Earlier quoted context omitted.
Companies do this all the time, then declare bankruptcy and move on.
Student loans should also get discharged in bankruptcy and the schools who are benefiting from predatory lending should take the bath.
Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying
51–60 of 113 posts
Re: Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying
#52I'm eligible for dual citizenship and am in the process of acquiring my second citizenship.
My reasons are two-fold:
1.) I've fallen through the cracks and ended up in a situation the system did not account for. I had a medical incident during my last semester of graduate school that turned out to be a presenting relapse of Multiple Sclerosis. Obviously I couldn't have anticipated this when I went to undergraduate and graduate school. The problem comes in in that the system treats disability as completely binary: Either you can't work at all/can work so little you can't earn more than 1600/mo, or they assume you're fine and can pay everything off. I can work, but I can't work in the field or to the level that I planned for before I got ill. In addition, I have expenses working full time that an able bodied person doesn't just to allow me to do that full time work and that aren't considered in the income based payment calculations. So I fall in the hole of 'make too much to be considered disabled, but not enough to actually pay' due to a condition that is incurable. Also, I have a special Medicaid exemption that allows me to earn more without losing healthcare, but not enough to actually pay back my loans. So even if I could get and maintain a job that would pay a salary that would let me pay, I'd then lose my healthcare and I'd hit the out of pocket maximum every year on any private plan, resulting in a substantial decrease in actual salary.
There's functionally no way for me to pay my loans: If I give up the supports I pay for to pay my loans, I can't work full time anymore and can't pay my loans. the jobs that would pay over 100k in this state (what I would need at minimum to cover supports, healthcare I'd lose, and loan payments) won't hire someone who needs frequent time off, a bunch of employment flexibility, who can't work overtime, and can't be subjected to too much stress. I can barely work one full time job, so additional jobs or hustling isn't an option. I'm just stuck.
2.) I don't consider the US government to be a trustworthy contract partner at this point. I was one of the people who consolidated my loans to take advantage of the SAVE program under Biden's administration. They've struck down SAVE, but haven't done a thing for those of us who consolidated our loans and added to the principal because we trusted what we were told by the government. If I can be told by the government that doing something will help me, and then 2 years later they reverse that with no recourse offered, that tells me none of the terms can be depended on. If our own government's answer to this is 'you shouldn't have listened to the government, sucker', then well... I don't trust them to fulfill their end of the contract, and I don't particularly like the idea of owing money to an institution with both an extreme amount of power over my life and no intent on sticking to agreements or dealing fairly with me. It makes me nervous, especially for 10-20 years down the road.
Re: Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying
#53I'm Canadian, but I know someone from the US who did this. She's living in Paris, moderately successful in academia and as far as I can tell, completely happy to never return to the US. Her family goes to visit her in Europe once in a while. Perplexing.
> moderately successful in academia and as far as I can tell Why not pay your debts then? I totally understand debt forgiveness for extenuating circumstances (and imo, it's a crime that student loan debt can't be forgiven, and the interest rates are often predatory—especially in the case of med school and law school), but this just sounds like stealing with extra steps.
Re: Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying
#54Paying your debts is a business decision, not a moral decision. There is nothing moral about paying your debt to a bank and nothing immoral about not paying your debt to a bank. Businesses do this ALL THE TIME. Businesses can do this, and will walk away from debt the second when the math makes sense. If it's okay for businesses, then the exact same behavior should be okay for us humans to do. I walked away from my ho…
Re: Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying
#55> Ms. Tully was on an income-based repayment plan, which allows many borrowers to have their remaining debt forgiven after 20 years of making qualifying payments. She was paying $60 per month when she defaulted. This amount, to many, may seem manageable. But for her, it remained psychologically burdensome. $60 a month for 20 years, and then the debt is forgiven doesn’t sound burdensome at all. Perhaps if she doesn’t…
Re: Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
They only do this if communication with the debtor is impossible. If this happens to you, you can contact the government, schedule a payment plan for your debt and then they give you a passport with a 12 to 24 month validity.
> They block your passport because they can't reach you Wouldn’t one applying for a passport involve the government and person connecting on some level?
Re: Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
> moderately successful in academia and as far as I can tell Why not pay your debts then? I totally understand debt forgiveness for extenuating circumstances (and imo, it's a crime that student loan debt can't be forgiven, and the interest rates are often predatory—especially in the case of med school and law school), but this just sounds like stealing with extra steps.
Yeah. I don't know the extent of her debt or current income, but she went to an in-state school for a STEM degree, she's not someone who got a useless degree from an overly expensive school. She definitely doesn't seem to regret her decision, whatever the financial or moral considerations. As I said, I'm a bit perplexed.
No mention of undergrad so hopefully she did go in-state for much lower or free tuition.
I have 2 kids in college and a recent graduate. I am routinely horrified by the choices that some students make in going out of their home state or to a private school instead of a public one.
Re: Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Companies do this all the time, then declare bankruptcy and move on.
People investing in companies do so knowing that it might be a poor investment. But if a company borrowed the money and never had the intention to make enough to pay it back or return on investment, we have a different word for that. That word is fraud. Just ask Elizabeth Holmes.
Re: Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying
#59People in The Netherlands have done this. They go to S/E Asian countries to skip out on a €30,000 debt. After a while your passport becomes invalid which makes travel very difficult. And with the outstanding debt you are not able to get a new passport. Which is dumb, because you only have to pay off the debt if you are able to, interest rate is very low, you can pause it for a few years and after 35 years the loan is…
Re: Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying
#60She's from Colorado and decided to go to an out of state university (Oregon) and pay full out of state tuition for a degree in "historic preservation"? Yeah no shit you just signed up for a lifetime of debt. Reminds me of another story of some lady that got saddled with a couple hundred thousand in debt because she really wanted to go to Duke for a theater management degree. And then fled with her Russian fiance to M…
Get a tech degree, or be a loser forever!