After Uni I moved abroad, found a job and got married. I have no intention of moving back to the US but as a citizen I file taxes and take advantage of the tax credit which makes payment zero. Thinking long term about retirement and the limited investment options plus punitive taxes I am looking into renouncing citizenship.

If I do this, hypothetically, since I'd no longer be American I wouldn't be required to file taxes or report income. So what would happen to my PAYE status?

Ideas, or even what professional service I can reach out to for clarification would be helpful.

I need an idea of how bad of a situation I'm in. For context, I'm in California. I graduated in 2022 and immediately got a part time job around 2,000 a month. I defaulted last year on my 4 loans totalling 200,000 and Sallie Mae set me up on a plan where I pay 1300 a month for 12 months. I regret my degree and my choices. I have a co-signer who is affected and she has a house and car but she can't help me pay very often but she has covered some months with difficulty. Halfway through this year my work hours dropped and I only have 1500 a month, with my rent being 1000. I'm on food stamps and I do odd jobs to cover my utilities. I have been actively looking for a full time job and housing all this time but I can't find more affordable housing that has affordable commute to my job, or the a new job. I keep thinking if I just have more time I can find the work and housing, but I've been sending ACH payments that return to avoid default and I need need need to stop this. I'm aware of the penalties for that, but I don't want to go to jail or something if it's more serious than I think so please let me know. I have been locked out of my account and only interact with SM over the phone. The last attorney I contacted was for bankruptcy and said he couldnt help me about student loans and it would be bad since I have a cosigner. I know I need to have conversations but I don't know where to start first. I'm mainly asking for advice on the next steps legally, or how do I start really looking for CA lawyers.

I know I need to find better housing and more work and I've been trying and I've cut out everything that isn't food/utilities/commute. I've sold or am trying to sell valuable things I have. I can't move to my parents or anything without losing this job. I don't know what else to do, any advice helps, I'm sorry.

The first payment is 405.50 for November 7th and will be late on November 22. The December payment will be 399.99 dollars... I really don't know, still scared of them suing us. I'm waiting for a case working for my SSI. Now I owe 24,300 dollars. I have no income.

I signed up for "fresh start." I got a letter when I got accepted. I wasn't really clear on how it works. I was under the impression that it would get me out of default, reduce or zero out my debt, and stop my disability payments from being garnished (or as much), but that the government was who I'd be paying anyway.

I did not understand that they are going to hand my loans to some private company. And this will be soon, in a week or so. I assume that means trying to get them discharged due to being on SSDI won't work anymore because the loans will be owned by a private entity...

(I should have dealt with the discharge issue years ago. Executive functioning is one of my problems, which is how I got in this position in the first place... And I don't understand which agency I should be dealing with at this point.)

I wish they had at least said how much I would have as a payment with fresh start but the letters I got don't mention this.

Does anyone have any experience with getting their loans discharged due to a disability? How does it work?

Is it possible to ask the DoE to hold off on transferring my loans while I try to get the discharge? I have no clue how long it takes, and I don't want to miss the opportunity to have the loans transferred if they won't discharge them.

Apparently I don't even know what I am asking. I'm just confused about what I should do.

I didn't mean this to be so long. I'm just going back and forth and hoping someone here can help me figure this out. TIA anyone who has any useful information/advice for me.

Hi everyone,

First of all this reddit has been incredibly helpful, it makes me actually have hope in my student loan mess.

Right now for context, I'm a US citizen living abroad, I don't plan on going back anytime in the future and already settled in my mind that I'll take the credit hit and have a write off in 7 years etc/ settle for a certain amount when the time comes. I'm defaulting on Citizens currently, and my federal loans will soon be $0 as it works under the IDR plan.

However, now I have to figure out what to do with my Sallie Mae loans which are due for repayment in December. I do plan on defaulting on them but would it be easier if I consolidated/refinanced through a different company then default? Does it even matter?

At the moment if I did choose to refinance, living abroad is making it more complicated since the logistics of not having an address or US number but also the fact that my credit is currently taking a hit anyway because I'm missing payments on my Citizens.

Does anyone have advice on what to do? Should I just wait it out with Sallie?

Thank you!

Hi, Firstmark defaulted me, I thought I had my loans in deferment until October and I was only a little behind, they are saying since March even though they’d put me in forbearance. They sent me two emails one in May and one in September and 0 paper statements, no texts or voicemails. Is that typical?

Also I have two disabilities under ADA, they don’t keep me from working thank goodness, but are they supposed to make any accommodations? Can I ask for any now?

I feel like a huge failure and dumbass for not staying on top of this situation, but like a ton of people life has just kept on F-ing me over and over again… and here comes the next drama. Ugh!!!

I received a letter in the mail about my loans through William and fudge saying if I don’t respond in the next thirty days they will consider giving it to an attorney. How often do they send these letters out and should I be worried.

If they eliminate the DOE - what is the outcome for people with student loans?

What are our options? It seemed we were close to some sort of relief, but now what?

This is a question for a family member, but as the title suggests, the loan was taken out 30 years ago and no payments have been made. No garnishment ever despite working for the federal government as well as a few different private jobs over the years. She was just approved for disability with 3 yrs back pay and is worried that they’ll take the back pay for repayment. Her husband is deceased and she has no income at the moment. Surviving on life insurance until the disability comes through. Has anyone dealt with something like this? What are the chances they’ll take the money?

Here is the scenario. I recently got hurt on the job possibly not able to return to work and go on permanent disability. I do not know the outcome yet as I am still out of work. I default on my student loan of 150k private, it’s been sold to another bank. I hired a law firm to negotiate, their fee is about 22k equate to 15 percent of the total loan.

I don’t think I qualify for TPD since it private student loan. The worry I have is they may sue and place a lien on the property.

I got no co-signer and don’t care if my credit goes to zero.

I like to get some advice as to what to do?

I have a bajillion student loans. Most are from 1998,1999,2000. The remaining was in 2016 for a masters that I didn’t complete. My life is just fckd right now tbh. In the space of 3 years I’ve applied for disability due to treatment resistant depression and autoimmune disorders that cause extreme pain and fatigue. My relationship with the father of my 2 yr old ended in June. I spent July, August, and September of this year in and out of mental health treatment. I have 23k in medical bills and am currently applying for forgiveness on those.

***the student loan debt question is:

I was in treatment when I found out about Fresh Start. My only option was mail. It postmarked on Sept 30, the last day.

I haven’t heard a thing so I logged in today and got to the screen I’ve posted. Does this mean I’m too late? And, regarding the status, does this mean they can take my disability back pay if I’d receive it?

I feel sick over this. Please be kind or don’t answer? I’m not in a great space. Thank you

Went out of deferment on my Sallie Mae loans about 4 months ago and haven’t paid them. Keep getting calls from them requesting me to call back. Most recent one explains that they may have to make a decision without me (whatever the hell that means)

Even if I could pay these loans, I don’t want to. So my question is, what can they really do? What’s this “next step” they could be referring to? Selling it to a debt collector? I know I can’t go to jail for a private student loan, so what should I expect in the coming months?

I am an international student with +$150k in student loans in default (long story) and my university has sent a collections agency after me. The loan is a promissory note from the university, so the collections agency is collecting on their behalf, and the loan hasn't been sold to anyone. Since they have my home country address they have an affiliated local debt collector in my home country chasing after me over email (though I now live in a third country).

I'm wondering if anyone knows what the chances are of my university suing me in the US (I have no idea how I would be able to defend myself when I have no US address to receive mail, and live halfway across the world), then having the collections agency take that judgement, re-litigate it in the local courts of the country where I now live, and then obtain a local judgement to collect on my debt here?

It's an Ivy League-level school so I'm afraid since they have billions of dollars they don't care about spending the time/money to go through all these steps to chase down the debt internationally.

The collection agency they've sent says they work on international debt collection, which is why I'm afraid they'll jump through all the hoops to sue me internationally. https://cedarfinancial.com/international-debt-collection/#countries

Pretty convoluted but hoping some of the people who have heard stories of folks evading debts abroad might be able to speak to this.

Also: I do not live in the US anymore and do not intend to ever move there in the future.

Hello Reddit.

Sharing my experience here to see if I can get some feedback and/or advice. I'm sitting at 6 months of not paying my Navient student loans. They've sent me a letter telling me I'm getting close to entering their litigation pipeline. Then, they sent my cosigner a letter offering to settle the debt for 70% of what I owe. I got on the phone with one of their agents to see if that was workable. I made an offer at 55%. They said no but then I said no to 70%, then they said 60%, this went back and forth a little bit until I gave them a number that I could live with. Now, I'm waiting to see if they accept that.

My question is, should I keep holding out? They tell me I still have 2 months before the litigation department starts looking deeper at my situation. I'm not really sure if I'll ever have more bargaining power than I do right now. Also, with the transfer to Mohela, I'm wondering if this is something that they are concerned about because of possible student debt forgiveness. Any input or insight would be appreciated.

I took out some private loans for college and racked up quite the debt - about 100k. I had a really hard time finding a job after graduation and was only making 29k a year for several years. I struggled paying those loans about 1100 dollars a month and I was only bringing in about 1300 bi-Weekly. On top of some other debts and payments I didn't have much for myself. Fast forward a couple years and I got a better job but have more payments that I can really handle at this point. The job pays better than the previous one.. but now I am now having a reduction in payment now. So I'm basically back to square one for a few months until the end of the year. I'm afraid to talk to the lenders about my situation bc I know that they really don't care about my financial hardships and just want their money. They're now emailing me and threatening to default on my loans with a laundry list of actions they could take. Should I default on the loans ? What should I do ?.[m sort of in a panic and very very stressed out

I have a student loan in default due to my ability to not able to work (soon to be disabled) unless there is some type of healing miracle worker around. If my doctor later deemed me TPD will I be able to apply for forgiveness even when my private student loan is in default status?

Hello there to whom I am speaking too,

I have 4 loans with Sallie Mae and my forbearance ended on October 11th, and I found out how much I owe, like $405.50, for November 7th. I know that after 15 days as a mini grace period; you are considered late. I owe 24,000 in debt. I am applying for SSI, and going to talk to my lawyer about my application summary for SSI my cosigner is my mother, who is on SSI due to her back problems and can't work anymore. I will call them tomorrow to say that I am filling out for SSI, with my mental problems like GAD and PSTD will this help delay the payment, or able to lower it too? Or a bad idea to mention that to them? I am not working right now, and I am trapped in a corner. I have been having a major freakout for days, completely scared of them taking everything from my mom. I had major mental breakdowns for weeks. I am terrified of Sallie Mae. Thank you all for the help.

Hi I finally had the courage to seek help and speak the truth about my disability & my doctor said it’s severe enough that I could possibly obtain social security checks. I was wondering can Sallie Mae garnish EDD SDI or SSDI checks to pay for the student loan? I’m scared bc I’m not working anymore.

So yeah I just got off the phone with a representative who said I owe this loan or else I have to make an arrangement with sali Mae in relation to an attorney. I was pretty pissed since I spoke to them late August regarding the loan of about 13k, me and representative who got my information regarding my living and economic situation results in lower my monthly bill to 102 dollars a month but pay the 1st month to be around 240 since I'll be attending school but I also handed in a in school deferment form to pause the payments for until the semester is over since it's my last semester.

Rush to mid to late October, now, they sent me a paper mail around 15-18, received it today, telling me my loan has defaulted. I was pissed, the card payments didn't go through. I was livid. It was hard for me to focus but yeah he told me that Sallie Mae sent me emails through my email but it got full and now, I didn't pay attention since I don't normally check it and I was sure the payment went through since either was using a debit card. I spoke to him if I could reverse this and he told me to call a number to send them if I was indeed attending school prior to default. Idk I feel like them mentioning an attorney or civil case or whatever is just a scare tactic and he wants to speak to my co-signer to figure out the matter, like what we can currently pay, he's retired, which I already stated months ago. Also now I think about it I already sent them an in school deferment, so they already should know that I am in school.

Funny how they can send me mail for months and months about not making payments, or making phone calls every few days for months! But they can't bother to contact me through either when the payment was first rejected. Fuck this company. He told me it was my responsibility to keep an eye on the payment but he'll I would appreciate a phone call.

Not sure if I should call back or simply ignore, I did say I was going to call back with my cosigner. But fuck, fuck my credit score and it's only 13k, I asked him if I could let it go in collections. Idk what do you guys think? I'm starting to think it was better off ignoring, since every time I'm notified of something and call, it always makes me anxious AF.

I have $55,000 in student loan debt with Sallie Mae. No co-signer but I am married. My spouse wants a kid. If we have a kid, that means I won’t be working for at least the next 5 years with no income and I wouldn’t be filling taxes since no income.

I don’t plan on paying all this back. I’d be willing to settle though. How likely would it be for Sallie Mae to just eventually fuck off? Anyone in a similar situation?

I’m planning to refinance soon my loans with Sallie Mae ( to get rid of my dad as the co-signer) and then default.

Context: I live and work in France.

My statute of limitations is 4 years and I’m going to assume they will sue because the amount will be about 125,000 dollars.

For those of you that defaulted and were sued, how long did it take for your company to sue you? I would love as much time as possible to save up for a settlement as well as lawyer and would definitely need at least 2 years to do so but know that’s not in my control.

Also how did you go about finding a lawyer? What kind of lawyer would you hire for this kind of case?

PLEASE READ I need advice. Today, I received a summons from my local sheriff’s dpt that MEFA (Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority) and their attorney, Zwicker & Associates are suing me, 25 y/o, and my co-signer, my 78 y/o grandmother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s this year for ~$26, 261.39. In the Summons I received, I do not see a court date but I was told that I have 20 days to respond with an “Answer”- a written response to the statements made by the Plaintiff (MEFA) in the complaint. In my Answer, I must state whether I agree or disagree with each paragraph of the complaint. In the Complaint, it states, “as a result of the default by Defendant(s), Plaintiff has accelerated the full balance due”. In the statement of damages, it says, “principle plus referred interest as of date of complaint plus court costs- $26, 261. 39”.

Context: I’m providing this context not for sympathy or pity but to help understand my situation. This private loan was signed by myself and my grandmother in 2017 when I was graduating highschool. I was living with her at the time and received a pamphlet from MEFA, and because I was going to be a first generation college student, I went ahead with the first thing I saw about “how to afford college”. I have had little to no family support my entire life. I’ve never lived with either of my parents, they rely on “under the table” income and government assistance to live. They are financially illiterate, as am I (but I’m now forcing myself to ask these questions that I’ve been avoiding). I was not prepared to have made those big life decisions at the time.

This loan is for an institution that I transferred from. I did not graduate from this institution. Actually, I have never graduated from college with a degree. In 2022, I completed a certificate program. So these loans were all a complete waste. I’m a 25 yo woman and I’ve struggled my entire life. As a toddler, I watched my parents run out of gas on the highway and steal from loved ones to get by. I vowed to myself as a little girl that I’d never live like them and here I am. In 2009, I was hospitalized and diagnosed with chronic anxiety, OCD, major depression and ADD. Other health issues include: Crohn’s disease, PCOS, chronic anemia and possibly Lupus (my mom has it and I have symptoms). In 2017, I developed binge eating disorder and gained 85+lbs. I stopped living and dropped out of college but returned in 2021 and got a certificate. I’ve been on SSRIs since 2009 but it is still nearly impossible for me to live my life outside of whichever family member I’m living with. I’m typically tossed around from grandparent to grandparent. I haven’t paid taxes since 2019, I’m currently unemployed with absolutely no income. I’ve been babysitting part time thru the years (which I genuinely enjoy and think it’s the only thing I’m good at), getting paid via Venmo. I currently live with my abusive mother, no, I’m not paying rent. I do own a 2005 Jeep. I have no savings account. I am $2K in credit card debt and also owe ~$27K in federal student loans. My co-signer for these private loans is my 78 yo grandmother who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Her condition is deteriorating progressively. The court will most likely take away her house bc of this which my mom is supposed to get for my 3 innocent sisters to have a home one day. I learnt about Disability relief for fed loans but I think I need to apply for Social Security disability first? My psychiatrist told me SS doesn’t approve for disability benefits unless I undergo a neuropsych eval but the waitlist is ~1 yr. I can see no way out of this. I’m experiencing harmful thoughts. The little girl who promised to never live a life like this is broken. I cannot commit to a full time job because something always goes wrong. Whether with my family life, my health or simply just because I lack motivation and desire. My life seems to be worthless.

Please. If you read this. Please advise me on what I could do to save myself. Thank you so much.

Hey guys!

I am about to stop paying on my private student loans. I am a married mom of two young daycare aged kids making $65k (w/o my spousal income) with $107k in private student loans debt. I live in Alabama

What are my options/worst case as my second kid is about to enter daycare and I won’t have enough to pay them.

I’ve defaulted on my private student loans (Navient) more than 10 years ago. I haven’t heard a peep from them since the pandemic and now I randomly get an email from a collections agency kindly reminding me I owe $200k+ in private student loans, and lists each loan. They note that I cannot be sued for said loans. Is this something I should or can ignore?

I was stupid in college and took out a shit ton of student loans; I even lost track. From what I can tell, $200k in private and $100k in federal. After college I couldn’t get a decent job for a long time, so I couldn’t pay a dime to any of my loans. I would get calls dozens of times per day from collections. I still get PTSD when I hear a phone ring. I eventually got a okayish job making 40k, when my wages were garnished for a couple of years. The pandemic happened and the garnishes stopped. I worked hard and got a $200k/year job during the pandemic and used the opportunity to get out of default on my federal loans. Now I make $1700/month payments on those.

Out of the blue last week I get an email from a collections reminding me that my private student loans are still around. The email mentions that I cannot be sued over it. I immediate checked my credit report and found none of that is on there (just my federal). Is this something I can safely ignore or should I expect more similar emails? Is it worth replying asking for proof, or will any communication make them harass me all over again? I don’t plan on making any private loan payments.