Sometimes when people take out a fast student loan to pay for their college education, they end up getting caught in a slow and painful process when they can't pay back their student loans. When a person simply stops paying, it is known as a default student loan. When people have a defaulted student loan, they end up with a horrible credit score, making it difficult to purchase a car or a house, or even rent an apartment in some cases. There are always ways to avoid a default student loan, though.
A defaulted student loan can take years to recover from, though a fast student loan can only take minutes to be approved for. When people do not follow their payment schedule or stop paying their student loans altogether, there are serious consequences. Private lenders and federal government lenders both have debt collecting agencies that they work with to ensure they will be paid for those student loans. Most loan have a certain number of days before they become a default student loan, though, which may be as much as 270 days for the federal programs. This means that borrowers have a lot of time to figure out a solution to pay for those student loans.
The failed payments on a fast student loan will go on the student's credit history for many years, and for some students this is the first item on their credit history. A defaulted student loan makes it difficult for the student to be approved for other credit in the future, which is a huge factor in today's society. The Internal Revenue Service can withhold income tax refunds until the student loans are paid back. A student who has a default student loan can even have their wages garnished by the federal government until the fast student loan is out of default. And of course, harassing phone calls from collections agencies will accompany a defaulted loan.
The biggest cause of many a default student loan is simply poor financial planning. They take out student loans for their education that they think they can pay back, but they don't end up making as much money right out of college as they anticipated. Added with other debt such as car payments, rent or mortgages often makes these hefty student loans too much of a burden. Sometimes, college graduates have trouble finding employment after they graduate, which can also lead to a defaulted student loan. Default student loan statistics seem to indicate a growing problem with people with debt not being able to find employment. This is why legal ways to get out of a defaulted student loan default have been created.
There are often different payment plans that graduates can set up to more easily pay their student loans. These often mean paying more over time, but having a lower monthly payments can keep them from becoming defaulted student loan. There are also forbearance programs, or the borrower may even consider filing for bankruptcy. Even a bankruptcy might be better than having a defaulted student loan. It may be easy to take out a fast student loan, but failure to pay them will take many years to recover from.
OK, so one day years later, they found my bank account and froze it. Cost me a few hundred dollars. I'll survive.
And then, they started taking my income tax return money. Damn! That hurt. But Life goes on... Life is good, All is well!
But then one day, years later. Big Brother (your Uncle Sam) Returns!
I had learned not to keep too much money in the bank (didn't have much anyway).
And I learned not to expect any money back from income taxes. I was OK with that.
But I was totally unprepared for what Big Brother did next. He blind sided me?
One day I go to cash my paycheck, and I noticed "Hey, my check is mighty small this week" What happened?
I look closely at my pay stub. The number of hours are correct... the rate is correct. Hey, what's this?
Wage Attachment. 10% of the gross. 10% OF THE GROSS, not net.
10% of the freakin' gross! Damn!
10% of the gross taken off the top. Before you get your check.
10% of the gross gone? Every Week?
No explanation, no one to complain to. No supervisor to override. Your money is gone.
10% GONE. It doesn't matter that you were barely scrapping by in life every week, living paycheck to check.
Now you live with 10% less. Every week. It sucks!
PLUS, they still take your income tax refund. No wonder they call it a re fund becaues they are Re Funding their own pockets with your money.
There's nothing you can do about it. So I learned to live on 10% less for many years.
One day I finally had the good fortune to get a better paying job. Better job, better pay and?
Best of all - the wage attachment stopped. Hurray!
Or so I thought? Life is good. Life goes on. I pay my bills.
Years later, on Friday the 13th, it happened. "Big Brother Returned Again".
One miserable deja vu day the check was small. I check the paystub. Number of hours are correct... the rate is correct?
There it was on the pay stub again? Wage attachment. 10% of the gross.
?Son of a bitch' found me again. Damn it, damn it, damn it!
You can't win! You can't hide!
Big Brother will find you. It might take weeks. It might take months. In my case it took many, many years? Decades!
But Big Brother will hunt you down and find you. You can't hide forever! And guess what?
Big Brother has Increased the wage attachment withholdings to 15% of the gross.
How much does that hurt?
As an example, let's say you were grossing $1,000 per week. You would pay about $350 in taxes leaving you with $650.
They will take 15% of the $1,000 which is $150 leaving you with only $500.
HALF of your paycheck is GONE!
You just took a $150 a week pay cut. And if you make less than $1,000 it hurts even more.
AND they still take your income tax return!
Trust me on this. You DON'T want this to happen to YOU! Pay your student loans on time.
Both Groshan Fabiola & Carl Willoughby are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.