Rude

Have you talked with a consumer credit counseling company? They often have more pull with loan companies, including student loans, and may be able to help you get everything back on track. Remember, the reputable companies that do consumer credit counseling should not cost you anything. I think one may be CCOA and can be found online.

Maybe talk to your bank, and explain the situation, and see if they have some type of loan with a lower payment that you can get to pay off the student loan in full, so you won't have to bother with the student loan people any more, and only with your bank.

Simply put, offer even a small amount of payment. Ethically, you spent this money and you do owe them. You entered into a contract and there are consequences for not keeping your end of the contract. If hubby is working one job, he might have to pick up a second weekend or evening job, just for the short term, and pay this little loan off. In the grad scheme of things, this is a VERY SMALL LOAN amount. Do not let it ruin your entire life by not paying it. Settle with them, offer some small payment to keep them from garnishing too much. Have HUGE GARAGE sell. If you have dog, he should be hiding because you are going to sell so much stuff to get this paid off!

They had already garnished my check once for a truck loan I had co-signed for (STUPID I know) when I went to court with evidence of my bills and so forth. I got the payments down to a manageable amount..so now I pay me $50 a month "stupid" payment. They don't seem to want to go after the person I co-signed with...even though I gave them his address and everything. I think it is because I have been on my job for awhile...and the way he jumps around..he would be too hard to keep track of. (sigh) Hopefully you can work something out. If not...unfortunately ...you may have to get a job...at least part-time.

Go online and seek legal aid(for your area). Also try www.clarkhoward.com and get legal advice from his website.

Finances can cause more stress than much else. First, student loans - if you have not consolidated them, see if you can. Than can lower payments. Also, you may have to ask for a FORBEARANCE instead of a deferrment. I was only given 3 deferrments on my loan but I can put it in forebearance multiple times. The interest still accrues so you don't want it to stay there forever.

I also highly recommend CCC that someone else recommended. If we had gone to them much earlier, we could have saved ourselves much grief.

If you are going thru a bankruptcy, remember that school loans will not be discharged. You will still owe on them and have to pay them.

Ask your dh about your working. I understand how hard it is. I also understand like with a child that is premature. I have a baby now that was way preemie. It changes your life in many ways. You may be able to find some ways to bring in more money and stay at home. Babysitting - take in another child or 2. I did this for several months just for grocery money. Or, you may want to work in a place like a daycare that will allow you to bring your daughter as well. She won't be in the same class as you, but you are still just a shout away and can likely spend breaks with her. I have also had times where I sold everything loose on eBay and collected items from friends and family for yard sales. Then I applied that money to bills and necessities.

Hang in there. This is tough, I know. I have been there. But this is also just a season. Somewhere there is light in the tunnel.

Don't do a consolidation or a hire a company to pay your bills for you. It's a joke- you can haggle with your creditors yourself.

Dave Ramsey has been blessed with a lot of common sense and financial insight. You can listen to his radio show between 1pm and 4 pm on a LOT of radio stations and he has a tv show on Fox Business.
If he didn't know his stuff and make sense, they wouldn't give him his own show on a prime network. He has counseled people on student loans and he will tell you what to do and even provide the forms to send them. So get busy contacting the man.
http://www.daveramsey.com/radio/home/
follow the link and email, listen or call the man. Be honest with him so he can help you. Do it today!

I know this is not what you want to hear, but you need to get a job. I know that you don't want to leave your baby. Maybe you could find a part time job where you can work while your husband is at home. It doesn't have to be permanant, just until you get the student loan paid off. Maybe try the mall or somewhere like Target. I'm sure there are some options. Having to work for a while is much better than ruining your credit.

When my student loan was in default, I still made small payments on it - way less than the several hundred a month that was the actual note. It's my understanding (and I may be wrong, but this is the impression that I got from the collection agency) that as long as you're paying something - even if it's as little as $25 a month, which is what I was sending them, they can't garnish your check. Understand that the balance will keep increasing eveni f you do this, because the interest and penalties will be much more than what you are paying. It's basically putting a band-aid on a bullet wound, but if it will keep your paycheck from being garnished, it's worth it.
Once your finance improve, there are rehabilitation programs for defaulted student loans. I got into one, and for the first year, the payments were huge, and we ate a lot of mac-and-cheese and red beans and rice, but after making payments that first year, I was able to get the note re-configured based on my income. The note I'm now paying is still less than the interest, so my balance is still increasing, but the black mark is off my credit rating, and my income tax refunds are no longer being garnished. And when I csn, I mkae extra payments to try to offset the interst, so that eventually, the balance will start gradually decreasing. I'll probably be paying on this loan the rest of my life but it's listed on my credit report as in good standing now.
You may have to find a job as well. Perhaps you could find work at a daycare so that you could have your daughter with you at work, and get a discount as well. Or perhaps you could find a way to bring in income from home - Avon, Mary KAy, or something similar.

Ashley, my wages are currently being garnished. I'm not fighting it, because I figure their going to get it anyway because it's a federal loan and bankrupcy won't even help. I will say that at the onset they sent me a mountain of paperwork for my household expenses so they could determine the amount coming out. Write down EVERYTHING!!! Even if you have to pay a sitter to care for your child parttime or pay someone to be your driver or come in to care for you because of your diabetes. (hint-hint)
Be Blessed.
B

I am highly sugesting for you to contact Dave Ramsey to get advice from him. You may have heard of him or not. He is located out of Brentwood, TN and he has a talk radio show and a TV show that is on every night at 7 of the Fox Business channel. You can also go to daveramsey.com for his website. He is a well known financial adviser, as how to get out of debt and what you can do to get through this situation. He will be more than willing to help you figure out how to get out of this situation. He has gone through his own trials and tribulation in the finance world. Hope this helps!! He would be a great help. Good Luck.

I, too, think that you should contact a consolidation company. I have dealt with one myself, incharge. They have worked out great for me. I'm not sure how effective they will be with student loans, especially if a garnishment has already been issued; however, you can contact them and see. It doesn't cost anything to talk to them. IF they can help, they will ask you to give them a small fee each month (they will incorporate that in with your bill each month)...BUT, if you tell them that you are in such a shape that you just CAN NOT pay them anything, they will reduce it (they did for me). I think we ended up paying $10 a month towards them but they saved us A LOT of money in the process. We have paid off credit card debt in 5 years instead of 30 years and they cut some of our percentages to almost nothing! So, if you're interested, here's the link to their website where you can also find a phone number: http://www.incharge.org/. Like I said, it's worth checking into. GOOD LUCK! I know how stressful financial hardships can be.

Check with the loan company and ask if it is too late to request a deferrment. My student loan has been in deferrment fot about 10 years. They base it on income, but you have to ask for that. Just tell them your situation and that you didn't know you had any other options. Many times they will work with you if it hasn't been too long. My student loan company has been wonderful. You need to send them copies of your tax forms for the previous year. The payments are set based on family size, situation and income. I have even had my payments set at $0 per month for several years because my income was so low. I would call immediately and see what you can get accomplished. Make sure you ask them to also defer the garnishment and get that taken care of.

Hi. Our student loans did not quite get that far but almost, and if we ever paid back what we owe now we would have to live a very long time. We went through DirectLoans which is through the government. They have a plan that is income contingent (not income sensitive). If we would have stayed with the company we were with and paid on the income sensitive plan our payment would have been around $850.00 per month. On the income contingent plan we pay $95.00 a month and after we pay for 25 years the rest of the loan is forgiven. Now after that 25 years on your income taxes (the best way I could understand it that they explained it to me) you have to report all the rest of it as income that year because you did not pay on it. I know that sounded kind of bad to me at first but for one thing I have 25 years to not worry about that and then even if we were to owe $20,000.00 on taxes on that you can make payments on that too and it beats what I am paying on the student loans right now. I hope this helps some. This is done through the US Department of Education and the number is 1-800-848-0979 and the consolidation dept. number (that is what I did to go through them) is 1-800-557-7392. Also, I did not think you can include student loans in a bankruptcy so check that out. I hope this information helps. I remember when I finally called the company and asked what was the worst they could do to me if I couldn't pay and he actually gave me this information. It has totally changed our life. Many prayers and blessings to you. S. P

I would talk to an attorney if I were you. If they take money out of your check and you can't pay your house payment then you will lose your house and ruin that part of your credit and the baby would be out on the street. I don't think that would be legal. The legal system is all about taking care of the kids. I went to talk to an attorney yesterday myself about child support and the first counciltation is free. I would go in and talk to an attorney first and ask his advice and tell him that you don't have the money for an attorney and what would his advice be. He will stear you in the right direction.
But you need to get on this FAST>

You may want to go check out this website -- it may not be the information you want but it is something that may help.
http://www.moranlaw.net/studentloans.htm