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Student Debt Giant Navient to Borrowers: You’re on Your Own

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Re: Student Debt Giant Navient to Borrowers: You’re on Your Own

#111

Post by iamacynic »

techsupporter wrote: post #4

> There is no expectation that the servicer will act in the interest of the consumer... Navient says its public statements encouraging borrowers to contact the company didn’t mean it would act in their best interest. So, pardon in advance for the vulgar language, but why the fuck is this OK? From any company? I'm getting real damn sick and tired of "what the big print gives, the spidery print takes away" and how we'r…

i buy the expensive local eggs at my fancy california grocery store. it's $8 for a dozen. they taste like real eggs, not corn and slime.

i don't expect the $2 eggs company to care about any of the stuff that the $8 eggs company does. i just don't think that's realistic. i just assume they're fucking the chickens over, and the customer over, and themselves over, and that's going to continue as long as people buy $2 eggs -- which they will, forever, because people feel that tug at their stomach when they reach for the $8 ones. i feel it too, even with my techbrodude salary. difference is i buy it anyway, because of $many_reasons.

so i spend my money where i know the chickens aren't getting fucked over, what can i accomplish by worrying about the chickens? it's quicker to spend $8 and the world will be a better version of itself tomorrow (to me).

be the change you want to see in the world. expecting others to operate out of altruism is just not a practical thing to preach.

if i have children, i will advise them not to get college loans, and i will advise them to skip college if that means you need to. i will tell them not to do 10000 other things that are dangerous. that's what parenting is. expecting the world or companies not to try to harm you is insane and irresponsible, in my opinion.

Re: Student Debt Giant Navient to Borrowers: You’re on Your Own

#112

Post by Lazare »

xkcd-sucks wrote: post #93
Lazare wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So, pardon in advance for the vulgar language, but why the fuck is this OK? From any company? I dunno, why wouldn't it be okay? I interact with a lot of companies on a day-to-day basis; big ones (Facebook, Google), small ones (the corner shop I bought an energy drink at on my way to work), and everything in between. Offhand I'd say that none of them have a legal expectation to work in my best interest, nor would I…

The energy drink company's interest is to minimize its cost. Years of bad behavior in this regard eventually led to pure food/drug laws, but in places with weak rule of law plenty of people are still poisoned by dodgy food.

Oh yes, absolutely. We have laws banning outright fraud, setting minimum food safety standards, a lot of rules about packaging and labelling. And that's good!

But we don't have any laws or expectation that a food vendor is going to be acting in my best interests. If I want to spend my rent money on 87 large pepperoni pizzas, nobody is going to arrest the guy who took my order because he didn't sit down and have a 30 minute session with me to ensure that my order was in my best interests, fit within my budget, and would improve my life. All we do is make sure that I 1) have the money 2) get my pizzas and 3) they aren't poisonous or mislabelled.

The difference between "you can't blatantly lie" and "you have a fiduciary duty to act in your client's best interests" is enormous.

Re: Student Debt Giant Navient to Borrowers: You’re on Your Own

#113

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

wyldfire wrote: post #21
Arubis wrote: post #7

"[Navient pointed out]...more than 40 percent of loan balances it services for the Education Department are enrolled in income-based repayment plans." Over 40% of people with US Government-sponsored student loans--which were presumably taken out in order to advance the career prospects of the borrower--are not being paid sufficiently to repay their loans on the basis of their original issuance, _and this is presented…

I don't think you understood the article. Navient is a debt collector. They were sold loans owned by the US Dept of Ed (or hired by the department of ed maybe?) "more than 40 percent of loan balances it services...." means that out of the loans that the US Dept of Ed decided it can't collect on anymore -- many of those are using the option that would benefit them the most. The article talks about Navient saying one t…

>Navient is a debt collector. They were sold loans owned by the US Dept of Ed (or hired by the department of ed maybe?)

Navient had a federal contract with the Dept of Ed and the Dept of Treasury to collect on their behalf.

Full disclosure: Navient is a client of my employer and I work with them directly.

Re: Student Debt Giant Navient to Borrowers: You’re on Your Own

#114

Post by [deleted] »

paulpauper wrote: post #17
jordanmoconnor wrote: post #5

It's mind-blowing how the majority of high school students are lied to each year about the ROI of college. The internet has re-written the rules, and high school educators don't know how to teach that. I would have benefited so much more from a program that taught how to be self-sufficient and the major, major benefits of living debt free. Context: $150k in student loans - lucky enough to have an electrical engineeri…

IMHO, reality paints a sightly more optimistic picture...the average debt per graduate is $30,000--about the price of a new car, but as measured by wages, a degree gains value (this is because since 2009 wages for grads have seen much stronger growth than wages for non-grads) http://greyenlightenment.com/is-college-a-big-waste-of-time-... I read stories on Reddit about grads who have debt but are also making decent 5…

[deleted]

Re: Student Debt Giant Navient to Borrowers: You’re on Your Own

#115

Post by jordanmoconnor »

crestedtazo wrote: post #76
jordanmoconnor wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, those who clung to the system that taught them to be a good little employee. The traditional education system has led many astray without providing successful alternatives.

As opposed to what? Being another entrepreneur, bootstrapping genius raking in million dollar exits? Are those the only viable life paths these days?

You don't have to be a bootstrapping genius to build a valuable skill and make money doing it.

Re: Student Debt Giant Navient to Borrowers: You’re on Your Own

#116

Post by jordanmoconnor »

chickenfries wrote: post #67
jordanmoconnor wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's insane. That's exactly what I was told. Working as hard as I can in off hours to change my situation.

What're you doing? My current plan is to try my damnedest to get a big 4 job. It sounds like you're trying to freelance in your off hours? How is that going?

The first plan is to get a 100% remote job in front-end development to save costs and time, and then use that to continue working on the side.

I've been working on the side to learn web development for the past year and a half, and I have only now been reaching out to job applications that I qualify for.

I at least want to pick up some higher paying part-time hours.

I plan on using the debt snowball to get out of debt faster and live within my means. If I follow that, the maximum time I will be in debt is 10 years, and that's with no income increase or extra income on the side.

I want to cut it down to 5 years or less.

Just trying to build skills and find ways to use them for profit!

Re: Student Debt Giant Navient to Borrowers: You’re on Your Own

#117

Post by jordanmoconnor »

rhino369 wrote: post #64
jordanmoconnor wrote: post #5

It's mind-blowing how the majority of high school students are lied to each year about the ROI of college. The internet has re-written the rules, and high school educators don't know how to teach that. I would have benefited so much more from a program that taught how to be self-sufficient and the major, major benefits of living debt free. Context: $150k in student loans - lucky enough to have an electrical engineeri…

College degrees still mostly have a good ROI. The huge lie is the ROI on pedigree, prestige, whatever you want to call it. Kids are still being told to apply to expensive small private schools and to worry about the financial aid process later. Kids are told to find the right fit. None of that really matters. The big ROI is just getting a degree or the type of degree. There are few elite schools that have a much bett…

If only I had talked to you 7 years ago...

Re: Student Debt Giant Navient to Borrowers: You’re on Your Own

#118

Post by qmalzp »

rhino369 wrote: post #64
jordanmoconnor wrote: post #5

It's mind-blowing how the majority of high school students are lied to each year about the ROI of college. The internet has re-written the rules, and high school educators don't know how to teach that. I would have benefited so much more from a program that taught how to be self-sufficient and the major, major benefits of living debt free. Context: $150k in student loans - lucky enough to have an electrical engineeri…

College degrees still mostly have a good ROI. The huge lie is the ROI on pedigree, prestige, whatever you want to call it. Kids are still being told to apply to expensive small private schools and to worry about the financial aid process later. Kids are told to find the right fit. None of that really matters. The big ROI is just getting a degree or the type of degree. There are few elite schools that have a much bett…

*freshman and sophomore year

Re: Student Debt Giant Navient to Borrowers: You’re on Your Own

#119

Post by 55555 »

techsupporter wrote: post #4

> There is no expectation that the servicer will act in the interest of the consumer... Navient says its public statements encouraging borrowers to contact the company didn’t mean it would act in their best interest. So, pardon in advance for the vulgar language, but why the fuck is this OK? From any company? I'm getting real damn sick and tired of "what the big print gives, the spidery print takes away" and how we'r…

I have had the idea for a long time that the FTC should basically work as follows: put a few dozen randomly chosen people through a sales funnel and then give them a quiz at the end about how much they will be charged and other terms of service engagement. If more than x% of people fail the quiz, then you are guilty of misleading advertising.

Re: Student Debt Giant Navient to Borrowers: You’re on Your Own

#120

Post by 55555 »

enraged_camel wrote: post #78
metaphorm wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the combined assets of the entire class of student debtors is probably NEGATIVE (they are debtors, remember) whereas the assets of even a single major shareholder (Carl Icahn as a benchmark) are in the billions of dollars and outweigh the rest of it combined. this is one of the side effects of the massive income and wealth inequality American style capitalism causes.

>>the combined assets of the entire class of student debtors is probably NEGATIVE Doesn't matter. As the saying goes: if you owe the bank $1,000, you have a problem. If you owe the bank $100,000,000, the bank has a problem. Debtors as a group probably would have a great deal of collective bargaining power.

This is a pretty interesting idea. I have never heard of debtors banding together to negotiate lower debts before.
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