posted on May, 4 2015 @ 08:50 PM
a reply to:
theNLBS
Figured I'd mention it here as well, but beyond all the profiteering bull going on with wall street, what gets me is the student loan terms.
You can take out a student loan as early as seventeen in the US, for as much as is necessary to fund your education. These federal student loans come
with the clause that they can be forgiven in the case of total permanent disability or death. But, what neither the loan counselors, or the loan
servicing agency will ever tell you (I was trained to know this stuff inside and out and was never informed of this) is that even if you're eligible
for forgiveness, and your loans are discharged and the balance zeroed out with the loan servicer, that amount becomes a tax bill. It's counted as
unearned income for that tax year and you're required to pay taxes on it... In the case of your total, permanent disability or death.
The IRS has a much less flexible repayment schedule than any loan servicing agency, and you'd have to prove that everything you own is worth less
than the amount of the loan to not immediately owe taxes on the entire amount discharged. Even if you're able to prove insolvency, you pay that
amount in taxes in addition to what you'd normally pay, on the sale of any future resources you gain. It's a shakedown, and it's impacting the
young, bereaved, and disabled most directly, not to mention the lending terms and coaching procedures are unclear.
The only recourse many have is to ask their loan servicer for an income sensitive repayment schedule, if you do become permanently disabled, rather
than have it discharged to avoid the immediate tax bill. In that case, they're able to make very small payments for their entire life, but, the bill
is NEVER paid off entirely, as the payments barely cover the capitalizing interest.