my debt situation

Avatar for aerandel
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
my debt situation
11
Thu, 08-25-2005 - 11:36pm
Hi everyone, I am lurker on this board and read just about every message that is posted, however I think I've only posted once or twice here. I wanted to actually give a formal hello and let you all in on my debt situation. First of all, I am 22, a recent college graduate and have a bf of six years (fiance if we could get our finances in order). Right now I am 45K in debt from student loans, 25 is federal loans which I consolidated, and the rest is private loans that I intend to consolidate through CFS. I have been unable to find a job in my field (elementary education) so I am still working my crappy job that got me through college (12k a year) and this year I will also be subbing in local districts. I am also attending graduate school and although I have a good chunk of the money I need for my first semester tuition I still do owe them 1300 dollars on top of what I have saved just for this first semester. School bills aside, I have two credit cards, one is my target card and it is at 21% but I only owe 247 dollars on it. My other card is a lower interst visa card, about 9% interest. My current balance is 4200 dollars. It's been sitting in the 3400 range until recently when my bf's new job in real estate caused us the need to buy him a laptop. I also have a car loan and owe 2300 on that. That's just me...then there is of course my dbf's bills. I am doing ok...make all the payments on time even if it's only the minimum. My poor bf however is drowning. He owes 35K in student loan debt, which equals 310 dollars a month in payments (not even counting the money I will be paying out soon for student loans) plus a car loan, credit card, debt to dell computer company, cell phone, etc. Overall the situation is really awful and I feel like my life is screwed over without even having started. WE are 80K in debt just from student loans, not counting all the other debts. We are only 22. He just got set up in a real estate job so we are praying that he gets some sales just to get caught up on his bills...he is drowning...everything is late and it's a question of paying whichever one is the latest when he does get some money. I keep trying to help but I can only do so much and still protect my credit by keeping my head above water. Any advice would be appreciated. I just don't know how we will ever get out of debt or ever get a home, have kids, etc when we are so in debt at such a young age. They say school debt is good debt but as an elementary school teacher I will only make 34K a year....was it worth it to be 45K in debt plus graduate school costs...? AGh! 600 a month in student loan payments between the two of us seems like so much. And they will be around until we are like 55...how will we ever afford to have a normal life or a home?

                          

             

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-22-2005
Sat, 08-27-2005 - 11:43am

"I mean the army or even airforce would pay off most of his loans he would only have to do four years active or one weekend a month if he went to the reserves. For that matter you could join too and they would give you money for your masters called the GI bill. PLus have free housing ect I only suggest this because you are all so young and have so much debt with the right plan you could all fix this within a few years so you could eventually start a family or get a house ... "

I agree with the posters who suggest that your BF should get a job. Many people work on real estate on the side and there is no reason why he cannot do that, at least until the real estate business takes off.

Getting into the military is another matter. With the current situation I would not do it myself not suggest any of my friends to do it. You have to do 2-3 years to use the GI bill, and in the mean time, you could get sent anywhere in the world, and being reserve is no guarantee that you get to stay home. Depends on which branch of service and where you are, the one weekend a month is a myth. I worked with a major at the army who is reserve and he got all sorts of things to deal with and I have to cover for him at work more than once. (I don't mind doing it at all, but the reality is one weekend a month plus three weeks per year plus evenings and other times).

Also, as many other posters said, paying off debt the hard way is a learning process. You learn more (even if it is ever so painful) than having someone bail you out; and less likely to repeat your mistakes.

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