“Dear Steve,
12 years of military service. 1 bad decision to get student loans while active duty.
I have accrued some debt with student loans while on active duty and have defaulted because I am overseas and don’t have the info for the lenders and now Im afraid they are going to take my tax return when I have to move my family to California without a dime to spare. I have no idea what to do.
Justin”
Dear Justin,
Not to worry, yet.
The first thing to do would be to review How to Discharge Your Student Loans if You Are in the Military and see if that applies to your loans.
My bet though is that you were sold into a for-profit college and may have private student loans.
If they are private student loans, in that case you would need to speak with the student loan servicer and make an arrangement to get them out of default. If you are unable to talk to the servicer due to your active deployment, may be you could authorize someone back home to talk to them on your behalf.
If you are unaware who the lender is, then get a consolidated credit report to identify them.
You should also read this post about rights you may have since you are on active duty. Once you identify your lender, make sure they are aware you are on active duty to hold back any action they may otherwise take.
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
You are not alone. I'm here to help. There is no need to suffer in silence. We can get through this. Tomorrow can be better than today. Don't give up.
Do you have a question you'd like to ask me for free? Go ahead and click here.
- Plastic Pandemic: US Credit Card Debt Surges Nearly 20% in Q1 2021! - May 12, 2023
- The IRS Resumes Collections Notices: What You Need to Know Before It’s Too Late - May 12, 2023
- How Can I Deal With Payday Loan Debt? - May 12, 2023