“The burden of debt has become the lens through which I see my workplace, and it is rapidly altering my view of my profession. I can no longer fulfill my classroom duties without wondering if the ultimate price, for many of my students, is a form of indenture.”
—NYU professor Andrew Ross, who last November helped launch the Occupy Student Debt Campaign, in a piece that asks if it’s time you stop repaying your student loans.
Malissa Babe is a divorced mother of two teenaged daughters whose wages are being garnished to the tune of $1000 per month. Why? Because her ex-husband stopped paying on their consolidated loan and now she's on the hook for over $134,000.
signon.orgI’m writing today to ask you to sign a new petition to correct an enormous injustice by student loan company American Student Assistance (ASA).
Malissa only borrowed $17,000 for school, however; her husband had borrowed over $117,000 in student loans. During their marriage, they were encouraged by their lenders to consolidate their separate loans into one so as to lower their monthly payments. Seemed like a good idea at the time - until they got divorced.
Because of the sweetheart deals from Congress and the enormous collections powers given to student lenders, the divorce court refused to even consider the issue of their consolidated loan, leaving Malissa to fend for herself with a student loan company that doesn’t care about anything but getting paid.
When her ex-husband stopped paying on their consolidated loan, Malissa was left on the hook for the full amount of both loans, even though she only borrowed $17,000. Now, every month, $1000 of her income is being garnished before she ever sees a dime. What’s worse? ASA refuses to even give Malissa any information about the loans because her ex-husband has been uncooperative.
Malissa drafted this petition with the hope that public pressure upon ASA will force them allow her to separate her loan from that of her ex-husband’s. She’s already paid back over $13,000 of the $17,000 that she originally borrowed, yet, according to ASA, she’s fully responsible for the full $134,000. This is a huge injustice that epitomizes the abuses of the student lending industry and, together, we must ALL take a stand!
…..
Sincerely,
Rob, Natalia, Kyle, Aaron & The Student Debt Crisis Team
“It's the collegiate equivalent of flipping houses. You borrow as much money as you can for the best school you can get into and afford and then you “flip” that education for the great job you are going to get when you graduate.”
—Mark Cuban, The Coming Meltdown in College Education & Why The Economy Won’t Get Better Any Time Soon
Occupy Wall Street campaigners buy-up debt to abolish
A group of campaigners linked to the Occupy Wall Street movement is buying-up distressed loans for pennies in the pound and cancelling them to “liberate debtors at random”.
The Rolling Jubilee project is seeking donations to help it buy-up distressed debts, including student loans and outstanding medical bills, and then wipe the slate clean by writing them off.
Individuals or companies can buy distressed debt from lenders at knock-down prices if it the borrower is in default or behind with payments and are then free to do with it as they see fit, including cancelling it free of charge.
As a test run the group spent $500 on distressed debt, buying $14,000 worth of outstanding loans and pardoning the debtors. They are now looking to expand their experiment nationwide and are asking people to donate money to the cause.
via The Telegraph, full article here
Assuming this is completely legit (which I’d like to believe it is), tiny donations from people who can manage them will ultimately contribute to the lessening of people’s debt nationwide. I could sure stand to benefit from a cause like this, and I’m sure most of the people I know could too.
Kiva
A lot of people I speak to still haven’t heard of Kiva, it started in 2004 and is a website that gives the opportunity to lend money to people all over the world. These loans are different because they are interest free and they give someone a real chance to do improve their business without the worry of debt building up.
This video was the first thing I watched after discovering Kiva and I think it explains it perfectly.
I’m especially interested in the agriculture loans as these not only allow a family to eat well, but also gain extra money to send their children to school. Here are a couple of examples: Sona’s Group and Nout’s Group.
People are so eager to help; I had a look at specific loan requests a few days ago and the three I clicked on have now been fully funded! I think microfinance is such a great thing, people in poverty don’t need to rely on aid and can really make something of themselves. So if you have the money, I encourage you to spend it on something really worthwhile.
I chose now to mention this as a book has just been published by a man who put a lot of money into Kiva loans and decided to follow each one. The book is called The International Bank of Bob and here is a Link if you are interested. I for one cannot wait to read it.
