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Is anyone knowledgeable about gov student loans that can offer advice? (US) (hexbear.net)
submitted 6 months ago by Jabril@hexbear.net to c/chat@hexbear.net
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I caught up with a friend today who revealed they have like 35k in student loans that they got years ago and kept putting off somehow, but recently received some notification about a need to start paying up. They got them pretty much immediately out of high school and still don't really understand fully how they work. All I know right now is that they are all government loans through FAFSA, about half are subsidized and the other half are not.

I've never had student loans and also don't know how they work so I'm wondering if anyone can help me figure out what options my friend has available.

  1. Is there any way to have some or all of student loans forgiven, this person qualifies for all the low income state aid programs if that matters.

  2. What are the consequences of not paying? Can they garnish wages for student loans or is it just a credit hit and the interest keeps accruing?

  3. Is the best plan to just pay them as soon as possible and be debt free or is it realistic that someone can just put it off forever if they are low income and can't afford them?

If there's anything I'm missing or other information/advice that I didn't specifically ask for that you think is relevant, please let me know.

Thanks!

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[โ€“] 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs@hexbear.net 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If you request a forbearance, you can delay payments for up to a year at a time, depending on the servicer. The catch is that interest still accrues during this time, so if your friend got screwed by the absurdly high Trump/Biden-era rates, this may come back to bite them. But it's something you can do while applying for forgiveness or otherwise setting up income-driven repayment. Or, if the rates were low enough, you can just keep requesting forbearance every time the last one expires. As long as you're in good standing, they generally don't give a shit.

The other caveat is that your friend will still have a fuckload of student loan debt sitting on their ~~social~~ credit report, and that definitely dings your score.

[โ€“] Assian_Candor@hexbear.net 3 points 6 months ago

The debt itself doesn't matter much as long as it's current, which it will be if it's in forebearance