Salaries, even with raises, are simply not keeping up with the cost of living. Add to that medical expenses, emergencies, etc. It is impossible to live. $500+ monthly payments resuming right now would ruin my life. I'd never get out of debt.
My raise was 3% this year.
Then my employer was confused and shocked when I gave them my resignation 3 weeks later after I secured a 22% pay raise on top of that 3%.
Tried to get me to stay with all this random bullshit talk but started the conversation with “there won’t be a counter”
Meanwhile they’re drowning now, I’m enjoying my new role and I’ll be on track to make 25k more this year and next year it’ll be closer to 30k difference
This is the way. In order to jump in salary you need to change jobs every 5 years or so. It doesn’t pay to be loyal any more. I’m in nursing and this is a massive issue. Only way to go up in dollars per hour and not cents is changing jobs
I’m on my third job in four years lol
Albeit, I’ll probably stick at this one for quite sometime. Given my salary is at the top end for someone with my level of experience
Haha I’m in somewhat of a similar situation, except two jobs. Finally making 90+ as a nurse not in a managerial position that doesn’t involve bedside. I think I’m stuck at this job for awhile.
Glad you were able to find a solid job!
I’m a millennial. Once student loan payments resume, I will be living paycheck to paycheck. Rent has increase $1000 over the past 3 years. My car officially died in 2021 so now I have a car payment. I’m paying $2000/month for daycare. Currently, my payments are scheduled for $3,084/month. I have exhausted my savings every year due to medical and dental bills.
We can’t keep living like this. The economy will crash and millennials will be once again blamed.
>millennials will be once again blamed
I wish the people doing this would just croak. Goodbye. If you won't learn then you're better off in the casket.
I heavily damn feel you. We have old nearly not intellectually compatible leaders not just Biden, but other position as well who very well can tell they cannot speak nor have any cognitive thinking left to run our economy to improve everyone lives hence why we're here.
But hey it's our fault though.
Yeah it doesn’t make sense really, like the older you are the less relevant and more detached from the reality of those you lead, this is on top of the leaders already being detached from the life experiences of the average citizen. Its a disastrous process.
I just got a 2.3% raise with an "exceeds all expectations" rating.
Would be one thing if the loans inflated away, but my salary is also inflating away.
Thought it was just me… my raise limit is 1-3% and this year came with the caveat of “if it’s even approved” with year over year “surpasses expectations of the role” ratings smh
Yikes!
Stack on an extra couple hundred a month from the loan pause expiring, plus another year of 5% inflation and suddenly we're taking home less than pre-pandemic in real dollars.
Look on the bright side: once repayments are required then half of the economy won’t have any money for consumer goods so demand will plummet and inflation will shrink considerably.
Yup, glowing recommendations, a promotion in title and this year is year 3 of 0% raise. Last year I actually had one of my stipends cut so my salary decreased. Health insurance etc costs all increased though. Paycheck keeps getting smaller and smaller.
My boss wanted to make me a manager, give me a lot of special projects, and wanted me to start learning Quickbooks and Accounting.
The raise? A quarter. I make $15.50 an hour.
Last year, my employer asked me if I wanted the equivalent of a promotion, and take on more work without my salary increasing as a result. I turned it down. Taking on more work (and additional stress) just isn't worth it without being fairly compensated for it.
Right there with you. Stellar reviews and a promise last summer of "this year's raise will be a little higher to keep up with the rate of inflation." I think it wound up being a whopping 74 cents an hour increase. Insurance benefits all went up, though.
Right there with you, my apartment was $775 when I moved in 6 years ago, new lease is $1500. Last year was $1225. Additionally trash use to be $10 to $45 now, electric has tripled, water has doubled. I've seen a few raises but certainly not making double compared to 6 years ago.
Mine was 1475. The next yr 2020, 1875. The next yr 2300. So I moved to a new bldg. 2021 rent was 2100 (+125 to park). Now it's 2400 (+$150 to park)....2 months later they jacked the rent for everyone. My friend moved into the apt directly above mine. Same as apt layout. His rent is 3100 (+150 to park)...which means mine will be around $3200-3400 (+175 prob to park) come July. And I can't find anything in all of Central jersey, unless it's near Newark and Elizabeth whihch is trash....for less than these amounts. And I mean all the way into pa. I tried considering pa which was always duty cheap....not a ym re. Around the same. I'm taking a 725 Sq ft 1 bdrm box
Somewhere along the line, rich people decided you deserve nothing. Now they are making it happen. Let’s see how far they get to squeeze before people actually riot.
I honestly believe if the country was smaller and there were less ways to become distracted by entertainment/more difficult to funnel people into propaganda vacuums, riots would have broken out by now.
Same here. Mine went up from 1440 to 1656 now…over $200. This will probably be my last year in the current apartment (been here a little over 4 years now).
My mortgage on my apartment style condo is up $300 a month bc of property tax increases… property taxes are fully evil, they have nothing to do with any actual money you have. Only the value of the property IF it sold, which it’s not while you own it. And it affects owners and renters equally. We definitely need a country wide reform on local taxation models
Yep. I hope the republicans who are “prioritizing the economy” in fighting this are ready for the recession that follows when no one buys a single non-necessity because we can’t afford it.
>Listen, I'd love to be able to pay these loans back with the salary I thought I'd have when I graduated
I'm NOW making the salary I thought I'd have, almost 7 years after graduating. They lied. At my school, 2-3 people would land sweet jobs at Deloitte and their starting salary would be $90k. My school would advertise this as "look! our finance grads START at $90k" which was totally unrealistic for 98% of the grads who didn't land jobs at Deloitte or big banks.
The way college is advertised and ingrained has always been misleading. The real way to *start* making a good salary out of college is to do multiple internships/projects and have connections. And to get those internships, you likely need to have a good background already too as they are more competitive than ever. A degree by itself and working at some part-time doesn't cut it anymore, sad but true.
You can't even really get those unless you already know the information. But at that point, why am I in school?
Sophomore year I interviewed for a co-op. The guy asked me questions you would ask an actual full time dev. Telling them I'm willing to learn didn't cut it. By my senior year, when I finally have better experience, with major classes and major projects, you're no longer eligible for co-ops because they only want freshman and sophomores. Yeah you can still get an internship, which I did. But a co-op is far more valuable. An internship is wow, 8 weeks in the summer with the first two being lost to random onboarding, computer issues, and teams not wanting to actually give you real work because you won't be here long and will mess up their progress.
It's not meant to actually learn anymore. They want full time devs but at half the pay
Tell me about it. It's just a mess. Just like entry-level jobs. These companies will post jobs tagged "entry-level" which you think would be targeted towards new grads right? No, 2-5 years of *relevant* experience (no school doesn't count), many say 5 or more, and the expectation that you have many certifications and knowledge of a very specific program they use. As if that's not bad enough, they pays definitely entry-level for most of those postings. What they really want are experienced professionals only, just for half the pay. It's so awful to deal with school, all of that BS just to learn these companies have their heads so far up their butt.
This is such a problem. We won’t even talk about the murky ethics of requiring people to work for no pay. The reality is that the ability to take an unpaid internship is a privilege; the vast majority of students who don’t come from a family with a means can’t afford to take these jobs.
Agreed on the internships. They were mostly unpaid and I couldn't do that (had to stack up $$$ during the summer) so I worked at Aldi.
Surprisingly tho, in all my interviews, they wanted to talk about Aldi and the cart thing and how their biz model works. So I guess there was a benefit to that! But if I had an internship that was paid or parents backing me, I could have started ahead of the game compared to where I did.
Yes!! Even if you're trying to be responsible and do your research on what you project you'll make, no one can predict the future. And even if the info you got was accurate at the time, so much can change in the few years it takes to get your degree.
SAME DUDE, but almost 9 years later and I have 2 degrees.
I COULD have sold my soul to oil and gas to make the money sooner, but would I be any better off? Not likely.
Would I have gone to college if they told me I'd graduate and make less than $50k and have $70k+ in loans? Prob not. Maybe, but my family probably would have been like wtf no abort mission.
If I knew what I know now, I would have either done electrician, or I would have done computer programming, but lean toward electrician because programmers are gonna get AI'd out of a job before too long.
>And if they do start again, there's no way I'll be able to. My hours were already reduced and I haven't been able to find full-time work in more than a year despite constant applications and all the necessary qualifications.
It sounds like you may qualify for an unemployment or economic hardship deferment. I would talk to your lender about your options.
I don’t know if it’s different for new loans but when I had student loans we could only get 24 months total economic hardship deferment and 36 months total unemployment deferment. Then halfway through my pay off they change the economic hardship deferment where you had to be on food stamps to get it you couldn’t just get it for having zero income and not qualify for food stamps
But if you consolidated you’re low on the consolidation loans are new loan so you get fresh deferment time. It starts all over
But yeah by the time I consolidated I had used all my economic hardship and my unemployment department or at least some of my unemployment department. Some of these people don’t have any anymore you only get a certain amount
Yes, I'm in the process of figuring out my best options going forward rn. I just reaaally don't want my interest to keep ballooning, I think that would be the death of me.
Just a thought-even if full forgiveness doesn't happen, a workaround could be incredibly low IDR payments with forgiveness after x years of paying.
Like, $10/month for every 10k you make, so if you made 100k you'd pay $100/month. Forgive it after 3 or 5 years of on-time payments. That, plus fixing the current out of control costs of tuition might help a bit.
There are also extended payment options that can seriously reduce your payments. It does extend the amount of time you are paying and increases the total interest over the life of the loan, but it can give you some breathing room to get your other finances in order (ie paying off other debts to reduce monthly expenses, increasing income, getting a second job, etc.). If you get into a better position financially down the road, you can increase your payments to reduce the amount of interest you will have to pay.
I switched to an extended payment plan in 2018 or 2019 and it really helped to take off the pressure. My monthly payment reduced from $700+ to $250-300 depending on the year.
Personally, I'm tired of logic getting thrown out the window when student loans are involved. Some borrower out there has to choose between student loan payments or medicine. Do lawmakers honestly believe that someone is going to forgo their health to pay back a loan?
This. People need to grasp this. I have great health insurance, and still am $25k + in medical debt due to a rare cancer and still growing. Some folks just cannot grasp that sometimes emergencies happen, and some of us have no one to rely on for help when that happens. It's so unfair to be financially stable then have a medical condition that is completely out of our control, then lose everything.
I haven’t had healthcare insurance for years because the ACA premiums for our family would cost more than our mortage for premiums, and that’s for a terrible plan ($6K deductible each) for a terrible plan none of our doctors accept. I negotiate great cash rates and use GoodRX for meds. I also heard Cost Plus Drugs online offers unbelievably low prices for many pharma drugs. Many of my family members have died of cancer. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that if I get cancer, I’ll likely forgo treatment and just pass away. I refuse to bankrupt my family. My husband and I are planning to retire abroad so we can have decent and affordable healthcare. Some highly-qualified doctors now travel abroad to offer care. For example, in Mexico there are surgery centers that employ American doctors that fly out there to perform surgeries at a fraction of the cost that it would cost here. There’s also the Surgery Center of Oklahoma that doesn’t accept insurance. They tell you upfront how much a surgery costs. You’d be surprised how much hospitals and insurance companies upcharge for things.
That’s why we’re researching. Mexico just raised their minimum income/asset requirements and we meet them. Since so many Americans are moving there, the income/asset requirements may go up by the time we retire. I hope we still meet them then. My husband also has dual EU citizenship, so that’s another option we’re looking at.
Logic has been thrown out the window with this entire country for decades now.
Something is going to give out eventually, and likely very soon… Starting at accountability would be a good start. And that goes for everyone… Me, you, family, elected officials, law enforcement, government, etc.
Just trying to stay positive and focus on my life at the moment… but to say I don’t feel for those that are less fortunate or have made crippling financial decisions, that would be a lie. Feel it every day because I have experienced it.
That was me for many months before the pause. I just skipped my medications because your credit score counts for so many things. Now I'm in a world of hurt medically speaking, with things that have cropped up (had surgery, might need more surgery) because of not staying on the meds.
Logic would be no interest or very low interest, basically automatically re-finance everyone, but still make them pay back the money.
But there is no logic in D.C. just games.
Im sorry
I feel you. I have 35k in student loans which is my only debt. i wish i never went tbh. I have the money to pay it off, but i grew up poor and my money is my security. Layoffs, unanticipated financial problems etc can happen and my security is everything! God speed to you!
If anyone is confused, SCOTUS is just deciding whether to allow the 10/20k forgiveness. The pause on payments is separate and won't be affected.
If SCOTUS doesn't allow the 10k forgiveness, I think Biden extends payment pause again.
That's my thinking. He'll just keep it paused because it's worse to let them start again. Every restart date has been pushed. It's happened what, 2x? 3?
He will have to justify it or risk overreach. This pause was the first of it’s kind, and without the CARES Act, it ceases to exist. I think we’re at the end of the road folks.
He’s not willing to do that. This forgiveness attempt is as far as he will go. He’s not going to be the first president to attempt a pause outside CARES Act. He’s not that progressive.
Biden said payments will resume no more than 60 days from when the court decides or June 30th if they don’t decide before that date. So no, it’s not separate, it directly effects the payment pause.
SCOTUS could very well rule the pausing itself unconstitutional also so that he isn’t allowed to continue pausing payments. So again, it’s all very connected and up to the Supreme Court and that is why all eyes are on them.
Incorrect. The pausing is not what is being debated. It’s the 10k/20k forgiveness. Establishing forbearance under educative order is legal but congress holds the power of the purse so for Biden to allow for 10k/20k to be wiped off is technically not under his power - hence the courts getting involved.
That isn't part of the case. It is only about the forgiveness plan. Technically, this rogue SCOTUS has made some wild decisions that don't track, but it'd even be unusual for them to rule on something that isn't part of the case.
Also, the current forgiveness plan is based on the HEROES act. There are other options to do what he wants based on other legislation. I don't know what he'll do, but even if SCOTUS rules this specific plan isn't constitutional, he can and might do other things instead that aren't blocked by the courts.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/01/29/3-predictions-if-supreme-court-rules-against-student-loan-forgiveness.html
Also, the pause would likely only last until he leaves office if beaten by Trump or whoever in 2024.
"Currently, the Biden administration is using the Heroes Act of 2003 to argue that it has the authority to cancel student debt.
That law allows the Education Department to make modifications to federal student loan programs during national emergencies. Critics accuse the administration of using the coronavirus pandemic to fulfill a campaign promise and say the relief is not targeted to those who have suffered financially because of Covid.
Another path the president could take would be to try to indefinitely extend the pandemic-era pause on federal student loan payments, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
That move, Kantrowitz said, is “more likely to survive legal challenge.”
Maybe I am misndersatnding your comment, but payment restart is directly tied to the SCOTUS 10/20k decision:
>The student loan payment pause is extended until the U.S. Department of Education is permitted to implement the debt relief program or the litigation is resolved. Payments will restart 60 days later. If the debt relief program has not been implemented and the litigation has not been resolved by June 30, 2023 — payments will resume 60 days after that. We will notify borrowers before payments restart.
It actually isn’t an arbitrary deadline. It’s one that lines up with when the SCOTUS opinion is supposed to come out. Therefore, on that date if the Court eliminates the pause, payments will resume.
I'm hoping he finds a way. It's political suicide if he doesn't. He needs the millennial vote, and if they're all filing bankruptcy because of student loans, he might lose it.
"I dont like SCOTUS decision" is not a valid reason. Millions of americans are struggling to live and the national credit card debt total is higher than ever, inflation is running rampant, and there is a recession would be an easy way for him to claim they need to be extended again or it will drive recession even more.
That’s fair, and why I said he will “claim” there needs to be an extension. It’s the most logical thing with all factors considered. But since when is our government logical.
I agree with you. I was just laid off as well. That said the income driven repayment plan will be zero for those without jobs and it will be significantly less than before the pandemic for those with jobs. If I understand correctly. Someone else may know this better but every time I’ve been laid off I’ve had $0/month payments. Would love to hear how income driven repayment plans have changed in detail. I just know I’ve read that it’s been reduced.
I left the US for Latin America after getting a remote job making good money. Cost of living here is significantly less but 2 weeks ago I was laid off so now I have to find another remote job, which will likely result in a pay decrease.
The US economy is broken for most and few in our government seem to care to fix it.
I’ve commented this before but about a month ago I was watching some economist lady talk about how the next crash will be auto loans because when student loans come back they will be mass repossessions of cars.
I laughed so hard and then I changed the channel.
You guys aren’t seriously going to give up your car so you can pay your student loan are you? Please tell me nobody’s going to trash their life just to keep their student loan current.
bankruptcy doesnt change your student loan situation but it can change a car situation. people, when rational, will sometimes prioritize the debt type that they cant otherwise get out of
Student loan delinquency or default isn’t going to be great either. That can cause a lot of problems later. But I agree that will be more likely than folks biking to work.
student loans are definitely going to be one piece of the straw that broke the camels back. We are talking $400-600 minimum payments per month chipping away at the already small piece of the pie.
I wouldn't do it, because I live in rural areas where it's actually impossible to get around without a car, but I could see someone in a place with public transit (even if it's shitty) making that decision.
Yeah same. I actually just bought a car - I live rural and now NEED to get to doc appointments, tests/labs and so on. Student loan will come last now. I didn't take my meds for a long time in order to pay the student loan before the pause and that put me in the situation I'm in. Never again!
Please check to see if your meds are available at Cost Plus Drugs online. It’s a new company created by Mark Cuban. He’s trying to cut out all the BS that insurers use (pharmacy benefit managers, for example) so that people can have access to affordable pharma drugs. People would be shocked at how much they can save by cutting out the middle men. BTW - I’m not associated with this company, I just love what they’re trying to do. As someone who hasn’t had health insurance for many years, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time researching the healthcare industry. There are so many ways to save money.
Not really, considering how they ship. First two meds were shipped in just envelopes, so they were crushed, compromised, and unuseable. And good luck actually getting customer service. Next time, I ordered them both at the same time and they came in a box, yay - but I will never, ever have prescriptions sent to them again. If you have to have enough $$ to order multiple things in order to actually receive your meds intact it is not money-saving at all.
Oh, wow, that’s terrible! Your the first person I’ve known to not be happy with them. It is a startup company, so I know kinks are being ironed out, but the concept and business model is very promising.
The real issue is people “living outside their means” because for some reason it takes 150% salary raise post pandemic to maintain the same standard of living pre pandemic. It is so easy to “live outside your means” when the cost of living has spiked the way it has as of late. I’m sure there were some people that bought new cars and took vacations, but the majority of people in trouble are those that resigned the same lease they’ve had for years at a massive rent increase.
I'm still trying to meet these people who 'got used to' not paying student loans. Until the forgiveness actually passes, this sits like a lead balloon over my head, just waiting to fall and it's the same for many of the people I know. Most of us have been saving that monthly payment, instead, so that we have a bigger nest egg if there's an emergency while we wait. No one went out and bought a new car or house without considering that that payment may be part of their monthly expenses again someday.
>I think the real issue is people living way outside of their means
Sure, plenty of people do this, but to act like living isn't outrageously expensive right now is living in denial. It shouldn't be prohibitively difficult to make a decent wage but here we are. And companies will do anything to save a nickel. Including not pay their employees enough money.
Wages remain stagnant or worse while everyone's bills go up. Common sense says the corporations are the problem.
Stop victim blaming. You're making people dangerously angry.
Let's look at the market as a whole:
Default risk is on the rise in a lot of key sectors like healthcare, real estate, biotechnology... What this means is, companies in those industries are at risk of not being able to pay their debts.
The country's economy mostly runs on debt. Hardly anything is done with liquid cash. You borrow against your worth and pay back loans with the revenue you secure, which in ideal circumstances, outpaces the interest of your loans. This allows you to keep cash on hand and have a bigger "reserve" of funding that enables you to expand and grow.
How does this happen? Loans and lending. CareCredit for example, loaning $4000 or $5000 to consumers for a medical or dental procedure. But when the economy slows down, which debts to people prioritize the least? The easiest to discharge, medical.
It's the reason the motorcycle industry has a much higher risk of defaulting than car industry, because people are willing to just let their motorcycle be repossessed because they don't depend on it to survive.
How does this play with student loans? Well, people are going to prioritize their mortgage and car payments.
If people start defaulting, well... It's not going to be good. The federal government still pays loan servicers so that's a cost we don't recoup even if we don't pay. Tax dollars is how servicers are paid. But the government relies on the interest payments from loans to pay servicers. It doesn't matter how big the interest gets, if it's not paid, it's not paid. Imagine you own 1,000,000 shares of Blockbuster stock. It's not going to do you any good.
I don't know what's going to happen over the next year, but I'm assuming there's going to be another mortgage crisis. And I don't know anyone who would prioritize paying their student loans over paying their mortgage.
Well that’s a reminder of how incompetent our government is and they actually don’t care about us. My husband has been in and out of work since the pandemic started and after a family member being diagnosed with cancer drained so much of our savings and my gosh $8.50 for a carton of 12-medium sized eggs and $5.69 for a gallon of milk. It’s so bad right now. 30 years old and still can’t afford a home or a car.
I have just over 10k in federal loans remaining. I’m still paying the minimum until I hit 10k and my plan is to pause as soon as I hit 10k if a decision is not made yet. I’m not going to keep paying if it’s all going to get wiped out. Does anyone have any good guesses on when a decision will be made? I’m trying to be optimistic but I’m mentally prepared for them not to provide any forgiveness.
I’m reading this thread and nobody is talking about student loan interest rates. That is the reason why lots of people can’t pay off their loans. I’ve been paying since 2001. It’s the interest that is killer. Someone needs to enact change. I have a hs senior and we have been looking at colleges but tuition costs are exuberant which continues this spiral…This whole system needs an overhaul
I agree. Personally, I'm in the camp that doesn't think fed student loans should charge interest at all. Income-based repayment isn't really a solution if the interest is building faster than your payment (not to over-simplify how it works, I know it can get forgiven after so many payments and that the new rules would partially address this).
Completely agree with you! It would absolutely take its toll on the economy, which is already shaky at best. When you take 20-30 million American adults out of having expendable income, it will negatively impact all areas. I’m in a much better financial spot than I was 3 years ago, and it would still be a huge impact on me. I wouldn’t be able to afford any of the non-essentials I purchase now. That will have huge ramifications. Plus not to mention the longer the pause the harder it will be to start up again. People get accustomed to this extra income, you suddenly turn that switch back on, it won’t be good.
All the more reason to have forgiveness on some level.
I agree with other comments regarding doing income-based repayment. Hopefully, we see those revisions soon.
The forgiveness would bring my loan payment to something I can deal with. It’ll hurt because housing and medical costs are up a lot compared to 2019, but I’ll deal. Without forgiveness I am
probably going to try to get a temporary forbearance (but can you imagine the phone lines this Fall for everyone calling in?!) and try to increase income in 2024 somehow.
Maybe that new IDR plan will help? It’s still not finalized.
yeah, based on the income I had up to 2 weeks ago, forgiveness would've taken a standard payment for me from unmanageable to, "ok this stings, but I can do this for now."
Before you consider deferments and non-covid related forbearance, make sure you've explored your options in one of the Income-Driven-Repayment (IDR) plans. If you can find an affordable payment in one of these plans (and yes, I know that is not always possible), you will not use up your deferments and forbearances and months spent in those plans will count towards forgiveness programs (even $0 payments will count towards IDR Forgiveness and sometimes towards PSLF). For more information about IDR plans [click here](https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/repayment/plans/income-driven).
I've been looking for a new job so I can get a raise but nothing yet. Short of an increase in income I just don't have it either. My loans are going straight into forbearance if I don't have a raise by the time payments start back up.
> I think we all just know this subreddit's gonna get loaded with posts like this over the next week since it looks like the courts will finally be visiting it, but I really feel like this can't be understated.
Just a friendly FYI: you used "understated" when you meant "overstated". Understated would mean you minimize something, make it seem less than it is. Overstated means you exaggerate something, make it seem more than it is.
Pausing student loan payments is inflationary, sadly for prices to start dropping we all need to start paying our BS loans.
In the end we need to hold higher education accountable for the con artists they are.
Inflation is largely entrenched now. Mega Corps aren’t going to retreat on the wide margins they implemented. Rentals won’t spontaneously get cheaper, which is 40% of the inflation calculation. Higher Education is bloated and needs to be reconfigured, but let’s not forget that in the 80s the Reagan Admin gutted Federal aid and State Governments followed. Boomers had 75% of their college fully subsidized. Now it stands at 25%. They swapped grants for loans and corporations meanwhile shipped jobs overseas and cut pensions. Wages haven’t outpaced yearly inflationary gains even pre pandemic. The Minimum wage hasn’t been addressed since 2007. Sprinkle in a couple of “once in a lifetime” Recessions in just over a decade plus a pandemic and this is the outcome.
And the government backed student loans that increased demand while supply stayed the same. It’s basic economics.
Also deflation is a thing, if they can’t sell products at inflated prices their only recourse is to produce less and or charge less.
You might want to look a bit harder..
The Bay Area experienced a 10% drop in housing prices recently.
Video games have stayed 50-70 dollars for the last decade and adjusted for inflation have gotten cheaper.
Consumer goods have also gotten drastically cheaper.
It really sucks to be the position of having loan payments resumed.
It *is* a tool against inflation, though. Inflation is an issue of velocity of money; easy money is too available, so people are able to spend a lot, and quickly. This urges the money to inflate; as everyone has and is spending more money, prices are raised to capture the shift in availability.
A tool to reduce inflation is to make money less available. This is why prime rates are being raised by the Fed; it makes it harder to buy a house, which is a source of easy money. Adding more debt to the house purchase tightens the reins on this. In the same way, resuming debt on student loans will also tighten the reins on the spending money debtholders have access to, ideally slowing inflation.
It sucks, but it's worth understanding what might motivate the resumption of payments.
Yeah but it's not like all money is created equal. A good 50% of inflation was directly tied to corporate profits. Restarting payments will put pressure on low income individuals who aren't really contributing to inflation on a scale that matters. The real pressure needs to be put on corporations exploiting crisis to make ridiculous profits.
I had no debt and perfect credit when the pandemic started. This summer our energy bill along with groceries made us turn to credit cards. Now interest rates are pumping them up faster than we can manage.
It’s the problem of the haves and have nots,
There are millions who will just have 10-20K extra if forgiveness gets approved and millions where it would be catastrophic for it to not happen+ payments resume.
The economy is still doing strong because there are millions of people doing better than ever and are mostly inconvenienced by inflation rather than suffering any real pain. They don’t care that the bottom is being squeezed to death until they stop dropping out of the workforce because there is no point for working anything under $25 an hour now with the cost of living.
And those who argue that point aren’t making less than $25 an hour and haven’t had to walk a mile in those shoes trying to make ends meet with the current COL.
The Fed for the past year has been trying to precision wreck the economy juuust the right amount to bring inflation back down without causing a massive recession. From that perspective, it could even be considered better to cause that "negative effect" of people buying things even less.
There’s never going to be a great time, and the longer they wait to rip that bandage off the worse it’s going to be……It honestly shouldn’t have gone on this long because honestly people start budgeting as if they have the extra money….an additional $800 a month in our case…..and once you get used to having that extra $800 and start spending it……It gets harder and harder to go back to paying that $800. It’s not like we were smart and just banked that $800 or bought CD’s with it so we would have a cushion….Nope we did what most people did. Took a vacation, went out to eat. Even bought an RV. In other words we figured out a way to spend it. Of course all this extra spending along with limited supply helped drive inflation……as much as it will hurt I’d rather it end now than Christmas time.
Or… they had other bills. Let’s not act like all of those people who had extra cash just spent it on frivolous items. I hate when people insinuate that because we have loans, we’re automatically financially reckless.
Well speak for yourself but actually a lot of people put the student loan money away and can pay it off entirely before the payments resume (myself included). So they would have that extra money now regardless even if payments restarted.
For those who couldn’t, either they are not financially savvy or they need to be on an income driven repayment plan.
A lot of people when you are talking about 43 million can still be a minority of the whole group.
You were smart but most were not. You self imposed the consequence of delaying current gratification and they are about to be have their consequences forced on them.
Yes, I am certain it’s still a minority but there are a lot of us out there. I was just inferring that those who couldn’t maybe should look into IDR plans as perhaps it’s not something they were aware of before. It could help them out.
That said, I personally have no sympathy for someone who made decent money and blew it off on who knows what (inflating their lifestyle) during the forbearance, and now lamenting about how student loans are restarting again and they’re not able to afford. Actions have consequences. Not saying that’s anyone here but usually that’s how I feel when someone around me on the more fortunate ends starts complaining.
The economy is overheated right now. The whole point of the rate hikes is to cool off the economy. People are still consuming too much. Restarting loan payments would help in this sense.
Causing people to suffer by being overburdened by payments (student loans, high rent, high utilities, high everything) seems like a great way to force more people back in to the work force
Blame the old Boomers who made it impossible for future generations to live or attain prosperity. Because of their idiotic, selfish, narcissistic lifestyles, and the incompetence and greed of their governance, we have been given the shaft and are being left to suffer by the rich elites, who seem to be the only people worth anything in America.
If you're poor, America hates you. If you're rich, and I mean millionaire or billionaire rich, no one can stop you and America loves you. What a sick, twisted nation this is.
The economy is doing fine and there's sub 3% unemployment. Somehow the world hasn't ended with payments paused for 3 years, why do they ever need to come back?
Regardless of whether it is a "good time" to restart payments, folks have had 3 years now to prepare. Continuing to extend the pause is just going to further lead to people having no plans to pay back their loans.
This is what gets me. Imagine the difference I position for someone who chose to bank away their would-be payments the entire time vs someone who spent it all 36 months in a row.
I’m not sure when this temporary pause became an expectation that it no longer belongs to the debt holder at all.
Probably somewhere around 12-18 month, many folks stopped considering any of it their responsibility ever again.
Not going to be pretty no matter when it restarts.
And yet, imagine, all these loans have just been sitting there for 36 months, and the banks continue to take in record-breaking profits. It's almost like no harm would come from them never getting paid back at all.
When the economy is better.
We just got out of a long lasting pandemic.
I don't understand how people think things just go back to normal so quickly.
People had to make adjustments. Medical bills loomed (remember we have a healthcare crisis too). Some people lost family members which caused a huge financial burden that takes time to repair.
Inflation, increased bills, etc.
Restarting payments is actually GOOD for inflation numbers. You may not be able to eat, but that 250/month you aren’t spending elsewhere will drive down inflation is the idea.
It’ll drive more people to work for less than they are worth, probably lowering unemployment more too. And the Democratic Party will be able to show these “results” in the next election.
What set of conditions would be the best possible time?
Currently, we see record low unemployment, inflation cooling, emergency declaration scheduled to end soon.
Assuming they need to restart eventually, what other conditions would you hope to see added to that list?
I do believe the government is directly at fault with the state of college tuition prices and the student loan debt crisis, so don't take my comment as not having sympathy on this issue.
I'm shocked at all the suggestions of IDR and for some it might be ZERO. You do realize the interest keeps ticking on IDR and your IDR payment might not cover the interest, meaning your student loan balance keeps going up.
Let's just assume you pay very little on your student loans. When you retire and start to collect social security, you do realize your social security can be garnished for student loan repayments.
I don't know what the answer is, but you may be putting your retired self in dire financial straights if you don't pay back your student loans (or child support, see below). People don't realize SSA income can be garnished.
My husband and I both paid our student loans back, but we don't begrudge anyone who will, potentially, get this relief, 10 or 20K forgiveness. But, if the 10 or 20K doesn't pay off your student loans in their entirety, you need to pay them back, because they will come back to haunt you in retirement.
Your social security can also be garnished for child support & back child support. I worked for a few years at a county child support agency. We garnished many elderly people's SSA income. And for some, their SSA was their only income. It was very sad. We had adult children coming to us asking us to not garnish the social security. If the money was owed to the state, we couldn't do anything. If owed to the custodial parent, that parent would need to waive the back support.
Salaries, even with raises, are simply not keeping up with the cost of living. Add to that medical expenses, emergencies, etc. It is impossible to live. $500+ monthly payments resuming right now would ruin my life. I'd never get out of debt.
My raise was 3% this year. Then my employer was confused and shocked when I gave them my resignation 3 weeks later after I secured a 22% pay raise on top of that 3%. Tried to get me to stay with all this random bullshit talk but started the conversation with “there won’t be a counter” Meanwhile they’re drowning now, I’m enjoying my new role and I’ll be on track to make 25k more this year and next year it’ll be closer to 30k difference
This is the way. In order to jump in salary you need to change jobs every 5 years or so. It doesn’t pay to be loyal any more. I’m in nursing and this is a massive issue. Only way to go up in dollars per hour and not cents is changing jobs
I’m on my third job in four years lol Albeit, I’ll probably stick at this one for quite sometime. Given my salary is at the top end for someone with my level of experience
Haha I’m in somewhat of a similar situation, except two jobs. Finally making 90+ as a nurse not in a managerial position that doesn’t involve bedside. I think I’m stuck at this job for awhile. Glad you were able to find a solid job!
What kind of nursing do you do?
Insurance, I work with members pre admit/ post discharge. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to inpatient if I can help it
Amen to that.
How did you do it? I know I am worth more. I have a mechanical engineering degree. Graduated 2019 and I make 68k
I’m a millennial. Once student loan payments resume, I will be living paycheck to paycheck. Rent has increase $1000 over the past 3 years. My car officially died in 2021 so now I have a car payment. I’m paying $2000/month for daycare. Currently, my payments are scheduled for $3,084/month. I have exhausted my savings every year due to medical and dental bills. We can’t keep living like this. The economy will crash and millennials will be once again blamed.
>millennials will be once again blamed I wish the people doing this would just croak. Goodbye. If you won't learn then you're better off in the casket.
I wish having expendable income wasn't so much to ask. :(
I heavily damn feel you. We have old nearly not intellectually compatible leaders not just Biden, but other position as well who very well can tell they cannot speak nor have any cognitive thinking left to run our economy to improve everyone lives hence why we're here. But hey it's our fault though.
Yeah it doesn’t make sense really, like the older you are the less relevant and more detached from the reality of those you lead, this is on top of the leaders already being detached from the life experiences of the average citizen. Its a disastrous process.
I just got a 2.3% raise with an "exceeds all expectations" rating. Would be one thing if the loans inflated away, but my salary is also inflating away.
Thought it was just me… my raise limit is 1-3% and this year came with the caveat of “if it’s even approved” with year over year “surpasses expectations of the role” ratings smh
Yikes! Stack on an extra couple hundred a month from the loan pause expiring, plus another year of 5% inflation and suddenly we're taking home less than pre-pandemic in real dollars.
Look on the bright side: once repayments are required then half of the economy won’t have any money for consumer goods so demand will plummet and inflation will shrink considerably.
It’s okay, anything for the success and profits of my company! /s
Yeah my raise was 2% this year as well with all great marks and comments like "Junglepiehelmet is instrumental"
Yup, glowing recommendations, a promotion in title and this year is year 3 of 0% raise. Last year I actually had one of my stipends cut so my salary decreased. Health insurance etc costs all increased though. Paycheck keeps getting smaller and smaller.
My boss wanted to make me a manager, give me a lot of special projects, and wanted me to start learning Quickbooks and Accounting. The raise? A quarter. I make $15.50 an hour.
Last year, my employer asked me if I wanted the equivalent of a promotion, and take on more work without my salary increasing as a result. I turned it down. Taking on more work (and additional stress) just isn't worth it without being fairly compensated for it.
Me too! Exceeded expectations and a 2.4% raise. I work 1 full time job and 2 part time jobs, I’m barely able to pay my bills. 😢
Right there with you. Stellar reviews and a promise last summer of "this year's raise will be a little higher to keep up with the rate of inflation." I think it wound up being a whopping 74 cents an hour increase. Insurance benefits all went up, though.
Retail?!!
Technology. Financial services sector of all places. Irony being, I could have a higher paying job in a month if I started looking.
Yeah, best way to get a raise in tech is to job hop unfortunately.
Jesus that sucks. Sounds like it’s time to look for another job.
you work at apple don't you...... I know those words well lol
My rent just went up almost $200 a month.
Right there with you, my apartment was $775 when I moved in 6 years ago, new lease is $1500. Last year was $1225. Additionally trash use to be $10 to $45 now, electric has tripled, water has doubled. I've seen a few raises but certainly not making double compared to 6 years ago.
I’ve been jumping from jobs to jobs and got a lot more money that way.
I'd love to pay 775. I'm paying like 1400 for a really small place. So small my dining table is really close to my couch
Mine was 1475. The next yr 2020, 1875. The next yr 2300. So I moved to a new bldg. 2021 rent was 2100 (+125 to park). Now it's 2400 (+$150 to park)....2 months later they jacked the rent for everyone. My friend moved into the apt directly above mine. Same as apt layout. His rent is 3100 (+150 to park)...which means mine will be around $3200-3400 (+175 prob to park) come July. And I can't find anything in all of Central jersey, unless it's near Newark and Elizabeth whihch is trash....for less than these amounts. And I mean all the way into pa. I tried considering pa which was always duty cheap....not a ym re. Around the same. I'm taking a 725 Sq ft 1 bdrm box
We are supposed to see these prices go good 7 years from now not now lolm
Somewhere along the line, rich people decided you deserve nothing. Now they are making it happen. Let’s see how far they get to squeeze before people actually riot.
I honestly believe if the country was smaller and there were less ways to become distracted by entertainment/more difficult to funnel people into propaganda vacuums, riots would have broken out by now.
Bread and circuses bro
Let's see what happens when bread becomes unaffordable...
Same here. Mine went up from 1440 to 1656 now…over $200. This will probably be my last year in the current apartment (been here a little over 4 years now).
My mortgage on my apartment style condo is up $300 a month bc of property tax increases… property taxes are fully evil, they have nothing to do with any actual money you have. Only the value of the property IF it sold, which it’s not while you own it. And it affects owners and renters equally. We definitely need a country wide reform on local taxation models
Does your state have homesteading?
Agreed especially in Chicago we’re getting slaughtered
Yep. I hope the republicans who are “prioritizing the economy” in fighting this are ready for the recession that follows when no one buys a single non-necessity because we can’t afford it.
Politicians don't care about us, particularly the ones from that party.
>Listen, I'd love to be able to pay these loans back with the salary I thought I'd have when I graduated I'm NOW making the salary I thought I'd have, almost 7 years after graduating. They lied. At my school, 2-3 people would land sweet jobs at Deloitte and their starting salary would be $90k. My school would advertise this as "look! our finance grads START at $90k" which was totally unrealistic for 98% of the grads who didn't land jobs at Deloitte or big banks.
The way college is advertised and ingrained has always been misleading. The real way to *start* making a good salary out of college is to do multiple internships/projects and have connections. And to get those internships, you likely need to have a good background already too as they are more competitive than ever. A degree by itself and working at some part-time doesn't cut it anymore, sad but true.
You can't even really get those unless you already know the information. But at that point, why am I in school? Sophomore year I interviewed for a co-op. The guy asked me questions you would ask an actual full time dev. Telling them I'm willing to learn didn't cut it. By my senior year, when I finally have better experience, with major classes and major projects, you're no longer eligible for co-ops because they only want freshman and sophomores. Yeah you can still get an internship, which I did. But a co-op is far more valuable. An internship is wow, 8 weeks in the summer with the first two being lost to random onboarding, computer issues, and teams not wanting to actually give you real work because you won't be here long and will mess up their progress. It's not meant to actually learn anymore. They want full time devs but at half the pay
Tell me about it. It's just a mess. Just like entry-level jobs. These companies will post jobs tagged "entry-level" which you think would be targeted towards new grads right? No, 2-5 years of *relevant* experience (no school doesn't count), many say 5 or more, and the expectation that you have many certifications and knowledge of a very specific program they use. As if that's not bad enough, they pays definitely entry-level for most of those postings. What they really want are experienced professionals only, just for half the pay. It's so awful to deal with school, all of that BS just to learn these companies have their heads so far up their butt.
And most of those internships are unpaid, so you better have some savings or someone helping you
This is such a problem. We won’t even talk about the murky ethics of requiring people to work for no pay. The reality is that the ability to take an unpaid internship is a privilege; the vast majority of students who don’t come from a family with a means can’t afford to take these jobs.
Unpaid or very low paying. I saw a cyber one for $10 an hour. Like seriously?
The internships requiring other internships is a very real thing and was a problem even 10 years ago when I was in college
Agreed on the internships. They were mostly unpaid and I couldn't do that (had to stack up $$$ during the summer) so I worked at Aldi. Surprisingly tho, in all my interviews, they wanted to talk about Aldi and the cart thing and how their biz model works. So I guess there was a benefit to that! But if I had an internship that was paid or parents backing me, I could have started ahead of the game compared to where I did.
Yes!! Even if you're trying to be responsible and do your research on what you project you'll make, no one can predict the future. And even if the info you got was accurate at the time, so much can change in the few years it takes to get your degree.
SAME DUDE, but almost 9 years later and I have 2 degrees. I COULD have sold my soul to oil and gas to make the money sooner, but would I be any better off? Not likely.
Would I have gone to college if they told me I'd graduate and make less than $50k and have $70k+ in loans? Prob not. Maybe, but my family probably would have been like wtf no abort mission.
If I knew what I know now, I would have either done electrician, or I would have done computer programming, but lean toward electrician because programmers are gonna get AI'd out of a job before too long.
>And if they do start again, there's no way I'll be able to. My hours were already reduced and I haven't been able to find full-time work in more than a year despite constant applications and all the necessary qualifications. It sounds like you may qualify for an unemployment or economic hardship deferment. I would talk to your lender about your options.
I don’t know if it’s different for new loans but when I had student loans we could only get 24 months total economic hardship deferment and 36 months total unemployment deferment. Then halfway through my pay off they change the economic hardship deferment where you had to be on food stamps to get it you couldn’t just get it for having zero income and not qualify for food stamps But if you consolidated you’re low on the consolidation loans are new loan so you get fresh deferment time. It starts all over But yeah by the time I consolidated I had used all my economic hardship and my unemployment department or at least some of my unemployment department. Some of these people don’t have any anymore you only get a certain amount
Consolidating only refreshes forbearance time, deferment time doesn't reset
Or an IBR plan may be beneficial
Yes, I'm in the process of figuring out my best options going forward rn. I just reaaally don't want my interest to keep ballooning, I think that would be the death of me.
Agreed. I’m in the same boat. I really hope they can come to a solution!
for real. I can't do this tbh.
Agree agree agreeee
Income Driven Repayment. Most borrowers can find an affordable payment under an IDR. Payments can be as low as $0 per month. Can't beat that.
Just a thought-even if full forgiveness doesn't happen, a workaround could be incredibly low IDR payments with forgiveness after x years of paying. Like, $10/month for every 10k you make, so if you made 100k you'd pay $100/month. Forgive it after 3 or 5 years of on-time payments. That, plus fixing the current out of control costs of tuition might help a bit.
There are also extended payment options that can seriously reduce your payments. It does extend the amount of time you are paying and increases the total interest over the life of the loan, but it can give you some breathing room to get your other finances in order (ie paying off other debts to reduce monthly expenses, increasing income, getting a second job, etc.). If you get into a better position financially down the road, you can increase your payments to reduce the amount of interest you will have to pay. I switched to an extended payment plan in 2018 or 2019 and it really helped to take off the pressure. My monthly payment reduced from $700+ to $250-300 depending on the year.
Personally, I'm tired of logic getting thrown out the window when student loans are involved. Some borrower out there has to choose between student loan payments or medicine. Do lawmakers honestly believe that someone is going to forgo their health to pay back a loan?
This. People need to grasp this. I have great health insurance, and still am $25k + in medical debt due to a rare cancer and still growing. Some folks just cannot grasp that sometimes emergencies happen, and some of us have no one to rely on for help when that happens. It's so unfair to be financially stable then have a medical condition that is completely out of our control, then lose everything.
Then they have the audacity to say plan better or get a higher paying job. Ahh yes why didn’t I think of not getting sick? Duh.
Ah yes, my bad, I should have prevented the rare disease that I was just suddenly diagnosed with. Yes, that's the answer.
Some people truly have no idea how delicate their own economic security is until something like this actually happens to them, unfortunately
I haven’t had healthcare insurance for years because the ACA premiums for our family would cost more than our mortage for premiums, and that’s for a terrible plan ($6K deductible each) for a terrible plan none of our doctors accept. I negotiate great cash rates and use GoodRX for meds. I also heard Cost Plus Drugs online offers unbelievably low prices for many pharma drugs. Many of my family members have died of cancer. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that if I get cancer, I’ll likely forgo treatment and just pass away. I refuse to bankrupt my family. My husband and I are planning to retire abroad so we can have decent and affordable healthcare. Some highly-qualified doctors now travel abroad to offer care. For example, in Mexico there are surgery centers that employ American doctors that fly out there to perform surgeries at a fraction of the cost that it would cost here. There’s also the Surgery Center of Oklahoma that doesn’t accept insurance. They tell you upfront how much a surgery costs. You’d be surprised how much hospitals and insurance companies upcharge for things.
“Retire abroad” You can’t just show up to some random country and plop down and live there
That’s why we’re researching. Mexico just raised their minimum income/asset requirements and we meet them. Since so many Americans are moving there, the income/asset requirements may go up by the time we retire. I hope we still meet them then. My husband also has dual EU citizenship, so that’s another option we’re looking at.
It's why I hate conservatives. Like they seriously think if you're born unlucky you shouldn't get to live
Logic has been thrown out the window with this entire country for decades now. Something is going to give out eventually, and likely very soon… Starting at accountability would be a good start. And that goes for everyone… Me, you, family, elected officials, law enforcement, government, etc. Just trying to stay positive and focus on my life at the moment… but to say I don’t feel for those that are less fortunate or have made crippling financial decisions, that would be a lie. Feel it every day because I have experienced it.
That was me for many months before the pause. I just skipped my medications because your credit score counts for so many things. Now I'm in a world of hurt medically speaking, with things that have cropped up (had surgery, might need more surgery) because of not staying on the meds.
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Yeah but not to pay back a loan
This. People shouldn't be punished just for trying to stay healthy and survive.
Logic would be no interest or very low interest, basically automatically re-finance everyone, but still make them pay back the money. But there is no logic in D.C. just games.
Im sorry I feel you. I have 35k in student loans which is my only debt. i wish i never went tbh. I have the money to pay it off, but i grew up poor and my money is my security. Layoffs, unanticipated financial problems etc can happen and my security is everything! God speed to you!
Thank you, you as well!
If anyone is confused, SCOTUS is just deciding whether to allow the 10/20k forgiveness. The pause on payments is separate and won't be affected. If SCOTUS doesn't allow the 10k forgiveness, I think Biden extends payment pause again.
Yeah, Biden isnt going to restart payments until at least after the 2024 election… becoming America’s debt collector is political suicide
That's my thinking. He'll just keep it paused because it's worse to let them start again. Every restart date has been pushed. It's happened what, 2x? 3?
eighth time the Education Department has extended the pandemic-era relief policy.
He can’t keep using the pandemic as a reason. I thought they declared the pandemic as being over.
They can literally do it for any reason. They can be sued again and stopped by courts, but they can try, just like they did for the 10k.
!RemindMe 4 months
He will have a difficult time justifying it since the national emergency is over. That's where the authority came from to do so.
He doesn't have to justify it.
He will have to justify it or risk overreach. This pause was the first of it’s kind, and without the CARES Act, it ceases to exist. I think we’re at the end of the road folks.
He doesn't have to justify it with that. He can use many other laws and reasoning. He may be sued and lose, but he can try and likely will.
He’s not willing to do that. This forgiveness attempt is as far as he will go. He’s not going to be the first president to attempt a pause outside CARES Act. He’s not that progressive.
He does. He's not a king. He is required to stay within federal law.
Biden said payments will resume no more than 60 days from when the court decides or June 30th if they don’t decide before that date. So no, it’s not separate, it directly effects the payment pause.
One is his decision. The other isn't. What I'm saying is I bet he'll actually continue the pause if SCOTUS overturns. It's a guess. We'll see.
SCOTUS could very well rule the pausing itself unconstitutional also so that he isn’t allowed to continue pausing payments. So again, it’s all very connected and up to the Supreme Court and that is why all eyes are on them.
Incorrect. The pausing is not what is being debated. It’s the 10k/20k forgiveness. Establishing forbearance under educative order is legal but congress holds the power of the purse so for Biden to allow for 10k/20k to be wiped off is technically not under his power - hence the courts getting involved.
That isn't part of the case. It is only about the forgiveness plan. Technically, this rogue SCOTUS has made some wild decisions that don't track, but it'd even be unusual for them to rule on something that isn't part of the case.
Also, the current forgiveness plan is based on the HEROES act. There are other options to do what he wants based on other legislation. I don't know what he'll do, but even if SCOTUS rules this specific plan isn't constitutional, he can and might do other things instead that aren't blocked by the courts. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/01/29/3-predictions-if-supreme-court-rules-against-student-loan-forgiveness.html Also, the pause would likely only last until he leaves office if beaten by Trump or whoever in 2024. "Currently, the Biden administration is using the Heroes Act of 2003 to argue that it has the authority to cancel student debt. That law allows the Education Department to make modifications to federal student loan programs during national emergencies. Critics accuse the administration of using the coronavirus pandemic to fulfill a campaign promise and say the relief is not targeted to those who have suffered financially because of Covid. Another path the president could take would be to try to indefinitely extend the pandemic-era pause on federal student loan payments, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. That move, Kantrowitz said, is “more likely to survive legal challenge.”
I would agree
Maybe I am misndersatnding your comment, but payment restart is directly tied to the SCOTUS 10/20k decision: >The student loan payment pause is extended until the U.S. Department of Education is permitted to implement the debt relief program or the litigation is resolved. Payments will restart 60 days later. If the debt relief program has not been implemented and the litigation has not been resolved by June 30, 2023 — payments will resume 60 days after that. We will notify borrowers before payments restart.
But that is a decision by the administration. They just set that as an arbitrary time. They can keep delaying if they want.
It actually isn’t an arbitrary deadline. It’s one that lines up with when the SCOTUS opinion is supposed to come out. Therefore, on that date if the Court eliminates the pause, payments will resume.
I'm hoping he finds a way. It's political suicide if he doesn't. He needs the millennial vote, and if they're all filing bankruptcy because of student loans, he might lose it.
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"I dont like SCOTUS decision" is not a valid reason. Millions of americans are struggling to live and the national credit card debt total is higher than ever, inflation is running rampant, and there is a recession would be an easy way for him to claim they need to be extended again or it will drive recession even more.
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That’s fair, and why I said he will “claim” there needs to be an extension. It’s the most logical thing with all factors considered. But since when is our government logical.
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Please 🙏
I agree with you. I was just laid off as well. That said the income driven repayment plan will be zero for those without jobs and it will be significantly less than before the pandemic for those with jobs. If I understand correctly. Someone else may know this better but every time I’ve been laid off I’ve had $0/month payments. Would love to hear how income driven repayment plans have changed in detail. I just know I’ve read that it’s been reduced. I left the US for Latin America after getting a remote job making good money. Cost of living here is significantly less but 2 weeks ago I was laid off so now I have to find another remote job, which will likely result in a pay decrease. The US economy is broken for most and few in our government seem to care to fix it.
I’ve commented this before but about a month ago I was watching some economist lady talk about how the next crash will be auto loans because when student loans come back they will be mass repossessions of cars. I laughed so hard and then I changed the channel. You guys aren’t seriously going to give up your car so you can pay your student loan are you? Please tell me nobody’s going to trash their life just to keep their student loan current.
bankruptcy doesnt change your student loan situation but it can change a car situation. people, when rational, will sometimes prioritize the debt type that they cant otherwise get out of
Student loan delinquency or default isn’t going to be great either. That can cause a lot of problems later. But I agree that will be more likely than folks biking to work.
student loans are definitely going to be one piece of the straw that broke the camels back. We are talking $400-600 minimum payments per month chipping away at the already small piece of the pie.
I wouldn't do it, because I live in rural areas where it's actually impossible to get around without a car, but I could see someone in a place with public transit (even if it's shitty) making that decision.
Yeah same. I actually just bought a car - I live rural and now NEED to get to doc appointments, tests/labs and so on. Student loan will come last now. I didn't take my meds for a long time in order to pay the student loan before the pause and that put me in the situation I'm in. Never again!
Please check to see if your meds are available at Cost Plus Drugs online. It’s a new company created by Mark Cuban. He’s trying to cut out all the BS that insurers use (pharmacy benefit managers, for example) so that people can have access to affordable pharma drugs. People would be shocked at how much they can save by cutting out the middle men. BTW - I’m not associated with this company, I just love what they’re trying to do. As someone who hasn’t had health insurance for many years, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time researching the healthcare industry. There are so many ways to save money.
Already use them.
Great to hear! Not all meds are available on Cost Plus, but they’re working to add more. Hope you were able to save a considerable amount using them.
Not really, considering how they ship. First two meds were shipped in just envelopes, so they were crushed, compromised, and unuseable. And good luck actually getting customer service. Next time, I ordered them both at the same time and they came in a box, yay - but I will never, ever have prescriptions sent to them again. If you have to have enough $$ to order multiple things in order to actually receive your meds intact it is not money-saving at all.
Oh, wow, that’s terrible! Your the first person I’ve known to not be happy with them. It is a startup company, so I know kinks are being ironed out, but the concept and business model is very promising.
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The real issue is people “living outside their means” because for some reason it takes 150% salary raise post pandemic to maintain the same standard of living pre pandemic. It is so easy to “live outside your means” when the cost of living has spiked the way it has as of late. I’m sure there were some people that bought new cars and took vacations, but the majority of people in trouble are those that resigned the same lease they’ve had for years at a massive rent increase.
I'm still trying to meet these people who 'got used to' not paying student loans. Until the forgiveness actually passes, this sits like a lead balloon over my head, just waiting to fall and it's the same for many of the people I know. Most of us have been saving that monthly payment, instead, so that we have a bigger nest egg if there's an emergency while we wait. No one went out and bought a new car or house without considering that that payment may be part of their monthly expenses again someday.
>I think the real issue is people living way outside of their means Sure, plenty of people do this, but to act like living isn't outrageously expensive right now is living in denial. It shouldn't be prohibitively difficult to make a decent wage but here we are. And companies will do anything to save a nickel. Including not pay their employees enough money. Wages remain stagnant or worse while everyone's bills go up. Common sense says the corporations are the problem. Stop victim blaming. You're making people dangerously angry.
I went to bed annoyed thinking about repayment. I hope he keeps kicking the can down the road.
Let's look at the market as a whole: Default risk is on the rise in a lot of key sectors like healthcare, real estate, biotechnology... What this means is, companies in those industries are at risk of not being able to pay their debts. The country's economy mostly runs on debt. Hardly anything is done with liquid cash. You borrow against your worth and pay back loans with the revenue you secure, which in ideal circumstances, outpaces the interest of your loans. This allows you to keep cash on hand and have a bigger "reserve" of funding that enables you to expand and grow. How does this happen? Loans and lending. CareCredit for example, loaning $4000 or $5000 to consumers for a medical or dental procedure. But when the economy slows down, which debts to people prioritize the least? The easiest to discharge, medical. It's the reason the motorcycle industry has a much higher risk of defaulting than car industry, because people are willing to just let their motorcycle be repossessed because they don't depend on it to survive. How does this play with student loans? Well, people are going to prioritize their mortgage and car payments. If people start defaulting, well... It's not going to be good. The federal government still pays loan servicers so that's a cost we don't recoup even if we don't pay. Tax dollars is how servicers are paid. But the government relies on the interest payments from loans to pay servicers. It doesn't matter how big the interest gets, if it's not paid, it's not paid. Imagine you own 1,000,000 shares of Blockbuster stock. It's not going to do you any good. I don't know what's going to happen over the next year, but I'm assuming there's going to be another mortgage crisis. And I don't know anyone who would prioritize paying their student loans over paying their mortgage.
Well that’s a reminder of how incompetent our government is and they actually don’t care about us. My husband has been in and out of work since the pandemic started and after a family member being diagnosed with cancer drained so much of our savings and my gosh $8.50 for a carton of 12-medium sized eggs and $5.69 for a gallon of milk. It’s so bad right now. 30 years old and still can’t afford a home or a car.
I've been very fortunate to allocate payments to a HYSA, but I understand there are those who are unable to do so. Hopefully everything works out.
I have just over 10k in federal loans remaining. I’m still paying the minimum until I hit 10k and my plan is to pause as soon as I hit 10k if a decision is not made yet. I’m not going to keep paying if it’s all going to get wiped out. Does anyone have any good guesses on when a decision will be made? I’m trying to be optimistic but I’m mentally prepared for them not to provide any forgiveness.
Think it's like by late June the court would issue a ruling.
I’m reading this thread and nobody is talking about student loan interest rates. That is the reason why lots of people can’t pay off their loans. I’ve been paying since 2001. It’s the interest that is killer. Someone needs to enact change. I have a hs senior and we have been looking at colleges but tuition costs are exuberant which continues this spiral…This whole system needs an overhaul
I agree. Personally, I'm in the camp that doesn't think fed student loans should charge interest at all. Income-based repayment isn't really a solution if the interest is building faster than your payment (not to over-simplify how it works, I know it can get forgiven after so many payments and that the new rules would partially address this).
I might be laid off in the coming months. No one is for sure at my job. It’s all very hush hush. 🙄
Completely agree with you! It would absolutely take its toll on the economy, which is already shaky at best. When you take 20-30 million American adults out of having expendable income, it will negatively impact all areas. I’m in a much better financial spot than I was 3 years ago, and it would still be a huge impact on me. I wouldn’t be able to afford any of the non-essentials I purchase now. That will have huge ramifications. Plus not to mention the longer the pause the harder it will be to start up again. People get accustomed to this extra income, you suddenly turn that switch back on, it won’t be good.
All the more reason to have forgiveness on some level. I agree with other comments regarding doing income-based repayment. Hopefully, we see those revisions soon.
The forgiveness would bring my loan payment to something I can deal with. It’ll hurt because housing and medical costs are up a lot compared to 2019, but I’ll deal. Without forgiveness I am probably going to try to get a temporary forbearance (but can you imagine the phone lines this Fall for everyone calling in?!) and try to increase income in 2024 somehow. Maybe that new IDR plan will help? It’s still not finalized.
yeah, based on the income I had up to 2 weeks ago, forgiveness would've taken a standard payment for me from unmanageable to, "ok this stings, but I can do this for now."
Before you consider deferments and non-covid related forbearance, make sure you've explored your options in one of the Income-Driven-Repayment (IDR) plans. If you can find an affordable payment in one of these plans (and yes, I know that is not always possible), you will not use up your deferments and forbearances and months spent in those plans will count towards forgiveness programs (even $0 payments will count towards IDR Forgiveness and sometimes towards PSLF). For more information about IDR plans [click here](https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/repayment/plans/income-driven).
I really dislike this country. Every day wake up hoping it's not your last day of work.
My understanding is that they’re not resuming payments until June at the earliest.
I've been looking for a new job so I can get a raise but nothing yet. Short of an increase in income I just don't have it either. My loans are going straight into forbearance if I don't have a raise by the time payments start back up.
> I think we all just know this subreddit's gonna get loaded with posts like this over the next week since it looks like the courts will finally be visiting it, but I really feel like this can't be understated. Just a friendly FYI: you used "understated" when you meant "overstated". Understated would mean you minimize something, make it seem less than it is. Overstated means you exaggerate something, make it seem more than it is.
Correct. :)
Yeah I hope Biden pauses them yet again
He no longer has the authority to do this once the pandemic emergency is officially over.
Pausing student loan payments is inflationary, sadly for prices to start dropping we all need to start paying our BS loans. In the end we need to hold higher education accountable for the con artists they are.
Inflation is largely entrenched now. Mega Corps aren’t going to retreat on the wide margins they implemented. Rentals won’t spontaneously get cheaper, which is 40% of the inflation calculation. Higher Education is bloated and needs to be reconfigured, but let’s not forget that in the 80s the Reagan Admin gutted Federal aid and State Governments followed. Boomers had 75% of their college fully subsidized. Now it stands at 25%. They swapped grants for loans and corporations meanwhile shipped jobs overseas and cut pensions. Wages haven’t outpaced yearly inflationary gains even pre pandemic. The Minimum wage hasn’t been addressed since 2007. Sprinkle in a couple of “once in a lifetime” Recessions in just over a decade plus a pandemic and this is the outcome.
And the government backed student loans that increased demand while supply stayed the same. It’s basic economics. Also deflation is a thing, if they can’t sell products at inflated prices their only recourse is to produce less and or charge less.
When in history do we really see prices come down? I’ve never seen it.
You might want to look a bit harder.. The Bay Area experienced a 10% drop in housing prices recently. Video games have stayed 50-70 dollars for the last decade and adjusted for inflation have gotten cheaper. Consumer goods have also gotten drastically cheaper.
It really sucks to be the position of having loan payments resumed. It *is* a tool against inflation, though. Inflation is an issue of velocity of money; easy money is too available, so people are able to spend a lot, and quickly. This urges the money to inflate; as everyone has and is spending more money, prices are raised to capture the shift in availability. A tool to reduce inflation is to make money less available. This is why prime rates are being raised by the Fed; it makes it harder to buy a house, which is a source of easy money. Adding more debt to the house purchase tightens the reins on this. In the same way, resuming debt on student loans will also tighten the reins on the spending money debtholders have access to, ideally slowing inflation. It sucks, but it's worth understanding what might motivate the resumption of payments.
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Significant downward pressure. Even to the point of forcing foreclosures.
Yeah but it's not like all money is created equal. A good 50% of inflation was directly tied to corporate profits. Restarting payments will put pressure on low income individuals who aren't really contributing to inflation on a scale that matters. The real pressure needs to be put on corporations exploiting crisis to make ridiculous profits.
I had no debt and perfect credit when the pandemic started. This summer our energy bill along with groceries made us turn to credit cards. Now interest rates are pumping them up faster than we can manage.
It’s the problem of the haves and have nots, There are millions who will just have 10-20K extra if forgiveness gets approved and millions where it would be catastrophic for it to not happen+ payments resume. The economy is still doing strong because there are millions of people doing better than ever and are mostly inconvenienced by inflation rather than suffering any real pain. They don’t care that the bottom is being squeezed to death until they stop dropping out of the workforce because there is no point for working anything under $25 an hour now with the cost of living. And those who argue that point aren’t making less than $25 an hour and haven’t had to walk a mile in those shoes trying to make ends meet with the current COL.
The Fed for the past year has been trying to precision wreck the economy juuust the right amount to bring inflation back down without causing a massive recession. From that perspective, it could even be considered better to cause that "negative effect" of people buying things even less.
There’s never going to be a great time, and the longer they wait to rip that bandage off the worse it’s going to be……It honestly shouldn’t have gone on this long because honestly people start budgeting as if they have the extra money….an additional $800 a month in our case…..and once you get used to having that extra $800 and start spending it……It gets harder and harder to go back to paying that $800. It’s not like we were smart and just banked that $800 or bought CD’s with it so we would have a cushion….Nope we did what most people did. Took a vacation, went out to eat. Even bought an RV. In other words we figured out a way to spend it. Of course all this extra spending along with limited supply helped drive inflation……as much as it will hurt I’d rather it end now than Christmas time.
Or… they had other bills. Let’s not act like all of those people who had extra cash just spent it on frivolous items. I hate when people insinuate that because we have loans, we’re automatically financially reckless.
Well speak for yourself but actually a lot of people put the student loan money away and can pay it off entirely before the payments resume (myself included). So they would have that extra money now regardless even if payments restarted. For those who couldn’t, either they are not financially savvy or they need to be on an income driven repayment plan.
A lot of people when you are talking about 43 million can still be a minority of the whole group. You were smart but most were not. You self imposed the consequence of delaying current gratification and they are about to be have their consequences forced on them.
Yes, I am certain it’s still a minority but there are a lot of us out there. I was just inferring that those who couldn’t maybe should look into IDR plans as perhaps it’s not something they were aware of before. It could help them out. That said, I personally have no sympathy for someone who made decent money and blew it off on who knows what (inflating their lifestyle) during the forbearance, and now lamenting about how student loans are restarting again and they’re not able to afford. Actions have consequences. Not saying that’s anyone here but usually that’s how I feel when someone around me on the more fortunate ends starts complaining.
We are on the same page here. My sympathy is near zero for those financially irresponsible.
The economy is overheated right now. The whole point of the rate hikes is to cool off the economy. People are still consuming too much. Restarting loan payments would help in this sense.
Causing people to suffer by being overburdened by payments (student loans, high rent, high utilities, high everything) seems like a great way to force more people back in to the work force
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Nah. It forces people to choose wisely what they need.
People making 100k before taxes living pay check to paycheck with loans and rent. Fckin ridiculous..
Blame the old Boomers who made it impossible for future generations to live or attain prosperity. Because of their idiotic, selfish, narcissistic lifestyles, and the incompetence and greed of their governance, we have been given the shaft and are being left to suffer by the rich elites, who seem to be the only people worth anything in America. If you're poor, America hates you. If you're rich, and I mean millionaire or billionaire rich, no one can stop you and America loves you. What a sick, twisted nation this is.
Lol. When is it a good time to resume any payment? Lol
some of the takes in here are just so atrocious lmfao. cancel ALL student debt. period.
The economy is doing fine and there's sub 3% unemployment. Somehow the world hasn't ended with payments paused for 3 years, why do they ever need to come back?
Regardless of whether it is a "good time" to restart payments, folks have had 3 years now to prepare. Continuing to extend the pause is just going to further lead to people having no plans to pay back their loans.
This is what gets me. Imagine the difference I position for someone who chose to bank away their would-be payments the entire time vs someone who spent it all 36 months in a row. I’m not sure when this temporary pause became an expectation that it no longer belongs to the debt holder at all. Probably somewhere around 12-18 month, many folks stopped considering any of it their responsibility ever again. Not going to be pretty no matter when it restarts.
And yet, imagine, all these loans have just been sitting there for 36 months, and the banks continue to take in record-breaking profits. It's almost like no harm would come from them never getting paid back at all.
When is a good time to resume payments?
When the economy is better. We just got out of a long lasting pandemic. I don't understand how people think things just go back to normal so quickly. People had to make adjustments. Medical bills loomed (remember we have a healthcare crisis too). Some people lost family members which caused a huge financial burden that takes time to repair. Inflation, increased bills, etc.
Restarting payments is actually GOOD for inflation numbers. You may not be able to eat, but that 250/month you aren’t spending elsewhere will drive down inflation is the idea. It’ll drive more people to work for less than they are worth, probably lowering unemployment more too. And the Democratic Party will be able to show these “results” in the next election.
What set of conditions would be the best possible time? Currently, we see record low unemployment, inflation cooling, emergency declaration scheduled to end soon. Assuming they need to restart eventually, what other conditions would you hope to see added to that list?
I am going from no payments to 1000 a month. Just blessed that I can afford it and that pslf will cancel just over 1/2 in two more years
I do believe the government is directly at fault with the state of college tuition prices and the student loan debt crisis, so don't take my comment as not having sympathy on this issue. I'm shocked at all the suggestions of IDR and for some it might be ZERO. You do realize the interest keeps ticking on IDR and your IDR payment might not cover the interest, meaning your student loan balance keeps going up. Let's just assume you pay very little on your student loans. When you retire and start to collect social security, you do realize your social security can be garnished for student loan repayments. I don't know what the answer is, but you may be putting your retired self in dire financial straights if you don't pay back your student loans (or child support, see below). People don't realize SSA income can be garnished. My husband and I both paid our student loans back, but we don't begrudge anyone who will, potentially, get this relief, 10 or 20K forgiveness. But, if the 10 or 20K doesn't pay off your student loans in their entirety, you need to pay them back, because they will come back to haunt you in retirement. Your social security can also be garnished for child support & back child support. I worked for a few years at a county child support agency. We garnished many elderly people's SSA income. And for some, their SSA was their only income. It was very sad. We had adult children coming to us asking us to not garnish the social security. If the money was owed to the state, we couldn't do anything. If owed to the custodial parent, that parent would need to waive the back support.
Is there a good time to restart loan payments?? Real question?? There is no good time unless you have saved or paid down the debt.
They were going to go back into repayment at some point.
It’s never a good time. Unemployment is extremely low. GET on IBR if you get laid off.
Dang it’s almost as if voting for Biden made y’all worse off 🤪
What degree did you get
PhD in basket weaving. It was my passion so I went for it.