[theoddz]

Well, I jumped into college right after I got out of the military for medical reasons. Back then, all the military offered in the way of a "GI Bill" was something called the VEAP (Veterans Educational Assistance Program). It was a contributory program that had a relatively low cap and for every dollar the military member contributed, the gov't contributed a certain amount....can't remember what that was because I didn't elect to participate in it when I was serving. Stupid me. I wanted my money....all of it, at the time, to party, so that was me being young and stupid. The VEAP was a shitty program, but it was something, and when I got out and wanted to go to college, it was something I didn't have.

So I jumped into college at a private Catholic college in the Midwest, not too far from my Mother's place. I took out a Pell Grant and I think they're now calling the old "GSL" (Guaranteed Student Loan) a "Stafford Loan" now, but I'm not sure. It was for $2500. There was another $500 loan I took out, too, and I think it was called an "NDSL" (National Direct Student Loan) that was from the college, but also guaranteed by the federal gov't. Well, I only hung in there for about a year, or 2 semesters, due to both medical issues and my partying around and, well, chasing women to be honest. I dropped out after a year.

Well, I bounced around to several different cities and I'd get those bills from my student loans, then after a while, those started to come from collection agencies. I didn't have the money to pay them or even send $20 a month because I didn't even have enough to live on, and yes, I was partying (quite) a bit too. Then an accident at work in Florida disabled me with a bad knee injury that took me 5 years on work comp disability and 3 difficult surgeries to overcome. I had to move in with my mother, which was hell on me. Finally, I met my ex, whom I am still good friends with, to this day. She was 16 years older than me, but a hellofalot wiser and she became a stable and steadying influence in my life, in so many ways. She was a career Navy woman and a senior NCO. She was also the first woman I ever lived with, and so we packed up when she received orders to Maine and off we went together. At about the same time, the doctors released me back to work. They gave me a lot of restrictions, too, and for a person who had always worked with his back and not his mind, I found myself in a job world where I had no job skills that would allow me to do anything that fit those new physical restrictions. I had to go back to school.

There was a HUGE problem with going back to school......the LOANS. My loans had been in default for nearly 10 years and just about every collection agency in the nation was after me for payment. Of course, I had moved around quite a bit and, as they say, "it's hard to hit a moving target". Apparently, when someone, even a collection agency or creditor wants to sue you, the law says they have to sue you in the state/city where you live, so if you move around a lot, that's really hard for them to do, but they did garnish all of my tax returns for just about all of those 10 years in which I was delinquent/defaulted. You see, that's another thing they do. They take your tax returns and they also won't release your credits or academic records from your previous school(s) so you can go back to school. Those loans never, EVER go away, unless you die or prove that you were cheated by the school(s) you attended through the loans. I had to start all over again. That was a bitch. They really do screw you when you don't pay your school loans. It's kind of like child support....only when you owe that, they can put you in jail if you don't pay. Thank Jeebuz there's no such thing as "debtor's prison" in America for things like school loans or I'd have been surely sitting in it.

When my work comp case was settled out, I was awarded a relatively small sum of money for what they called "indemnity". I also had heard of something called "State of Maine Department of Vocational Rehabilitation" in Maine and I contacted them and told them the situation about my health and my long and tired story of student loans and default. I had to get really honest with them about my role of irresponsibility and how I intended to get serious and get back to school so I could get back to work and start living a good and productive life again. I made good friends with the folks in that office and they helped me with the money I lacked from my own little stash of cash from my work comp award. What I didn't have the money for, they supplied, and somehow I was able to talk my way into the state community college program for Respiratory Therapy. I had to start from the beginning, though, with the basics like English 101, History, etc., but it was well worth it and very enjoyable, on the whole. I did really well in school and made the Dean's List all the way through. I even earned an academic scholarship award for something I wrote for the Maine Society of Respiratory Care one year.

Fast forward another 10 years. I was now working for the federal gov't. I had finally gotten my full Veterans benefits and the medical retirement they owed me from the illness I got while on active duty and had been suffering with for so many years. I was feeling better than I had felt since my teens and wanted to get into a new house, as nearly everyone in Las Vegas was doing, during the early 2000's. I'd fixed my credit report and gotten my score way up and had even saved a bit of money for the downpayment that I really didn't need, since I intended to use my VA Home Loan benefit. I was ready to go!!!! Then. It. Hit. Again. .......the damned loans that had not gone away.

You can't get a federal loan, such as a conventional FHA or even a VA home loan, if you have defaulted federal student loans. Hang it up, because it ain't happening and you won't get a dime of federal money if you have defaulted student loans. I started reading, though, all about credit and federal loans. I gave myself another education in how credit works. I had done it when I cleared up my credit report, but student loans are another matter. There's different laws regarding how they're reported and how they're collected. There's also something that a lot of folks don't know about getting rid of them. You can sometimes settle them for pennies on the dollar, but you have to know how to do that, too, or else it can make your credit report look even worse. Here's what I did.

My original total loan amount was about $3000, but by the time I pulled my head out of my ass, nearly 20 years later, the interest had racked up to nearly double the original amount. I owed nearly $6000. So, I called up the Dept. of Education and spoke to one of their collection people. I told him my long, sad story, emphasizing my "Disabled Veteran" status, and I said that I had managed to scrape together, borrow and scrimp, about $3000. I asked him if, under the circumstances and since the loan was so old, if they'd consider accepting that $3000 as full payment and settlement of the debt. They guy I talked to seemed reasonable and sympathetic and receptive to my offer, but said he'd have to ask his supervisor, but he'd call me back and let me know. The next day, he called and said that my offer had been accepted and to send a cashier's check for the $3000 and they'd mark it "paid in full".

Now, here's the trick with this.......You don't want them to note on your credit file that the loan was satisfied for less that what was owed. If you do that, it could be considered as "derogatory" on your credit file. You want it either completely deleted or noted "PAID IN FULL" or "FULLY SATISFIED". The next, and most important point of all, is to get it in WRITING that these are the terms of acceptance, BEFORE you mail them ANY money. You want it in writing that they will NOT make any derogatory comments/details of the settlement in your credit file. They shouldn't have any problem doing this, either. The Dept. of Education did what they promised to do, and I sent them the $3000, and now my loans are gone, paid in full. Oh, and I bought my house with my VA loan benefit.

I know there are people who owe more than me and certainly those who don't have the same financial circumstances as I have had/do, but maybe there's some information here that someone could use for an idea about how to help their situation. There's also a free credit information forum here online that's simply a goldmine for information regarding credit and how to handle problems with student loans, collections and settling of. It's located at www.creditboards.com. The student loan part of the forum is here: http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showforum=19

Good luck, folks. I know it's an uphill battle, but it's not impossible or hopeless. Things can work out.

~Theo~