OT: Student Loan Debt Was: What's for Breakfast, Doc?

[Guest guest]

Ah, but , if you're graduating soon and have federal loans, you'll be

able to consolidate with THE LOWEST apr in history. I envy your position,

as I consolidated undergrad and grad loans in 2000 at almost 8%. Unless I

win the lottery, I'll be in debt for at least another 30 years. yikes.

The amount of debt my generation is accruing is unbelievable. Almost

everyone I know is in mountains of debt from student loans and credit cards.

My parents, who were raised in an upper middle class context as I was,

didn't start their life out with debt because their parents could actually

afford to send them to college and credit cards, in their current evil

incarnation, didn't exist.

Check out www.generationdebt.org for more info on student loan legislation.

Re: What's for Breakfast, Doc?

> wrote:

> > I'll

> > > be getting should enable me to pay off my student loans in 25 or 30

> > > years so all is NOT lost!

>

> --- Elaine <itchyink@...> wrote:

> > Assuming you get paid enough to pay more than the interest. I never

> > did with

> > my masters degree .

> > Elaine

>

> Elaine THAT is NOT what I need to hear right now! :\ LOL!

>

> ~

[Guest guest]

> > The amount of debt my generation is accruing is unbelievable.

Almost

> everyone I know is in mountains of debt from student loans and

credit cards.

I didn't realize how much my standard of living was affected by my

credit cards until I maxed them out and can no longer use them. Now

I'm making three times as much money, yet can afford much less food

and lower quality food.

I was using both cash and credit cards for food, and would often

order supplements online with my credit cards. Needed some Primal

Defense? $150 worth of cod liver and butter oil? Some colostrum?

No problem! Got a credit card for that. A book here and there off

Amazon, etc, etc. Granted, a lot of my cc debt is dental work, car

maintenance, and books for school, but those little things really add

up.

Then, I hit the point where my three cards were maxed out. THEN, I

hit the point where my hours got cut in half at work, and I couldn't

keep up with the interest, so even without using them I ended up

overlimit from interest accrual. Then it got so overlimit that I

couldn't possibly make the minimum payment, which included the entire

overlimit amount, so I got lay payment fees. Since I was overlimit

and late, my interest rates went up to 25.99% APR! So I was accruing

literally about $250 or maybe more a MONTH just in fees and interest,

without using my cards at all ($120/month on my Discover card

alone)! And if I couldn't pay the overlimit amount when it was $100,

imagine trying to pay it the next month when it was $220, for example.

Thankfully, my grandparents transferred my Discover balance to a low

interest card that is my responsibility to pay, loaned me money to

get underlimit on the others, and I got a new job working many more

hours. So I've paid off a couple thousand dollars in debt in the

last two months. I hope to be debt-free by the end of the year...

then I'll have to start paying my student loans, but mine are like 3%

APR I think.

But now I'm learning to live within my means and spending only what I

have in cash. Credit is important to economic development, but

borrowing for present consumption is idiotic. The only time it makes

sense to borrow money is when you can invest it for a return greater

than the interest. My justification for using my cc's before was

that the money was of greater value to me now when it was more

scarce, than it would be to me when I had a full-time professional

income and would pay it off. Little did I know I'd hit the credit

ceiling sooner than I thought.

Chris

[Guest guest]

Yup...sounds familiar. When I was younger (I'm 31 now) I didn't even think

twice about putting vacations, clothes, etc. on my card--it just didn't seem

" real " to me. But boy were shi**ybank et al happy with my spending habits!

They kept raising my credit limit and now I have more cc debt than I care to

disclose. My solution: I revolve the debt onto 0% cards once a year or so

and keep my cards out of my purse so that I don't use them. I make all

purchases on my debit card instead. I do take responsibility for my poor

financial management (and am paying for it now), but there should be

required credit pre-counseling for everyone if they're going to offer cards

to 18-year-olds.

Kudos to your grandparents for helping you out--it sounds like you learned

your lesson early, thank goodness.

Re: OT: Student Loan Debt Was: What's for Breakfast, Doc?

>

> I didn't realize how much my standard of living was affected by my

> credit cards until I maxed them out and can no longer use them. Now

> I'm making three times as much money, yet can afford much less food

> and lower quality food.

[Guest guest]

, i refinanced my student loan down from almost 8 percent to 4

something. You should look into it while rates are so low right now. We're

actually paying on the principal now.

I overspent with my credit cards in college and actually had to go seven

years with no credit as punishment. But now i have a card again and am

continually putting food on it and a few books and it's already up to a

$1000. I really needed that Garden of Eating book, etc. etc. We just need to

make more money . I think i'll go ahead and cut it up today. Luckily it's

under 5%, otherwise i would have never gotten myself into this situation.

Elaine

[Guest guest]

Oh Elaine, I WISH I could refinance, but I already consolidated my

federally-financed loans (stafford) in 2000 and they only let you

consolidate once. There's a move to change this law, but of course

SallieMae et al are doing their best to squelch any changes. See

www.generationdebt.org for more info.

Yes, cut the card up immediately or at least take it out of your purse and

put it somewhere out of reach. I even put post-it notes on my cards that

say stuff like " Think about it! " and " Do you REALLY need it? " Suze Orman has

a *great* 10 step plan to get and stay out of debt at

http://www.suzeorman.com/resources/managingdebt.asp?section=payingoffcredit

I have this list posted over my desk at home.

Re: OT: Student Loan Debt Was: What's for Breakfast, Doc?

> , i refinanced my student loan down from almost 8 percent to 4

> something. You should look into it while rates are so low right now. We're

> actually paying on the principal now.

>

> I overspent with my credit cards in college and actually had to go seven

> years with no credit as punishment. But now i have a card again and am

> continually putting food on it and a few books and it's already up to a

> $1000. I really needed that Garden of Eating book, etc. etc. We just need

to

> make more money . I think i'll go ahead and cut it up today. Luckily

it's

> under 5%, otherwise i would have never gotten myself into this situation.

> Elaine