OCCUPY STUDENT DEBT

Student debtor stories submitted by the 99%

Tag Results

161 posts tagged Usury

Blood from a Stone

In January 2002 i had just begun my 2nd semester of junior year at Tulane University majoring in Classical Studies when i suffered a major brain haemorrhage in the basal ganglia region rendering the right side of my body completely unresponsive. Since that time i’ve remastered the art of walking but my right arm remains useless.  My income during the last decade has been & continues to be only Social Security Insurance & Disability which provides the minimum to afford my rent & necessary living expenses.  When my cognitive abilities had recovered sufficiently for me to be once again in charge of my own affairs i dutifully filed & received deferment after deferment from Sallie Mae. 

As my mental abilities fully returned so did my interest in history, though i dreaded a return to formal academia, instead setting my own course of study.  My path lead me first to the recent history of the 20th century and the Cold War particularly which required a better understanding of Russian history than i had ever received.  When viewed objectively, without the prejudices of our childhood i was shocked to discover that the leaders of the Russian Revolution, Lenin and Trotsky, were in fact the original champions of the 99%, seeking to establish a truly democratic world order and that the horrors committed in the name of Communism in the 20th century only came to pass after the reactionary coup of Stalin when the Soviet Union became “communist” in name only.  The book written by Leon Trotsky from exile before his assassination, The Revolution Betrayed, remains required reading for any class conscious individual. 

My last deferment ended over a year ago, Sallie Mae first began calling my elderly grandfather’s house last summer as that was the last contact information they had for me.  The callers would not accept his explanation that i no longer lived there & continued to harass him daily so several months ago i visited their web site to update my phone # and alleviate the stress from my dear grandpa.  Now i get their daily call that is always ignored with the same pitiful voicemail which i promptly delete.  I have no other loans or lines of credit nor would i seek any so the damage this does to the Capitalist fiction that is my “credit score” is of no meaning to me. i do not think this corporate entity has the ability to comprehend with whom they are dealing.

Workers and Students of the World unite!

We have nothing to lose but our chains.

American Education Services: Stop the usury charges & work with us!

My name is Cassandra Coey and the lack of consumer protection currently in existence for the private student lending industry has had a terribly profound, lasting, and all encompassing effect on my life. Like so many of my peers, I was forced to take out both federal and private student loans in order to pay for college. Since I graduated from The Ohio State University in 2010 I have been unable to find gainful employment, forcing me to place my federal student loans into forbearance. Unfortunately, I am unable to do the same with my private student loans which are now held by AES. Originally my loans were through GMAC, but this company, which was a part of GMC, went bankrupt and my loans were sold to AES (where the terms of my loans were changed, and I could do nothing about it).

These changes added an additional $15,320.82 in interest because of a little thing called capitalized interest. My interest rate hovers around 5% of the principal & IS CAPITALIZED EVERY FISCAL QUARTER and then ADDED TO THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT. Meaning, 5% of both of my loans (no they will NOT combine them) is added to the principal amount every 3 months of the year, starting January 1st. After another 3 months, in June, the higher amount where a previous 5% interest rate was tacked on, gets another 5% interest added onto that amount and compounded to become the new principal amount. So every 3 months my original loan becomes a much larger black hole encompassing more and more of my life.

I am stunned & appalled by this and to add insult to injury I receive countless calls every single day demanding money and threatening legal action. If I had the payment, I would pay it, but AES refuses to work with me and is now telling me that they will sue me for the entire $42,000 borrowed. I incessantly look for full-time work, and although, I do understand what I borrowed, I just want the ability to place my private student loans in forbearance as is allowed with federal student loans.

The Big Picture here is the amount I owe AES with late fees and capitalized interest has now increased to an insane amount, originating at $42,000 and is currently $60,240.60. My credit is destroyed from my inability to make payments. And today with so many employers checking credit scores, it makes it even harder to find full-time work. However, most significantly, within the next few years I would like to marry my boyfriend and start a family but we cannot, as he would inherit my abominable credit. And if we did go ahead it would be like a fish out of water, dying with no foreseeable way out.

Please take a stand with me, asking AES to allow me to place my private student loans in forbearance so I can focus on getting full-time employment, work on rebuilding my credit, and marry the one I love. All borrowers with private student loans must have the same protection awarded to those with federal loans, have the ability to place them in forbearance and in deferment, and have access to interest based repayment.

Source change.org

I attended Xavier University of Louisiana as a Biology Pre-Med student with dreams of becoming a doctor and multiple scholarships to pay my tuition. But that did not happen. I left the comfort of my home state to attend school at the #1 Historically Black College for placing students into med school. The out of state tuition was so high that I needed additional funds to pay my tuition or I would have to go home. Now, I think that that would have been better. It was suggested by the financial aid counselors that  I take out a loan to cover the rest of my tuition. Even at 18, I was weary. I had always planned on being wealthy and debt free. But I was far from home and did not have parents or family who could help me financially. I took out a loan using my mother as the co-signer with Sallie Mae at a 6.0% interest rate. Every year, I had to take out loans to cover my interest. I had to use my grandmother as a co-signer on some. The loans that I could not use a co-signer for, I had an interest rate of 9.75%! When I graduated, I was already working. My pay was not enough to cover my living expenses, so I had to take out an additional private loan. I have had trouble finding work since I graduated. I have had nothing but bouts of unemployment and low pay. It is upsetting enough to desire success and hit wall after wall. What has made things worse is me, my mother and  my grandmother constantly harassed by Sallie Mae. I have paid them multiple $150 forbearance fees only to have them call 5 times/day, weekends, holidays even early mornings. They have asked for my permission to call my cell phone and I have denied it only for them to call my mother 10 minutes later. Whenever I call them to try to work out arrangements, I am forced to speak to employees who try to demean me, threaten and remind me every 5 seconds that my $50,000 debt is now $113,000!  I am now about a month away from defaulting on all of my loans and the only options they present to me ( and I am currently unemployed)  are to pay $1450/month  or enroll in a program in which I pay $800-but have to post date checks for that month for the entire year! What is even more upsetting is that I have never even had a credit card, I have always paid for cars, insurance, etc. up front to avoid being in debt. And now, my credit is wrecked-solely because of Sallie Mae. What Sallie Mae does is despicable, disgusting and immoral. I am glad that I am a strong person and have faith that things will get better, but I know that there are many that are not as strong. I hope that change comes soon.

I attended Xavier University of Louisiana as a Biology Pre-Med student with dreams of becoming a doctor and multiple scholarships to pay my tuition. But that did not happen. I left the comfort of my home state to attend school at the #1 Historically Black College for placing students into med school. The out of state tuition was so high that I needed additional funds to pay my tuition or I would have to go home. Now, I think that that would have been better.

It was suggested by the financial aid counselors that  I take out a loan to cover the rest of my tuition. Even at 18, I was weary. I had always planned on being wealthy and debt free. But I was far from home and did not have parents or family who could help me financially. I took out a loan using my mother as the co-signer with Sallie Mae at a 6.0% interest rate. Every year, I had to take out loans to cover my interest. I had to use my grandmother as a co-signer on some. The loans that I could not use a co-signer for, I had an interest rate of 9.75%!
When I graduated, I was already working. My pay was not enough to cover my living expenses, so I had to take out an additional private loan. I have had trouble finding work since I graduated. I have had nothing but bouts of unemployment and low pay. It is upsetting enough to desire success and hit wall after wall. What has made things worse is me, my mother and  my grandmother constantly harassed by Sallie Mae. I have paid them multiple $150 forbearance fees only to have them call 5 times/day, weekends, holidays even early mornings. They have asked for my permission to call my cell phone and I have denied it only for them to call my mother 10 minutes later. Whenever I call them to try to work out arrangements, I am forced to speak to employees who try to demean me, threaten and remind me every 5 seconds that my $50,000 debt is now $113,000! 

I am now about a month away from defaulting on all of my loans and the only options they present to me ( and I am currently unemployed)  are to pay $1450/month  or enroll in a program in which I pay $800-but have to post date checks for that month for the entire year! What is even more upsetting is that I have never even had a credit card, I have always paid for cars, insurance, etc. up front to avoid being in debt. And now, my credit is wrecked-solely because of Sallie Mae.
What Sallie Mae does is despicable, disgusting and immoral. I am glad that I am a strong person and have faith that things will get better, but I know that there are many that are not as strong. I hope that change comes soon.

I have old guaranteed student loans, pre 2002 when I graduated as a non-traditional, GED, single parent student…   I am sick enough to qualify for SSD, want to work as long as possible, living on below minimum wage and 57 years old. there is no way I am going to be able to pay these loans off for my PhD. I got sick from an incurable disease during the end of my PhD program, then got swept up in college downsizing for a ‘legacy building, first employer after ABD’.   consolidation was denied due to bank mergers, lost paperwork aka: canceled checks. credit too bad to consolidate.   I have 1 Perkins loan at the university that I got my MA from, they were not swept up in the D of Ed garnishment (15% gross income) and have put me in a position where work is few and far between. I can’t get a transcript to get a job to keep on working. I have worked up the food chain as far as appeals go, there is no place left to appeal to in the state. obviously, I don’t have the money to hire a lawyer. yes, I have applied for food stamps.   we need bankrupcy protection… for me, I don’t make enough money to make the minimum payments. I did not plan to get sick and have no way out. I am getting sicker as time goes on because medicaid has been denied. unstable income, and can’t afford medical care and medications I need to stay alive,   I am an adjunct who fears a transcript call from my employer because I can’t get a copy (business office hold, default). I am stuck because without the transcript I can’t get a job. non-PhD jobs turn me down as ‘overqualified and reason I will leave asap” plus credit rating is shot so can’t handle money.   (name withheld as a community college adjunct for now because of transcript fear and gurtenteed firing)

I have old guaranteed student loans, pre 2002 when I graduated as a non-traditional, GED, single parent student…
 
I am sick enough to qualify for SSD, want to work as long as possible, living on below minimum wage and 57 years old. there is no way I am going to be able to pay these loans off for my PhD. I got sick from an incurable disease during the end of my PhD program, then got swept up in college downsizing for a ‘legacy building, first employer after ABD’.
 
consolidation was denied due to bank mergers, lost paperwork aka: canceled checks. credit too bad to consolidate.
 
I have 1 Perkins loan at the university that I got my MA from, they were not swept up in the D of Ed garnishment (15% gross income) and have put me in a position where work is few and far between. I can’t get a transcript to get a job to keep on working. I have worked up the food chain as far as appeals go, there is no place left to appeal to in the state. obviously, I don’t have the money to hire a lawyer. yes, I have applied for food stamps.
 
we need bankrupcy protection… for me, I don’t make enough money to make the minimum payments. I did not plan to get sick and have no way out. I am getting sicker as time goes on because medicaid has been denied. unstable income, and can’t afford medical care and medications I need to stay alive,
 
I am an adjunct who fears a transcript call from my employer because I can’t get a copy (business office hold, default). I am stuck because without the transcript I can’t get a job. non-PhD jobs turn me down as ‘overqualified and reason I will leave asap” plus credit rating is shot so can’t handle money.
 
(name withheld as a community college adjunct for now because of transcript fear and gurtenteed firing)

Sallie Mae changed my status between semesters and capitalized my interest

While in school for 4 straight years Sallie Mae changed my status between semesters and capitalized my interest making a $60k loan balloon to $100k. Saying that my “status” changed. It didn’t I was in school and it should have been an in school deferment. That is on my private loans. That’s criminal.