I Defaulted On My Student Loans (And It Was The Best Decision Of My Life)

Stories like this make me very glad of the system we have in Australia. You can choose to have your Univertity fees just automatically paid by an interest free loan from the government (it&#x27;s like a five minute online form to sign up for), and then you just pay back 4% of the loan on each tax return if your salary is over $51,000 (you can choose to make voluntary payments over the compulsory rate, or if you make less than $51,000 - you even get a 5% bonus if you pay over $500 - for example, make a $1000 voluntary contribution and they take off a bonus $50 off the loan).<p>Pretty good scheme to allow people to be educated (which is generally a net win for the economy) without being shackled by ever-growing debt from the start of their working life.

I agree completely with her grandmother:<p>&gt; Grandmother: “Why did you borrow money you could not repay?”<p>&gt; Her: “I thought I could repay it until the bailouts happened.”<p>&gt; Grandmother: “That is no excuse. You need to repay them.”<p>For some reason, a lot of people my age lack any sense of personal responsibility. It&#x27;s not the <i>author&#x27;s</i> fault she couldn&#x27;t repay her loans. It&#x27;s everyone else&#x27;s. Lately I hear more and more people blame all of their problems on everyone but themselves and it&#x27;s starting to get really annoying. My (recent) ex-girlfriend was (is?) failing her history class and blamed it on the professor for not making the attendance policy more prominent in the syllabus. It wasn&#x27;t <i>her</i> fault she was skipping class and getting points deducted.<p>You know what the author could have done? Not gone to college. Get a vocational position and save up until you have enough to go if that&#x27;s really what you want. Apply for scholarships. There&#x27;s plenty of options.

Eh, this article doesn&#x27;t really make sense....<p>Basically the author defaulted on their student loan instead of deferring and makes an argument as to why it was a good decision for them.<p>The reason I say it doesn&#x27;t make much sense is that, imo, it really glosses over just how big a deal defaulting on a loan is. While the author is talking about themself, a naive individual might get the idea that this is the right choice for them, when it almost certainly is not.<p>Trashing your credit and not being able to take out a house&#x2F;car loan is a pretty huge deal for most people...<p>Just keep in mind defaulting on a loan isn&#x27;t something that you just _do_ and then _undo_ with no consequences(other than saving on that interest lel)...<p>That shit stays with you for at least 7 years and if you&#x27;re trying to get a loan for anything having defaulted on your only loan ever... Good luck.

Stupid question, if everyone does this do we expect that these loans will still be available?<p>Maybe it was the &quot;best Decision of (YOUR) Life&quot; but every time this happens it hurts these programs even more.<p>Congratulations on a perfectly self-centered Millennial decision that was the best decision of your life that most likely made these programs one step closer to being discontinued.<p>I guess I&#x27;m old fashioned, I&#x27;ve never signed something I&#x27;ve not read and I always honor my commitments to the best of my ability and with honor and respect for everyone involved.

I&#x27;m Indian and sometimes pieces like this are a very strong reminder of how bad the student loan situation is in US. I went to a central university (i.e. funded by the central&#x2F;federal government of India) and basically paid less than INR 1000 per year in tution fees and what not (I was a day scholar so no hostel expenses but they were low as well). For three years of full time university education, that is less than USD 50. I don&#x27;t have a foreign university degree to compare quality of education with but I certainly got FAR better education than I paid for.

I totally understand someone who can&#x27;t pay back the student loans. But please--try to do it right. Right now student loans are not subject to discharge in bankruptcy court. Before you ruin your credit: obtain as many credit cards as possible. It might take a few years to obtain the amount of credit you need. Then pay off you student loans with their money. Wait awhile--then do your own bankruptcy. (I have no sympathy for credit card companies. They have a lot in common with Loan Sharks.) (One other thing--If you pull off this caper, remember just how terrible you felt when you were in trouble.)

Sounds like she is defaulting, but paying.<p>The idea of the default is to stop additional interest from being charged.<p>Then pay down the full debt, wait 7 years and done.<p>It&#x27;s not a terrible strategy actually - although it has some serious drawbacks.

Would love to know the degree&#x2F;school.<p>It really irritates me when someone says they have to get $200,000 in loans for a worthless degree from a &#x27;big&#x27; school. Both the people who advised them that this was a good plan in the first place, and the people who loaned them the money.

You default and they stop adding any money to your debt? That doesn&#x27;t sound right. If I tried that I&#x27;m sure they&#x27;d be adding some 30% late fee every month.