Bell Curve The Law Talking Guy Raised by Republicans U.S. West
Well, he's kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly," and replace "dog" with "son."

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Government usury

This is a bit different from what we normally talk about. But tonight, I was looking at my "progess" in repaying my student loans. I have to tell you, it is demoralizing. I took my first student loan out in 1994. I managed to use deferments and such through 1996. I started repaying in late 1996 only to go back into deferment for 2 more years. During that time, I took out 2 more loans. Now, my annual income is less than the amount of the loans I took. I have been in full repayment since 1999. I have repaid $21,000 in interest and only $7,000 in principle. (I think the $2000 I put on my visa card last year at 2.99% was the fastest $2000 I ever paide on it. I may have to try doing more of that! ) Eighty percent of my current monthly payment goes to interest. The interest accumulates daily. So sending extra money in doesn't get you ahead. By the time you send the money and they process the payment, 8 days of new interest will have accumulated. Because I consolidated, I am stuck with an interstate of about 7%. I am not alone. There are many of us! I can commiserate with Developing Countries. I, me, I am ARGENTINA! And cry for me, damn it!

Here is the insidious part. Corporate interests (i.e. Sallie Mae) has blocked congressional attempts at
loosening the student loan refinancing laws.
As recently as last month, attempts to level the playing field for those of us with student loans were beat back. So everyone else gets 3% interest while we pay 7-8%!

Baby boomers can refinance their houses, and get tax breaks on the property tax while their children are saddled with a huge debt burden before even stepping foot in their first real jobs. I have always said that having a whole generation of your best and brightest burdened with debt is a disaster in the making.

Maybe it is a good thing that Congress is seeking to cut funding for student loans. If there is less money for student loans, perhaps more fair financing options will be available. Perhaps the likes of Sallie Mae, the now independent from the government, would not be able to practice such usury.

Adults, like myself, and some if not all of my fellow bloggers, who have these types of student loads should be allowed to refinance them. They are 30 year loans, like mortgages. The tax breaks for loan interest need to be raised, and these loans should not be held by private companies. Interest rates should be capped lower. The idea is not for lenders to make a huge profit , but to lend students money for higher education at a fair and reasonable rate.

In the meantime I welcome ideas on how we can get around this type of financial abuse. For now, I am going to visit my credit union to see if I can at least take a private loan at a lower rate and I will continue to lobby my employer to offer student loan repayments as a retention bonus. What do my fellow Citizen's think?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm one of those lucky ones who conslidated at the far lower interst rate.

The general rule of thumb is that if you are plagued by debt you want inflation. Assuming your wages keep up with inflation (and wages for most government employees and many private employees are indexed to inflation by contract), the value of the debt relative to your income will drop. Unless you have a flexible interest rate. If you have one of those you're screwed.

By the way, lots of people have flexible rate mortgages. Inflation is gradually increasing as are interest rates. All these people with flexible rate mortgages are going to start defaulting on their house payments in the forseeable future. That's going to be a political nightmare! 

// posted by Raised By Republicans

Anonymous said...

It's hard to find figures on total debt outstanding, but a study from 1997 showed that nearly $230 billion had been borrowed by students since 1967, when federal student loan programs began, but amazingly, 1/3 of that total was in 1993-1996 alone. As of 2000, another report showed student borrowing of $30 billion/year and increasing. That's a huge debt burden on a generation. It's also a sad policy decision to shift the cost of education. 

// posted by LTG

Anonymous said...

Students who borrowed over the last 5 years had a pretty sweet deal because interest rates were very low. LTG points to the $30 bil a year in borrowing. Think of the interest payments on that! Sallie Mae gets the interest paid by the government while students are in school. So basically, the company gives unsecured loans to students and can afford to loose the principle entirely after 4-5 years. And actually, Sallie Mae (SLM Corp.), formerly federally chartered, doesn't risk a thing. It simply repackages the loans and sells them. It's a sick business, if you ask me.

An entire industry of consolidators has grown up. I couldn't find figures on the value of that industry now. But judging by the amount of junk mail I get from them, it is huge.

There was a time when you could agree to bad credit for 7 years and file for Bankruptcy. That came to an end in 1998. The USDE can seize portions of borrowers paychecks, tax refunds, disability check, and Social Security payments without a court order, a power that only the Internal Revenue Service regularly uses. Unlike consumer debt, there's no statute of limitations on student loans. So the USDE can even go after decades old loans.

The USDE boasts that if you go into default, it will get not only every dollar of principle, but 20% more in fees and backed interest. Loan collectors are entitled to 20% of what they collect and that gets added onto the principle of the student loan. Short of death or permanent disability there isn't any getting free. In one case I read about, a musician had $100,000 in student loans. He was working 60 hours a week earning $20K an year. He tried to file of bankruptcy. The government attorney's said he had to trim his costs. They told him to get rid of his $23/month internet connection (that he used for finding jobs), his $48/month gym membership (he needed to rehabilitate a back injury) and his cat. That would save him an additional $20 a month. The judge sided with the man and called the debt void. However, the man lost on appeal. Might as well bring back debtor prison.
Are we sure the Costra Nostra isn't running the program? And to think the Republicans wanted to abolish the Department of Education! That money maker????

Now I don't think people should "get out" of their loans. But as I said, the refinancing laws need to be liberalized and tax breaks should be increased. Loans need to be treated more like consumer debt.

This all really got bad in 1998 when the Clinton administration tried to get student loan interest rates reduced. Instead, the Republican congress tightened all the rules. That is some family values for you.
 

// posted by USWest

Anonymous said...

The federal government makes direct loans through the education department, and you can refinance student loans through the government. I did that to cut out the middleman. Because Republicans controlled Congress when Clinton set up the Direct Loan program, they insisted that the loan officers suggest consolidating with private, for-profit lenders (who, because they operate at a profit, have to charge more than the government, which doesn't). Let go of Sallie Mae. 

// posted by LTG

Anonymous said...

Consolidated with the feds. It doesn't matter- the terms are all the same. Clinton tried to do something good. In fact, Stafford loans exploded in 1994 in large part because of Clinton's reforms. I think, however, there have been serious unintended and potentially unforeseen consequences, as there often are with any policy.

Student loans allow universities to get around the market. They can charge higher fees knowing that the money will come. It is a form of subsidy, but as LTG pointed out, the costs fall on the wrong people. Businesses complain that they can't get qualified people and have to go overseas to find them, yet how many bother to help new hires with student loans?

My personal problem aside: the system is broken. It raises bigger issues and points, yet again, to the Republican strategy of squeezing the middle class. It also raises the question of abuse of power of the a government agency. Do the acts of the USDE to collect on these loans rise to the level of government abuse of power?
 

// posted by USWest

Anonymous said...

To be honest, I've had nothing but good interactions with USDE. They give a forbearance, it seems, at the drop of a hat, and until recently interest rates were very low. I took my 8.25% loans from the early 1990s and consolidated at 4.7%. One loan with Sallie Mae resulted in endless nasty phone calls over a payment dispute. Never with USDE - always very pleasant.

I do agree that the inability to discharge the loans in bankruptcy is a problem. But now that we've basically abolished bankruptcy for the middle class, who cares any more? 

// posted by LTG

Anonymous said...

A timely post, USWest! As it happens, in a unanimous ruling today, the Supreme Court now says that Social Security benefits can be garnished to pay off student loans. Read here . 

// posted by Anonymous

Anonymous said...

I've had great interaction with USDE as well. That isn't the point. 

// posted by USWest

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Debt Consolidation entails taking out one loan to pay off many others. This is often done to secure a lower interest rate, secure a fixed interest rate or for the convenience of servicing only one loan.

Debt consolidation can simply be from a number of unsecured loans into another unsecured loan, but more often it involves a secured loan against an asset that serves as collateral, which is most commonly a house (in this case a mortgage is secured against the house.) The collateralization of the loan allows a lower interest rate than without it, because by collateralizing, the asset owner agrees to allow the forced sale (foreclosure) of the asset in order to pay back the loan. The risk to the lender is reduced so the interest rate offered is lower.

Sometimes, debt consolidation companies can discount the amount of the loan. When the debtor is in danger of bankruptcy, the debt consolidator will buy the loan at a discount. A prudent debtor can shop around for consolidators who will pass along some of the savings. Consolidation can affect the ability of the debtor to discharge debts in bankruptcy, so the decision to consolidate must be weighed carefully.

Debt consolidation is often advisable in theory when someone is paying credit card debt. Credit cards can carry a much larger interest rate than even an unsecured loan from a bank. Debtors with property such as a home or car may get a lower rate through a secured loan using their property as collateral. Then the total interest and the total cash flow paid towards the debt is lower allowing the debt to be paid off sooner, incurring less interest. In practice, many people are in credit card debt because they spend more than their income. If that habit continues, the consolidation will not benefit them much because they will simply increase their credit card balances again.

Because of the theoretical advantage that debt consolidation offers a consumer that has high interest debt balances, companies can take advantage of that benefit of refinancing to charge very high fees in the debt consolidation loan. Sometimes these fees are near the state maximum for mortgage fees. In addition, some unscrupulous companies will knowingly wait until a client has backed themselves into a corner and must refinance in order to consolidate and pay off bills that they are behind on the payments. If the client does not refinance they may lose their house, so they are willing to pay any allowable fee to complete the debt consolidation. In some cases the situation is that the client does not have enough time to shop for another lender with lower fees and may not even be fully aware of them. This practice is known as predatory lending. Certainly many, if not most, debt consolidation transactions do not involve predatory lending.

Student Loan Consolidation
In the United States, federal student loans are consolidated somewhat differently, as federal student loans are guaranteed by the U.S. government. In a federal student loan consolidation, existing loans are purchased and closed by a loan consolidation company or by the Department of Education (depending on what type of federal student loan the borrower holds). Interest rates for the consolidation are based on that year's student loan rate, which is in turn based on the 91-day Treasury bill rate at the last auction in May of each calendar year.

Student loan rates can fluctuate from the current low of 4.70% to a maximum of 8.25% for federal Stafford loans, 9% for PLUS loans. The current consolidation program allows students to consolidate once with a private lender, and reconsolidate again only with the Department of Education. Upon consolidation, a fixed interest rate is set based on the then-current interest rate. Reconsolidating does not change that rate. If the student combines loans of different types and rates into one new consolidation loan, a weighted average calculation will establish the appropriate rate based on the then-current interest rates of the different loans being consolidated together.

Federal student loan consolidation is often referred to as refinancing, which is incorrect because the loan rates are not changed, merely locked in. Unlike private sector debt consolidation, student loan consolidation does not incur any fees for the borrower; private companies make money on student loan consolidation by reaping subsidies from the federal government.

Student loan consolidation can be beneficial to students' credit rating, but it's important to note that not all federal student loan consolidation companies report their loans to all credit bureaus; Experian or Transunion, which means that students will have differing credit scores at Equifax Transunion, and Experian.

Mortgage Loan Types
There are many types of mortgage loans. The two basic types of amortized loans are the fixed rate mortgage (FRM) and adjustable rate mortgage.

In a FRM, the interest rate, and hence monthly payment, remains fixed for the life (or term) of the loan. In the U.S., the term is usually for 10, 15, 20, or 30 years. The only increase a consumer might see in their monthly payments would result from an increase in their property taxes or insurance rates (paid using an escrow account, if they've opted to use an escrow). But payments for principal and interest will be consistent throughout the life of the loan using an FRM.

In an ARM, the interest rate is fixed for a period of time, after which it will periodically (annually or monthly) adjust up or down to some market index. Common indices in the U.S. include the Prime Rate, the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), and the Treasury Index ("T-Bill"). Other indexes like 11th District Cost of Funds Index, COSI, and MTA, are also available but are less popular.

Adjustable rates transfer part of the interest rate risk from the lender to the borrower, and thus are widely used where unpredictable interest rates make fixed rate loans difficult to obtain. Since the risk is transferred, lenders will usually make the initial interest rate of the ARM's note anywhere from 0.5% to 2% lower than the average 30-year fixed rate.

In most scenarios, the savings from an ARM outweigh its risks, making them an attractive option for people who are planning to keep a mortgage for ten years or less.

Additionally, lenders rely on credit reports and credit scores derived from them. The higher the score, the more creditworthy the borrower is assumed to be. Favorable interest rates are offered to buyers with high scores. Lower scores indicate higher risk to the lender, and lenders require higher interest rates in such scenarios to compensate for increased risk.

A partial amortization or balloon loan is one where the amount of monthly payments due are calculated (amortized) over a certain term, but the outstanding principal balance is due at some point short of that term. This payment is sometimes referred to as a "balloon payment". A balloon loan can be either a Fixed or Adjustable in terms of the Interest Rate. Many Second Trust mortgages use this feature. The most common way of describing a ''balloon loan'' uses the terminology X due in Y, where X is the number of years over which the loan is amortized, and Y is the year in which the principal balance is due. A contract could be written up so there would be more than one "balloon payment" required to be paid during the life of the loan.

Other loan types
Assumed mortgage
Blanket loan
Bridge loan
Budget loan
Commercial Loan
Deed of trust
Equity loan
Hard money loan
Jumbo mortgages
Package loan
Participation mortgage
Reverse mortgage
Repayment mortgage
Seasoned mortgage
Term loan or Interest-only loan
Wraparound mortgage
Negative amortization loan
Non-Conforming Mortgage

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