I am trying to help my daughter who has come down with a medical condition preventing her from working regularly to pay off a huge old student loan. I didn't realize she still owes over $40,000 after eight years, mainly because of high interest rates. Is there anyway to get this reduced to a reasonable amount when the loan has been sold off two or three times by the original and subsequent lender?
Is your daughter considered disabled? Can she get social security disability payments? I started college at age 42, using student loans. I had to retire about 10 years later due to medical problems. If she can get disability, her student loans can be wiped out. That is what I did.
Apply for a consolidation loan and lock in one low interest rate, instead of a variable one. I just did this in July and cut my monthly payment by over 60%. It only added a little more time on to the length of time to pay off the loan and I can now afford the payments and can afford to pay a little extra each month.
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Are there any financial institutions or private lenders that can help pay off high interest student loans? My daughter borrowed just over 20K and it will take 15 years to pay off for a total of nearly 80K! That's a heck of a lot of interest!
Kelly from Renton, WA
I know that there are certain ways that people can get at least part of their student loans forgiven. These are the resources I know of. Hope this helps.
Cancellation/Deferment Options for Teachers
studentaid.ed.gov/
Teach for America
www.teachforamerica.org/
Peace Corps
www.peacecorps.gov/
FinAid
www.finaid.org/
Federal Student Loan Forgiveness
www.staffordloan.com/
My kids made double payments to cut down on interest paid. If your former student can make two payments a month, it would not only take half as long to repay but cut interest in about half or more depending on how its compounded. If two payments per month arent possible, try one and a half payments per month. Even ten extra dollars per month paid on a loan adds up in the long run.
Go to the library and read books by Suzie Orman. Best of luck
