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Sheryl S
Latest posts by Sheryl S (see all)
- School Scam Victims Can Now Challenge Private Student Loans - May 27, 2016
- Private Student Loan Horror Story - May 24, 2016
- Higher One Ordered To Compensate Students - March 24, 2016
For a lot of former college students, the maze of student lending can become so byzantine that it becomes very easy to lose track of the loans that you’ve taken out, who they were from and when they’re due. Some graduates even find themselves in a bad position well after they’ve completed their schooling, based on the fact that they haven’t been paying on a loan that they didn’t even know they had and so, it has gone into default or been sold to a collection agency. With such a convoluted student private lending system at work, is it really any wonder that we’re seeing so many people go into default over the last several years?
It’s easy to say that they should have kept better track of the loans that they were receiving, but in some cases, it almost appears that there was a concerted effort to keep people in the dark about where their money was coming from and how much they would actually be paying back. While federal loans are generally pretty straight-forward and easy-to-follow, when it comes to private student loans, the whole thing becomes much more of an ordeal, and it often seems as though it would take a financial expert just to work out the details of the contracts that come with them.
At the beginning of each semester, when their whole world is being turned upside-down by demanding instructors and a completely foreign schedule of classes, most students are given a packet of financial aid information that is supposed to let them know what type of loan(s) they are getting, who their lender is and other information, like what their rate of interest will be. The problem is that much of this documentation is printed in legalese, with some of the most important statements, facts and figures buried deep in the small print.
All of this combines to make it a virtual certainty that the average college student either can’t find crucial information about their loans, or that they simply won’t, because they’re too busy dealing with other matters. In any case, the paperwork that’s associated with private student loans needs to be made at least as clear as that which comes with federal loans. When a college graduate doesn’t even realize that they have taken out a private loan until it has gone into default, we’re dealing with a system that is in serious need of repairs.
If you have questions or comments, please chat in the comments below or on the ChallengeStudentDebt Twitter handle.
If you feel you were defrauded by the school you attended or you are being treated poorly as a distressed borrower by your creditors, take the free challenge debt review to find out what options you have regarding your student loans.
