Question:
I am currently in a massive amount of debt. I currently make 52k a year before taxes and my wife is currently unemployed. I have around $50k in private student loan debt that I have been paying for the past 6 years. I am currently 6 months behind on payments for these loans. I also have around 60k in federal student loan debts. Along with these debts I have around 10k in credit card debt as well. I own my home and currently have about 60k in equity in my home. My credit score is around 560.
What options do I have available to make my private student loan debt go away? Is it better to wait until I am sued to get this balance reduced in court? What are my realistic options of having this debt paid, thrown out or am I stuck with it forever?
Mike
Answer:
What you really have is a basic math problem wrapped in life.
The math seems to say you’ve been struggling for sometime now and it is catching up. There are valid reasons to stop paying unaffordable student loans and put a plan in place to deal with what will come.
Your credit score is already low so rebuilding that as part of a solution is what you’ll need to do. But not till this is all resolved. When the time comes to rebuild your credit score it is easier than you might think.
Any settlement or reduction in the private student loan debt is not going to happen in court. That’s not the role of the judge. However, negotiating a settlement with the law firm representing the lender is a possibility if you know what you are doing like my debt coach friend Damon Day.
But before you even begin to think of starting to settle that private student loan debt I would meet with a local consumer attorney who is licensed in your state to understand if the Statute of Limitations (SOL) has already run its course and you could raise that as a defense if you are sued. The SOL will not prevent you from being sued but may be able to stop the suit when raised with the court as you fight the lawsuit.
One place to find such an attorney would be here.
On the federal student loan front I’d make sure you have those all consolidated into a Direct Loan and are repaying them under an income driven repayment plan like the IBR.
That will give you the lowest monthly payment to help you now when you are just trying to make ends meet. Keep in mind, while any income driven repayment can help lower your monthly cash outflow it does have it’s own consequences.
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Asked private student loan question.