OT I got a call just now with a recording that offered to lower my student loan payments or suspend them forever.
Unlike most calls, pressing one just started it from the beginning again. For 3 or 4 loan companies I'd never heard of press 3, for others press 4.
A girl with some accent talked for a whle and asked how much money I owed, $50,000, and how long had I been out of school, 3 years. And what was my name, Mike. (I figured if I said Micky they could track me down.)
She transferred me to someone else, and called me Mr. Mike in the process. He spoke perfect American English, and when I said I understnd you can suspend my loan payments forever, he said, No, there are plans from the government to lower the payments blah blah blah and at the end there is a balloon payment for everythng not yet paid. He said he usually handles internal cars but they get referrals too. He sounded legit, although I suspect he charges a big enough fee and I could do it myself for free if I tried. Also there is almost surely extra interest.
I told him they should re-evaluate their relationship with whoever referred me. He had apologized and did so again and still wanted my business. However I'm hoping my uncle will be willing to pay what I owe and that he will make me 47 years younger too. So I told him had a sour taste in my mouth, and in the middle of my sentence he said something polite and hung up.
If any of you are still paying on your student loans, this may help. Although you may select or be assigned a repayment plan when you first begin repaying your federal student loan, you can change repayment plans at any time?for free.
Also I ofen watch the last 5 minutes of Judge Joe Brown reruns, where he lectures one, sometimes both litigants, and one time, where some kind of loan was involved, I guess, he said that when he graduated [college and lawschool at UCLA] he owed $300,000, and he paid it back and clearly thought it was worth it.