Debt Collectors

[CNS]

Get her name off the house and cars.

[BIG APPLE CAT]

Fortunately for me, her name isn't on any of my or our stuff. House is in my name, truck is in my name, her car is in her name but since she's only been paying for it a couple years my guess is it's not really hers for the collection agency to take

[420seriouscat69]

I tried to run from it to out of college cause I was only making 24k a year and they wanted (still do) $700 a month in payments. I had private loans too. They're is no running. They will find a way to garnish her paychecks after awhile. I got 2nd jobs and lived at home for awhile. Finding a 3rd income is important in this case. You can do it!

[CNS]

Third income related,  drugs would be ideal.  Cash biz.  Keep it small.

[wetwillie]

Fortunately for me, her name isn't on any of my or our stuff. House is in my name, truck is in my name, her car is in her name but since she's only been paying for it a couple years my guess is it's not really hers for the collection agency to take

Do you guys keep your money seperate?

[OK_Cat]

Wonderful case study in poors

[IPA4Me]

Wonderful case study in poors

You're an ass.

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

If you don't resolve this, they can't go after your assets, but you pretty much resign yourself to a life of fielding debt collector calls and being the sole bread winner - and you might be fine with that, you just need to understand it. Her credit will be worthless and even if she works, most of that income will be garnished. So again, if you guys are ok with that, then let them sue you and take their judgments. You might even negotiate the judgment down a bit if you consent to it (saves legal fees).

If you'd like to work your way out, you need to visit with a qualified debt counselor immediately. The lenders almost never write off principal, but you can sometimes waive interest if you get back on a payment plan. Unfortunately, if you're already so far behind that the debt had been sold to a debt collection agency, they're even worse to deal with.

Asking for advice here... JFC. You haven't even provided any info. How many lenders, who are they, and what's she owe on each, for starters.

[BIG APPLE CAT]

Fortunately for me, her name isn't on any of my or our stuff. House is in my name, truck is in my name, her car is in her name but since she's only been paying for it a couple years my guess is it's not really hers for the collection agency to take

Do you guys keep your money seperate?

Fortunately for me, yes. We both contribute a portion of our paycheck to a joint account which we use for bills and groceries but as earlier mentioned if they try to garnish that account I will stop putting money in it.

[BIG APPLE CAT]

Wonderful case study in poors

Please kill yourself.

[BIG APPLE CAT]

If you don't resolve this, they can't go after your assets, but you pretty much resign yourself to a life of fielding debt collector calls and being the sole bread winner - and you might be fine with that, you just need to understand it. Her credit will be worthless and even if she works, most of that income will be garnished. So again, if you guys are ok with that, then let them sue you and take their judgments. You might even negotiate the judgment down a bit if you consent to it (saves legal fees).

If you'd like to work your way out, you need to visit with a qualified debt counselor immediately. The lenders almost never write off principal, but you can sometimes waive interest if you get back on a payment plan. Unfortunately, if you're already so far behind that the debt had been sold to a debt collection agency, they're even worse to deal with.

Asking for advice here... JFC. You haven't even provided any info. How many lenders, who are they, and what's she owe on each, for starters.

Yeah I mean like I said, this is completely foreign to me so I didn't even know where to begin. Truth be told I really don't know the full extent of her debt and I'm not sure I really want to know. But what I do know is that she tried to have all her debt consolidated, she thought she did but there was a misunderstanding bc only the federal loans were consolidated, not the private one. So, mistakenly thinking she was making correct payments, her private loan went unpaid for a few months and now they mad. My understanding is that her loan originated with AES, who sold it to another lender NCT, who sold it to another lender NCO, who in turn sold it to debt collector NES. I don't know how many federal loans had gotten consolidated, or what the total amount is, but my understanding is that they've been reasonable with negotiating a payment plan. The private loan now controlled by NES is in the ballpark of approx. $45k.
I'm hoping I understand correctly that, bc the debt was incurred before her and I even met let alone were married, that they have no legal recourse in coming after my wages or assets.

[CNS]

What's her degree in?  Qualified for some better paying job?  Not a short term fix but the best tool for future use.

[Kat Kid]

If you don't resolve this, they can't go after your assets, but you pretty much resign yourself to a life of fielding debt collector calls and being the sole bread winner - and you might be fine with that, you just need to understand it. Her credit will be worthless and even if she works, most of that income will be garnished. So again, if you guys are ok with that, then let them sue you and take their judgments. You might even negotiate the judgment down a bit if you consent to it (saves legal fees).

If you'd like to work your way out, you need to visit with a qualified debt counselor immediately. The lenders almost never write off principal, but you can sometimes waive interest if you get back on a payment plan. Unfortunately, if you're already so far behind that the debt had been sold to a debt collection agency, they're even worse to deal with.

Asking for advice here... JFC. You haven't even provided any info. How many lenders, who are they, and what's she owe on each, for starters.

Yeah I mean like I said, this is completely foreign to me so I didn't even know where to begin. Truth be told I really don't know the full extent of her debt and I'm not sure I really want to know. But what I do know is that she tried to have all her debt consolidated, she thought she did but there was a misunderstanding bc only the federal loans were consolidated, not the private one. So, mistakenly thinking she was making correct payments, her private loan went unpaid for a few months and now they mad. My understanding is that her loan originated with AES, who sold it to another lender NCT, who sold it to another lender NCO, who in turn sold it to debt collector NES. I don't know how many federal loans had gotten consolidated, or what the total amount is, but my understanding is that they've been reasonable with negotiating a payment plan. The private loan now controlled by NES is in the ballpark of approx. $45k.
I'm hoping I understand correctly that, bc the debt was incurred before her and I even met let alone were married, that they have no legal recourse in coming after my wages or assets.

This relationship is destined to fail on these terms.  Change the terms of your relationship or move on.

[CNS]

Also, I don't care what the law says about her prob/your prob.  She obvs isn't up to getting the detauls nailed down which is extremely important to do, so you need to get intimately involved in this.  If you are married and have no plans of changing this, this is all your problem, not just hers.

Get so that you know how it happened, who sold/bought/consolidated what, where each loan landed, and who you owe what, when, and for how long.  Not knowing details is never the right answer.

[BIG APPLE CAT]

Fair points. I guess before it hadn't really mattered bc at the end of the day she was able to cover her share, but obviously things have gotten out of hand and I should be involved. Also she majored in journalism. From what I can tell she is doing about all she can with that degree in the moment but I'm optimistic she has put herself in strong position for career advancement in the near future

[CNS]

Def stop the my money/your money stuff.  I mean, keep the accts if it protects you from creditors but quit counting it as yours vs hers.  Her debt is yours. Your finances need to be thought of as a singular entity. Otherwise, KK is right about the likely failure of your relationship.

You should def be putting your money in against these payments.  Should have been since saying "I do". 

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk

[06wildcat]

Sign up for enough credit cards to pay off the student loan debt then file for bankruptcy. It would be a huge improvement in your financial situation.

[eastcat]

Fair points. I guess before it hadn't really mattered bc at the end of the day she was able to cover her share, but obviously things have gotten out of hand and I should be involved. Also she majored in journalism. From what I can tell she is doing about all she can with that degree in the moment but I'm optimistic she has put herself in strong position for career advancement in the near future

action meet consequence

Taking out 250k in loans to get a degree in eastern european basket weaving would be a better story plot with the same outcome.

[Rage Against the McKee]

Sign up for enough credit cards to pay off the student loan debt then file for bankruptcy. It would be a huge improvement in your financial situation.

Something tells me their credit score isn't going to be high enough for that to be a viable alternative.

You could refinance your home if you have a substantial portion of the principal paid. That would basically transfer your debt to your mortgage which should hopefully be under 5%.

[KSUBrian]

Def stop the my money/your money stuff.  I mean, keep the accts if it protects you from creditors but quit counting it as yours vs hers.  Her debt is yours. Your finances need to be thought of as a singular entity. Otherwise, KK is right about the likely failure of your relationship.

You should def be putting your money in against these payments.  Should have been since saying "I do". 

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk

Completely wrong. Unless you signed an agreement withthe lender agreeing to be oligated to the debt, either before or after you are married, you are NOT legally rexponsible for a spouses debt. The only caveat I have ever run across for this is medical bills.  If gou live in Kansas, even tbough house is in your name, if purchased after marriage,  she is legally 50% owner and they can attach a judgement to it. Once tney attach a judgement,  they can foreclose. If you bought it before married, unless she signed a waiver to prior acquired property, she still owns 50%. I'm not sure if they can attach judgement in this case.

Debt collector is pushing to get her to pay as much as possible as quickly as possible because that is how they make money. For every dollar she pays, they probably get 30-40% and current lender (probably in a pool owned by investors) gets the rest. This is an unsecured loan so current debt owner is really in a weak position. She could file bankruptcy and essentially wipe them out. If she owes a lot compared to her own income, that may be the way she needs to go if a credit counselor can't get a payment plan worked out for her. Worst thing is to ignore this and hope they just stop calling.

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney but have expeience with lending. You probably should at  least have an initial consultant with an attorney to make sure you are both protected and make the right decision on what to. A few $$ to an attorney is better than a $45k mistake.

[Bloodfart]

This thread is giving me an ulcer.

[SkinnyBenny]

I have heard something about a plan that allows you to have your loan forgiven after 10 years if you work in the public sector, so look into that.

http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts/public-service

100% worth investigating. Might even be worth getting a job that qualifies for this if she doesn't have one already.

*edit* skimmed over the part about private lenders. Might be boned on this one.

[WonderMeal]

KK and Hemmy are doing a great job ITT. No surprise, Worst Poster eastcat is still horrible. Just the worst.

Summary of stud advice in this thread:

1) You and your wife need to be open and honest with each other about all aspects of your finances. Savings accounts, retirement, student loans, car/truck payments, mortgage, etc. Get it all out there. If all of her money is going to student loans, that probably also means she's not adequately preparing for retirement, which will be another huge issue 10-20 years from now. If you're committed enough to this person to marry them, having a tough convo about finances shouldn't be that big of a deal.

2) Talk to a credit counselor (or whatever they're called) and probably a lawyer, too.

Other incorrect or dumb or non-true things that have been posted that need to be addressed:

-Student loan debt is one of the few things that can persist after a person files for bankruptcy.
-There is no "Obama Law Bailout" that says unpaid student loan debt is forgiven after 20 years. That is ridiculous, take it to The Pit (or Breitbart).
-Like your wife said, Income Based Repayment does not apply to private loans. It is also not available if you earn above a certain amount.
-I'm pretty sure that the "forgive your remaining loan balance after 10 years" does not apply to private loans, either. Can't confirm, though.
-Props to your wife for trying to dig herself out of this hole, and props to you for attempting to assist in this process.

[SkinnyBenny]

And props to eastcat for doing nothing to dig himself out of his well-established Worst Poster hole. Nicely done, friend. At this point I'm actually just impressed more than anything else.

[CNS]

Brian, I wasn't speaking to the legal ramifications or responsibilities, but to the best financial practices of a couple.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk