Korean Job Discussion Forums

[iwacima]

Has anyone had problems tracking down their Student Loans after they have defaulted payment for a number of years?

I'm Canadian and attended university from 1994 to 1998 and received a loan for each year totaling approximately $28,000. Upon graduation I got a job in the U.S and did make 3 Student Loan payments......and then stopped making payments due to other bills, etc, etc,.

I then came to Korea...did some traveling and then came back to Korea. During this time I have never made any loan payments.....it was irresponsible...i know...i know......but I now have a nice sum of money saved up and want to pay off a large portion of the loan and start making monthly payments again.

So....I contacted Student Loan (their Federal office in Ottawa) two weeks ago and they told me to contact the Royal Bank of Canada, as that was the lending institution, who then told me the loan was now being held at a collections agency. I called the collections agency and they told me that my total loan including interest was $6,800..... I said there had to be some mistake so they told me to call the Student Loan office again to confirm the amount of my debts. I did and I've talked to 4 different people at the Student Loans office and the bottom line was that there is a record of me obtaining a loan but there is no record of how much the loan was

I guess I'm happy, but I'm also a little worried that it's too good to be true. I now have the money to pay off a large portion of it.....I just don't want to return to Canada, buy a house, car, etc, and then found out that I still have a huge loan that needs to be paid. I guess my question is....has anyone ever had their student loan disappear????

[Harpeau]

I'm assuming that you gave them your SIN number and your Student Loan number, right?

That is so bizarre.
Harpeau

[William Beckerson]

Your sudent loan, assuming you got both a provincial and a federal one, gets split up amongst three different collection agencies. And generally speaking, unless you specify to the Royal Bank people that you mean both of the loans, they'll choose only one to tell you about.

The provincial government takes half of the provincial, one agency collects the other half. Then a third one handles the federal debt.

So, it seems to me that you're only talking to one collection agency, which why the rest of your debt has "vanished"

Call back the Royal and be specific with them. They're not SMRT.

[Mr. Pink]

Yeah what WB said...when I defaulted mine split like this:

Federal
Provincial
Royal Bank

The Royal Bank part is the smallest, I should pay them off, as there is no interest and theirs is the only part that effects your credit rating...however...they employ retared collection agencies that say very bad things, and so they can wait.

The feds are probably the most important to pay if you are willing to do so, as they are the ones who can withhold income tax refunds, gst refunds, garnish wages etc. The provincal can only do something if you again live in that province.

They are also probably right in the interest. That is the whole reason I won't pay back my loans...7k interest, you got to be joking...considering the gov't wastes tax dollars like mad and doesn't repay that kind of interest to the "people" whos money it wasted, I refuse to do so.

Good luck - i'd suggest you try to get them to take a lump sum payment (pay it all off) and have them do away with the interest part. It used to work...and keep us updated.

[maxxx_power]

This really bugs me. I have no personal judgement of you whatsoever, this is purely my opinion about not paying back student loans.

You borrowed the money and most likely signed a promissory note, went to school, graduated, and now refuse to pay the money back.

Regardless of how your government uses your tax money, you agreed to pay the money back. Not paying back the money is tantamount to thievery.

As much as I would like to not pay back my student loans, I agreed to do it and will make payments until they are repaid. The government may not have liked the fact that I purchased many drugs with some of the loan money, but they agreed to LEND me the money to finance my education.

I HATE what my government is doing now (America) and don't want that money going into the pockets of big oil or financing death, but we don't have the luxury of selecting where our money goes. That's why (in theory) we elect representatives to make sure our money is spent wisely.

[Mr. Pink]

Well my loans aren't so big that I couldn't pay them back...I paid like 5 grand back, but when I found out that was mostly going to interest, i figured, what kind of country sets up their young people to be what is basically a slave for the first 7 yrs of their graduated lives? When the interest is basically all you are paying for the first 5 years, IMO that is just wrong. Also what does a young 18yr old know about money? Again that is wrong.

I usually agree to keep my word. I have never skipped on a contract job. I intend to stay married as long as physically possible, but when you get talked into borrowing money on such horrible terms, and it is your own government who is screwing you, you should have a choice about it. I choose not to pay back until they accept the exact amount I borrowed, minus all the usuary interest. Should the gov't be in the business of making money off the people who are supposed to be "the future"?

[William Beckerson]

Before we drag up the corpse of yet another old ESL Cafe topic, which we will, I'd like to say that if you can pay back, you should. If you cant... well, then you cant.

Deeply philosophical, I know.

[desultude]

My student loans (going on 30 G at the moment, due to interest) were taken out in the context of my marriage to a medical student, while we had two children. My father in law convinced us to take out to max on loans, even though I was going to school part time and working part time.

Anyway, he got the med school education, and a great income, and I got my student loans and an uncompleted dissertation (nothing like your husband running off with his secretary while you are trying to write a dissertation).

That is the short of the story. We were both foolish in our behavior, and I don't actually blame him for the divorce or any of the other bad stuff, but he should have had to take responsibility for some of my loans, even if the legal system thought other wise. (Not because he was a bad boy, but in actuality because the loans were in large part to support his medical education.) Anyway, I would be paying off the damn loans into my golden years, while struggling to support myself in the American way, if I hadn't ditched the whole situation.

Do I feel guilty. Maybe a little. But, if people like Donald Trump and others can bankrupt themselves out of all of their debts and get a new beginning, why can't we. The laws specifically protect student loans from bankruptcy default. But fat cats can keep their primary residences and cars and get out of everything. Of course, their fat cat parents paid for their educations, while mine, living in a double wide in tornado alley, could not.

[jaebea]

Slightly off topic, but I believe the Australian HECS (Higher Education Contribution Scheme) is interest free and only scales to account for inflation.

If you can afford to pay for your university degree up front, then you end up paying 75% of what you would if you deferred payment. Voluntary repayments have another 15% added off the final debt.

Hence, if you made a $1000 voluntary repayment, you would get $1150 off your total debt.

There are tax systems that deduct certain percentages to repay your HECS debt while you earn wages. Of course, working overseas means everything is left to voluntary contributions.

Just some information that some people might be interested in.

jae.

[Mr. Pink]

Australia seems better than Canada in regards to student loans.

I am with desultude on this one. Living a life of lower living standard to pay something off while some rich guys just go bankrupt and still keep their million dollar homes is just WRONG. (doesnt happen in canada, but the smart rich guys all got offshore accounts so...they still keep something)

Also didn't know this issue has been done to death...but figures there are like 30-40 themes that rotate every few months it seems.

[maxxx_power]

I'll bring this issue to light when I can afford the 5,000/plate dinners with the president and the 25,000 for a photo with the man himself.

The rich get richer and the poor suck hind teat.

[Mr. Pink]

[rapier]

In my experience, Loans never go away like that,- they just appear to do so. There must be some mistake. They don't forget. They just wait til they find the information on you again. it happened to me....Thought they'd forgotten all about it, but once they knew I was back in the country, it took them 2 months to track down my details,- but eventually they did it.

But i hope in your case they've had a genuine computer slip up. Good luck!!!!!

[gajackson1]

it may be worth your while to consult a tax attorney - tell him/her your situation, ask to find out how much is owed to who, and then see if they can negotiate something out of it, as you have a large lump sum that can be applied all at once.

Best of luck!

G.

[HardyandTiny]

got a degree in architecture
recession
oooo
no jobs
joined army
ooo
you defaulted already we can't pay it
get out of army
get government job
okay
pay loan now
can't
we will garnish
okay, fine garnish
we will ganish
okay, fine garnish
we will
okay, garnish
twenty years folks!
twenty years!
no garnish!