Question: Dear Steve, My son’s student loans are now due through Sallie Mae (not federally funded). Seven loans totaling just under $40,000.00. The interest rate for each loan varies from 7.25% to 9.625%. We are looking to consolidate into one loan with one monthly payment. We have received a lot of mail offers and wonder … Read more
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a proposed order to resolve its allegations that Performance SLC, a student loan debt relief business, and Performance Settlement, a general debt-settlement company, along with their owner and CEO, Daniel Crenshaw, engaged in wrongful fee-charging practices and deceptive telemarketing. Performance SLC unlawfully collected upfront payments from borrowers … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I graduated from college in 1998, and my loans have been in and out of forbearance (mostly forbearance), just accruing more and more interest. Thanks for sharing the information on the latest Dept. of Education announcement regarding forbearance steering relief. So, in theory, if someone has loans in both repayment and forbearance … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I have eight private student loans past the statute of limitations, which fell off my credit report, with interest combined to over $200,000 debt value. One loan, the largest loan in my account, has been forgiven by Navient, which I recently learned via email. I wanted to share this email with you, … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I am a 100% T&P disabled veteran and eligible to discharge my federal loans if they were under my name. My family’s federal student loans were consolidated under my wife’s name, partly because I was in a bad way, and I was unable to help with the process. My wife and I … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, My 42-year-old son has two student loans totaling approx $9000. He’s currently serving a 10-year minimum sentence in Carson City, NV, in a state facility, not federal. He has approx five years left in prison. He wants to get a college degree while he’s in prison. I’ve contacted the Dept of Education … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I have been making my student loan (IBR) payments during the forbearance period believing that I was still employed part-time and not in grave need. I know the principle has been reduced during this time, but, frankly, my student loan of over $125,000 will be there until I am 90 years old, … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I took student loans out just over 20 years ago-earned little money since- I was always encouraged to go into forbearance instead of a contingent or IBR – on social security and so now only 856 monthly- my loans are 35000 versus 14000 borrowed-I am in IBR now for last couple years. … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I have an education loan I took out in 2003, which was initially about 85,000 and is now about 120,000. But unfortunately, I cannot afford the monthly payments, and it is a private loan. I have tried to maintain it out of default for years with Income-based plans, deferments, etc. I recently … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I originally borrowed a lot of private loan money from Sallie Mae (7 different loans). Unfortunately, they all defaulted once I decided to stop paying (because my minimum/interest-only/salary-based payments did nothing). I paid a company to help me get collection companies to validate the debts, which they couldn’t, so I was never … Read more