I can't emphasize enough that all student loan borrowers need to become active participants in the student loan reform process. It's the only way we are going to get the changes we need to live free once again.
If you are a New Yorker then here is the contact information for your Senators:
Senator Charles E. Schumer http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/contact.cfm
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand http://gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/
I can't recommend enough the book by Alan Collinge, entitled The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History - and How We Can Fight Back. I know that I have already mentioned his book, (previous story here) but after rereading it I knew it deserved mention again. Alan's book does a fantastic job of explaining why students with public or private loans are in the same situation and how Sallie Mae has, almost single handedly, twisted the student loan system into the monstrosity it is today.
Read the book and then reread it - because there is so much information in there that you may only truly know its value with a second read.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Alan and everyone at StudentLoanJustice.org for all that they have done to get this movement started and to become a voice for us all.
Regards,
J. Densmore
Monday, January 11, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Bankruptcy in Context
Let's begin our discussion today with a quote:
"...financial problems happen to the best of us and the fact of the matter is that once we find ourselves in trouble, bankruptcy could be the most responsible decision one could make."
This quote, taken from Blog.LegalHelpers.com, represents the reality of the financial world we live in here in the United States. Bankruptcy is a decision that must be looked at logically if the need arises. The costs and benefits of this process must be weighed carefully before a proper decision can be made. It is not something that should ever be rushed into.
Bankruptcy can be a second chance to get one's financial life straightened out. Many famous people have had to turn to bankruptcy at one time or another to reset their financial situation. Many of them went on to be very successful subsequently.
Some of these famous people include:
I bring this up here because somewhere in their great wisdom - our elected officials have seen fit to remove this option for student loan borrowers - without any evidence to show that student loan borrowers represent a particularly egregious subset of the population prone to cases of fraud and misrepresentation.
Ironically, students and former students are more likely to be the kind of people to learn from their mistakes and therefore stand to benefit the most from a second chance.
"...financial problems happen to the best of us and the fact of the matter is that once we find ourselves in trouble, bankruptcy could be the most responsible decision one could make."
This quote, taken from Blog.LegalHelpers.com, represents the reality of the financial world we live in here in the United States. Bankruptcy is a decision that must be looked at logically if the need arises. The costs and benefits of this process must be weighed carefully before a proper decision can be made. It is not something that should ever be rushed into.
Bankruptcy can be a second chance to get one's financial life straightened out. Many famous people have had to turn to bankruptcy at one time or another to reset their financial situation. Many of them went on to be very successful subsequently.
Some of these famous people include:
| P.T. Barnum (1855) | |
| H.J. Heinz (1875) | |
| Milton Hershey (1882) | |
| William McKinley (1893 - $130,000) | |
| Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens,1894) | |
| Oscar Wilde (1895) | |
| Henry Ford (1901) | |
| Walt Disney (1923) | |
| Larry King (1960, 1978) | |
| Mickey Rooney (1962) | |
| Jerry Lee Lewis (1988) | |
| Johnny Unitas (1991) | |
| Wayne Newton (1992) | |
| Donald Trump (1992, 2004) | |
| Kim Basinger (1993) | |
| Burt Reynolds (Chapter 11 - 1996) | |
| MC Hammer (1996) | |
| Debbie Reynolds (1997) | |
| Sherman Hemsley (1999) | |
| Mike Tyson (2003) | |
| Sammy Kershaw (2007) | |
| Ulysses S. Grant | |
| Thomas Jefferson | |
| Tony Martin | |
| Lawrence Taylor | |
| Abraham Lincoln | |
Ironically, students and former students are more likely to be the kind of people to learn from their mistakes and therefore stand to benefit the most from a second chance.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Read This Book - Recommend This Book Now!
Dear Readers,
I will keep this post short and sweet. Go out and buy or borrow The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History - and How We Can Fight Back by Alan Collinge.
This book confirmed the reality of just how perverse and pervasive corruption has become in every aspect of the student loan industry - including the federal government.
Right there on page 12 was the confirmation that the collection agency that the U.S. Department of Education turned my loans over to, PIONEER CREDIT RECOVERY, was and is, in fact, a front for Sallie Mae and all its sick fraudulent games. If you recall, it was PIONEER that wouldn't let my loans out of default (full story here) until the Office of the Ombudsman intervened (contact them here if you need help).
So, please read this book. If you happen to know anyone about to go to college then recommend this book. I wouldn't let anyone in my family go until they read this book, nor should you!
READ IT! I can't say that enough.
I will keep this post short and sweet. Go out and buy or borrow The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History - and How We Can Fight Back by Alan Collinge.
This book confirmed the reality of just how perverse and pervasive corruption has become in every aspect of the student loan industry - including the federal government.
Right there on page 12 was the confirmation that the collection agency that the U.S. Department of Education turned my loans over to, PIONEER CREDIT RECOVERY, was and is, in fact, a front for Sallie Mae and all its sick fraudulent games. If you recall, it was PIONEER that wouldn't let my loans out of default (full story here) until the Office of the Ombudsman intervened (contact them here if you need help).
So, please read this book. If you happen to know anyone about to go to college then recommend this book. I wouldn't let anyone in my family go until they read this book, nor should you!
READ IT! I can't say that enough.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Student Loan Bankruptcy: Where are the checks and balances?
The sobering news today is that new filings for bankruptcies soared in 2009 coming in 32% higher than the previous year. So it appears that the more stringent bankruptcy codes passed in 2005, which made it more expensive and difficult to file bankruptcy, can't hide the enormous amount of economic stress that many people in this country are under.
While I hope to see more information about the specifics of these bankruptcies in the coming weeks, this steep increase does make me wonder how many of these filings are related to unaffordable student debt.
My interest in this topic was also directed somewhat by a statement that I recently came across on another site. The statement read something like this:
"Bankruptcy laws create a check on the activities of lenders."
Now I know it may sound naive but I found this to be a surprisingly novel and interesting thought. Most times when you hear about bankruptcy it is with some negative connotation, the implication being that the filing entity or person has failed in some way and now they will get away without having to pay what they borrowed. The borrower is often seen as the only offender.
However, the individual who made that post apparently grasped something that the writers of bankruptcy law, in their wisdom, must have also understood and taken into account. Namely, that the lender shares a significant burden of the responsibility involved in any loan or extension of credit.
The law therefore finds creditors to be responsible parties in the financial transactions they are involved in. This puts the onus on lenders to properly screen their borrowers and determine their eligibility for the loan based upon the borrower’s present and future ability to pay. Theoretically, the lender is supposed to assess the loan's risk based on the borrower's current assets and the potential future reward of the borrower's investment. If either of the borrower's qualifications is deficient then the loan is not supposed to be made.
If the lender determines the borrower's qualifications to be worthwhile then they usually make the deal. Both parties sign contracts, with good intentions, and off they go. Now I am not a banker but this is probably where the risk-reward ratio comes in and the interest rates are established.
If the lender makes a good risk and the borrower does repay he then makes a reasonable - and sometimes substantial profit. But if he makes a mistake and something happens that cannot be foreseen and the borrower cannot repay - then he may lose. This is where I fail to feel for the lender - it’s their business to make intelligent investments. It’s also part of the risk they accept.
As I see it, all bankruptcy law does then is to enforce the later outcome - which is to say the lender loses his investment in part or in its entirety when the borrower can't pay. And as anyone who has ever filed or witnessed a bankruptcy filing - bankruptcy law also punishes the borrower - through damaged credit scores and limits on future filings, neither of which makes for a light sentence.
However, these checks and balances are not present with student loans. The normal system is short-circuited presumably to make more loans available to students. Lenders are protected in many cases by a federal guarantee which obliges the federal government to cover these loans if the borrower can’t. The federal government then enforces payment by the borrower through all sorts of means, regardless of their ability to pay or lead a normal life. In the case of both public and private student loans - borrowers cannot file bankruptcy either. So, it has become essentially a win-win for lenders - they get paid, must get paid in most instances, even if the investment goes sour for the borrower.
While this may not have been the intention of our leaders when this system was first established it has become a problem for millions now. For the borrower of student loans, it seems - its do or die. Either the student loan debtor makes it and pays the loans back or they die and the loans don't get paid back. In the case of private loans – the loans are not discharged even at death - meaning lenders can go after spouses, parents and estates depending on the situation.
Ironically, student loans have therefore become one of the most risky investments anyone can make. At the end of the investment the student may not even have the piece of paper they invested in, may not be able to get a job with the investment they made and can be left with no hard assets to sell after the investment. Despite all this and more, they are forced to pay back even if the lender knew the investment was financially unsound because for them they never risked anything in the first place. While initially intended as a good and proper thing to do, the student loan finance system has backfired and is now enslaving generations of its citizens to financial profiteers.
While I hope to see more information about the specifics of these bankruptcies in the coming weeks, this steep increase does make me wonder how many of these filings are related to unaffordable student debt.
My interest in this topic was also directed somewhat by a statement that I recently came across on another site. The statement read something like this:
"Bankruptcy laws create a check on the activities of lenders."
Now I know it may sound naive but I found this to be a surprisingly novel and interesting thought. Most times when you hear about bankruptcy it is with some negative connotation, the implication being that the filing entity or person has failed in some way and now they will get away without having to pay what they borrowed. The borrower is often seen as the only offender.
However, the individual who made that post apparently grasped something that the writers of bankruptcy law, in their wisdom, must have also understood and taken into account. Namely, that the lender shares a significant burden of the responsibility involved in any loan or extension of credit.
The law therefore finds creditors to be responsible parties in the financial transactions they are involved in. This puts the onus on lenders to properly screen their borrowers and determine their eligibility for the loan based upon the borrower’s present and future ability to pay. Theoretically, the lender is supposed to assess the loan's risk based on the borrower's current assets and the potential future reward of the borrower's investment. If either of the borrower's qualifications is deficient then the loan is not supposed to be made.
If the lender determines the borrower's qualifications to be worthwhile then they usually make the deal. Both parties sign contracts, with good intentions, and off they go. Now I am not a banker but this is probably where the risk-reward ratio comes in and the interest rates are established.
If the lender makes a good risk and the borrower does repay he then makes a reasonable - and sometimes substantial profit. But if he makes a mistake and something happens that cannot be foreseen and the borrower cannot repay - then he may lose. This is where I fail to feel for the lender - it’s their business to make intelligent investments. It’s also part of the risk they accept.
As I see it, all bankruptcy law does then is to enforce the later outcome - which is to say the lender loses his investment in part or in its entirety when the borrower can't pay. And as anyone who has ever filed or witnessed a bankruptcy filing - bankruptcy law also punishes the borrower - through damaged credit scores and limits on future filings, neither of which makes for a light sentence.
However, these checks and balances are not present with student loans. The normal system is short-circuited presumably to make more loans available to students. Lenders are protected in many cases by a federal guarantee which obliges the federal government to cover these loans if the borrower can’t. The federal government then enforces payment by the borrower through all sorts of means, regardless of their ability to pay or lead a normal life. In the case of both public and private student loans - borrowers cannot file bankruptcy either. So, it has become essentially a win-win for lenders - they get paid, must get paid in most instances, even if the investment goes sour for the borrower.
While this may not have been the intention of our leaders when this system was first established it has become a problem for millions now. For the borrower of student loans, it seems - its do or die. Either the student loan debtor makes it and pays the loans back or they die and the loans don't get paid back. In the case of private loans – the loans are not discharged even at death - meaning lenders can go after spouses, parents and estates depending on the situation.
Ironically, student loans have therefore become one of the most risky investments anyone can make. At the end of the investment the student may not even have the piece of paper they invested in, may not be able to get a job with the investment they made and can be left with no hard assets to sell after the investment. Despite all this and more, they are forced to pay back even if the lender knew the investment was financially unsound because for them they never risked anything in the first place. While initially intended as a good and proper thing to do, the student loan finance system has backfired and is now enslaving generations of its citizens to financial profiteers.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Need for More Appropriate Advertisements
Hi everyone,
If you are an avid blogger, blog reader or postmaster or even someone with some novel ideas that happened on to my site I am open to new and different options for advertising on this blog.
Frankly speaking, while the ads on this site are subject appropriate I don't think they serve the readers of my blog to the utmost possible. I will be working with Google Ads to update this to the extent possible since they have been so helpful to date. I feel I owe them that.
I am also thinking of just getting rid of them altogether since they haven't produced any income whatsoever.
However, if someone has some ideas to direct the advertisement in a more positive fashion I am all ears.
Regards,
J. Densmore
If you are an avid blogger, blog reader or postmaster or even someone with some novel ideas that happened on to my site I am open to new and different options for advertising on this blog.
Frankly speaking, while the ads on this site are subject appropriate I don't think they serve the readers of my blog to the utmost possible. I will be working with Google Ads to update this to the extent possible since they have been so helpful to date. I feel I owe them that.
I am also thinking of just getting rid of them altogether since they haven't produced any income whatsoever.
However, if someone has some ideas to direct the advertisement in a more positive fashion I am all ears.
Regards,
J. Densmore
Friday, January 1, 2010
A New Year and a New Commitment
In reading and learning more on this topic of student debt and loans I am moved to comment on the ingenious nature of the relationship between education and student loan programs.
When I first became a college student back in the fall of 1987 student loans were a way to get a college degree if your family didn't have the money to support you in that endeavor. In my family, as in many others, neither of my parents had ever gone to college but both had always wanted to and so for their son it was a must. For them a college degree was some sort of Holy Grail to a more prosperous life.
So the mindset was, and still is today, that student loans provided the opportunity to get that almighty college degree. Somewhere along the way however, things have changed. I am not sure quite when it happened but at some point the generalized, non-specific college degree became worth little more than toilet paper. Alright, maybe it was worth about the same as a respectable high school diploma but certainly no more.
As such the liberal arts degree in whatever color became essentially useless as a means to get a job, let alone a better life than your parents had. Nobody wanted them. I know this because I had one by the spring of 1992 and nobody would hire the green college kid with the B.A. in Economics, not even as a bank teller.
Since that time things have not improved much. Sure there was the technology boon of the 1990’s that made some millionaires, even some billionaires, but that ride crashed in the early part of 2000 along with the NASDAQ.
Today, we have high unemployment in both blue and white collar sectors with little hope on the horizon of getting people back to work. Looking retrospectively at the last 20 years since I was first a college student, it has dawned on me that educational institutions charge even more for the same degrees today. The same degrees that will get you nowhere. These colleges still provide no real support to get people respectable jobs and absolutely no guarantee that the expensive piece of paper on the wall will even do them any good.
And yet, here we are still churning out students with no place to go for good jobs with useless degrees in an environment that encourages taking on more debt with ever increasing availability of student loans, both public and private. The almighty dogma of the great college degree still persists too. Only now – even those with specific, professional degrees are finding themselves up to their necks in debt as they wait in line apply for their unemployment benefits.
We have created a system of higher education that in many cases, is failing our country and our citizens. As a culture we need to take stock of our priorities and get our financial systems in line with them, not the other way around.
For the past 20 years, at the very least, we have had a system of exploding student debt and useless higher education matched to do only one thing – to make money for some financial profiteers at the expense of the bright eyed, eager college student who thought he or she was on a path to making a good and decent life for themselves.
Sure, I can write this blog – so my two B.A. degrees and my M.A. degree (and nearly a PhD.) have served some purpose – but was it worth the immense debt I have amassed? Certainly not – because insulating pipes, which is what I do now, doesn’t require or make great use of the excessive education I have. And while it's most certainly a respectable living requiring considerable skill, the health risks it poses are certainly not the dream my parents hoped for I think. I am however resolved to making a career of it now and it does keep my head above water so for that and all the wonderful, hardworking people I have met and worked with I am so very thankful. I do wonder though, how many others like me are out there doing something similar.
The truth is, I believed in a bill of goods, namely that a college education could change my life for the better. I believed that student loans were a means to an end and that I would be able to pay them back when I was done. What I now realize was that despite how smart I thought I was there was a bigger picture. For some politicians and lobbyists out there, there were profits to be made and that take on things was just outside my field of vision. As I see it now, it must have been designed to be that way, no system this cruel could exist without intention.
I was not given the protections I deserved when I made my investment. I was not informed of the uselessness of the degrees that I found myself getting and the mountain of debt that I was accumulating that would be forever outside my reach to repay. There should be a system of informed people in place to protect our college students from this kind of predatory behavior – the kind that is so devious that even some of the brightest among us have been perpetually enslaved to their student loans with no hope of getting out from under them.
These people can’t afford to marry. They can’t afford to buy a home. They can’t afford health insurance. They can’t afford to have children. They can't afford to make any moves that will jeopardize repaying these loans that might even improve their circumstances. They can't afford to risk anything. They have none of the protections that every other type of borrower has – the right to redress when their debts have ruined their lives – stolen their lives – right before their eyes.
And in a classic, cultural cliché - we blame the student debtor because they (and I include myself here) should have known better. Maybe we should have known better but I am not so sure anymore that we could have. The system is just not designed to tell you all these things. And besides, blaming the victim doesn’t change the reality of what is happening here and it will not change what will happen to the next crop of graduating college students, or all those that will certainly follow under the current system.
This game of loaning students money for degrees that will only take them down dead end roads where there dreams will die must end. There must also be an end to the enslavement of those already trapped by their student loans.
To every American, past, present and future – this system is so perverse that it is evil in the worst Machiavellian sense and I pray you have heard this cry for justice.
Bring back the same financial protections to student loan debtors that all other forms of loans have the right to. Consider forgiving these loans to stimulate the economy. Fight for new changes to the way we finance higher education and implement tough controls on colleges who sell degrees that are lemons.
Our future depends on this, now more than ever.
When I first became a college student back in the fall of 1987 student loans were a way to get a college degree if your family didn't have the money to support you in that endeavor. In my family, as in many others, neither of my parents had ever gone to college but both had always wanted to and so for their son it was a must. For them a college degree was some sort of Holy Grail to a more prosperous life.
So the mindset was, and still is today, that student loans provided the opportunity to get that almighty college degree. Somewhere along the way however, things have changed. I am not sure quite when it happened but at some point the generalized, non-specific college degree became worth little more than toilet paper. Alright, maybe it was worth about the same as a respectable high school diploma but certainly no more.
As such the liberal arts degree in whatever color became essentially useless as a means to get a job, let alone a better life than your parents had. Nobody wanted them. I know this because I had one by the spring of 1992 and nobody would hire the green college kid with the B.A. in Economics, not even as a bank teller.
Since that time things have not improved much. Sure there was the technology boon of the 1990’s that made some millionaires, even some billionaires, but that ride crashed in the early part of 2000 along with the NASDAQ.
Today, we have high unemployment in both blue and white collar sectors with little hope on the horizon of getting people back to work. Looking retrospectively at the last 20 years since I was first a college student, it has dawned on me that educational institutions charge even more for the same degrees today. The same degrees that will get you nowhere. These colleges still provide no real support to get people respectable jobs and absolutely no guarantee that the expensive piece of paper on the wall will even do them any good.
And yet, here we are still churning out students with no place to go for good jobs with useless degrees in an environment that encourages taking on more debt with ever increasing availability of student loans, both public and private. The almighty dogma of the great college degree still persists too. Only now – even those with specific, professional degrees are finding themselves up to their necks in debt as they wait in line apply for their unemployment benefits.
We have created a system of higher education that in many cases, is failing our country and our citizens. As a culture we need to take stock of our priorities and get our financial systems in line with them, not the other way around.
For the past 20 years, at the very least, we have had a system of exploding student debt and useless higher education matched to do only one thing – to make money for some financial profiteers at the expense of the bright eyed, eager college student who thought he or she was on a path to making a good and decent life for themselves.
Sure, I can write this blog – so my two B.A. degrees and my M.A. degree (and nearly a PhD.) have served some purpose – but was it worth the immense debt I have amassed? Certainly not – because insulating pipes, which is what I do now, doesn’t require or make great use of the excessive education I have. And while it's most certainly a respectable living requiring considerable skill, the health risks it poses are certainly not the dream my parents hoped for I think. I am however resolved to making a career of it now and it does keep my head above water so for that and all the wonderful, hardworking people I have met and worked with I am so very thankful. I do wonder though, how many others like me are out there doing something similar.
The truth is, I believed in a bill of goods, namely that a college education could change my life for the better. I believed that student loans were a means to an end and that I would be able to pay them back when I was done. What I now realize was that despite how smart I thought I was there was a bigger picture. For some politicians and lobbyists out there, there were profits to be made and that take on things was just outside my field of vision. As I see it now, it must have been designed to be that way, no system this cruel could exist without intention.
I was not given the protections I deserved when I made my investment. I was not informed of the uselessness of the degrees that I found myself getting and the mountain of debt that I was accumulating that would be forever outside my reach to repay. There should be a system of informed people in place to protect our college students from this kind of predatory behavior – the kind that is so devious that even some of the brightest among us have been perpetually enslaved to their student loans with no hope of getting out from under them.
These people can’t afford to marry. They can’t afford to buy a home. They can’t afford health insurance. They can’t afford to have children. They can't afford to make any moves that will jeopardize repaying these loans that might even improve their circumstances. They can't afford to risk anything. They have none of the protections that every other type of borrower has – the right to redress when their debts have ruined their lives – stolen their lives – right before their eyes.
And in a classic, cultural cliché - we blame the student debtor because they (and I include myself here) should have known better. Maybe we should have known better but I am not so sure anymore that we could have. The system is just not designed to tell you all these things. And besides, blaming the victim doesn’t change the reality of what is happening here and it will not change what will happen to the next crop of graduating college students, or all those that will certainly follow under the current system.
This game of loaning students money for degrees that will only take them down dead end roads where there dreams will die must end. There must also be an end to the enslavement of those already trapped by their student loans.
To every American, past, present and future – this system is so perverse that it is evil in the worst Machiavellian sense and I pray you have heard this cry for justice.
Bring back the same financial protections to student loan debtors that all other forms of loans have the right to. Consider forgiving these loans to stimulate the economy. Fight for new changes to the way we finance higher education and implement tough controls on colleges who sell degrees that are lemons.
Our future depends on this, now more than ever.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Challenge for 2010
As 2009 comes to a close I am inspired that more and more people are taking up the cause of the student loan debtor in America.
I have spent more time reading recently, especially at ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com. What I have learned is that we need to educate everyone in America about the student loan debtor crisis.
While there seem to be pockets of people, both indebted and not, informed about the issue, there are still far more people unaware of what is going on.
So to everyone reading this I would like to present a delightful challenge for 2010, that if properly accepted and accomplished, could result in such sweeping change to how we operate in America that history would certainly note this as a turning point in the salvation of our culture.
The challenge is simple, rise up and become part of the movement to educate yourselves and others about the enslavement of the educated in this country to lifelong indentured servitude via student loan debt. Make this a secret that is shared and not kept and shame our leaders, both political and financial, for ever trying to silence one of the best parts of the American spirit - it's intelligence!
We the people deserve better - so let us all demand it.
May the New Year bring grace to you all.
I have spent more time reading recently, especially at ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com. What I have learned is that we need to educate everyone in America about the student loan debtor crisis.
While there seem to be pockets of people, both indebted and not, informed about the issue, there are still far more people unaware of what is going on.
So to everyone reading this I would like to present a delightful challenge for 2010, that if properly accepted and accomplished, could result in such sweeping change to how we operate in America that history would certainly note this as a turning point in the salvation of our culture.
The challenge is simple, rise up and become part of the movement to educate yourselves and others about the enslavement of the educated in this country to lifelong indentured servitude via student loan debt. Make this a secret that is shared and not kept and shame our leaders, both political and financial, for ever trying to silence one of the best parts of the American spirit - it's intelligence!
We the people deserve better - so let us all demand it.
May the New Year bring grace to you all.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Christmas and Good Will
Well it is almost Christmas once again and I have been so busy working that I have had very little time to spend here. (The irony is not lost on me that I have so little time for the most important financial issue in my life.)
So the time has come to rededicate myself to the task at hand - which is to reveal the problem of the student loan scam to the sleeping masses of the United States. Maybe, just maybe, with all the good Christmas cheer and will out there new warriors will come to the aid of the student loan serfs.
Many articles abound about the problems with the student loan lending system that is currently in place. And while it is this system that is to be blame there is very little chatter going on about how to get student debtors out of debt.
So to President Barack Obama, whom I voted for, I call you to arms. Return to student loan debtors our rights to seek relief from our financial burdens in court. If wealthy developers like Donald Trump have used this system - why oh why can't we?
And since I have such great respect for President Obama I hereby formally invite him to personally appear as a guest writer on my blog. I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue Mr. President, so long as you leave the political talk out of it and get down to brass tacks. I'm sorry to be so blunt but time is of the essence so verbal sidestepping just won't do.
Merry Christmas to all of you and Happy Holidays!
So the time has come to rededicate myself to the task at hand - which is to reveal the problem of the student loan scam to the sleeping masses of the United States. Maybe, just maybe, with all the good Christmas cheer and will out there new warriors will come to the aid of the student loan serfs.
Many articles abound about the problems with the student loan lending system that is currently in place. And while it is this system that is to be blame there is very little chatter going on about how to get student debtors out of debt.
So to President Barack Obama, whom I voted for, I call you to arms. Return to student loan debtors our rights to seek relief from our financial burdens in court. If wealthy developers like Donald Trump have used this system - why oh why can't we?
And since I have such great respect for President Obama I hereby formally invite him to personally appear as a guest writer on my blog. I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue Mr. President, so long as you leave the political talk out of it and get down to brass tacks. I'm sorry to be so blunt but time is of the essence so verbal sidestepping just won't do.
Merry Christmas to all of you and Happy Holidays!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Lost in the Shuffle
To my loyal fans out there (cricket, chirp,chirp) I just wanted to let you know that the issue of student loan indebtedness was still hot on the stove.
I never did hear back from my local politicians. I can only assume that it's not a priority for them because it won't keep them in or out of office.
I wonder if there are any institutions out there that can can lend a hand with getting the message out that another way to stimulate the economy is to get students out of debt.
Any suggestions out there?
I never did hear back from my local politicians. I can only assume that it's not a priority for them because it won't keep them in or out of office.
I wonder if there are any institutions out there that can can lend a hand with getting the message out that another way to stimulate the economy is to get students out of debt.
Any suggestions out there?
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
No Response From Sen. Schumer
Well here I am two full weeks later and I have yet to receive a response from Senator Schumer's office about what he intends to do with the current student loan crisis.
From the lack of response I think its fair to assume that he plans to do absolutely nothing.
My next approach is to contact the US Department of Education about what they are doing.
An inquiry into the status of the Direct Loan Servicing Center website has revealed that it is run through the Department of Education.
From the lack of response I think its fair to assume that he plans to do absolutely nothing.
My next approach is to contact the US Department of Education about what they are doing.
An inquiry into the status of the Direct Loan Servicing Center website has revealed that it is run through the Department of Education.
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