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Default Aug 03, 2021 at 01:24 AM
  #1
They say hindsight is 20/20 and that cliche is too true.

I did not take the straight and narrow path in life. Certainly not with academics.

I waited until my late 30s and 40s to go back to school. That means, borrowing financial aid to pay for class and get living expenses via a financial aid refund check.

Last semester, I had two negative collections (old ones) on my credit report. Yet, my application for a private Grad Plus loan was approved without an endorser. Not sure why. Good luck, I thought. Then, when I reapplied for the fall/spring tonight, those same two collections proved my downfall, as this time, my credit was denied. My options? File a credit appeal in the form of paperwork that shows I paid off the two negative, yet very old collections, or, secured an endorser with passible credit.

Knowing this may happen I hired one of those consumer credit agencies who you pay a monthly fee to, so that you don't have to send out letters to the credit agencies challenging collections b/c the company will do that for you. Well, the company successfully got 1 of the 2 collections challenged and removed mid-July. Yet when I checked my credit reports, the DEBT WAS STILL ON IT! And that's how what was used to deny my private loan application for financial aid tonight. I was devastated.

So, I immediately dug up all the paperwork from the company who sent me confirmation of the collections removed etc., in a dispute report on the credit agency's website tonight.

Tomorrow I will call the credit agency and ask their customer service why they didn't remove the collection account two weeks ago like they were supposed to. The timing of that is what screwed up my credit which is actually good now. But good credit score didn't save me from being denied financial aid. So, I'm really stressed out.

If i can't find an endorser with zero collections on their credit report then my only option is to pay those two 10 year old collections (which is a big no-no as far as what that does to the credit report: those debts won't be removed unless the creditor removes them and that's up to the creditor; I can't make them remove it).

I guess, if it comes to it and I pay those two collections anyway, I can send that proof of payment to the private loan lender as proof of payment for an official credit appeal, to get my financial aid approved for fall/spring.

Any ideas, anyone?

What a mess! I've been temping this whole time in school, applying for full time work with zero luck due to Covid-19 (like so many others in my shoes trying to find employment full-time during a pandemic).

I'm selling my car for a few thousand dollars, so I have at least 3 months rent in case I can't appeal the credit or find an endorser with no collections on their credit report. I don't know what other options I would have. What good is a car, unless to live in it, homeless, without resolving my student loan debacle.
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Default Aug 03, 2021 at 03:55 AM
  #2
No insights from anyone?
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Default Aug 04, 2021 at 11:17 PM
  #3
I’m sorry I don’t know how to help except to say I messed up myself. I’m
Back in school at 34.

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Default Aug 05, 2021 at 01:39 PM
  #4
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Originally Posted by HALLIEBETH87 View Post
I’m sorry I don’t know how to help except to say I messed up myself. I’m
Back in school at 34.
How is returning to school at the age of 34 messed up?

I returned to school late in late too. I created this issue by not being more proactive with my credit reports; I could have disputed the incorrect items a few years ago multiple times to get them removed, so that I wouldn't find myself in this situation.

I found an endorser after all, so I will at least finish my degree.

What I hate with collection agencies is that there literally is no way around their illegal tactics, no matter what federal statutes or state statutes exist to protect consumers. You pay off a collections account? Doesn't matter. That debt collector can still sell your account to another debt collector, who then reports the old debt as a "new" debt, and starts another 7-10 year cycle where the consumer can't get the old debt removed b/c it's reporting as "new" by the 3rd or 4th debt collector who bought it off another debt collector. Such a scam, credit cards and borrowing.

Sometimes I wish I had moved to Europe 30 years ago, and gone to university for free. But time machines don't exist. So, here I am. Still have my car. Still may sell it anyway. Not sure.
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Default Aug 05, 2021 at 04:07 PM
  #5
We both went back to school late in life, I went for additional degree needed for salary advancement and my husband for a full career change. My husband had bankruptcy and foreclosure (before I knew him) right before going back to school but it didn’t prevent him from getting student loans. Did you try to borrow from department of education, not private loans? We both still have student loans and we are 55, no end in sight but neither had issue borrowing. I feel like department of education wants you to keep borrowing. And they don’t care about your credit. Not like those private guys

I hear you about credits. None of it makes sense. My “favorite” thing is when you lease a car your score drops. You could be leasing same type of car every three years and using the same financial institution and it drops every time. Then it takes a year to get it back up. Ridiculous
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Default Aug 05, 2021 at 04:41 PM
  #6
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We both went back to school late in life, I went for additional degree needed for salary advancement and my husband for a full career change. My husband had bankruptcy and foreclosure (before I knew him) right before going back to school but it didn’t prevent him from getting student loans. Did you try to borrow from department of education, not private loans? We both still have student loans and we are 55, no end in sight but neither had issue borrowing. I feel like department of education wants you to keep borrowing. And they don’t care about your credit. Not like those private guys

I hear you about credits. None of it makes sense. My “favorite” thing is when you lease a car your score drops. You could be leasing same type of car every three years and using the same financial institution and it drops every time. Then it takes a year to get it back up. Ridiculous
I maxed out the public loans and have to borrow from private lenders. So, private lenders run your credit report to see if you have anything in collections, no matter what the amount of that collections account is.

The whole credit system in the U.S. is such a huge scam, like you illustrate. You lease a car, your credit score drops. You pay off a bill in collections, your credit score drops. It's just a big ol' numbers game. I hate it.
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Default Oct 27, 2021 at 09:08 AM
  #7
Financial aid is a drag, but because you have expenses that messes with your credit. This is how they get eighteen year olds to pay tuition for life because they won't be able to see the scam they are pulling. Make sure they didn't use your grants. When you apply for financial aid there are two grants that most (almost everyone) is approved. One being the Pell Grant, not sure the name of the other. It is a mess, and very frustrating, and unfortunately, I don't have the answers, but I hope you do get some answers. I don't have credit which is worse than having it bad. I'm not sure how my financial aid didn't show up on my credit report, but I you do suggest to get to rhe bottom of it. Good luck.
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Default Oct 27, 2021 at 08:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Phrysca View Post
Financial aid is a drag, but because you have expenses that messes with your credit. This is how they get eighteen year olds to pay tuition for life because they won't be able to see the scam they are pulling. Make sure they didn't use your grants. When you apply for financial aid there are two grants that most (almost everyone) is approved. One being the Pell Grant, not sure the name of the other. It is a mess, and very frustrating, and unfortunately, I don't have the answers, but I hope you do get some answers. I don't have credit which is worse than having it bad. I'm not sure how my financial aid didn't show up on my credit report, but I you do suggest to get to rhe bottom of it. Good luck.
Hi Phrysca,

Thanks for your encouragement. Since this financial aid is not for a BA (only Pell Grants are applicable to a BA degree), I took out Grad Plus loans instead. Fortunately, I learned that if I make IBRP (income based repayments) on time for the next 25 years, then the rest of my loan will be forgiven. I can’t help but scoff as I say that, b/c if I get dementia and forget who I am, my social security benefits will be garnished and I won’t have a dime to my name (a little extreme thinking worst case scenario of me, but it could happen).

As long as private loans make our gov’t money from the high interest rates, and does not provide any way for students to get their loans forgiven (our Dept of Ed will not comply with the law as its been shown not to, only forgiving 2% of student loans after being hounded by Congress), then student loan debt (a money maker for the Dept of Ed and the lien holders like Great Lakes), then it will always exist in this country. Nothing we can do about it unfortunately, except stop charging tuition and raise taxes like Germany and England and Ireland and France and the Netherlands does. But that’ll never happen.
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Lightbulb Oct 27, 2021 at 08:58 PM
  #9
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Originally Posted by Motts View Post
They say hindsight is 20/20 and that cliche is too true.

I did not take the straight and narrow path in life. Certainly not with academics.

I waited until my late 30s and 40s to go back to school. That means, borrowing financial aid to pay for class and get living expenses via a financial aid refund check.

Last semester, I had two negative collections (old ones) on my credit report. Yet, my application for a private Grad Plus loan was approved without an endorser. Not sure why. Good luck, I thought. Then, when I reapplied for the fall/spring tonight, those same two collections proved my downfall, as this time, my credit was denied. My options? File a credit appeal in the form of paperwork that shows I paid off the two negative, yet very old collections, or, secured an endorser with passible credit.

Knowing this may happen I hired one of those consumer credit agencies who you pay a monthly fee to, so that you don't have to send out letters to the credit agencies challenging collections b/c the company will do that for you. Well, the company successfully got 1 of the 2 collections challenged and removed mid-July. Yet when I checked my credit reports, the DEBT WAS STILL ON IT! And that's how what was used to deny my private loan application for financial aid tonight. I was devastated.

So, I immediately dug up all the paperwork from the company who sent me confirmation of the collections removed etc., in a dispute report on the credit agency's website tonight.

Tomorrow I will call the credit agency and ask their customer service why they didn't remove the collection account two weeks ago like they were supposed to. The timing of that is what screwed up my credit which is actually good now. But good credit score didn't save me from being denied financial aid. So, I'm really stressed out.

If i can't find an endorser with zero collections on their credit report then my only option is to pay those two 10 year old collections (which is a big no-no as far as what that does to the credit report: those debts won't be removed unless the creditor removes them and that's up to the creditor; I can't make them remove it).

I guess, if it comes to it and I pay those two collections anyway, I can send that proof of payment to the private loan lender as proof of payment for an official credit appeal, to get my financial aid approved for fall/spring.

Any ideas, anyone?

What a mess! I've been temping this whole time in school, applying for full time work with zero luck due to Covid-19 (like so many others in my shoes trying to find employment full-time during a pandemic).

I'm selling my car for a few thousand dollars, so I have at least 3 months rent in case I can't appeal the credit or find an endorser with no collections on their credit report. I don't know what other options I would have. What good is a car, unless to live in it, homeless, without resolving my student loan debacle.
I'm so sorry you are struggling with financial aid issues.

I was in my late-30s when I returned to college. I went first to a community college for an Associate's Degree (earned highest honors and was part of a couple of honor societies), and then transferred with a huge scholarship from an honor society to a four-year university as a Junior. I graduated from the four-year university with Summa Cum Laude status. I tried to do some work as a post-bacc whilst still a disabled person, and my disabilities worsened during my early 40s. I never had support, and people pulled the ageism, racism, and ableism crap on me. So, sadly, I failed at going to grad school. I needed extra help through some sort of rehabilitation that could help me see the nuances that I couldn't. My being disabled most of my adult life meant that my resume and CV were outdated and based on rules of the past, not the present. I wound up seeking help at the VA, and they rated me at 100% disabled - permanent and total. I thought I was dying, as that's not what I was looking for. Subsequently, I got everything forgiven - without having to pay taxes on the forgiven debts. I only had to pay back one private loan comprising $1000. Had I not been forgiven, my base would have amounted to about $40k with $10k average in interest. I think I only owed about $36k at the time my totals were forgiven, save the private loans which are never forgiven, at least from what I understood. I knew then that I would never make that mistake again.

I do wish to return to school, but I'm severely disabled and will only return if VA will pay for voc rehab. That's the only way I can afford it now, apart from whether or not I could even do an assistantship and get a tuition waiver that often comes with.

The most expensive costs from education will be your undergrad education (unless you are attending law school or med school, or some expensive grad school with a terminal Master's degree with a small tuition waiver or no tuition waiver at all). For these reasons, my suggestion would be to find scholarships that total most or at least half of your undergrad tuition. Keep searching for scholarships!!! There might also be scholarships to help pay off your student loan debts, with certain caveats like working in the public sector or for the government or something. Keep searching for scholarships while you're still in school.

Also, if you plan on going to grad school, seek out tuition waivers and assistantships. Both will help you live and eat while attending grad school full-time, and tuition waivers mean less debt. Also, still apply for scholarships on top of all of that. You may be taxed for those things, but it will be less than what you'd owe in loans. If you are seeking a PhD program or a program that is mixed with PhD, such as JD/PhD or MD/PhD, seek out full-ride tuition waivers first, then have your second choices be at least 50% tuition waivers. Make sure that you can still live off your assistantships while also paying a small amount to any private loans. And, as always, seek out scholarships.

You could also take a sabbatical from academia to find a high-paying job that will help you pay off your student loans. Instead of borrowing from Peter (debt consolidator) to pay Paul (original loans/debts), try seeking higher wages. I know that's hard in this day and age, but if your industry calls for more higher-skilled workers, such companies might invest in you.

Ask professors, department heads, and other scholars and post-docs for their expertise and assistance. Ask financial aid for their assistance as well. You'll find more people willing to help you with those endeavors than those who will frown upon you.

If you've ever defaulted, ask what you can do to rebuild your credit. Your credit score is everything in this day an age. It means where you can live, what you can buy, what credit cards and interest rates you will be awarded and privileged with, and sometimes what jobs and social networks you will be accepted into.

If you continue in school, some of your college debts could be on hold until you graduate with a higher degree, such as a professional degree (JD, MD, etc.) or a doctoral degree (Psy.D., Ph.D., etc.). That way, their chances of being repaid will be higher because your degree would essentially (or theoretically) mean higher wages (but not necessarily).

Whatever you can do to lower your living costs (like living with roommates, living on a strict budget) while increasing your repayments will help you in the long run!

Last edited by SprinkL3; Oct 27, 2021 at 09:01 PM.. Reason: Grammatical errors, missing statements and transitions
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Default Oct 27, 2021 at 09:08 PM
  #10
Hi @SprinkL3 thank you for sharing your story and I’m relieved to read that you were able to get your loans forgiven despite that $1,000 amount that you had to repay. I’m sorry to read that you are disabled. I hope you at least have more support now and that your VA would pay for you to return to school. That would be awesome if you could do that.

I have a BA already and an MA. So, I can’t get scholarships or grants anymore. My choices at this stage are income based repayments for 25 years every year, so that I can get the rest of the enormous amount of loans forgiven. I had been on a ten year forgiveness plan like thousands of other students, but the Dept of Education reneged on my ten years of on-time payments. Basically I was told when I called that I completed the wrong forms (a 100% lie, I completed the correct forms).

It’s in the news currently, the way the Dept of Ed is bilking people out of their repayment plans, by claiming wrong forms, etc. no signatures. All lies on the Dept of Ed’s part as usual.

I will just make my monthly payments for 25 years and hope in that span of time, our gov’t and the Dept of Ed. Are overhauled and student debt forgiveness is allowed via bankruptcy again like it was in the 1970s before the law was changed in 1976.
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Lightbulb Oct 27, 2021 at 09:28 PM
  #11
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Originally Posted by Motts View Post
Hi @SprinkL3 thank you for sharing your story and I’m relieved to read that you were able to get your loans forgiven despite that $1,000 amount that you had to repay. I’m sorry to read that you are disabled. I hope you at least have more support now and that your VA would pay for you to return to school. That would be awesome if you could do that.

I have a BA already and an MA. So, I can’t get scholarships or grants anymore. My choices at this stage are income based repayments for 25 years every year, so that I can get the rest of the enormous amount of loans forgiven. I had been on a ten year forgiveness plan like thousands of other students, but the Dept of Education reneged on my ten years of on-time payments. Basically I was told when I called that I completed the wrong forms (a 100% lie, I completed the correct forms).

It’s in the news currently, the way the Dept of Ed is bilking people out of their repayment plans, by claiming wrong forms, etc. no signatures. All lies on the Dept of Ed’s part as usual.

I will just make my monthly payments for 25 years and hope in that span of time, our gov’t and the Dept of Ed. Are overhauled and student debt forgiveness is allowed via bankruptcy again like it was in the 1970s before the law was changed in 1976.
First, you could try to appeal the Dept. of Ed. in some way. If you have proof from email correspondence, etc., that will help your case. Also, try to see if there are ongoing class action lawsuits.

Second, you can always find some type of scholarship to help you - even if you have those two degrees. The scholarships might help you with a new degree for a new career, like I've seen from those who restarted at a community college and became PTK members - even with having earned a BA or MA before; they still earned transfer scholarships to help out with a new degree plan. Many BA's or BS's will attach an extra one-year plan to earn a MA or MS. Some scholarships will extend for all those years, and some will end when the Master's degree plan begins (but that's only one year). Even if you incur a small amount of debt, it might be worth the extra income you'd earn from that field to pay off all your student loans in the future.

Third, if you were on a government forgiveness plan when you worked for certain industries, see what you can do to fight those, or see what you can do to make other arrangements - such as getting partial forgiveness or otherwise, or finding a different repayment plan altogether. Sometimes working for industry will earn you more money to pay off your student loans than trying to deal with the nuances of the politicized government forgiveness plan or something.

Fourth, you are a thousand steps ahead of me - with your master's degree!

If you have your MA, you could go for either a 2nd Master's degree or a professional degree or a Ph.D. or some other doctoral degree, and then that would temporarily halt your repayments (in theory) until you finish out your next degree. You would need two strong recommendations (typically from volunteering or working in a research environment) plus one strong recommendation from outside academia or research, such as from an employer or a professor you knew.

Additionally, some people have even went back to community college to halt some of their student loans, as their reasoning was that their current degree wasn't lucrative for the job market and their age or disability, so then they decided to change fields altogether. Some have started from the very bottom (community college) and up, paying out of pocked for their community college degrees (such as an AS in some science field, to boost your skills and career paths). I've seen that, as a former chapter president of an honor society at a community college only (Phi Theta Kappa - aka PTK). If you return to community college, you can earn a PTK transfer scholarship (I earned a $40k one - $10k administered every year, so long as my GPA was >3.5), and others have earned smaller ones or full rides, which will help you to achieve a second bachelor's and/or master's degree when you transfer with said scholarship.

You could also opt to get recommendations from the workforce to enter into a doctoral program, if your specific field allows for professional or doctoral programs that the company will pay for. If you're good at research and stats, and if you are good at writing and meeting deadlines, then a doctoral program might be for you. In a Ph.D. program, you could get a full tuition waiver plus a living wage with an assistantship, so then you could get a better job after you complete 3 to 6 additional years of schooling plus maybe a 1-year internship plus maybe a 1-year post-doc before you have an early career transition. It's a lot of years, but you are still relatively young! Your wages could increase by $20k per year, which means an extra $20k to pay off your student loans every year without having incurred any further student debts from a doctoral program. So far, I think PhD programs are the only programs that allow full tuition waivers (almost like a full ride), whereas professional doctoral and other programs may require you to get more loans - at least if you have a 50% tuition waiver and an assistantship.

Check into those.

Also, check and see with your loan companies if they would defer (not default) your loans if you returned to college. That's one temporary way out of this mess, esp. if your new degree will earn you more money than the degrees you have now (whether it be through community college - earning extra skills; undergrad - earning a second degree; or grad - earning a second degree or doctoral degree to boost your income hopefully).
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