A few weeks ago I received a letter about the upcoming final deadline for the "Fresh Start" program, which is suppose to help people whose student loans have fallen into default get back into good standing and set up a repayment plan that's affordable to them.
I haven't paid my loans from my Bachelor's in almost 15 years. They were wanting me to pay so much per month that I wouldn't have been able to afford to live. And this kept happening with each subsequent collection agency that took over my loans, none were willing to work with me. One eventually started garnishing my wages, but that only lasted a few months before my state made it illegal for people under a certain wage bracket. My loans passed through so many hands, I eventually lost track of who owned it. Then I tried going to Heald College to become a paralegal, took out more loans to attend there. Then the whole Corinthian Colleges scandal hit, and my school was closed with only 10 weeks left for me to complete my degree. Kept receiving emails that my loans there would be forgiven, but then assholes in Congress kept blocking it, and I just gave up and accepted whatever fate would come.
So after I finish creating my account on the government loan website, I log in and prepare to wince at the total amounts I would see after years of interest on my unpaid loans . . .
. . . only to see "$0" amounts on all of them. And a status at the top that said all of them had been written off due to "Closed School Discharge". Even the loan from my Bachelor's.
I have no student loan debts anymore.
I wanna cry.
I haven't paid my loans from my Bachelor's in almost 15 years. They were wanting me to pay so much per month that I wouldn't have been able to afford to live. And this kept happening with each subsequent collection agency that took over my loans, none were willing to work with me. One eventually started garnishing my wages, but that only lasted a few months before my state made it illegal for people under a certain wage bracket. My loans passed through so many hands, I eventually lost track of who owned it. Then I tried going to Heald College to become a paralegal, took out more loans to attend there. Then the whole Corinthian Colleges scandal hit, and my school was closed with only 10 weeks left for me to complete my degree. Kept receiving emails that my loans there would be forgiven, but then assholes in Congress kept blocking it, and I just gave up and accepted whatever fate would come.
So after I finish creating my account on the government loan website, I log in and prepare to wince at the total amounts I would see after years of interest on my unpaid loans . . .
. . . only to see "$0" amounts on all of them. And a status at the top that said all of them had been written off due to "Closed School Discharge". Even the loan from my Bachelor's.
I have no student loan debts anymore.
I wanna cry.
