Putting Students in Harm's Way

There is no epidemic of predation in the education loan community, and there never was one. Liberal groups (including this left-wing blog) coalesced under the guise of propping up the failed FDLP and unwittingly ended up doing severe and irreparable damage to a smoothly functioning industry, while minimally helping the FDLP cause. Instead now all Federal loans are the same (meaning no more differentiation based on competitive FFELP borrower incentives – which provided up to 2% interest rate reductions and up to 10% reductions in principal balance for disciplined borrowers), and private education loans virtually do not exist anymore, except for students with a co-signer credit score in the 800+ range (in other words, 5% of all American families, the ones that need private loans the least).

I know that my former company provided financing for upward of four million students or parents over the last ten years and less then 50 cases of borrowers being abused in the manner these inflammatory articles suggest is rampant in the industry. In fact, among the 10 million or more students that borrowed FFELP loans from 1996 to 2006, there are less than a hundred that ran into severe repayment problems with their FFELP lender, most notably Alan Collinge, the poster child of the deadbeat generation.

At least 95% of students that borrowed FFELP loans for college needed that financing to accomplish their educational goals, and dutifully paid back the money over time. Many of them are probably just like my wife and I, who between us borrowed, and paid back roughly $80,000 to attend private schools in Philadelphia and Boston. Because of this attitude of responsibility, including making our house, car and credit card payments on time, we enjoy FICO scores above 800 and thankfully we will always benefit from easy, low-cost credit. For those like Alan Collinge and the other millions of Americans with average credit, you can thank Andrew Cuomo and Teddy Kennedy for wiping out a low-cost source of funding for college.

My personal experience has been of a fraudulent operation -- lenders "not receiving" payments, holding on to certified mail proofs of contact (the Postal Inspector's site has a link just for student-loan created problems), refusing to either sue or work with an attorney hired to negotiate, and failure to follow their own rules on garnishment. My documents have been submitted to Congress and I have been asked if I'm willing to testify under oath---wait until some of the stuff I've seen comes out.

Oh please... the loan industry does get their investment back with incentives by passing the results on to Managed Risk Securities. The Student Loan Industry has done very well extending loans to Laser-Print Diploma mills. The Loan Industry and the tech school industry are screeching for regulation. All of the easy profits are of the industries' making and not because of any established procedure originally proposed for "granting low-cost loans to American families that otherwise would not be able to attain higher education."

Biggest problem we face in US today is we are loading up young students with this obscene size of loans. We are seriously putting them at disadvantage against the world. You know how much it cost in India, Russia, and Japan to get a college degree?

Regarding the post of "Ex-Loan Huckster," if we've learned nothing else in the last eight, no, make that ten, no, make that twenty, no, make that thirty, at least, years, is that right-wing operatives run smear campaigns that minimize any chance of meaningful debate. The current debacle on Wall Street is the macro-result. The significant percentage of defaults on student loans is a smaller version. Huckable doesn't want to talk about details, he only wants to dump a big ol' right-wing Alan Greenspan steamer in our midst. In my case, I've worked my butt off to get somewhere near to the career my education potentially offers me. I've given back to my community; I've worked to provide the basic essential service of good, meaningful, in-depth education to young (and old) people who attend our college. Yet, my student loan has nearly doubled since I quit borrowing. I'm paying one student loan and the other is compounding at a higher rate -- so I'm going deeper in debt AS I PAY MY LOANS.

If there are so few deadbeats, then why be so afraid of us having access to bankruptcy protection?

Student loans are risky in that the law can (and have) changed for the worse -- leaving us with insolvent debt with no way out. Talk about lack of oversight. The colleges can make all sorts of false claims about the financial viability of their programs, the lending institutions can loan hundreds of thousands of dollars for a non-viable education, and the taxpayer and the poor schmuck who believed he/she was bettering themselves are left holding the bag (insurmountable, non-dischargeable student loan debt). Many students loans may not be in default but are insolvent in that there is no realistic way they will ever be paid down. So they just go along waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I'm part of a group of students the US Senate itself, calls "victims of student loan farming by proprietary trade schools". They acknowedge that we were sold useless educations, leaving us with bills we could not pay because we could not get jobs that paid the expected salaries necessary to make the loan payments.

Yet Congress never offered us any relief, and instead, over the years, removed all consumer protections and have turned us into debt slaves. Why bother trying to pay off a loan when your payment doesn't even cover that month's interest that is growing faster than your paycheck? $600 a month that represents half of our take home pay all goes to interests and fees that keep growing, and not one penny goes to paying off the principal. And you call us deadbeats?!

The history of student loans, and these predatory schools and now, predatory lenders, is quite clear, and has continued since the 1970s. Only now that the loan companies are about to become the next multi-billion dollar bail out, is Congress taking action - and again, its the wrong action.

The real default rates are almost 10 times what is being reported. Students having problems with their loan service providers are much higher than you claim Huckster. Who is lying to whom? Criminals figured out how to create a cash cow with the student loan industry and that's exactly what they did. And as soon as we get the word out, via Studnet Loan Justice, the sooner we can all end this nightmare.

This not about whining about loans. Members of SLJ have created and wrote a 27 item call for student loan reform, (posted on the voptsslf blog). VOPTSSLF is the acronym for Victims of proprietary trade school student loan farming, as described by the US Senate report that clearly says many of us are victims of those schools. Some of which are still in business and are still doing business as they always have. Maybe that's why they are starting to be sued.

 I cannot wait untill Sallie Mae (even though I do not have to deal with them) gets named for criminal acts and gets sued. But we will wait for the public outcry for the bail out. Then we will put an end to the fraud of the banksters and the student loan industry who have turned major parts of 3 generations into debt slaves.

.....obviously thinks generalizing blogs and people as "liberals" or whatever else solves the problems for students and their families who have been torn apart in this criminal system. Yes, I say criminal because the misuse of federal funds that violates law has spread throughout higher education while the Department of Education and the accreditors look on.

Check the stats on schools that have high drop and default rates. What's the correlation there? Those schools are getting their money, but the students are not succeeding. The students are being left with no education and no hope of getting out of debt. The accreditors continue to give those schools hall passes, the lenders come in and sweet talk the FA officers, and who loses?

Huckalooey has gall judging people whom he/she knows nothing about. There's more involved in this system than just promissory notes. How utterly ignorant and insulting to we human beings who have had to endure his/her attitude in this abusive system!

Ex-Loan Huckster, I can't even begin to tell you how insulting you are on so many levels. How DARE you tell me that I am a deadbeat. I turned to Sallie Mae for $24,000 so I could complete the last year of grad school and thus have a way of supporting myself upon graduation. Just before graduation I was hit with a divorce, a massive layoff in a dying California industry [which is why I was preparing for a new profession by returning to school], and a brain tumor.

After I recovered from surgery I couldn't find work anywhere. I didn't have the luxury of a spouse or generous relative to pull me through. I busted a gut working when I was sick after surgery for wages just barely above minimum wage. I couldn't make my payments and I contacted Sallie Mae every step of the way and always got the runaround or a different story from them every time I called. They lost records of my communications. They would promise one thing and then renege. My $24K loan suddenly was hit with late payment fees and penalties almost equal to the amount of the original principle. At 8.75% interest. I was never allowed to re-negotiate the rate when lending rates dropped significantly because I had "consolidated" my loan.

With every plea for help, and always with the promise of paying back, I was met with a door slammed in my face. After 5 years to recover my health, I have been working and making very healthy monthly payments. And still, after all is said and done, I will have paid $88K by the time I'm done. $88K for a $24K loan. I can't tell you how many other stories there are out there that are just like mine. So don't you DARE call us deadbeats.

Comments like these really hurt me. I'm not saying I did everything right or made all the correct decisions - but I did the best I could with what I had and with what I knew at the time. I never borrowed any monies above what covered the cost of tuition & room & board. I DID work while I was in school. I DID make sacrifices while I was in school. I did not buy anything; I did not own a car until I was 25; I did not always have enough food to eat.

I have NOT defaulted. I have NEVER missed a loan payment. My credit rating IS as decent as it can get, given my debt-to-loan ratio (around 760). I have ALWAYS worked overtime since I've graduated. I share my car now, and share a room in a shared house for pete's sake. I'm 30 and I'm miserable. I've given up hopes of getting married or of having children. The only payment plan I can afford is the income-contingent plan, and even with that, all I am paying off is the monthly interest and not the capital. (I currently owe $66k). I have paid off about $10k to date, which was all interest. If I do get married, then my payments will rise substantially based on my husband's income - and he has loans of his own to pay off! (granted, "only" $20k compared to my $66k, but still). I was engaged a few years ago and was dumped because, as he said, "You're not worth $100,000 and that's what you're going to end paying on those loans by the time you're done." Was he right? Yeah, in some ways, probably so. But come on!

I suppose I was lucky because I was granted "independent" student status while in school, thus 90% of my loans were from the federal government and not private lenders. I have worked on paying off my private loans first (only $1,300 left to go on the last one), so I have not had to worry about being "sharked."

My life is ruined just the same. Maybe a lot of this is my own fault, but I am a good person and I worked hard in school. I graduated with honors. I started graduate school but stopped because I couldn't stomach taking on additional loans and I was afraid my job prospects would not be sufficient upon graduating. I didn't want to make the same mistakes twice. I did the best I could - do I really deserve THIS life? To spend the rest of my life paying for the 4 years I was in school?

Several times, in blatant cases like stealing money (trying to collect late fees when payments were never late) and collecting on loans where the schools went out of business for being so shady. My recollection is that both times, judges said they couldn't do anything because of Sallie Mae's quasi-governmental status.

Both cases involved hundreds of people, but if you look at the fine print of your loans, you can't sue Sallie Mae. You have to go into arbitration. Personally, my loan was sold without my knowledge and then they sent notices to a blatantly wrong address. Then they defaulted me, sold me to a collection agency OWNED by Sallie Mae, and obviously easily contacted me as my address, phone number, and email were all correctly listed in the first place. Several letters just got a form letter back stating that I should notify them if I changed my address (and I guess notify them if THEY changed my address too!) Absolutely no power to stop this and am forced to pay many penalties on top of interest.

If anyone sees this and reads my comment, I am searching for other students who took out loans with Citibank Student loan and then discovered that they changed the terms of the loan behind your back.

Citibank illegally changed the terms of my loan and then ruined my perfect credit immediately upon purchasing my Federal loans in a consolidation. They reported me in repayment even though I was in a school deferrment. They reported me delinquent on payments to all three credit reporting agencies. Even after numerous calls to the Dept of Education, Edfund the loan guarantor, and to Citibank, they refused to correct the mistakes for over four years. Then in response to a certified letter to the Citibank CEO, they responded with, Sorry if this inconvenianced you.

So to the idiot who posted here and is trying to call me a deadbeat. Thank your lucky stars that your lender did not do this to you. Furthermore, you have no right to spout your mouth. Who cares if you paid back your loan and have perfect credit? We don't care. So why are you attacking us? Again if you are a student in default and had a Citibank loan that was mishandled for any reason, then please contact me. We are starting a class action lawsuit against Citibank. We will have your loan wiped out and your credit restored. Contact me, Muneerah Crawford beautifulwmn@yahoo.com

"As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X, or in the better case, what A, B, and C shall do for X...What I want to do is to look up C. I want to show you what manner of man he is. I call him the Forgotten Man. Perhaps the appellation is not strictly correct. He is the man who is never thought of...He works, he votes, generally he prays--but he always pays..."-William Graham Sumner

It seems I touched a nerve, except this flurry of response is disingenuous at best, and smells very fishy. Almost like Alan put the word out to his 10-12 partners in crime to scream their tired sob stories here in this forum. But since several questions were raised, and much misinformation, or at least misunderstanding has been posted, I will try to address them.

First, I, like almost all Internet bloggers post anonymously so as to not suffer harassment from those that disagree with my view points. There are some extremists in the angry left that are not content to carry on discourse; they want to exact retribution from their ideological opponents.

Alan - "fee income" is a generally accepted accounting term that refers to revenue generated by performing services, and charging fees for those services. For SLM (not my former employer, I wore the lime green colors), these fees are paid by lenders for repayment servicing, the government for guarantee servicing, and from institutions of HE for things like e-billing and tuition payment plans. It does not refer to late fees on loans.

To those decrying company profits and CEO pay, that is how our economy and markets are set up. If you disagree with free markets, then you can either change our system to a more social, or communal one or you can move to a country that is already equipped to redistribute wealth among its people. When you discourage people, and companies from chasing innovation and the accompanying wealth, they stop doing that, and you end up with no wealth to redistribute. Another way of looking at it is that wealthy CEOs (that actually created something, not ones that inherited established entities) created thousands of jobs for average Joes. c.f. Fiorina, Whitman, Gates.

To those decrying the changing of loan terms, or illegal actions by your lenders, it would be interesting to hear the other side to these sob stories, like for instance how many of these actions were disclosed in the documentation. Your lesson to learn here is to read before you sign, and to retain all the paperwork. Also, if indeed something illegal was done (highly doubtful that Citibank's corporate counsel, Board of Directors, bond covenants, etc. condones illegal lending activity) then take it to the courts and prove your case. Absent those court verdicts in your favor, these stories all sound like fabrications to generate sympathy or try and condone irresponsible financial management.

As for my own personal situation, I graduated college with NO JOB. So did many of my classmates. I moved back home with my father, and shared his car since he fortunately could walk to work. I did not rent an expensive apt in NY or Boston, there was no Audi lease nor a big screen TV. When I did move out it was with roommates in a crappy section of town. PS my wardrobe for almost eight years after college was the same one from high school days. Also, I accepted crappy jobs, and stayed in them to earn money. The deck was stacked against me and I might easily have ended up in the same situation as the "victims" posting here. But I chose not to. That, my friends, is why I have no sympathy for these sob stories.

I missed the item about TV advertising for private loans. McBride: Chase was the only reputable company doing this, and they stopped running those ads at the end of last school year (May). Again, thanks to Cuomo and Kennedy, if these loans exist, the approval rate is infinitesimal without a parent co-signer and the terms are astronomical. If you sign these for your child you should be getting a PLUS loan anyway because you have the same repayment liabilities in both cases, and the PLUS terms are fixed. And if you take out loans of any type, education or other from unrecognizable companies touting unbelievably good rates and terms, then there is nothing the government is going to be able to do to protect you your own poor decision making.

I have had a doctor alert Sallie Mae that I'm disabled and live below the poverty level and have just $159.00 bucks a month to live on. And when I received my new payment book, they increased my payment and interest rate. They have been informed that when I go broke I will COMMIT Suicide !! They have been told this for over 2 years with the payments, but I suppose they wana get rid of me !!

This is a quote from Albert Lord in the 2003 Annual Report for Sallie Mae:

"...Our [record] 29 percent core cash EPS growth (net of non-recurring revenue) was produced by record loan originations and strong fee income growth, largely from debt management operations (collections of defaulted student loans)." -Albert Lord, Sallie Mae CEO, 2003 Annual Report.

This shows that fee income growth for Sallie Mae is attributable in large part to collections on defaulted loans. Any other questions?

Alan - entities that hold financial assets (student lenders, mortgage lenders) pay third party companies to service those assets and when necessary and appropriate, perform collections activities. Debt management means collecting on bad debts, which generate fee income. Otherwise those companies take them as losses.

Why are we part of the studentloanjustice.org? Is it because we like and/or know Alan? Nope. It's because we each have lived (this is living?) this story. We fear for ourselves and for the future of our children. . .

Why is the government in the business of making money on these loans? Helping people pull out of poverty should not be a chance to gauge them for even trying. Why are businesses allowed huge 'do overs' but we as average taxpayers are not only denied bankruptcy, but even a ceasing of interest on already bloated amounts is not allowed. If the numbers are as low as you claim, let us go free. Open the gates of the financial prison we find ourselves.

You see the trouble with this issue is many of us do feel shame, but we also recognize the importance of shedding light on this issue regardless of our personal comfort. I applaud Alan for his willingness to step right out there in the sun and take it all on for us (U.S. too). . .for his speaking for those of us who are brave on paper in this issue. And he is also speaking for the future, for those kids just entering college. . .for those kids who don't have family to live with in the lean years ahead.

This is not just America, the land of opportunity for the rich, this is America the land of opportunity. All we ask of government is to not get in the way.

When "fee income" is 200 times more than what you borrowed, I think it is pretty safe to say you have a scam going Al.

Huckster, I don't know who made you God but some of us are "victims" of predatory schools, predatory loan companies, and non-negotiable collection practices. I have been thru them "all" like most people. You tell me: I have had my wages garnished for over ten years because they would not work out a payment agreement I could handle and it is cheaper payments to be garnished then the payments they expect. They have taken me and my husband's (bless his heart he still loves me) income tax and this year stimulus checks for ten years. I don't appreciate being called a deadbeat. I have worked and paid taxes all my life and supported the government with these loans for many years. I owed $24K to begin with and have all my paperwork to prove my facts and as of this point I have paid back around $60k and the only time I get a statement from these people is when they take our income tax every year and there's between $5k & $10K more interest tacked on to my original amount. Apparently I will be supporting the government for years to come which I'm sure is more than you will ever contribute because at this point they still refuse to work with me so if you want to call that victimized then you go right ahead, I still have broad shoulders and apparently a big heart :)

It appears that Dawn, and Alan and others of their ilk believe that higher education should be free. Or that higher education financing should cost nothing. If that is your belief, then I encourage you to try the European system, where higher education is indeed free. The downside is you don't get to choose which school you attend. Based on your formative dossier and your aptitude you get assigned to the school and program they select for you. For some that is trade and vocational programs. In other words, it is free but you don't have freedom of choice. That is the primary reason why Europeans attend U.S. schools, so they can choose a school and program.

Alan, good luck to you and your crusade. Maybe Pres. Obama will end FFELP once and for all, and along with it no more private education loans. I don't care if that happens since I am through with school and my children will be covered through 529 funds. But thousands of future families will be forced into community college and state schools, or forego college all together thanks to the 2007-2008 FFELP witch hunts. Congratulations.

When a company has an incentive in your failure to pay, whether it be a student loan company or a credit card company, then that company would most likely have an unwritten policy to ensure that you fail to pay, wouldn't you think? I sorta hope the student loan entities, DO get a government bailout. Maybe then there WILL be investigations into these activities that, at the very least, are immoral, and at worse, illegal. And I'm thinking that the forced arbitration is, in itself, a reason to take these people to court: http://citizen.typepad.com/watchdog_blog/2008/04/wsjs-recent-run.html

CAVEAT: This came from my campaign web page, but I'm no longer running for office -I LOST. However, if you read this, you can be a winner...

Problem: Cost of education -even adjusted for inflation -has increased almost 10-fold, and while pork-barrel spending in colleges and universities has increased (e.g., extravagant salaries for their presidents/staff, useless building/lawn decorations, and unnecessary ‘clubs’), quality of education has decreased --because monies are wasted on pork-barrel perks and nonsense. For a more in-depth analysis of this problem, click here.

Proof of declining quality of education: * U.S. Teens Trail Peers Around World on Math-Science Test, By Maria Glod, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, December 5, 2007; Page A07 * http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/04/AR200712...

*U.S. falls in education rank compared to other countries, By Elaine Wu (U-Wire) Story posted: 10-04-2005 07:07, The Kapi‘o Newspress * http://kapio.kcc.hawaii.edu/upload/fullnews.php?id=52

* U.S. slips lower in coding contest: In what could be an ominous sign for the U.S. tech industry, American universities slipped lower in an international programming contest, By Ed Frauenheim, News.com, Posted on ZDNet News: Apr 7, 2005 9:04:00 PM

* http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-142206.html Proof of price-gouging: In the 1956-57 school year, a semester of college cost $138, which is $1,093.85 adjusted for inflation, but now, same semester co$ts $10,066, an almost ten-fold increase! (Source: Budgeteer News, By Virgil Swing, May 15, 2008) * https://secure.forumcomm.com/duluth_budgeteer/articles/index.cfm?page=pu...

Why colleges aren’t motivated to stop to this price-gouging: College loans have no consumer protections (like even credit cards do), but even defaulted loans don’t hurt colleges: The government backs the loan. A common sense solution: Restore bankruptcy protection to college loans, and when colleges realize that exorbitant prices result in defaulted loans-- which they (and not the taxpayer) will have to absorb --t hen they will have motivation to stop price-gouging students and run the schools like a business. Then, and only then, things like standardized testing will be able to gain traction -- with proper funding and removal of motives to waste monies on frivolous perks, and America can once again stand tall in the technological marketplace. Plus, while students should *not* be given a free handout, I believe that those students who were overcharged should experience some level of debt forgiveness, so that Equal Protection is not violated in their differential treatment.

Yes, this is a Federal issue, and I’m running for State office, but I have a clear grasp on the ideas -and can properly work with Federal officials to correct this graft and corruption. In conclusion, how would YOU, my friend, like it if grocery stores and restaurants could charge *you* exorbitant prices for food/water and get away with it -simply because they had Federal backing -and then ruin *your* credit in the process?

Instead of blasting on the "victims," huckster should be thankful that his post-college life has gone so smoothly, and his "sacrifices" (re car, clothes, living at home)have been small. This is not all his doing, so stop gloating -- you will learn the hard way. Most, if not all of us have ended up in the loan situations due to happenings beyond our control (e.g. Katrina) such as serious and costly illness, lack of support, or no family, etc. followed by the greedy doings and the laws within the industry. Just remember-- karma-- whether or not you believe-- it happens, so be thankful, while you still have your so great god-given life.

Here's a historical fact. Sallie Mae was NEVER supposed to be a profit-generating private corporation. Since when is it moral or proper for CEOs of these loan companies to make millions and millions of dollars off the backs of students?

I was told I must get an education to succeed in life. I am poor and come from a poor family. My only way to pay for school was work, loans and grants. During my schooling, while the Republicans were in control of Congress, they changed the rules on student loans, allowed Sallie Mae to be taken private and stopped all oversight. As we have seen when the robber barons control the system on wall street, they bleed it dry until it drops dead. Same thing with student loans.

I hit a patch of bad luck and fell behind on my loans. But then they were sold, repackaged, slapped with 25 percent penalty fees and collection costs (legal, but fees imagined from the ether - not based on any real cost since the government paid my loans back). My interest rates soared. I cannot refinance. I cannot negotiate. I cannot use the legal system. I believe I should pay back all of my loans, with a reasonable interest rate. But my loan has almost tripled. I cannot buy a house, my credit is ruined unless I can pay these off. But at the rate they are growing, I will never do it. I am locked in a financial jail. With the removal of bankruptcy protection, the lenders refuse to negotiate. They only demand huge payments. Because they know I can't do a thing about it.

Sometimes people make mistakes and sometimes the system doesn't work for them. Does that mean our lives should be spent in a financial hell, with no way out, ever? If there were bankruptcy protection I could at least have leverage to force them to negotiate a fair price. I pay more interest on my student loans than I do on a credit card I was lucky enough to obtain. How is that fair, moral or even logical?

 No one should be getting rich on student loans. And I should be able to pay back what I borrowed, not 3 times the amount, inflated by made-up penalties and fees that don't reflect any real cost of doing business. If ever there were a core government function, it is that one - lending money for education and cutting out the robber barons.

McBride et. al. If you seriously believe that the internal legal counsels at Sallie Mae, Nelnet or Citibank condoned illegal sales and marketing activity then you really need to put the crack pipe down and seek medical treatment. These are publicly traded companies operating under strict guidelines. At the lime green outfit we were never allowed to do any sales or marketing without blessing of legal counsel and I am positive all the major players operated the same.

You wish evil on those who you disagree with ideologically. How very dignified that is. I do not wish ill will on any of the folks in distressed financial situations; I feel for those genuine cases of people suffering due to circumstances beyond their control.

Mr. Collinge however suffered no such natural calamity, or personal disability. He chose to place himself in the situation he now resides by voluntarily quitting a job he disliked and subsequently defaulting on his debt obligations. Then he crusades against those companies holding the debt. He has nothing in common with someone suffering a physical disability and unable to work, or whose life was disrupted by a hurricane. In fact, he has no story without all of your legitimate hardship cases.

Dawn - not looking for anyone to suffer. The reason there are laws governing debt obligations is so that people will actually honor their obligations. Otherwise millions of people would simply cease paying on their debt and there would be no more borrowing. Then you would be forced to pay $40,000 in cash for a year of private school, or $20,000 for public. Very few people (i.e., the upper middle class) could attend school under that scenario. See how the system works, and why your loan notes can't simply be forgiven? And the government can no more afford to write off bad student loan notes than the private sector -- they already are close to insolvent in FDLP because all the FFELP companies push their delinquent borrowers to consolidate with FDLP.

"be forced to pay $40,000 in cash for a year of private school, or $20,000 for public"

and if the middle class could not borrow to buy an education. . .somehow education would cost less. .cause without students . . no college.

I did super bad in high school, always absent since I worked instead -- my mom couldn't pay for anything including a home. But this recruiter saw my special artistic talent!!! Barely graduated high school, oh but now i am going to go to the best Graphic Design Schools out there. Signed a bunch of forms, excited about my new school!!! Graduated with a flawless GPA. ==never became a famous graphic designer==

I moved to a new place, met my wife, been working at the same place since high school. Became manager of the whole place. Then EdFund, the same week I became manager, sends me a notice stating they will garnish my wages. Called the school, this special Graphic Design school closed down. WOW how nice is that! Being that my new position paid so much, Dumb Ol' Edfund agreed to a payment plan, instead of continuing to garnish my wages, hell they could have been paid off in all of one year if they just garnished. No matter how much I told them they gave me grants, and i could show them, they didn't care! I asked them to show me papers where i knowingly signed the contract for a dollar amount. DOESN'T EXIST! The trade school got $8,000 a year in Grants, and $10,000 from loans??? Where did i agree to this? UC Berkeley is cheaper!!! Why would i go to a trade school instead, and pay more!!!

I am going to continue to pay this $280 a month until my loan gets rebuilt. Just so I can be a part of tearing EdFund butt apart. Thankfully i made a bunch of good decisions with my job,I can financially be able to withstand EdFund, for now.

Just wait until ALL the members of SLJ (You rock Alan) band together, we are going to impale EDFUND and the whole student loan industry. Once full and unfiltered stories get public about the downright evil actions that have gone on legally. You'll get your up-n-comings, and you'll get it hard. If you had any management power of Sallie Mae, you are just as much to blame for this. Call me a deadbeat, yeah right, lets compare paychecks, i need a Nifty Nabber to grab the money out of my pockets, how deep are yours???

I think we need to look at what is and what is not a contract. Then as a class action, sue the lenders, and the government,as they claim to be a party to the contract.

Nowhere in my so-called-contract, does it show the amounts expected to be paid. Nor does it show where they reserved the right to change the terms of the contract without my prior approval, and that is exactly what is happening to many of us. I've seen about 7 different so called contracts now. And not one of them meet the legal qualification to be called contracts. They accuse us of fraud, yet they are the ones who are actually committing such fraud. Its high time we students, the victims of this predatory lending that is allowed in America, to stand up and tell them to F-off.

Hate to spoil a good time on Fantasy Island for that guy at the top - but there are a lot of student lending practices that are predatory. For instance, the one student loan company that you see advertised more than any other one is the a fore-mentioned one on light night TV - I forget the name, but they are dangerous. I tried getting a loan through them to finish my schooling, and I got approved for a $20,000 loan - but with a $52,000 finance fee! Yeah, I would have ended up with over $70,000 of debt for ONE YEARS' worth of tuition...that is ridiculous. I'd have to work full time and take out loans to cover my student loans, while living in a homeless shelter just to afford it, never mind what I'd have to endure for 4 or more year's worth, and 4 years to a bachelor is a minor miracle in this day and age - the average is now over 5. Student loans aren't predatory? Yeah...and water isn't wet.