Student Loan Payment Suspension Extended To May 1, 2022

Student loan payments suspension extended until May 1, 2022.

Merry Christmas ! Happy holidays !

https://usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-12-22/pause-on-student-loan-payments-is-extended-through-may-1

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A nice New Years gift indeed. My kid is paying on loans
but it’s nice that the payments are all going to principal!

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Very smart & mature strategy !

When will the mortgage and car payments be paused? Funny how student debt is the only kind meriting special treatment.

"Some Democrats are pushing for mass forgiveness of debt. But Biden has questioned whether he has the authority for that kind of mass cancellation, and legal scholars differ on that. Earlier this year, Biden asked the Education and Justice departments to study the issue. Officials have said that work is still underway.

Biden has previously said he supports canceling up to $10,000 in student debt, but he has argued it should be done by Congress."

I am convinced they will forgive some (not all) of student loans. $10k per student would go a long way to helping most student borrowers. I think the ‘experts’ will decide Biden can do it by presidential order (he’s not lending any additional money, just agreeing not to collect), and he’ll do the $10k. If congress wanted to do it, it would have put in in the Build Back bill, and it wasn’t included.

The fed govt doesn’t control most car payments or mortgage loans, so can’t forgive them. Only fed student loans are up for forgiveness, not private loans.

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The fed isn’t writing checks to pay loans owed to the government, just foregoing collecting the amounts it loaned. It is money already ‘spent’ by the government, just funds that won’t be repaid to the government. If the government ‘forgave’ loans owed to Bank of America or SoFi, it would have to write a check to those private banks and that is more money going out the door. Something like half of student loans aren’t going to be repaid anyway, even in the best of times.

There are a lot of benefits for direct student loans that aren’t available to private loans, parent PLUS loans, and even other federal student loan programs. My daughter had a Perkins loan and it wasn’t deferred and interest continued on it during the pandemic. It is a federal loan program but the loans are through the colleges, and my daughter still had to pay every month.

There was not a rent moratorium. The rent was always owed and late charges could be added every month. What was suspended/delayed was evictions. It wasn’t fair that private landlords had to ‘eat’ those amounts but in most states evictions couldn’t happen anyway because courts were closed to most everything but criminal cases. Those amounts are still owed, but the landlords have very little hope of getting repaid for rent that wasn’t paid in Nov 2020 or April 2021.

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Unfortunately, many in the federal government view student loans as a money making program and, therefore, demand corresponding budget cuts for every dollar forgiven.

Might be easier to forgive all interest and to recalculate / reset all future interest on existing student loans at the prime rate. But, this might necessitate implementing creditworthiness standards for future Parent Plus loans and graduate loans while also requiring private lenders to abide by similar rules–at least with respect to the interest rates.

All of this can be taken care of by permitting student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy. But that would raise other issues.

Another option would be to double credit all payments attributable to payments on interest every time a borrower pays each month for a certain number of consecutive months.

Let’s keep the discussion within the bounds of ToS and on topic please. Avoid OT discussion of, as a not-all-encompassing example, home and car loans. Avoid discussion of what POTUS and / or Congress should do as it will only lead to acrimonious debate

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Consumers need to become more savvy with respect to higher education costs and benefits.

True to a point.
but plenty of young people take on non-student debt. I think the issue is that it’s harder to qualify for those types of loans. The government gives out student loans too easily and in ridiculously large amounts (at least as far as grad school is concerned).

As far as the payment pause, I don’t really care. It’s typical flip flopping and ultimately it’s simply extends the overall payment period for the debtors by years. In addition, given that there are millions of unfilled jobs, there seems to be a disconnect between the status of the labor market and the claimed necessity of relieving debtors from paying student loan payments because of the pandemic.

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I honestly don’t think this has anything to do with helping borrowers pay less. My understanding is that with servicers pulling out, getting loans moved to new servicers is a huge task that’s not done yet. I think it buys much needed time for the conversion. The fact that borrowers benefit by owing less is a nice perk.

I posted another thread that has been closed. The Washington Post article I posted wasn’t about the extension.

It was an article based on “research” asking student loan recipients what’s wrong with the system.

Their comments indicated a lack of understanding of how loans work, the purpose of interest, etc.

Typically, they wished they knew more before taking the loans and they feel that interest is “unfair”.

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Has anyone read what the plan is for current or future students if these loans are forgiven? How would student loan forgiveness be fair if current students or seniors in high school who have to take out a loan next year still are responsible for theirs? I have never heard a single politician mention this.

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Before taking out loans, the student has to go through an online course explaining the loan, the interest rate and the obligation. It should be longer and more detailed, but if a student doesn’t know the purpose of interest he’s not ready for college.

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Sorry. It’s nonsense. You borrow, you pay.

It’s like Puerto Rico borrowed and decided not to pay causing millions like me a loss.

This is costing the taxpayers.

The economy is hot. Markets are high. Jobs are a plenty.

This totally doesn’t jive with that.

Call me a grinch. If you didn’t expect to pay, you shouldn’t have taken the loan and you should have gone to a community or affordable to you college.

Live within your means.

I get we were within a pandemic. But the world has figured it out economically. This is unfair to full pay people.

Period.

I’m tired of people (borrowers) making a business commitment and not having to follow through.

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Please tell me a medical school that is living within a student’s means (that’s no income because med school students can’t work while attending med school) that guarantees acceptance to all who apply?

Sorry but for some professions, loans are a necessary thing.

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There are reasons for this. Loans try to level out the opportunity playing field (allowing less than wealthy students the opportunity to become doctors or engineers, etc). By doing this we actually can “fix” poverty for the student and turn someone who would qualify for various subsidies into a full fledged taxpayer. It’s a win-win for the student and government - a great investment.

A free education would be better, but too many people balk at that.

Not everyone can afford college. Not everyone gets the tippy top grades to have free ride or affordable options. Does their birth lottery doom them to low pay jobs (with subsidies) for life or can they do better if they’re academically capable? The gov’t is gambling on the latter.

The fact that a few misuse the system will always happen with anything. The vast majority find an education improves their economic lives and it becomes a financial win for the US.

I see any student loan forgiveness (if it happens) as a positive TBH, but I’m also in the “provide free higher education to those who qualify” camp. I prefer growing taxpayers to subsidizing low wage jobs.

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I did not say loans are not a good or necessary thing.

I said you know what you signed up for, committed for.

I appreciate your child continues to pay. They didn’t expect but are getting a nice benefit.

I appreciate income based or other forgiveness systems which doctors, since you mentioned, have access to. I have zero issue with these. They are pre-designed safety nets which are understood going in.

I don’t appreciate (and it’s the govt, not the kids)
these ‘gifts’ that are unfair to the rest.

It’s not about a profession one chooses although that’s their choice and it comes with benefits but also costs. It’s about making a decision and following through on the contract you agreed to
as your child is doing btw
.and that’s what all should do.

Myself and millions of others lent money to Puerto Rico. They decided not to pay. So I should be penalized? Similar concept. And yes, I believe it’s 100% wrong.

btw - I have no problem with states that say (like Michigan or my home state Tennessee), if your parents make under x $, tuition is free or reduced. Or plans to make a community college free. These are known up front - and a student is free to choose to attend
or not attend.

I just have issue with signed contracts not being enforced. Or the feds stepping in to “waive” or in this case as of now “delay” enforcement. This is especially bothersome when the politicians are out saying how great the economy is, we can’t find workers because the markets are so hot that older people are choosing not to go back, and frankly, society is doing quite well (not all individually, but an overall). It’s talking out of both sides


If one day $10K or all federal debt is rescinded, then we all should have taken it - and that’s not fair.

It’s about fairness
to me.

We can disagree - I personally just don’t like it.

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Michigan the state does not provide free tuition. Michigan the university, which has a huge endowment, provides free tuition to those who qualify. But it’s not easy to get in as an in state student. I just want to clarify, lest anyone might think my state is providing free college when they are actually constantly cutting back on funding higher education.

Understood
I guess what I’m saying is if it’s known to you front, I’m good. I know it’s just the three UM campuses.

Mainly I’m just saying honor your contracts.

I’m not against up front, known in advance discounts or programs.

I simply believe in fulfilling commitments instead of seeking escapes. Again, it’s the govt who is allowing the delays and not the kids (who yes, I’m sure are appreciative
at least Pete Buttigeh’s husband is). But I hope all do like @thumper1 kid and continue to pay.

Thx