El_Mero_Mero
All Star
TLDR-- I have 40-50K in debt from 1 Federal Student Loan that is over 10 years old and had gone into Collections. Should I try to get a Bank Loan and try to pay it off all at once?
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I need some advice on how y'all would tackle this:
My only debt is an old University loan from the US Department of Education. I never paid towards it:
The total that I owed as of June 2019 is $41,759.53 (Principal: $24,948.50, Interest: $10,464.94, Collection Costs: $6,346.09)
I haven't been contacted since June 2019, so I just tell myself that I owe between $40,000-$50,000 on this loan.
I paid off $7000 in old IRS debt this year (2014 and 2015) and I was supposed to receive an $80 refund due to over-payment, but instead the US Department of Treasury wrote me back and pretty much said that they were going to keep those $80 and put it towards an outstanding debt (probably the US Department of Education Loan).
I'm considering trying to pay off this big debt as soon as possible. Should I do the old tactic of writing to them and asking them to prove that I owe that much? Or is that not even worth it because it's the US Department of Education? Is it possible to ask them if they'll let me pay less as long as I pay it right away?
Anyway, I only made about $21,000 this year pre-tax, but realistically foresee myself making at least 40K in 2020. I'm currently living rent-free at home. I don't think that HSBC Bank will loan me 40-50K even though I've been with them for years, but maybe they can at least loan like 20K that I can put towards the loan. I got my first Credit Card ever in 2018. It is a basic Discover Card. My limit is $3000 and my Credit Score is about 730 as of December 2019.
I just want to come to a settlement agreement. I reached a settlement agreement with (Forster and Garbus/Sallie Mae) in the past after they summoned me to court. They took out $100 per month and I wasn't even fazed. (If I tried to make a similar $100/month agreement to pay off 40-50K, I'd be paying that till I'm in my 70s (or till I pass away)). That would be highly annoying, but if it's just $100/month and it gets deducted without my noticing, then I guess it wouldn't be too bad. I'm trying to avoid that though and instead pay it off faster. I just want a set number that I owe because I always used to hate making payments and never seeing the price owed go down. I was initially going to wait for this outstanding Federal Loan to summon me to court too, but they're taking too long and I'm trying to build my future so I'm trying to be more proactive. I will reach out to them after I have filed my 2019 taxes. Hopefully before mid-February.
Please share some advice.
*Additional Reading
I've never had my wages garnished or bank accounts interrupted even though this loan is over 10 years old. I think this may be due to my being mostly an Independent Contractor for the majority of the time. I got divorced in 2017 (have the decree and everything), but when I received my old tax documents they still use both of our names (ex-wife and me). I take it that this is because it was never communicated to the IRS that we got divorced. Even though we filed separately for the year 2018, and will do so for 2019, is it possible that the government would still try to garnish her wages due to my long-standing loan debt. We weren't married when I initially took out the loan, so I don't see why she would be included at all. I'm just trying to avoid getting her involved in any of this as well because her green card situation is iffy and she don't deserve no extra drama (I'm the one who chose to get divorced and it was "no-fault"). It wasn't a green card scam thing though because I was with her for like 10 years before we got married and she's from a rich country, so...no need.
===============================================================================================================
I need some advice on how y'all would tackle this:
My only debt is an old University loan from the US Department of Education. I never paid towards it:
The total that I owed as of June 2019 is $41,759.53 (Principal: $24,948.50, Interest: $10,464.94, Collection Costs: $6,346.09)
I haven't been contacted since June 2019, so I just tell myself that I owe between $40,000-$50,000 on this loan.
I paid off $7000 in old IRS debt this year (2014 and 2015) and I was supposed to receive an $80 refund due to over-payment, but instead the US Department of Treasury wrote me back and pretty much said that they were going to keep those $80 and put it towards an outstanding debt (probably the US Department of Education Loan).
I'm considering trying to pay off this big debt as soon as possible. Should I do the old tactic of writing to them and asking them to prove that I owe that much? Or is that not even worth it because it's the US Department of Education? Is it possible to ask them if they'll let me pay less as long as I pay it right away?
Anyway, I only made about $21,000 this year pre-tax, but realistically foresee myself making at least 40K in 2020. I'm currently living rent-free at home. I don't think that HSBC Bank will loan me 40-50K even though I've been with them for years, but maybe they can at least loan like 20K that I can put towards the loan. I got my first Credit Card ever in 2018. It is a basic Discover Card. My limit is $3000 and my Credit Score is about 730 as of December 2019.
I just want to come to a settlement agreement. I reached a settlement agreement with (Forster and Garbus/Sallie Mae) in the past after they summoned me to court. They took out $100 per month and I wasn't even fazed. (If I tried to make a similar $100/month agreement to pay off 40-50K, I'd be paying that till I'm in my 70s (or till I pass away)). That would be highly annoying, but if it's just $100/month and it gets deducted without my noticing, then I guess it wouldn't be too bad. I'm trying to avoid that though and instead pay it off faster. I just want a set number that I owe because I always used to hate making payments and never seeing the price owed go down. I was initially going to wait for this outstanding Federal Loan to summon me to court too, but they're taking too long and I'm trying to build my future so I'm trying to be more proactive. I will reach out to them after I have filed my 2019 taxes. Hopefully before mid-February.
Please share some advice.
*Additional Reading
I've never had my wages garnished or bank accounts interrupted even though this loan is over 10 years old. I think this may be due to my being mostly an Independent Contractor for the majority of the time. I got divorced in 2017 (have the decree and everything), but when I received my old tax documents they still use both of our names (ex-wife and me). I take it that this is because it was never communicated to the IRS that we got divorced. Even though we filed separately for the year 2018, and will do so for 2019, is it possible that the government would still try to garnish her wages due to my long-standing loan debt. We weren't married when I initially took out the loan, so I don't see why she would be included at all. I'm just trying to avoid getting her involved in any of this as well because her green card situation is iffy and she don't deserve no extra drama (I'm the one who chose to get divorced and it was "no-fault"). It wasn't a green card scam thing though because I was with her for like 10 years before we got married and she's from a rich country, so...no need.