career that made a difference. I made good grades, worked my hardest, even talked myself out of running away from a sexually abusive stepfather and a mother that knew and allowed it because I did not want to give up school. At eight, a child should not have to be making such decisions, but promised myself, if I could just make it to college, I was going to make it. It was my only ticket out.
My mother threatened me, beat me, threw me to the wolves, she even refused to take me to my college recruitment meeting, in fear that she would loose her free babysitter. But I stuck it through, and finally, made it to college. But when i was just about to get my life actually going, I got called into the financial aid office...
"You know, Miss, you don't have enough money to get your degree."
"What do you mean, my pell grant seems to be doing just fine."
"Yes, yes, that's all fine and good, but don't you think you would be more comfortable with a loan to help you out, you know a little padding. And the government will pay for your interest for six months after you get out of school."
I did not want it, I told the adviser straight and clear.
"Well, we here at this school want to ensure you graduate, so I will just file this for you, you will thank me for it later."
I don't even remember signing anything permanent. But the loan money came in and just sat there in my account, unused. I told my adviser that I wanted it to go directly back where it came from. I was doing just fine paying out of pocket (I would take a semester off and work, and go to school the next, debt free)
She said, yeah, yeah, fine, we will just cancel your loan. I believed her, she was, after all, the college's financial adviser, I truly believed her.
After I graduated, six months went by and I got a letter in the mail. I had defaulted on my loans, no payment for over a year. In that one year, I had accrued 25% of the loan amount as interest. The adviser never did anything. She just ignored my request to not file for a loan, and also ignored my request to cancel it once issued. And she even took out an unsubsidized loan. Not the type where you get to wait until after college to pay. She knew the entire time I was defaulting on loans, while I was in school. I sat across from her at her desk, begging her to undo what she did , and the whole time, she knew I was defaulting, and never said a word. It is seven years later, and I am never going to get out of the hole. I simply cannot pay what they want. I make $1000 a month and they want $678 of it. The government simply does not care. They want their money and they want to punish me for not agreeing with them. I even had to give up being a teacher because they would garnish 80% of my wages if I worked for the county. I was teaching, and living out of my car, for Pete's sakes. I had to go work as a waitress because at least they could not account for my cash tips. From school teacher to waitress. I always thought I would get out of the world I was raised in, and believed in this country, believed that if you worked hard and got an education, you would be ok. I now realize that going to college is just another way of the government getting you to owe them something, before you even make something out of yourself. They own my ass. That's why I am moving to Canada. They do not treat their future like an ATM. I believed in the American dream. Now I am ashamed to have ever believed it at all. Hopefully I can renew my dream in a country that doesn't go around flaunting their greatness, but gives its citizens the opportunities that truly matter. Sadly enough, America is in the business of selling the American Dream, and it is worthless.

10/25/08 12:59 pm

Whats the worse that can happen? Im defaulting and exiling!


I owe 200 k just from getting a history bachelor that i can wipe my butt with if i run out of tissue paper. I will default. If i don't work in the United States the IRS can't garnish wages that don't exist. Social security won't exist in 2050 so i don't need to worry about not getting something that won't be there anyway. (i might as well rip up my social security card.) What do i need good credit for? To buy a house and a nice car? I can't get that stuff anyway if i pay back the loans... I rather die a defaulter than live extorted. Yea i should pay back what i borrowed, not pay back back four times what i borrowed because some tool is greedy enough to charge inhumane interest. Im cash advancing one last credit card and leaving the country;never to be seen again. Start a new life and make more in a developing nation because i won't have to pay back interest to rich people. (i made a mistake of taking out a loan now i will correct it by bailing myself out; one life to live and im not gonna give it to Sallie Mae) This is my personal position. Yea JP Morgan's family doesn't need to do things like this because money isn't an issue but for a poor person like me it is. So sallie mae YOU made the mistake of lending to me because im not giving u not even a piece of shit from my asshole and its for all my student borrowers that are going through hardship this is for you

10/18/08 7:33 pm

student loan debacle


We do not need an act of congress to bail us out if we cannot pay our student loans. If we cannot find work and live cheaply, we do not have to pay them anyhow no matter how much interest they try to charge us. What we need to look for is the basic problem: Government Education.
Has anybody read a book by the late Harry Browne: Why Government Doesn't Work? So if you have government involved in any type of business you can expect failure. Of course public schools will not teach you basic lifes skills such as how to find work, what to do if your career is ruined and you become addicated to marijuana or any other illegal substance, because they want you to be in the system either welfare or prison, because that's how they get their jobs. If the education system fails you, refuse to work so that you do not pay the loan and if you do not like government, you know you cannot change it because the election system is corrupt; that is why only candidates from two parties get elected. Do not register to vote, and if registered to vote, "forget" to vote, especially if you want any third party candidates to have a chance. The whole system is based on not listening to dissenting voices.

10/14/08 8:29 am

Student Loan Defaults


The Student loan people doubled my student loan and said that I had 2 loans instead of one.
Unable to pay back 2 loans, I sued them and won.
They took the second loan off. I then made an offer to pay the original loan, which they refused.
They intentionally try to run these loans up so they can rip you off legally.
This is illegal, but those crooks in government
let it happen.
My loan is still unpaid at this time because of their usurous practices.

09/22/08 2:42 pm

Student loans older than 15


Student loans older than 15 years old should be discharged.

Student loans between 7 and 15 years old should be settled at principal amount.

Student loans less than 7 years old could be given reduced interest rates, reduced payment amounts, and/or and set maximum repayment periods. The remaining balance will be government insured.

Our government attacks its citizens fInd every asset they can find for student loans. But allows the Bush’s to fleece the nation repeatedly.

When daddy Bush was in office he and his cohorts fleeced the American citizens by way of the Savings & Loans and Thrift Institutions. These institutions were fleeced into bankruptcy never to be heard from again.

He we go again with baby Bush. Baby B and his cohorts, the corporate greed scandals from Bush’s 1st term, and know Bush, Halliburton and those good ole boys are fleecing the nation again under the auspice of the cost of war.

You know I’d like to take a wreck and chain ball and go tear somebody’s shit up and then charge the taxpayers exuberant fees to fix the same shit I tore up.

There you have it plain and simple the Bush/Halliburton hustle.

Bush and Halliburton has my student loan money get it from them

KNOW TIP YOUR HAT TO SOME REAL Gs!!!!!!!!!!

08/15/08 11:00 am

He right about this but then


He right about this but then again it all sounds beautifully in words.Students need real help and not just promises in electoral campaigns, the educational system also has an important role here. I finished college two years ago and my credit score is pretty low so I thought that voting for 0 balance transfers would be a good move, let's see what the future has to say.

07/31/08 10:04 am

sallie mae thieves


So tell me people...what is the solution to all this? What can we do to free ourselves from this thievery?

Should we all just go on welfare and then maybe the government will finally put a stop to sallie mae's b.s.?

Some laws have to be changed to put a stop to it.

Write to the President of the United States right now. Tell him you want changes made. Write to the presidential candidates, tell them you expect that they will make this right when the new president is elected.

Something has to be done to put a stop to this.

06/19/08 7:41 pm

Due to my husbands student


Due to my husbands student loans and mine--another garnishment, three kids, he pays child support, I get no child support. He is already paying child support, arranged loan payments with Fed gov over his loans, and now Perkins, is garnishing...

payday, we have no money for food for our kids, not money for anything--its, pay trailer and rent, or food and electric.

Sadly--I don't know the drug market well enough to sell drugs--I'M NOT GOING TO PROSTITUTE OR PROSTITUTE MY CHILDREN,

but tomorrow I'll be down at the welfare office applying for welfare/food stamps, I HAVE NO CHOICE--

its either that, or give up my kids--the DAY I AM FORCED TO GIVE UP MY KIDS TO STUDENT LOANS IS THE DAY I CALL UP OSAMA,

GET WHAT I'M SAYING, THIS IS BULL, its just total bull. We went to college, to better ourselves, I went to college to provide for my kids, to get off welfare--to now, be forced to get back on, I'm stuck between rock and hard place.

My kids, oldest just got in trouble for pot. What do I tell her, work hard, go to college? Yea right, you know my kids have absolutely no interest in school or college--why should they?

They've seen and suffered, because their parents were STUPID ENOUGH TO GO TO COLLEGE.

and now, are in worse shape, than majority of welfare and homeless people. My husband TOLD the company he'd arrange payments, he's already being garnished 15%--they don't care, they took another %529.oo, if he doesn't pay the other agreed payment, they'll garnish $900.00 or more,

meaning, and he works for the state--he'll be working for free. Literally--he won't even make enough to pay rent--I can't help, unemployed, when I work--I make zero after child care and student loan payments. [after school care and summer, have 8 year old and its illegal to leave him home alone]

Jobs I've been able to get, and now with bad credit--near impossible, are paying less than $10.00 an hour and I owe 46,000 loans/defaulted Plus, geesh, probably 100,000 in interest. LOL garnishing social security, good luck--its only going to be 100 a month for me, because my first husband some how got it to where I don't get his SS and was homemaker for 10 years.

So, I got couple of choices, sell drugs, go to prison,

sell guns, maybe go to prison,

rob a bank--maybe, go to prison

sell arms to terrorists, its cross my mind, if I could make enough money to put my kids up somewhere safe, at least they'd be provided for--I mean, Jesus, this is what it comes down too, IF I would have known then what I know now, I'm 45, I would have just stayed on welfare and said to hell with it.

I probably would have been in HUD by now, maybe doing o.k. but no, I had to believe in not being a drain on society and bettering myself--

how STUPID WAS THAT?

MY KIDS WON'T BE SO STUPID--and if they can't get work--they know, even if they have to sell drugs, they'd do Less time, than me and my husband have,

for doing the right thing, working, going to college, so we would wind up homeless and on welfare. I am just so beat down that all I can do is laugh at the absurdity of it all....

06/18/08 10:30 pm

Sallie Mae Unreasonable


I graduated from a private University because I am a single parent who works full-time and that was the only University located in Austin, Texas that would work with a full-time working student. I graduated in 2001 owing around $40 - $45K. Because I am a State Employee I can only afford to pay around $100 to $110 a month. My student loan went into hardship deferment at the suggestion of Sallie Mae. I now owe $82,000 and they will not assist me in getting some of the interst waived, stopped or reduced. They want a $568 a month. I would have no money for gasoline to get to my job, I'd have to stop eating and forget about having any health care in order to be able to make that payment. I have pleaded with them to help, but they refuse. Texas is a State that garnishes 100% - I'm at the end of my rope and very worried.

06/04/08 5:06 pm

Teacher Being Crushed Under Student Loan Mountain


I am a single mother of three who takes care of my disabled mother. I entered college at 18 years of age to have a wonderful life, while at the same time my mother entered college. We both took out loans. My moms total was 30,000 dollars and mine was 59,000 dollars. I became the teacher and my mother worked with batter women. Each of us giving back to the community to support those who have the smallest voices, the funny thing, and nine years after graduations I am about 100,000 dollars in student loan debt, and my mother's disability checks are being garnished every month. As a teacher I must return to school every five years, more student loan debt. Ironically, the student loan industry, tells me that I don't make enough money to pay them back, but they won't forgive my loan. I filed bankruptcy four years ago and was denied the opportunity to include the student loans. The judge told me I had no assets, but I still have to pay student loans. I lost my home, a car, and my credit is shot. I need help. I am under a mountain that is designed to crush me. I love teaching, but I can't afford to teach and live. I am praying that God will send deliverance for us all. I believe God is the only one that can bring suffering people into freedom from bondage and into His rest.

06/03/08 2:11 pm

Mean Old Sallie Mae et al


I graduated college in 1995 owing $35,000 in student loans. By 1998
I had defaulted on some of them but did manage to “rehabilitate” all the loans within a few years.

By 2006 I had paid over $50,000 on these same loans to Sallie Mae (and their various constituents). I tried but failed to get someone to listen to my pleas for review and leniency. In exasperation, I consolidated nearly $30,000 (the remaining balance of the original loans) with the Department of Education in 2007.

If I continue to pay the monthly payment of nearly $200.00 / month, I’ll have paid nearly $97,000 for that original 35K college loan. It won’t end until the fourth qtr. of 2026! I can provide proof of these numbers on the lenders own letterhead.

God forbid if I should become ill, or lose my job, interest will continue to accumulate, I cannot write them off in bankruptcy, eventually my social security would also be garnished all thanks to lobbying by the student loan industry.

It’s terrible what is happening in the housing market, all those people leaving the American Dream, and walking away in default / foreclosure. If my student loans were a house, I would have walked away years ago. I have never been able to afford a house for my wife and kids I’m still paying my student loans, and will likely do so well into retirement.

Please, please do something to allow amnesty from these student loans. I just can’t possibly afford to pay nearly three times the original loan amount. Would you?

06/02/08 9:00 am

student loan amnesty


Thank you Mr. Bart, i have paid over 14,000 dollars on a 9000 dollar loan and still owe over 10,000$. I happen to have a wonderful Representive Mike Pence who seems to care and is trying to help also. He happens to be a republican also. They penalize and treat people who were in default and wage garnishment of student loans worse than they treat criminals, at least if you commit a crime you do you time and it is over-it doesn't seem to ever be over for the 89 billion dollar a year profit of Sallie Mae/US funds and other loans companies that sell our loans back and forth charging us 1000 dollars each time. God Bless you-Michelle

06/02/08 7:29 am

Student Loans-The Modern Day Scarlet Letter


(written as I walk the fine line trying to not default on student loans)

Life the most overrated state of being that I have endured. With Human beings as the most callous, self centered creatures.

I did what everyone says to do in order to have an opportunity at success and a “good” life, but all it has brought me is pain and misery. Get an education they say, I did that. This will enable you to succeed, they say. Not in my case. All I have to show for my “education” are layoffs, unemployment and empty promises.

Student loans are to help you achieve, I did that. But when life does not go as planned or your dreams are dashed, such assistance to attain those dreams imprisons one to poverty, despair and indentured servitude. Black balled due to bad credit relating to Student Loans one can’t find gainful employment to pay back the loans. Yet like a loan shark or racketeer the “loans” keep growing exponentially while at the same time preventing one from getting back on the track of life, productivity and employment, i.e. living. One becomes jailed in a debtor’s prison that was supposed to not exist in the US. Harassed and threatened by student loan sharks and racketeers, who would be put in jail if they weren’t given sanctuary by the government, life’s purpose slips away, my education empty promises and dreams unfulfilled. Yes, they are a government approved criminal organization preying on those in pursuit of the illusionary American dream; while at the same time enriching the “mob bosses” at the top of the student loan pyramid and discarding the rest of us like yesterday’s newspaper.

A theology of human belief extorting one to get their “pot of gold” and be damned those destroyed on this path. The true human soul, one of: self-importance, self-service, self-righteousness and callous indifference to others. A caste system where money is all that matters whether it is achieved by immoral means and regardless of the victims’ corpses left in one’s wake.

No I am not delusional, depressed or any other medical mental mirage. We all have pain and set backs. We are taught to get up wipe the dirt off and continue the fight. But if the deck is stacked against you and the only one’s being enriched by your labor are the student loan sharks and racketeers, it isn’t worth it. They want to keep you an indentured servant or in debtor’s prison; a prison preventing you from achieving some semblance of dignity, of purpose. Why should they care? When their mistakes catch up with them they can go receive a government handout, which enables them to continue to indenture students and keep you in debtor’s prison, even as they stand on your corpse.

Well it is time for me to remove my scarlet letter. An eternal sleep is calling. A sleep that will allow me to escape this charade. No more pain, no more indentured servitude, free from the debtor’s prison. They can now eat my student loans, I am free.

06/01/08 6:44 pm

Student Loan Justice


How can we as citizens of this country get our voices heard? I have seen brief commentary by television journalists who have spoken of the situations that student loan borrowers are facing, but nothing ever happens. We are now speaking of helping those who are facing issues with the mortgage crisis, but student loans are never seriously discussed by any politician. In my own situation, I currently have seen my loan balances double in the last 8 years and I see no end in sight because I am on an income contigent plan of $650/month, which does not even cover the interest. I will have to pay this amount for the next 20 years and then pay taxes on a balance of over $100K (todays balance) to the IRS after the federal government "forgives" my loan. After this length of time, because of the interest, I will have paid triple the original balance owed of $45K and will still not have touched the principle on this loan. I was raised to be an honest person and want to repay the original amount owed, but there is no way available to individual citizens to discuss this with the Federal direct loan system or with SallieMae. The system is oppressive. I want to save money to put my own children through college and buy a home for my family (currently renting), but student loans are preventing me from doing this. I am and my children are citizens of the U.S. and my wife, a naturalized citizen is from Brazil. I am seriously considering leaving the country to escape this debt. We do not want to do this because we both love this country, but I feel I do not have other options and the system is "blind" to my situation and to those who are in similar situations. I have been a life long Democrat, but if Republican Rick Bart will stand up to the system and provide a voice for my family, I will support whatever political aspirations he has. Please help us all in this situation!!!!

06/01/08 1:52 pm

Sallie Mae greed and deceit


Thank you, thank you Mr. Bart! I went back to college after working in the mortgage loan industry. I had always dreamed of being a public school teacher so I began college at the age of 32. Even with my knowledge of lending laws and disclosures, I was shocked to discover three years after graduation that Sallie Mae was no longer a government agency, but rather a private agency who purchased the acronym previously used for the federal student loan agency (SLMA). I have been harrassed and threatened by Sallie Mae collectors and belittled when I requested a fair payment arrangement. Currently, I send $200 a month while my original loan amount has doubled in the last 8 years. What was originally $28K is now almost $60K because Sallie Mae encourages borrowers to take forebearances and deferments. By the time students graduate they are so deeply in debt that they have no choice but to accept any form of payment relief they can get - even though their loan balances increase each month. I have considered moving out of the country but I could not bear to leave my children and family. Please, please continue to help expose this nation-wide problem that few people are aware of. There are 1000's of educated people like me that are caught in the grip of Sallie Mae's iron fist. Thank you for your willingness to take a stand!

05/31/08 9:57 pm

It's all about corruption, stupid!


It is too bad there aren't enough honest politicans out there. The only reason why student loans are impossible to discharge is because it is all a racket, where everyone makes money. The universities make money from high tuition which students can only pay by borrowing, the lenders like Sallie Mae through high interest fees & fines, and politicians through campaign funds(also known as bribes) by lenders. Even employers benefit through slave labor, because as long as you owe a debt, you have to have to work to pay it. Student loan borrowers need to organize. Only by being a significant voting block can we make a difference. I encourage people to log on to student loan justice.
My story is quite simple: I took care of my disabled elderly mother until she died. I am very physically ill. I am lucky enough to work for the federal gov part-time (10 hours/week) which works around my physical disabilities. I have medical debts exceeding $20,000 (and I have health insurance). I attempted to file for bankruptcy and was rejected the right to a trial. Even criminals have the right to a trial, but I as a law-abiding citizen was denied the same right. I appealed this decision judgment and was rejected. The reason given was I refused to enter into the W.F income contingency repayment plan, wherein I would be forced to pay $214/month for 25 years & then be subject to a $100,000+ tax liability to IRS for the remainder of the loan that would be forgiven. According to the appeal judge, I should not be entitled to bankruptcy relief, because I earned more than $13,200 last year for two people. I think I earned $17,000 last year. Who in the state of NJ can pay rent, buy food, or anything on $13,200 for two people? I regularly have to decide between eating and medication. I already can't afford to eat 3 meals a day. Yet, I am denied the right to continue to fight for relief. I am sure the lenders, the politicians, and even the judge, eat 3 meals a day, but I am denied the same right. And in an ironic twist, Bear Sterns was just bailed out by the US gov for $20 million and citibank and other banks just received $200 million to offset the mortgage crisis & will receive another $400 million in bailouts. But I can't get bankruptcy relief. If that's not open class warfare, I don't know what is!!!

05/31/08 3:21 pm

Common Sense


Hello college graduates! Congratulations on your accomplishments (all sarcasm aside). We entered our 4+ year adventure with hopes of lucrative careers and a better life. While we looked forward to our futures, greedy banks and corupt politians zeroed in our fragile financial state. All the while a vicious cycle of Rich vs. Poor continues. Our predecessors had high hopes for future generations. Unfortunately, I fear not only my own future but that of my children. How will I ever put them through college when I cannot repay my own college debt? If interest rates are bad now, I hate to imagine what our children will face! My advice, consider careers in other countries. It may save your financial future. It saddens me to know that the U.S does not provide relief to college graduates. Instead our government and banks profit off our despair.

05/31/08 12:21 pm

Irene Read your story that


Irene
Read your story that ws on "Politicker". Just wanted to say may God Bless You, I feel for te situation that all student borrowers find them self in , I have a ton of student loan debt too and I have pretty much given up on ever paying off this debt. I live for the day when "common sense" and "reason" returns to the student loan world. I consider myself to be an honest, hard working person too and these student lenders can only be described as "Blood Suckers". I support the efforts of student loan justice and hope if we can all organize and make enough noise about this criminal activity someone will notice and we can work towards fairness and reason in the student loan world.

Frank Simasko

05/31/08 8:22 am

The Fleecing of America


I am living off the grid in another country because of my student loans. Sallie Mae has made it completely impossible for me to make any reasonable payments and WILL NOT accept my monthly offer to them. I am paying back my government loans because I can afford the monthly payment but I have just given up on Sallie Mae as they are just BEYOND unreasonable. I have tried to inquire about only paying back what I borrowed (minus interest) and Sallie Mae has said they don’t allow that because everyone will then want to do that. But my question is how can one afford monthly payments when they tack on 13% interest plus? I left the country and am now living in the U.K. because I will be damned if they garnish my wages and tax returns. They are a company that has proven themselves eager to give prospective students money and the devil incarnate to get it back. The penalties, the fees, the interest rates, and lets not forget the HARASSMENT!!!!! Which is illegal harassment. Check out this website for your rights to know.

http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/index.html

I PRAY for the day of a class action lawsuit against Sallie Mae. Our federal government has let them take away the American dream for its citizens to become successful in their own right. To move forward as a society in education and standards. If this is their idea of moving forward by fleecing a generation of would-be hopefuls and instilling fear and robbing them blind for the rest of their lives, our government officials should be ASHAMED to call themselves American and certainly have NO RESPECT from me. I support Alan Collinge of StudentLoanJustice.Org who is, bless him, the one person I see who is trying to make the difference and has shed a great deal of light on our government and the student loan industry and what WE can do to get our lives back…

http://www.studentloanjustice.org

05/31/08 6:26 am

Student Loan


I went back to school when I was in my 40's--a single mother with two teenagers and an eleven year old son. I got married soon after, got pregnant and had a baby while working full-time, getting my bachelor's and then my master's and taking care of three kids, a baby, and a husband who, at that time, was also a full-time student and was unable to work because he didn't have a permit to work in this country. I graduated with a 3.3 gpa, was a graduate assistant and was hired at the school to teach two world history classes to college freshmen. Moved to Arizona, had a number of financial problems, was unable to pay my student loan debt, consolidated my loans because that was the advice I got. With every consolidation, all the interest and fees became principal and now interest was being charged on interest, and so on, until my $30,000 debt became $115,000. My husband and I began to do better and we paid off his student loan because the bank he was dealing with was reasonable. We offered to pay my original loan with a reasonable amount of interest (in full) to the company which purchased my loans, but they refused. They wanted it all. I then told them that I would not pay another $ willingly. They could get what they could get through garnishment or whatever, but this loan would never be paid. I'm 64 years old and I will die before this loan is paid. I am now retired, have nothing in my name (it's all in my husband's name) and will one day start drawing my SS and I'm sure they'll garnish that too. What kind of people are they who refuse to take payment of a loan in full (with a reasonable amount of interest) but then torture us continually through threatening phone calls, etc. I screen all calls, never talk to them. They have called me a criminal, said I should be in prison, etc. I have worked for agencies that have contributed more to indigents than these collectors will ever give. Like most of the student loan borrowers, I am a good, kind, generous person who pays her bills, contributes to society, has raised a total of 7 children, none of whom are on welfare or in jail, but I "should be in prison!" God help these people because one day they'll have to answer for what they've done to good, decent people who only wanted to have a good life for themselves and their families.

Irene

05/31/08 2:28 am

Fight for US!


I have no idea how Rick Bart got to this point, but he is one of the few people who understands the racket the student loan companies have set up. Politicians allowed what was supposed to be a government agency (Sallie Mae) to become a private corporation, a FOR PROFIT corporation. Then the corporation lobbied Congress to make a drastic change in bankruptcy laws, falsely claiming people were taking out huge loans and then filing bankruptcy after graduation. The system has been totally tilted in their favor. Since the loans cannot be discharged, unless you are at death's door, they have no incentive to negotiate or even cooperate. They just demand money. My grad school loans are more than $200,000 and keep climbing. They have been sold, resold, repackaged and each time they slap a 25 percent "fee" on the exchange. Why? Because the loan companies got Congress to change the law to allow it. They want more money than I make each month. And won't negotiate. I'm trapped. And when I get older, they will even take my social security. The stress and constant pressure of this financial disaster is surely a bad thing for my health. I dont' see any way out. Ever. I am like an indentured servant, chained to Sallie Mae. And let's be clear - when i defaulted, the federal government paid off THE ENTIRE LOAN. Sallie Mae is collecting on a loan that was guaranteed; they got all their original money back. But they changed the law in their favor.

My question is, why should student loans be a for-profit industry inthe first place? It should be like police, fire and ambulance - everyone gets it no matter how little or how much money you make. Because if you grow up poor like I did, there is no way to pay for school. And without an education, you can't get a good job in the country. This whole set up is immoral and unethical.

05/30/08 9:24 pm

Student Loan


Sorry for the spelling in previous comment. I wrote it in a hurry. I would be curious if anyone has information on discharging the student loan in a foreign court? I also wrote a lawyer who claimed to know about student loans on the internet and I wonder if she worked for the student loan industry. She was not helpful and I don't get why they always resort to the solutions that the department of Education offers. Lawyers seem unwilling to fight the department of education. Sorry if I offended any lawyers as I know some that have hefty student loan debt. I also wonder if there is anyway for student loan borrowers to come together and form a class action lawsuite against the department of Education. There has to be a loop hole in the law somewhere. There always is. I just think that no one has found it yet.

05/30/08 8:56 pm

defaulted student loan


Its good that somebody in congress would have some ethical decency to offer amnesty to defaulted student loans. I can tell you I would rather be in default than give these crooks a penny.
However if they did restore the student loan corrupted hiest I would payback my original loan and go back to school. I am in default.
and living under the radar. Ive learned that giving in to there shit
is not the way. 2,000 a month? God be with you. You are BETTER OF IN DEFAULT.

05/30/08 8:53 pm

Student Loan


I drive by the University where I recieved my Masters degree and think how beutiful the buildings, landscaping and everything is. I think about how I paid for some of that and I should have a condo on campus seeing how I owe over 110,000.00 by time I pay that off if ever I should own a pretty large chunk in the University. Anyway, does anyone know if I move to Canada and become a citizin could I discharge my U.S. student Loan in a Candain court seeing how student loans are dischargable in Canadian courts. I wonder if due to international treaties if the U.S. government would have to honor this.

05/30/08 8:50 pm

Contract Fraud by Citibank Student Loan


Citibank consolidated my student loans by purchasing them from the US government and then illegally changing them from subsidized loans to unsubsidized loans. When I found out the mistake, I immediately called them and they acted like I was crazy. Then a war of calls and letters went forward. In the mean time they reported me delinquent and ruined my credit. This hardship caused me to be unable to rent an apartment in my name, or to get viable work in Los Angeles. Eventually I had no choice but to leave california and I am now in New York. They refused to correct the mistake for five years. I received a letter from the CEO after I contacted him about the situation. I requested that the loan be returned to the original status and all accrued interest removed. I asked for an apology and to have my credit reports cleaned. Instead Citibank went behind my back with the Student loan guarantee people
"California Student Aid Commission" and defaulted the loan behind my back. When I contact the Commission, they acted suspicious and they did not tell me about the default but instead reversed it. Now they have allowed a second default and refused all appeals that I made about Citibanks handing of my loan which is illegal under california law. In california the contract cannot be changed or its void. Well now I am an outsider with no credit, no bank account, they jacked it. I have contacted numerous lawyers who say it is not worth pursueing.
Please someone help!!!!!!! They did not just do this to me, I am sure of it.
They are nothing but a bunch of lowlife predators. I want the newsmedia to expose them. I have a letter from the CEO admitting that they did this to me.

05/30/08 8:37 pm

I am always ready to go


I am always ready to go underground - there is no way out until we get reforms. It's a maze and we are the rats. They treat us like sewer rats and they want to force us down there to live, so much for the American dream.

05/30/08 8:14 pm

student loan amnesty


Please help us, we are dying out here. The mountain of debt grows like a tumor, I fear I will never be able to even make a dent. The amount of interest and penalties accruing monthly equals half my monthly income. My current student loan payment if I could make it would be my entire monthly income($2,000). 15 years of stress and snowballing of my student loan debt has left me hopeless about my future. I with I had never gone to college. The student loan system is rife with problems and the situation we are in is a lose lose for everyone. If anyone wants my full story I will happily share it.

05/30/08 7:58 pm

We need more leaders like Rick Bart


People who are taking measures for a cause such as the private student loan issue are those who I appreciate.

Honestly, I don't know how I'm ever going to buy a house or own anything myself in the future if our rights as borrowers aren't given back to us. We are being raped and stolen of our money and too many government officials have sat back (or been paid off) and watched the dreams of many go down the drain due to excessive debt, leading to a high obesity, depression and suicide rate.

Keep going for it Bart!

05/29/08 7:39 pm

Thank God. It's about


Thank God. It's about friggin time!

05/29/08 6:15 pm

Way to Go


I agree, it is quite refreshing to see someone out there is willing to do something to help Americans pay back student loan debt fairly.

After consolidating student loans with one company (AES), another company (ACS) bought them out and in the process doubled the debt from my undergraduate degree. It took me 6 months and countless hours on the phone to get it straightened out. I also wrote several letters to the company before they would finally put overpayment towards principal instead of expanding the life of my loan. They want me to stay in debt forever.

The worst part about the student loan scandals is that many high schools, parents, and other influences in students' lives put so much emphasis on the importance of getting a college degree.

I earned an undergraduate and graduate degree along with a $50,000 debt and make less then many persons in my community with technical degress or no degrees at all.

05/29/08 11:33 am

student loan


Thank goodness for someone who hopefully will stand up and take notice. I have written to all the Senators in AZ, to Senator Kennedy & Clinton who is on the department of education & the President. So far it fell on deaf ears. And others who I heard speaking on C-Span a year ago April. I got an e-mail from Senator Sanders every so often but when he asked me what I thought of the ecoinomy I told him if the rich people in Washington would get off their fat asses and do something about the student loan problem the economy would be a lot better but as it is Sallie Mae is the one who is so economically rich & told him to take me off of his mailing list.
I was forced into garnishment because they would not accept what I could afford. After 15 years of paying what I thought would be paying them off I found out a year ago March that as I was in 'default' I have now paid over $20,00.00 for a $9500.00 loan. And still owe over $13,000. I am 65 years old & they have started garnishing my SS check.
Please do something!!!

05/28/08 3:02 pm

Forever stuck


In 1993 I took out student loans to pursue my Bachelors for $35,000. Due to life circumstances (my husband had a breakdown) I did not finish my degree and was not in a position to repay the loans per the payment plan in 1997. Although, at the time, I tried to work out an adjusted repayment plan, I wasn't able to do so (I was told it wasn't an option by the federal government who wanted to garnish my wages as an option) and I defaulted on the loan. I am now rehabilitating the loan and have been doing so since December of 2007. By defaulting on the loan I am now paying the:
principal $35,000
penalty $15,000
interest $22,000
for a total of $72,000 approximately
The loan is about to be sold to a lender where the interest and fees will be capitalized thus making loan more than double the original. I will pay this off until am 70 years old.
In the end I will probably have paid $220, 000 dollars for a $35, 000 dollar loan. I wasn't unable to get my degree even because of my husband's illness.
I can't save for my son's education. I can't help out my elderly parents. I can't buy a house and I can't move out of a one bedroom apartment.
My rent just went up by $140 a month. It went up by $200 last year. We live in a 1 bedroom apartment. My rent is $1,470 a month. I can't even move into a cheaper place because I can't come up with first and last month's rent and moving costs.
The collection agency has sent me materials notifying me of their intention to rehabilitate the loan. After it is rehabilitated it is sold to a lender and consolidated. I've called the collection agency, Diversified Collections Services in Texas, to find out more about who my loan will be sold to and the principal that payments will be based on. They have been inconclusive in providing this information.
I have been told if I pay $25,000 today, the loan will be forgiven. But because I am not rich I can't do this and thus will be an indentured servant to the U.S. government for the rest of my life. The payments will go up when the loan is sold. I am so stressed, I can't sleep at night. I am a hard working American and I have worked my whole adult life. I now know that I will never get ahead because I made the terrible mistake of taking out student loans. I will admit when I took out the loans I was very ignorant about the whole process. I was always told that you had to have an education to make it.

05/28/08 1:33 pm

Thank God.


Thank fucking God that someone has some damn sense and enough balls to oppose the banks.

I'm sick and tired of this student loan bullshit in this country. My student loan SHARK (Sallie Mae) takes all the interest (whether I paid it or not) accrued over each year and adds it to the principal, ANNUALLY. I originally borrowed 14k, in 2005, and I've paid over $2,000. Rather than owing 12k, I now owe 17k. This is ridiculous. I don't understand how this can be legal.

I want to just pay what I borrowed and move on with my damn life.

05/28/08 1:30 pm

student loans


It is amazing to me that someone living on SSI and it's not even theirs, it's their husband's, and 55 years old, no job prospects is tortured in this country.

Where are the jobs promised for getting an education? All I see are uneducated ghetto slobs with jobs.

We should build our own underground and financial banking system.

I am sick of this country. But, hey, some Congressmen and women want to give FREE tuition to illegal aliens, even after they rape and kill people.

Way to go, AmeriKKKKa

05/28/08 9:21 am

student loan amnesty


1. I want a national commitment to getting all grads into suitable jobs per our education before we have to start repaying loans.
2. Long-term unemployment of college grads must be ended.
3. USDE must not be allowed to seize income tax refunds from grads whose AGI is below the poverty level.
4. We need a new WPA for unemployed/underemployed grads.

05/28/08 8:42 am

Student loan Predatory lending at its best


Not only private loans, but ALL student loans issued before 2000 should be eligble for bankruptcy or, at the very least, a new beginning.

Perhaps if they allowed us to just pay off the original principal balance, and erased all other charges since the loans became due, we might have a chance.

What they are not addressing, is when the loan amount due is more than the individual can pay. Why spend 10 years paying partial payments when not one dime goes to paying off the principal? I agree with the comments made by "this is america". Seems our only option is to go underground and live as 4th class citizens in our own country because of the student loan contact fraud.

I bet NO ONE was told that if we signed those contracts, that congress would be able to change the terms of the contracts at will and force us to accept the changes.
That is a constructive fraud, aka misrepresenation, or NO represenation at all and the contracts should be challenged as void to begin with.
It is not the students fault that the government did not do its duty to ensure that its interest in the contract phase was properly represented to the students. Thats the responsiblity of the government. A responsiblity they neglected and one that we are haveing to pay for.

05/26/08 11:54 pm

Student loan hell


Hell is a good word. The goverment says that you can ask for a hearing on you student loan. So at wits end I filled out the necessary paper work and mailed to the address listed in my corresponce from the company collect on my lon call Finacial Assest Management. I month went by and I had not received any mail or calls from the "committee" that views and makes decisions about your hardship not to pay back the loan. So I called and the CS rep. said that I would hear from them in about 2 weeks. So I get a letter in a large envelope with a denial letter that was written by a 6th grader who is not doing well in school. In fact all the information in the packet they sent we was convaluted. Just made no sense. But it did state that if I disagreed with the ruling to file a federal law suit. So I called. Every number pertaining to the goverment routed me back to FAM company. It is all with the company nothing you try gets past them. All 8-10 numbers took me back to there customer service. If every I wanted to see harm come to someone it would be to those people. It is a shame that there is no one to help deal with these collection agencies they are terrible. It's like you are in a maze and you always end up where you started. I can't believe Bill Clinton would sign such a bill like this one he should be ashamed of himself.

05/23/08 1:45 pm

The rules need to be changed


The rules need to be changed desperately. I owe about 185k and some of the debt is at 10.25% with Sallie Mae. I am in the process of filing for bankruptcy as my business (in real estate) collapsed. (where is my bail out?) All debts will go except for the student loans of course. Recently, I realized that there is no future paying between 1100 and 1500 a month in loans. At then end of my career I will have no savings at all. It begs the question, why bother to work now? If I own nothing then they can take nothing. My credit is already shot anyways considering the bankruptcy. Going underground makes a lot of sense and may be the only option people like me have. No phone, no house in my name, no bank accounts and no credit cards. It is crazy that his is actually happening in the USA.

05/22/08 6:13 pm

national activist support


Let's forward your promise for consumer protection to the committee that has similar legislation, Hillary Clinton's Senate Bill 511, student borrowers' bill of rights. This would be to the Republican Enzi of Wyoming, the ranking officer on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions comittee chaired by Ted Kennedy, who we know is very sick. While we are saddened by the news he probably would not want his concerns dropped so let's carry on.
For contact information and news go to www.StudentLoanJusticeCA.org. We are looking for class action lawyers in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

05/21/08 2:00 pm

STUDENT LOAN SOLUTION


Thanks Mr.Bart for your effort. Like alot of the folks, I to have suffered under the burden of good intentions requarding the student loan system. As I see it, at the very least congress should appoint yet another committee to look into this travesty that has happened to the education process. It shouldn't turn so many lives upside down, and hender them from being a responsible and productive member of society. They need to investigate and get answers to how people get themselves in this position and stop the bleeding for our youth, our future. Track the money, who's getting rich off the backs of decent people. Why is the process not situp to assist people in getting back on their feet instead, of stealing every ounce of dignity they have left to just survive. No wonder some want to leave the country, go underground and off the record or worse, kill themselves. I've just completed a so called REABILITATION program, Dept. of ED says they'll clear up the bad credit, and since the credit score based,( jobs, loans), requirements have keep me from qualifing for in the past. That's a step in the right direction I suppose. A NOW I even can take out another consolidation loan to pay off the original $8000. that is now $30,000.,I can't wait to see how many credit collection agency's they can change on me to make money off of the new one. Last thought to my peers...

Don't give up! We're not losers here, it's a flawed system that were up against. Evenually the right eye's and ear's will grasp this concept and seek justice, and give us restitution for the wrong doing. Making us all good citizens again, understood and whole so we can truly thrive instead of just exist.

I Support also the efforts of studentloanjustice and am a contributing member.

God Bless

05/20/08 9:42 pm

Sanity in the Northwest


Thank you Mr. Bart. I'm praying for your election this fall. Once that's accomplished, please do whatever you can to convince the Republicans representing the banking lobby in the State of Oklahoma that this is the sane thing to do. I never expected a free ride; neither did I expect my original loan of $26K to balloon to over $80K today. I'm 57, unemployed, unable to find a job, and no one cares. I'm learning Spanish and will move south of the border as soon as possible.

05/20/08 2:09 pm

Student Loan hell


I originally took out a loan in 1985 for $10000. I could not find a job after graduation until 1990. "Get an Associate degree in Programming and you'll qualify to get a job as a programmer". I was eventually teaching students on the side (for free) how to program. And yet, I couldn't get a job as a programmer.Why? Is it because I didn't "know" anyone? Yes, partially. The other reason is our gool ol' government made it easy for contractors from other countries to take IT jobs. They increased the limit again and again at the bequest of the liars in the IT lobbies. And now, over twenty years after I got the $10000 loan, they garnished my wages.Why not ten years ago when I could afford the payments? (until I was layed off, that is...5 times!). I didn't even know who had my account it was passed off so many times. So I was double-stabbed in the back by our (ha ha) government. They gave away our jobs and won't forgive our loans (unless we are Citigroup, et al).

Nicholas

05/20/08 12:03 pm

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