Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Just as I Suspected
I went to Belmont today; there was NOTHING they could do for me. I spoke with a financial adviser who later on in our meeting (after many "I've already tried thats") asked his supervisor if he knew of anything in case there was something he was possibly overlooking (which I appreciated as he was nice about the situation.) Their final suggestion? Try consolidating again, here is a list of places who offer it. My reaction? Here is my pile of rejection letters from every lender on your list. So disheartening. So over it.
Monday, August 22, 2011
From Here to Anywhere...
Belmont's motto is just that, "From Here to Anywhere."
So here I am, 2 years after graduating with 'anywhere' looking more like 'nowhere.' As I have mentioned before, I am heading towards a spiraling pit of debt with every closing minute. My mother has asked me once or twice to call Belmont to see if they have any suggestions on what I should do. And, unfortunately, I tell her that I have and not only can they do nothing for me, I end up educating them on something they did not know about the refinancing process. However, it has been a little over a year since I have spoken with someone in financial aid, so I am thinking of giving it one more shot before I give up.
After talking with my roommate tonight, who is also a Belmont alum, I have decided to go there in person instead of speaking to someone over the phone. If they tell me a bunch of "We can't help yous" then maybe it will be harder for them to do in person. My roommate made a few good points tonight about alumni funds and how there could potentially be one out there to help certain 'qualified' people in this sort of situation. And, if there are no alumni funds that I qualify for, maybe Belmont could try to make a few phone calls to Sallie Mae or Wells Fargo. Even just typing it out right now seems like a long shot, but what do I have to lose?! Maybe some pride and dignity, but let's face it, they don't know who I am other than just a female graduate of the 2009 class who is still in debt like the majority of others.
So, I am not sure what day of the week I will go; maybe tomorrow, maybe later this week or next, but I will keep you posted as to what type of direction they give me. Here's to hoping they can get me anywhere but here...
So here I am, 2 years after graduating with 'anywhere' looking more like 'nowhere.' As I have mentioned before, I am heading towards a spiraling pit of debt with every closing minute. My mother has asked me once or twice to call Belmont to see if they have any suggestions on what I should do. And, unfortunately, I tell her that I have and not only can they do nothing for me, I end up educating them on something they did not know about the refinancing process. However, it has been a little over a year since I have spoken with someone in financial aid, so I am thinking of giving it one more shot before I give up.
After talking with my roommate tonight, who is also a Belmont alum, I have decided to go there in person instead of speaking to someone over the phone. If they tell me a bunch of "We can't help yous" then maybe it will be harder for them to do in person. My roommate made a few good points tonight about alumni funds and how there could potentially be one out there to help certain 'qualified' people in this sort of situation. And, if there are no alumni funds that I qualify for, maybe Belmont could try to make a few phone calls to Sallie Mae or Wells Fargo. Even just typing it out right now seems like a long shot, but what do I have to lose?! Maybe some pride and dignity, but let's face it, they don't know who I am other than just a female graduate of the 2009 class who is still in debt like the majority of others.
So, I am not sure what day of the week I will go; maybe tomorrow, maybe later this week or next, but I will keep you posted as to what type of direction they give me. Here's to hoping they can get me anywhere but here...
Thursday, August 11, 2011
D-E-F-A-U-L-T
Smart thing to do? Too many consequences? Giving in? Totally ruining my credit? The only way?
All of these questions and many more float around in my head when thinking about the word default. So many say it is the only way to let the lenders really know you can't pay them. Others say it is merely giving in and ultimately hurting yourself. Which is it? I DO NOT know.
Thinking about it from a rational standpoint, surely defaulting on my loans will ruin my credit and plunge me into a 'financially unstable' branded person to all that inquire. However, thinking about it from a desperate standpoint, what if defaulting just means I lose 100+ points on my credit score and possibly have a wage that gets garnished? If Sallie Mae started to garnish my wages, surely they will not be able to get $600 a month in garnishments like they are getting from my on-time payments now. Will my absence of payment get it through their heads that I cannot pay them this amount any longer? Will I eventually have to go to court over this? Will the judge order that I continue my $600 per month interest only payments or else? I feel as if I am well educated about what is going on with my loans, but I am SO uneducated about the repercussions of what happens if I don't continue my current payments. Who in the world would have thought that it would come to this just a mere 2 years after graduating college? I can only imagine what I will be going through in 2 more years after my interest only pay option is up.
All of these default thoughts are deriving from the fact that I was denied, yet again, for consolidation last week. Wells Fargo denied me for the 3rd time. I added a co-signer and even that did not work. After that, I called local Nashville debt counselors to try and get any kind of advice I could and nothing came out of that. No one could help or even talk about debt relief when it came to private student loans. As soon as you say the words, "private student loans" to them they act as if you have just royally offended them. They start talking fast and basically hang up on you. One place actually did hang up on me, but whatever.
Anyway, on a somewhat lighter note, I watch out for student loan twitter accounts, web sites and videos like it is my second job. Here are a couple that are pretty informative and cool to see:
Oh yeah, on a positive note, I signed up for my 401k this week. Yay!
And, my iTunes shuffle just started playing, "We Don't Need No Education" by Pink Floyd. Just thought you should find some ironic humor in that as well ;)
*As always, opinions are always appreciated! Comment on this post and let me know your thoughts :)*
All of these questions and many more float around in my head when thinking about the word default. So many say it is the only way to let the lenders really know you can't pay them. Others say it is merely giving in and ultimately hurting yourself. Which is it? I DO NOT know.
Thinking about it from a rational standpoint, surely defaulting on my loans will ruin my credit and plunge me into a 'financially unstable' branded person to all that inquire. However, thinking about it from a desperate standpoint, what if defaulting just means I lose 100+ points on my credit score and possibly have a wage that gets garnished? If Sallie Mae started to garnish my wages, surely they will not be able to get $600 a month in garnishments like they are getting from my on-time payments now. Will my absence of payment get it through their heads that I cannot pay them this amount any longer? Will I eventually have to go to court over this? Will the judge order that I continue my $600 per month interest only payments or else? I feel as if I am well educated about what is going on with my loans, but I am SO uneducated about the repercussions of what happens if I don't continue my current payments. Who in the world would have thought that it would come to this just a mere 2 years after graduating college? I can only imagine what I will be going through in 2 more years after my interest only pay option is up.
All of these default thoughts are deriving from the fact that I was denied, yet again, for consolidation last week. Wells Fargo denied me for the 3rd time. I added a co-signer and even that did not work. After that, I called local Nashville debt counselors to try and get any kind of advice I could and nothing came out of that. No one could help or even talk about debt relief when it came to private student loans. As soon as you say the words, "private student loans" to them they act as if you have just royally offended them. They start talking fast and basically hang up on you. One place actually did hang up on me, but whatever.
Anyway, on a somewhat lighter note, I watch out for student loan twitter accounts, web sites and videos like it is my second job. Here are a couple that are pretty informative and cool to see:
Oh yeah, on a positive note, I signed up for my 401k this week. Yay!
And, my iTunes shuffle just started playing, "We Don't Need No Education" by Pink Floyd. Just thought you should find some ironic humor in that as well ;)
*As always, opinions are always appreciated! Comment on this post and let me know your thoughts :)*
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