Forum Post: Stay-at-Home 20-Year-Olds Key to Housing Rebound ----> But We Are Jobless and Shackled by Student Loan Debt
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 24, 2011, 11:27 a.m. EST by Justice4All
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Interesting article: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stay-at-home-20-year-olds-key-to-housing-rebound-2011-10-21?Link=obinsite
However, the problem is that we cannot afford to finance a car loan let alone a mortgage with our student loan repayments. Remember: we are getting started in life shackled by debt.
We need some sort of student loan amnesty - now!
1) Even before the economic crisis, the average starting salary for someone with a degree was $33K. If you took out a $100K loan to get such a degree, you made a really stupid financial decision.
2) The reason student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy is because the lender can’t repossess your education. With a house or a car loan, the lender has the ability to mitigate losses if you default, specifically, they can take possession of the underlying asset. If discharge were allowed, you would see the student loan market disappear, because no lender is going to give an 18-21 year old with no assets and no job an unsecured loan.
3) Government backing of loans was implemented to provide additional protection for the lenders and ensure loans were available to students. Like most government programs, this resulted in unintended consequences such as tuition rates skyrocketing in response to vast amounts of money being available.
4) Though government backing of student loans was an ill-conceived plan, in implementing this plan the government was treating you like an adult. They ensured that loans were available to you. Your responsibility was to understand the terms of the loan and evaluate the costs and benefits of taking a loan (see number 1). If you are unable to make these types of adult decisions, then I suggest you also petition the government to raise the voting age.
5) Student loans are generally not taken out all at once to cover the entire duration of one’s course of study. So you had many opportunities along the way to re-evaluate your plan. As the economy worsened and the jobs market was drying up, you could have stopped taking out loans and forged a different path. If you chose not to do this, then you made a bad financial decision.
6) Amnesty does not make the debt disappear. It simply shifts the burden to your fellow citizens who seem to have enough financial distress of their own without the added burden of paying for your education.
So let me get this straight. First you all complain that banks lent money to people who they knew couldn't pay it back, and now you're complaining that they won't lend you huge sums of money because they think you can't pay it back.
Make up your mind people!
We have been struggling to buy a home for 4 months now. Lenders took a look at my husband's student loans and told us nope they won't touch our application! The loans in forebearance do not count they count the total amount and what your payment will be after your deferment or forebearance are done.
Exactly. And the student loan debt is killing the economy.
We need amnesty - now!
So let me get this straight. First you all complain that banks lent money to people who they knew couldn't pay it back, and now you're complaining that they won't lend you huge sums of money because they think you can't pay it back.
Make up your mind people!
We have been struggling to buy a home for 4 months now. Lenders took a look at my husband's student loans and told us nope they won't touch our application! The loans in forebearance do not count they count the total amount and what your payment will be after your deferment or forebearance are done.
You can get a forbearance on your loans. Have you tried?
Yes. I have.
Are you unemployed?
For the first time in my life, I have been unemployed for a year now.
I'm so sorry. My boyfriend has been unemployed since June of 2009. The state things are in really suck. I'm on disability from work. I work for "giant corporation" I see the evil in it, but I am also thankful because I would be royally screwed right now. It's a double-edged sword. I'm sending good vibes so you find employment soon. Keep deferring those loans.