In too Deep with College Debt

For starters, what type of student loans are you dealing with?? Federal or private?

They are federal direct student loans. I have $21,926 subsidized, $24,937 unsubsidized. I have the consolidated. I ended up selecting a Income Contingent plan that monthly payments are based on my monthly income. That helped lower them, but I still don't know if it is enough. $204.95 is the amount they want me to start repayment at (which is much more managable than the $550 it was set at). I dont know if maybe I need to cut more corners in my budget since the loan seems to think that I can make the payment based on my income.

With that payment, you probably will not even be covering your interest charge per month. You gotta look at your budget or look at a part time job to find your loan. If you dont up the payment, you will be paying on this forever....

you wont get those discharged for 25 years I believe in bankruptcy law.

honestly id look at leaving the country.

they cant go after you if they cant find you.

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Not true about International collections at all. It is not cost effective at all to track people down overseas. But more importantly, trying to get a foreign court system to enforce a judgement can be tediously difficult or next to impossible. I have yet to hear of anyone with delinquent student loans getting their wages overseas garnished, properties liened, or bank accounts seized. This is a unwarranted threat spewed out by debt collectors to scare you into paying.

Actually I have heard of several being sued in canada (there is now an agreement between the two countries) and the UK. People here have posting about private student loans pursing them overseas. Cost?? Negligible...internet and phone...and the debtor pays the court and legal costs. Why do you think thee are so many internatinal collection agencies in existance now?

If I were to go through the trouble of moving abroad, I would not be so stupid to pick a nation as modern as Canada or the UK. I do know that Canada allows bankruptcy discharge on student loans after 7 years from graduation date. I am not sure how this would factor in since I would need to do more research on this.
What you really want to do is pick a nation that is more off the grid offering a very cheap way of living. Even more importantly, wherever you do go you need to keep your whereabouts absolute hush hush and keep yourself mobile. Don't give Sallie Mae an inkling as to where you could be. If they don't know where you ran off to, they can't hire an international agency operating in your new country. Even if they do, than they would have to go through the foreign court system to get access to your assets. In the EXTREME off chance that this were to happen, I would just pick up by bags and move yet again resetting the whole process from ground one. To "triple protect" myself, I would open a bank account in yet another country (not the one where you are based) that is really tight lipped about their banking policies. A simple google search will reveal which countries these are.

Most people dont qualify to immigrate....most countries you have to have skills or a sponsorship to even think of immigrating.

When not focus energies on paying the debt for the edcuation you received instead of avoiding it. Yes a lot of people have outrageous private student loan debt but most of them made stupid educational decisions....going to schools they could not afford or programs they did not research. Maybe you are single with no family or family ties...what you suggest is neither logical or possible. Most people who cant afford their student loans, dont have the money to move accross the street, let alone to a foreign country. Immigration is not cheap.

Out of country bank accounts? Didnt the feds come down on those? That would make paying bills in this country rather difficult...foreign exchange fees can be killers.

Just a quick clarification on some terms. Emigrating is when you leave the United States, while immigrating is when you arrive. There is no need to "emigrate" and give up your US citizenship. And leaving the United States is not illogical and very much possible. Believe it or not, there are many other countries besides the United States that offer a very decent quality of life. And it is not difficult at all to qualify for a visa to reside overseas in a foreign country if one can secure employment in a job that locals cannot do or there is a shortage of. If you have any healthcare skills, your knowledge would be more than welcomed abroad. Anyone with a college degree (any major will do) can teach English overseas in a multitude of places from China to Thailand to Dubai. Heck, go to Korea and they will pay you 35K a year nearly tax free, give you free housing, and pay for your airfare to get you there. Check out eslcafe.com and see for yourself.
The feds came down on bank accounts owned by people who evaded paying IRS. Only a fool would try to evade the IRS and risk getting thrown in jail. This is entirely different from someone who owes a non federal PRIVATE loan. And since the US dollar is cratering like a rock, it might actually be beneficial to keep your accounts in Swiss Francs or Chinese Yuan. Furthermore, exchange rate commissions are nil compared to the constantly fluctuating values of different currencies relative to one another.
Finally, no one who borrows money to go to college has any intention of financially ruining themselves when they graduate. Why even go in the first place? Blaming the borrower solely while giving the lenders and for profit colleges, who are fueling this crisis, a free pass is egregious in my opinion. Someone who comes out owing more than 3 times (or 3 or 5!) what they make a year (that's if they can even get a job in this economy) should not have to pay for the rest of their lives. Especially for a decision that they made when they were 19 years old and had been told their whole lives to go to college and make something of themselves. Forcing someone to payback 150K with outlandish collection fees and interest while they can barely make $10 an hour is like sentencing a shoplifter to the electric chair.

I have Federal Direct loans. I am currently enrolled in their Income Contingent repayment plan. My payments are set at $250 a month which is still way too high for me to make. I am currently working with a budget that calls for $1700 a month and I only make $1400-1600 a month. I really don't think I can reconfigure my budget any lower.

I'm not looking to run an hide from my debt...I am just not yet established yet in life to make a good enough salary to keep up with everything. I foresee that I will hopefully eventually be full time employed and make good money. I just don't know how to stay afloat while I try to lock a full time job. I am currently working 2 part time jobs totaling 50 hours a week and just interviewed for another part time job in my field. I'm not sitting by and hoping something will happen, I am trying to make things happen....I just need advice on how to hold the flood gate until I can handle it.

Marti, Would you share the details of your budget with us? I'm betting there are some corners there that you aren't seeing.

Do you rent? Live at home? Have roommates?

Look at the big ticket items first.

After that look at the small ways to cut back. A lot of people actually spend more money when they get stressed about finances. Fast food is the biggest money grab for people stressed out and feeling like they can't afford to go shopping for food.