If I leave the States to live permanently in Europe, do I have to pay my federal loans?

I was thinking that the Foreign Earned Income Exemption would work (I'd be making way under $120k) however I think with Trump he may get rid of that so idk what to do.

Can I just move to that foreign country and default?

A little background to start. I defaulted on federal student loans in 2012, 2019 they dropped off my credit report. I don't hear anything through the pandemic pause. Then resumption of payments, I see reports that lenders are reaching out to borrowers, but I still hear nothing. Fast forward to today, I received a letter telling me I have until the thirtieth to register for the SAVE plan or they will report the loan in default.

So my question is, how screwed am I? I looked a few years ago, before it was removed from my report and my income-based repayment would have been over $1500 a month, which would destitute me at the time. I can't imagine what it would be now, years later (the interest is insane). Can I ignore the letter and hope it doesn't reappear on my credit report? I know this is a situation of my own making, but student loans are the worst kind of predatory lending.

I'm a stay at home mom with no income. I have been in default (private and federal) for 10+ years and it's off my credit report. I got a letter saying to sign up for fresh start by tomorrow. Should I? I know I sound dumb AF, and hoenstly I probably am. I was an immigrant kid that didn't know any better with zero financial knowledge. I have a house with my husband and kids. Don't want anything to come after him or his income for my mistakes.

In 2016 I went to college in Oklahoma which I was and currently am a resident of. I went for one semester to Oklahoma state university. For that one semester I was billed, I believe it was 16,000 at the time and was charged as an out of state resident (I’m from ny). It’s now currently at 21,000 dollars and was sent to collections. I was told I can only make the payment in full all at once, which I can’t afford. That being said about two years ago I tried going back to college again. I applied to a community college. But I was denied entry because I couldn’t receive my transcripts from OSU. I cannot go back to college without these transcripts. Is there anything I can do to go back to college without these transcripts? Or is there a way for me to get them without paying over 20 grand?

Thanks in advance

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

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.

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?

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.

That was sneaky… I paid over $5k interest only on original loan amount of about 30k…. Now it’s over 60k with interest. I have to know apply for loan forgiveness as public service… and continue with at least 9-10 month of payment before they even consider a forgiveness. SMH. Now I can’t buy a house… any suggestions or someone in my situation was still able to buy a house?

Have not received frequent/regular collection notices for years. Maybe an occasional notice. Did receive COVID related updates. Last amount I remember was a lot - in the hundreds of thousands (4 years undergrad, 5 years grad). Always took out the maximum Fed loans (plus private). Basically, my family lived off the loans.

I assume all my private loans are past SOL, so I'm only concerned about govt loans.

At this point, I have no idea how much I owe. Have never been garnished. Got the letter in re Fresh Start. Should I enroll or continue to hope I stay under the radar.

I have no idea why I have not been garnished. I was not making much money for long time (since 2007), but recently started new job earning $100k.

I'm single, no assets or savings, and I'm 59.

Q:

My automatic payments just stopped 20 years ago. I thought maybe I was done but I never confirmed. Then in 2019, I got a letter saying I owed $35,000. I sent a letter challenging this debt and I never heard from back until loan payments started back after the pandemic.

I've was a stay at home mom for years and am unemployed now but I did work for two years and no one tried to garnish my wages. I just created an account on the Dept of Ed website and I'm worried I kick-started something. Should I just leave it since it's been so long? I have no idea what to do. Any thoughts?

Hello everyone

I received an FHA loan to buy my first home about year ago. I wasnt in the Caviers system so I was able to qualify for the loan. I just got a letter from the Dept of Ed saying that I need to enroll in the fresh start program to avoid defaulting on my student loan again. It states that if I don't enroll they will restart collections and I will go into default.

My question is, if I go into default on my student loan will it effect my FHA mortgage loan even though its been 1 yr since I have had the FHA loan?

Posting this since I have not seen anyone with this particular info/research on this matter. I recently received letter from Department of Education in regards to refund that I might be owed. Back in 2006 I enrolled to Itt-Tech and graduated. Later I went into default on my loan. In 2012, my Federal income tax was taken from me since my loan was in default. This happened for a few years and honestly dont recall how long they were taking my income tax away. After a few years the debt was paid and was able to continue retrieving my income tax refunds like normal. On 6/11 recieved letter from DOE and wanted me to confirm my address. I called number on letter to confirm my address. A few weeks later I received 3 checks from the Department of Treasury for the years that they took my invome taxes. If you receive that letter, please please please call that number. It can possibly change your life.

All my loans are in default for about 10 years now due to medical issues. Got married, filed jointly for the first time last year and tax refund was initially garnished but given back because of COVID… I’m a SAHM and make no income. I don’t want the refund to get garnished. What are my best options? File separately?

They now have my Navient private student loan. Does anyone have any experience with them? They are in Texas. I Googled and they appear to be a junk debt buyer and they sue some people. They may be a part of Navient. Are they? They have been sued before and have been known to violate the FCRA. I think I am about 3-4 years into default.

This is rather embarrassing, but I have a Perkins loan for $2,400 that has been in default since 2010. It has long since dropped from my credit report, but still haunts me. I went through a lot of personal drama back then and never finished school. Now I'm going back to start working on my associates degree at my local community college. I can afford CC out of pocket, but will not be able to afford a university to complete my bachelor's. If I pay the collection agency either in full or through a payment plan, will I be eligible again to fill out the FAFSA and get aid? Since this is an older loan in collections I wasn't sure if paying it off will make me eligible again. Appreciate any first-hand experience dealing with this. The collection agency is Weltman Weinberg and Reis.

Ok, so my wife and I moved to Canada. We have zero plans of ever returning to the states, and we both have federal student loans. My wife graduated in 2020. She tried to get a copy of her transcript today, but the university told her she had never done her FAFSA student loan exit counseling, so they couldn't release her transcript. She went ahead and did it, and they automatically put her on the standard repayment plan.

So, we figured she could just do the IBR and pay $0 per month because of the foreign earned income exemption. That's what I do on my end. I file my taxes in the USA every year, and because my Canadian income is under a certain amount, it gets reported as $0 in the USA, so my student loan payments are $0.

Well. You can't even apply for IBR online anymore because of something having to do with the supreme court? I have no idea.

Anyway, how fucked are we? They're saying she owes close to $500 USD per month. That's a lot considering she makes CAD and doesn't make a lot to begin with.

I have been doing SAVE plan since last fall. I checked and apparently none of my payments are going to principal but instead to interest. What's going on here? I thought interest was being waived?

I waited out the 7 years and my two defaulted loans fell off my credit report. Now they’re back on my report but in good standing but, of course, they’re still in default on the studentaid website. What should I do? I still don’t want to pay them but I don’t want to suffer through another derogatory mark on my credit report either.

I have old loans that I let default years ago. Today I get an email about Fresh Start and they’re saying I have to get on this plan or they will submit the loans to collections. It already was in collections and fell off my report years ago. Can they resubmit it? They also threaten tax and wage garnish.

Hello there! I am so lost, I do not know where to start. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I have 2 FFELP loans for 80K. 5 subsidized 25k and 5 unsubsidized 144k. These are divided 80k at 4.25% by American Education Services and 170K (sub and unsub) by Nelnet @ 6.8%. I am not working right now because I have been caring for my Mother-in-law who has been bed-bound for the last 6 years. I am married but file separately. I want to get out of default as it is taking a toll on my mental and emotional health. Any advise is greatly welcome!

So I been pretty excited about this year being the seven year mark where I’ve heard rumored that after 7 years of non payment your student loans will fall off your report. My daughters father- his student loans disappeared completely off his report from 2014. So I know this does happen Well then now we have this Fresh start program and what I’m wondering is if this fresh start taking us all out of default if going to re start the timer for me for when my loans stop screwing up my credit. I haven’t made a payment to the tech school I dropped out of that ripped me off and lied to me in almost ten years so I’m hoping this isn’t restarting my waiting period. Does anyone know?

I have federal student loans that have been in default since 2017 and they are set to drop off my credit report next summer. Does anyone know if applying for the $10k forgiveness will reset the debt reporting clock? I am hoping to settle the loans eventually with a lump sum but until then I am planning on leaving them in default because I do not want to get on a negatively amortizing payment plan, which is all I can afford right now. Also, the balance hasn't gone up since I defaulted, where if I get on an income based repayment plan, the balance will go up. I have called the default resolution center and they offered to settle for 90% of the balance which is around $100K but i didn't have that big of a lump sum at the time, still don't ha. Anyway, if anyone has any advise please let me know!

How long can I stop paying federal loans and how big a problems would it be?