Student loan collection help

The Dept. of Education should offer you a forebearance (sp?) I have been in this forebearance state for sometime (single mom w/3 kids) Do you have multiple loans? If so you may want to go online to William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program and consolidate. Check on that web site anyway, I have been working with them for years. as it stands now I will NEVER be able to pay off my loans and I did not even graduate..

Since a CA is calling, she is in default thus no longer eligible for forebearance.


Did you previously consolidate?? You say loan, instead of loans which make me think so.

yes I consolidated my loan is through Direct Loan Program. I am at at my wits end. I don't know what to tell them. There is no way I can pay what they want. I want to pay, but not what they are willing to accept. I was told that the DOE wouldn't help me since it was already with a CA so there was no need to contact them. I want to thank you for responding. Robind64 and Soaplady

If you were consolidated with DL, were you on income contingent repayment?? Or did you not look into your options?

I don't know, before when I paid GSC I paid $400 a month for 11 months, (my husband and I were both working) and then $200 a month after it was sent back to DOE (?) for about a year. I know I should have called but I some terrible family issues and this was the last thing on my mind. I am not sure what would be considered "reasonable and affordable" for someone owing $62,000 with a financial statement of -$553 a month.

You should have made the call and put your loan into deferment. Sounds like you already did a rehab and have already defaulted on that. So your only option now would be consolidating again with the DOE.

You have to start taking your student loan seriously. They do not look kindly on second time defaulters.

I know I should have called and I will NEVER make that mistake again. But, what is my next step? Should I call the DOE? Will they talk to me even though I have been sent to the CA (they told me no)?

DOE wont talk to you....you are assigned to a CA. Only thing you can do is apply to Direct Loans to consolidate again. Link is in the sticky section at the top of this forum.

Thank you, I just applied to Direct Loans to Consolidate again. How long does it usually take to hear? I don't know what to tell the CA, I know they will call me back.

Okay, I just checked the site on consolidation and it said that the loan was in certify status and that I should be getting a payoff in the mail. I am not sure what that means??? Was I approved?? What do I tell the collection agency, I was suppossed to call them back Friday and was waiting on this? Not sure what to do next.

Certification means that documents have been sent to you lender to sign....they basically certify you have a loan and they provide a pay off balance to the consolidating lender. The process usually takes 30-45 days.

As for the garnishment threat, they cannot garnish you before sending a 30 written notice of your rights to appeal . I would say call the CA and tell them that you have applied for a consolidation thru DL and that there demands are totally unreasonable based on your income. If you can offer them $100 (which with your budget doesnt look hopeful) tell them that is all you can squeeze out.

Suggestion to free up a bit of cash....most car lenders will allow you to skip a payment or two and tack it onto the back of the loan. We did this without a problem when my husband was laid off.