Bill from the School, please help!

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-2008
Bill from the School, please help!
5
Thu, 10-16-2008 - 10:38pm

I just moved to a new place and got a new job after a really rough year. I have about 11,000 dollars in student loans but on top of those, making payments etc. Last spring I went through a really rough spot... fall semester I had straight As, but spring semester I got straight Fs! I didn't know but apparently that caused my college to revoke my loans for the government. So I got a bill today for $800.00 dollars!!! They say I have to pay it by the first of November or they will send it to collections. I called them and they basically said I have to pay it all now and they won't do it any other way. I've never been in collections before and I'm pretty much terrified. I went online and made a $10.00 payment as that's all I could afford at this time. Next paycheck I might be able to throw $200.00 at it before the end of the month.

What should I do? I'm really scared about this. As I just moved to a new place, I don't have the funds to cover this!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2008
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 8:06am

I don't have many words of advice, but I'm sending hugs your way!


If the school won't negotiate then I don't know what you can do.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-15-2008
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 10:13am

Well, I was always under the impression that a bill can't be sent to collections as long as you are showing effort to pay it down. At least that's the way it has worked for us and medical bills. In fact, hospitals will eventually write it off if you just send a check for $5 a month! :) It's not worth their processing fees! But with the government, I'm sure it could be quite different. You know they'll always get their money! If you have never had anything go into collections, I'm wondering if this one time will really do much damage to your credit rating. I know nothing about that. But I know I have pretty good credit, and I had a medical bill or two go into collections in the past few years. But if it does go into collections, it doesn't increase the amount owed, it just buys you more time to pay it off I would think. I know it would be BEST not to let it get there, but if that's the only way...and you can pay it off with them in a couple months you should be fine. That's just my opinion. Debt collectors will give you several warnings before taking you to court or going the route of payroll deductions.


I am hoping and wishing and praying it works out for you! I was in the same situation once. I dropped out and had to pay back the $600 dollars I had gotten from the government. My mom saved the day with her Credit Card and I paid her back. Luckily she had a credit card with no interest. But my thoughts are with you. MANY HUGS!!!


RT Victim

~RTVictim~

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and da

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2006
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 11:33am

Well, here are a few thoughts:

1. You might try to acquire a credit card with a balance transfer deal (hopefully no fee and at a low intro rate) on it and move the balance there. The advantage to you is that you'll be able to pay it in installments, you'll build some credit card history on your credit bureau and avoid the collections. The disadvantage is that you will have opened a credit card that you will have to be very careful with. DO NOT open it, use it and close it. That will be very hard on your credit score. If you open it, pay it off and either use it for small purchases you would be making anyway and pay it off to build credit OR cut it up and forget it exists.

2. If you belong to a credit union or have a good relationship with a bank, you might be able to apply for and get a personal loan for that amount.

If you choose either of these routes, do so thoughtfully. Don't run around applying at 15 different places. Pick the one you think you are most likely to be approved for and go for that. You don't want a whole bunch of inquiries on your report.

3. Can you work some sort of temp work to get some funds? Look at craigslist under 'gigs'. They are often looking for young women like yourself to do product marketing at events, etc. If you could work the weekends between now and then, you might be able to get the additional $600 you need.

4. Have anything valuable you can sell? Again, Craigslist can help you move things like this quickly. eBay is good too for the right things but it costs you money and might not be very quick.

I would pay as much as you possibly can. They will lose some part of the money if they send it to collections so if you can maybe pay 1/2 of it by like the 28th, I would do that and then call and try again to negotiate another month.

Peg

ETA: I don't know what your student loan payment is but you might call them and see if you could get a 3 month forbearance on them and apply that money to this debt. Also, at least on mine, the late pay penalty is pretty low and I think it might not even be until 30 days. They won't report late pay until 30 days either. I'd call though and see if they will help you out without having to play games with the payments.




Edited 10/17/2008 11:46 am ET by p7eggyc
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2007
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 4:35pm

Are you still enrolled in school? And is this your financial aid office billing you? Or is it the government? I'm a little confused.


If your school is billing you, you should set up a meeting with someone in financial aid. Not the person who answers the phone; the director of financial aid. I'd sit down with him/her and explain the situation. Financial Aid people are there to

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-2008
Wed, 10-22-2008 - 5:31pm
Thank you for all your support. This paycheck I think I can put a 100 dollars to it and that will take it down to 690, which is a little better anyway. I'll keep doing it.. and hopefully it'll get to the point where it won't be worth sending anywhere.