Job Discussion Forums

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

I took out a small National Defense Loan in 1964 when I was an undergraduate at University of Washington. I had some deferments for two stints in graduate school (by the way, I would be very areful about assuming that deferments apply when attending foreign universities--they very frequently don't) as well as for teaching at a university. I also made some payments. At some point in the late 70s they (loan collectors from UW) were chasing me around for the final payment--really a fairly piddling amount, but at the moment it wasn't convenient for me to make it--and someone THREATENED me. I do not take kindly to threats from ANYONE. I told them that since I had a free and clear MA and a free and clear PhD, that they could foreclose on my BA and see how much that mattered to me.

Never heard from them again. It never turned up on any credit report, either.

If you want to live YOUR life, folks, you need to take CONTROL of it.

Mchristophermsw · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 228

Moonraven,

Unfortunately, in the 80's the laws changed and made it much harder to ignore the student loan collectors. Today, they can even take 15% of your SSI as recourse.

darkhorse · Joined: 05 Jun 2005 Posts: 78

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Look, it's your choice. Dance to the tune of your creditors, or dance to your own tune. William Blake (on whose birthday I was born) said something to the effect of: "I must either create my own system, or be enslaved by someone else's."

Credit is perverse. Example: I have not lived in the US since 1993. In 1994 I stopped paying my credit card debt (already explained earlier). I opened a bank account there two weeks ago--simple account of combined checking and savings, and requested only an ATM card, as I wanted to put most of my money into dollars since the Mexican peso is due to take another big dive within a year. My daughter informed me by e-mail yesterday that the bank had sent me an unsolicited credit card along with my permanent ATM card. Either my credit report is now clean as a whistle, or they just don't bother to check these things.

darkhorse · Joined: 05 Jun 2005 Posts: 78

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

It SHOULD be clean as a whistle. The debt was written off, obviously, 10 years ago or more. And 7 years is the maximum for old debts to stay on your credit report.

Your point about the Feds is well taken. Perhaps folks need to choose their creditors wisely?

darkhorse · Joined: 05 Jun 2005 Posts: 78

ContemporaryDog · Joined: 21 May 2003 Posts: 1477 Location: Wuhan, China

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

People who want to rattle their keyboards like self-righteous machine guns would be well-advised to READ THE THREAD.

As I have indicated, the debts I dumped were credit card debts. I also indicated on this thread that as an accountant, I am fully aware that all uncollectable debts must be written down, at the latest, at the end of the company's fiscal year. Not to do so is to commit fraud (a la Enron), as receivables are listed as assets on the balance sheet of a company.

Therefore, when I say my credit card debt was written down by the credit card companies at least 10 years ago, I do know what I am talking about. There were also no attempts to collect it after September of 1994.

I have not bothered to see if there are any bad debts on my US credit report, as I have absolutely no plans nor interest in asking for credit in the US--where I have not lived since 1993.

darkhorse · Joined: 05 Jun 2005 Posts: 78

JonnytheMann · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 337 Location: USA

Just a side note: I am the OP. I am actually still in the US. I haven't defaulted on my loans at all. I have very good credit.

I would only default on my loans in a few years if it became very clear to me that I was going to spend the rest of my life in Argentina. I'll never pay off $24,000 with Argentine pesos.

If I realize that I don't want to stay in Argentina after a year or two, I will either return to the US, or head to Asia/Europe where I can make decent money.

Hindsight is 20/20. I never should have gotten a Bachelor that would incur so much debt. It seems B.S. aren't even worth much these days. If I had kids, I'd never let them go into debt like I have. It's just absurd to be saddled with $24,000 at age 21.

Should have gone to a cheaper school ... Crying or Very sad

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Darkhorse:

I find it reprehensible that you choose to attack me personally because I do not agree with your view that the way to control one's life is to be on one's knees to one's creditors.

And I do not, nor have I ever, written gibberish. As a professional writer, they don't pay me to write gibberish--money for that is only paid to folks who write Bush's speeches and canned statements for press conferences.

And, as an accountant, I know how the world of finances, credit and debt functions. It is not necessary for you to make snide comments about my accounting skills--which allowed me to bill 75 plus dollars an hour for my services more than 10 years ago. If you want to get snide and personal, I would be willing to bet that you won't earn that much per hour in this lifetime, honey.

If you want to be a slave to your creditors, that's your business. What is NOT your business is to flog the moral high horse and contend that a person deeply in debt is superior to one who has NO debt--and to aim your commentary at me.

In the US debt is promoted for a reason--to keep people feeling insecure and scared and a paycheck away from being out in the street. Scared people teetering on the verge of personal ruin are less likely to demand that their government be impeached, or that big time crooks that made off with milions of folks' pension funds be held accountable. In the US, if you just say NO to taking on the twin addictions of consumerism and indebtedness, you are even called unpatriotic by the moron in the Oval Office!

What a crock! Folks who didn't grow up in that system see it for what it is. I have a friend from Fiji who is has been self-employed in Seattle for more than 25 years as a commericial artist. He pays (OH HORRORS) cash for the houses that he buys. They are free and clear, except for taxes he has to pay each year--which don't equal a fraction of the rents he collects for the ones he doesn't live in. He doesn't believe in credit cards. He is FREE to pick and choose the clients he does work for because he doesn't need their money.

Seriously now, would you rather be in his shoes--or in the shoes that you haven't even paid for yet? Think about it.

darkhorse · Joined: 05 Jun 2005 Posts: 78

post deleted

darkhorse · Joined: 05 Jun 2005 Posts: 78

post deleted