OCCUPY STUDENT DEBT

As of this writing I am 52 years old — the tail end of the baby boomers.

College was never a topic of discussion growing up in my family and no one in my family had ever gone to college.

During my early adult life I did exactly what I had learned to do, I married and became a homemaker. I was entirely oblivious to the big wide world of education, finance, politics, domestic violence, etc….
It was not until I was 30 that I made the decision to go to college. I was scared out of my mind, but determined.

Not having gone to high school it took some time at community college to reach the point of being able to work at college level.
So I began at my local community college in 1990 where I obtained my AA transfer degree, on to a State University for my BA and then a Private University for my MA where I graduated in 1999. Total amount borrowed was $50,939.

Upon graduation I began making my student loan payments to Sallie Mae and quickly realized it would be impossible to keep up on the high total of the individual payments for these separate loans. I consolidated.

During my time in college my husband was simultaneously supporter and saboteur. Eventually I found myself the victim of domestic violence. In 2001 I filed for divorce. It took 2 years to finalize. The entire 2 year ordeal had all the makings of a Lifetime movie primed for sequels. I lost everything I owned. I was forced into Chapter 13 bankruptcy. For my own safety I moved out of state, changed my name and cut ties with everyone but my family.
I was unable to use my previous licensing without returning to college to meet my new States requirements. I had no money for college and was unwilling to rack up more debt. Even if I met these new requirements I did not want to obtain a credential of public record enabling my ex-husband to more easily locate me. I left my previous life and career behind.

During this 4 year Chapter 13, my student loans were under court-ordered deferment.
Once the Chapter 13 closed it was time again to make my student loan payments which were now nearly $800 a month. Up until this point I was only able to find PT work and unable to make these high payments. I began making Income Contingent payments and never missed one, no matter what the personal cost.
In 2006 I found FT work but did not earn enough to make the full payment and still had to make Income Contingent payments. The highest salary I have earned since graduation is $49,000.

In January 2011 I was laid off. I have yet to find work and my loans are on Unemployment Deferment. My student loan balance continues to grow. As of today that balance is $104,726.

Overview of my loans (not actual costs):

1990-1994
* AA-Community College: $4,466
* Not having graduated from high school it took nearly 4 years at Community College to both get up to college level and graduate with A.A. transfer degree
* Worked PT to supplement

1994 to 1996
* BA-State University: $15,973
* Worked PT to supplement costs

1996 to 1999
* MA-Private University: $34,100
* Internship with small salary helped to supplement

1999
* Total Amount Borrowed: $50,939

2000
* I consolidated all but one loan for $3600. This loan had a very low interest rate so it made sense to pay it separately. I have paid it off.
* Remaining loans of $47,339 were consolidated at 7.625%.

2011
* As of today the balance on consolidated loans are $104,726. I cannot possibly make the full monthly payment on this inflated amount, more than half of which is interest.

I have applied twice to Sallie Mae for IBR. It seems futile. I meet the qualifying criteria but they magically lose my supporting documentation even thought it is mailed in the same envelope as the application, or all transmitted in the same fax.

I have had so much trouble with Sallie Mae over the years. I know I’m not the only one with complaints against them and that for each of mine there may be many who have worse, nevertheless here are a few highlights from my personal experience…

* When I divorced I changed my name. I have submitted a name change form and supporting documentation countless times over the past 10 years and it was just last month (Dec 2011) that they correctly updated my account.

* They have been notorious for losing paperwork of all kinds; IBR application, Income Contingent Payment application, Unemployment Deferral application, Name Change Form and supporting documentation all mysteriously “lost”. It doesn’t matter if I send it by regular mail, fax or certified mail, its always the same story, either they did not receive the application or they did not receive the supporting documentaion. Not knowing what their records show, I always include my correct AND incorrect name and my account number on each page of every correspondence.

* On several occasions, for periods of up to 10 days at a time, I’ve been hounded by phone up to 12 times a day being told I’m late on a payment although I’ve never missed making a payment. After an enormous amount of time, effort and stress on my part I finally got to the bottom of this. It’s always the same…I discovered that they did not receive my Income Contingent paperwork. Without this form being received and processed my payment went from the Income Contingent amount back to the full amount and I was therefore delinquent on the difference. Each time this happens they want me to take a deferment or forbearance to cover the “in-between” time.

* In all these years the only thing I have received from them by mail are delinquent notices or payment coupons. Never a form. Never a statement. Never anything else they claim to have mailed to me.

* My Sallie Mae online account became locked and no one would resolve it. I had no access to my account information or online forms for nearly two years. I called many times to request they mail me what I could not access online, they said they would them but never did.

* They sent a letter to a total stranger in my previous city/state of residence (it was not a previous address for me), asking him for my current contact information. To this stranger they provided my name, address and phone number (not safe!). He called me using the phone number Sallie Mae provided him to let me know he received this letter! Each time I talk with Sallie Mae my contact information is confirmed, it’s been conformed more times than I can recall. If they don’t ask me I make it a point to confirm it with them. It has not changed in 6 years.

* They have sent several letters to my father asking him for my contact information. My father sent these letters to me so I could see with my own eyes that they already showed my current contact information.

* I have contacted the designated Sallie Mae Ombudsman for assistance when I could get nowhere with the phone reps. He talked a good game but did not follow through on most of the items discussed, contact info, name change, sending me the forms I needed, unlocking my online account, etc…

* It seems the entire process is designed to force deferments until they run out and drive me into default. It’s like going to Vegas and hoping you can beat the house. The odds are against us.
I always intended to pay what I borrowed. I paid off one small loan, consolidated the others to make them more manageable…then life happened, and it happened in a way I could never have prepared for.

Although I continue trying I will never be free of this debt because I will never earn the kind of money needed to pay it off and because the balance will continue to grow.
With it’s usurious practices, including capitalized interest and irresponsible communication, student loans have become noose around my neck. Just think of how much students could spend, contributing to our economy, if we did not have these loans driving us into inescapable poverty.

It’s unnerving to listen to the media reports about these loans approaching $1 trillion dollars, and how no one reports on how much of that number is actual money borrowed and how much is the unbelievable interest this industry is allowed to charge!
We also never hear about people my age, and older. Sure we hear a little about older returning students, but that’s all. There are many who have, either for their own education or as co-signers for their children, struggled for decades just to make ends meet. They are not buying homes and the other things that drive our economy, they are paying interest upon interest.

There are so many things wrong with this system that I hardly know where to begin. What I do know is this…

* I did not know about capitalized interest until I saw my student loan balance begin to grow. Had I understood capitalized interest I likely would have made a different choice about taking out student loans.

* Short of winning the lottery I will never be able to pay this ever-growing balance.

* Even if/when Sallie Mae gets it together and approves my IBR application I will be in my late 70’s when the remaining balance is forgiven. At that point, with capitalized interest over the next 25 years, the balance will be around $400,000. That forgiven balance will become taxable income. I will be living on a monthly Social Security check that will be garnished up to 15% to pay taxes. In effect, my debt will shift from Sallie Mae to the IRS. And Sallie Mae is already being paid by the Federal Government!

I strongly believe we need some form of true student loan forgiveness. How to structure that forgiveness will no doubt be the topic of great controversy…but really, are we going to be a country that hounds our Senior Citizens for debts that can never be collected, driving us into poverty or worse?