57

I was pre-covid, but rn I can't conceive of a world where I'm actually about to cut these vampires a check

all 46 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] axont@hexbear.net 33 points 11 months ago

I took a look at mine and saw I'm accruing $117 of interest per month. Absolute vultures, I swear.

I'm waiting for a hilarious wave of defaults to sweep the nation. It should have been obvious that was gonna happen. I'm hoping it'll have a similar effect to a general strike.

[-] CantaloupeAss@hexbear.net 29 points 11 months ago

I'm scared to even log in to look bc it feels like some level of acknowledgement that they can track and then pin on me

[-] MiguelParenti@hexbear.net 15 points 11 months ago

This. I'm never logging in or paying that shit. Its such a negligible amount too but it wont be fucking forgiven

[-] balloflearning@midwest.social 21 points 11 months ago

I hope you are wrong but it does feel like adding student loans back into the equation is going to put a significant financial burden on a demographic that is already struggling to accumulate wealth.

[-] SkeletorJesus@hexbear.net 13 points 11 months ago

How do you even default on a student loan without becoming a dependent? I was under the impression they could take it directly out of your paycheck and it couldn't be dismissed as part of bankruptcy.

[-] CatoPosting@hexbear.net 6 points 11 months ago

I think they just don't do that often. Like, absolutely they could but it takes effort

[-] the_itsb@hexbear.net 10 points 11 months ago

It's not that they don't do it because it takes effort, it's just a long process for them to get there. I have personally known someone whose paychecks were being garnished because they defaulted on 5-figure student loan debt, but he said that he ignored calls and letters for years and then ignored months (maybe even a year plus?) of court summonses to get to that point.

I was helping his wife fill out IBR paperwork and offered to help him with his and found out he had to be in this forced repayment for some period - couple years? idk this was ~10 years ago - before he could even apply for anything like that.

It's an evil trap, and they really will come destroy your financial life.

[-] Infamousblt@hexbear.net 24 points 11 months ago

Unfortunately yea

Trying to save up to do a group buy on a building with some folks so that we have more reliable / permanent community to fend off the coming capitalist apocalypse, and we can't possibly secure a loan for that if we don't all find a way to somehow pay off our student loans too. It's awful. I make a decent amount of money and it's still just totally unreasonable to expect anyone but the most affluent to be able to save for anything, let alone something like a building even if you're sharing that cost burden, while also paying rent, and student loans, and buying food, and paying your ridiculous health insurance premiums and also still paying for your medical needs, and utilites, and literally all the random other bullshit capitalists make you pay for.

It's not sustainable in any way shape or form.

[-] CantaloupeAss@hexbear.net 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Maybe in a similar boat, like I went to a university and used it to "start a career" and even though I'm making "a living" I still feel like I'm paycheck to paycheck and now these fucking cretins are coming out of the grave to take even more.

It would be great if going to a university and then working for years led to anything like owning my own home or not being like "shit this is bad" when I look at my grocery bill.

edit: nobody, university-educated or otherwise, should be barred from owning their own home, or be stressed out by a grocery bill. My personal path means nil in the calculus of who deserves to be happy and safe. I only say the above in response to the advertisement for the university path which I was constantly subjected to as a child, which was that by going to a university and then getting a job, I would be shielded from the meatgrinder of the supposedly lesser non-university-educated life path. Along with like, my entire family basically threatening to shun me if I did not go, and thus being agents for a loan agency.

[-] FanonFan@hexbear.net 3 points 11 months ago

do a group buy on a building

This is interesting, what are the implications?

[-] Infamousblt@hexbear.net 8 points 11 months ago

Mostly we just buy a building and live in it. Instead of renting 4 different flats in different buildings we can buy our own building and live in that. Rent doesn't change but it goes to our mortgage rather than a landlords mortgage. The math works out well but it's a lot of work even for 6 people to save up for.

[-] Magician@hexbear.net 22 points 11 months ago

I couldn't afford to even if I wanted to. And I don't.

[-] RonPaulyShore@hexbear.net 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

please check out the SAVE income derived plan. if you're struggling, you won't have to pay anything or pay very little, and interest won't accrue.

[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 7 points 11 months ago

Yep, this is what I’m on now so my “payments” are $0 a month

[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 17 points 11 months ago

I make $17 an hour which is so little that my “payments” are $0 a month

[-] The_Walkening@hexbear.net 17 points 11 months ago

Yeah I was a bit of an idiot and I refinanced with a private lender, so I'm stuck paying them

[-] ChaosMaterialist@hexbear.net 15 points 11 months ago

Abolish student loan debt. What a mistake this country made.

[-] CommieElon@hexbear.net 13 points 11 months ago

Yeah, I think I can get rid of them in about 5 years. I left them at 20,000 hoping the Supreme Court would give us something. I was going to use my loan payments toward buying a new car. It was kinda crushing when the Supreme Court made their decision.

[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 15 points 11 months ago

To be clear while the Supreme Court shouldn’t have done that Biden should’ve anticipated that and just done it the right way the first time instead of specifically designing it in a way that the Supreme Court could stop.

And after doing it the right way and immediately, he should’ve had all the records destroyed so if they tried to restore the debt they didn’t even know who owed what.

[-] MamaVomit@hexbear.net 11 points 11 months ago

I was super fortunate that my parents were fine with me living with them post college. I was able to pay back all ~$45k after working a few years, basically just dumping my entire paycheck into loans.

[-] TankieTanuki@hexbear.net 11 points 11 months ago
[-] Abracadaniel@hexbear.net 11 points 11 months ago

Would prefer not to have my wages garnished.

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 10 points 11 months ago

I didn't get loans, only some grants. It was a gut instinct thing where I was wary of being neck deep in debt and using one credit card to pay for another credit card like the chuds in my biological family.

It took me a few extra years to finish college because I was working a full time job (and a part time job for part of that), but I escaped biden-troll 's student debt hell circus almost by accident that way.

[-] CantaloupeAss@hexbear.net 5 points 11 months ago

The ol' Ulysses Grant. Well done comrade

[-] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 9 points 11 months ago

yes. i'm about half a year out from hitting 120 qualifying payments / finishing my 10 years of public service to get the last $25k wiped. i originally borrowed about $32k. i have paid "back" something like $24k. that's right. borrowed $32k, paid $24k, still owe more than half. the juice on federally subsidized loans is harsh. that's with the 2.5+ year COVID pause on payments and interest. even LIB liz warren said it was embarrassing that the program literally makes money off of student borrowers. and i borrowed significantly less than the average in my cohort, because i won some really big and highly competitive national scholarships. i basically got an entire year free from tuition. i went to a state school and paid at the in-state rate.

i remember i was in cuba some years ago talking to this younger cuban national who had gone to art school there, and we were talking about how education and assistance programs compare. i mentioned that school was extremely expensive in the US, even at the publicly-supported state institutions. dollar amounts aren't really a good comparison because the economies are so distinct, but i mentioned that i was working on getting them forgiven by doing public service. he said the cuban system worked like that too, his eyes lighting up. i got the impression he really wanted to believe the US wasn't a dystopian shithole, as he had family there and wanted to visit them and maybe even live for a while to broaden his horizons.

i asked how many years of service the cuban government wanted, and it was something like 2. i said in the US, it's 10. and we had to make payments the entire time. and if we didn't complete the 10 years, nothing was removed. no partial forgiveness. he struggled to internalize that, but agreed it was too great of a burden.

[-] Cummunism@hexbear.net 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

i paid mine off so easily!

  1. dad died
  2. grandpa died so me and sibling got my dads share of his inheritance

all you need is a white guy born in the 1930s who worked the same desk job for his whole life. so easy! i think it was like $10k i paid off, after having made payments for a while. and that was after my mom paid for some of my college with my dads inheritance/insurance money.

take a guess what paid for my house downpayment too? you guessed it! although funnily enough my grandpa also paid for my parents first house.

all student loans should have 0% interest, but then how would the stonk lines go up?

and yea, i often ponder how much of my current life and security was paid for with generational wealth and death. people talk about life changing amounts of money, mine was like $40k at most. It doesnt take much.

[-] the_kid@hexbear.net 9 points 11 months ago

planning on moving abroad so I don’t have to pay them

[-] Babs@hexbear.net 8 points 11 months ago

Mine are FFEL, so they never qualified for anything. Program was bad enough for Obama to end it, but not bad enough to give us any relief. I don't really care though. Brandon said he was doing something about student loans so if anyone calls I'll tell them to go bug him about it.

[-] Alch_Fox@hexbear.net 8 points 11 months ago

Lmao, no. I can't afford them. Even with income-based repayment.

[-] RonPaulyShore@hexbear.net 7 points 11 months ago

unless you're fleeing abroad, it seems like the yearly cost (5-10pct of (AGI - ~35000) is worth the incredible psychic strain of knowing your principle is increasing and you can never buy property.

[-] HiImThomasPynchon@hexbear.net 6 points 11 months ago

Yes, but also I didn't really go to college.

[-] Bnova@hexbear.net 6 points 11 months ago

Nah but I'm enrolled in graduate school so they go to forbearance.

[-] Hohsia@hexbear.net 5 points 11 months ago

The government is supposed to serve the people and hasn’t in a long while

Death to America, hope millions follow your lead

But you just know that your average American is beyond cucked and will step right in line and get those payments in

[-] 2Password2Remember@hexbear.net 4 points 11 months ago

I have enough to pay them off in full without having to make material sacrifices so I think I might just do it and never have to worry about it again. it's not like they're ever gonna get forgiven tbh

Death to America

[-] CantaloupeAss@hexbear.net 6 points 11 months ago

Forgive me if this is obvious, but just to write it down for anyone browsing this thread: If you have a fixed-rate loan at a low interest rate (~3%), even if you have enough cash on hand to repay the loan in full, it may be a better move financially to make the minimum payments on the loan and invest the rest of the money in a financial instrument that can net a higher rate of return.

For example, say you have $100 in savings and a $100 loan at 3% interest. Ally savings accounts are at something above 4% right now, so if you put that $100 in an Ally account and can afford to make the minimum payments without withdrawing that $100, you're making $4/month on savings interest while only paying $3/month in loan interest. If you pay the loan off over 10 months, you profit $10.

There are relatively safe ways to net 5+% on your money, like CDs or bonds. Or you could gamble your money in the stock market or an index fund, but obviously that's riskier.

zizek:

We live in brutal capitalism, and instead of paying for it, we should brutally use it. The problem isn't some idiot in power giving you money. Take the money! Take it without moralistic feelings of guilt. The next day kill him, and if he says, "But I gave you money!" tell him, "You idiot! Why did you give me the money?"

amerikkka

[-] 2Password2Remember@hexbear.net 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

based and financially literate pilled, thank you

Death to America

[-] macerated_baby_presidents@hexbear.net 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I have $33k of loans I think and enough liquid assets lying around to pay them off. Later this month (or whenever the due date is idk) I will check what interest rate the loans are at, if (a) market rates are better than I'm paying on the loan (b) if that difference is actually enough money to be worth the trouble of keeping around a student loan forever. Like if it was a hundred bucks' "pay" for ten years of managing $33k student loan + $33k slightly better investments I'd give up $100 to not have to keep messing with it. If it is a few thousand I'd probably do it. One-year CDs pay like 5.5% APY right now, I'm sure the stock market is nuts. Haven't looked at my finances in a bit.

Also I fucking hate these guys and don't want to give them any money

[-] DickFuckarelli@hexbear.net 4 points 11 months ago

I'm 1200 away from paying mine off.

Only took 22 years.

[-] DBVegas@hexbear.net 2 points 11 months ago

Can't afford to have my wages garnished and my credit score fucked unfortunately.

[-] MineDayOff@hexbear.net 2 points 11 months ago

When they take my tax return.

this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
57 points (100.0% liked)

askchapo

22690 readers
490 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try !feedback@hexbear.net if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS