62% of Student Loan Borrowers Say They're Likely to Boycott Repayments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/boycott-student-loan-repaymentOpen linkView original on lemmy.world443
Comments121https://www.commondreams.org/news/boycott-student-loan-repaymentOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
I think this is an example of what people say in surveys being drastically different than what they'll do in reality.
Today's phrase is "garnish your wages." If their protest doesn't involve moving to another country it's not going to happen. I've thought about it too, but my contingency,for that definitely involves moving to Scandinavia.
Ah bullshit. Civil rights weren't achieved by threatening to leave and not be the oppressor's problem anymore, they were achieved by standing ones ground damned the consequences. No one wants to be a martyr, but that's how battles are unfortunately won, especially against today's brand of fascists.
Can't garnish imaginary wages [̲̅$̲̅(̲̅ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°̲̅)̲̅$̲̅]
The last one is the one we need the most.
More of this. It's time for mass protests instead of complaining and then working a 9 to 5 and browsing Instagram.
Fucking exactly.
The US government: let's enable the economy to get to the point where it's basically impossible for young people to even participate in society.
Also the US government: damn, why do people keep going on suicidal mass shootings? If only there was anything we could do about it.
Exactly
I'm so glad you're willing to sponsor people who want to leave the US, when can I expect the check?
Exactly, they’d be ruining their credit scores.
Oh NOES anything but THAT.
Ppl need to know that student loans (federal or private) and medical related debts don't impact your credit scores nearly as much as say private loans, mortgage, auto loan, etc.
People who want to buy a house...
Most of them are never going to be able to afford a house.
Can’t even rent without a credit score a lot of the time
Right so we should ruin their credit scores so it gets harder to rent (yes rental agencies check) or buy a car (even if they get one, their interest rate will be super high). Better we just fuck people over since they can't afford a house, right?
Fr
My credt score is not a choice. Its something i have to deal with.
Ok so I'll move to Ireland, since they speak English and I could keep my job I'm sure I'll have much better luck renting there XD. Go away troll
I have family here asshole. Im not leaving my nieces.
You're a coward for even thinking that is a real option for most people.
I think you underestimate how many people simply can't pay their loans at all
Is it really a boycott if you simply can't make the payments?
Not that I mind.
I'm just confused as to why it's all fine and dandy that PPP loans were all forgiven regardless of the corrupt practices used for disbursement, but student loans, which impact the economy as a whole far more than PPP ever will, is a must repay.
A lot of wealthy people benefited from PPP loans including House and Senate members, that's why.
Because Republicans will fight so that the rich can get richer by getting handed free money, and Republican will fight so that the working class has to pay back every cent.
Please remember that the Dems are doing this too. Neither party is our friend here.
The opposite is the truth. If Republicans were as supportive of student debt reform as Democrats were, we would have a major reform bill of some form passed and signed. Maybe it wouldn't be cancellation, but interest free student loans would probably be a thing.
Democrats may disagree and aren't universally behind cancellation, but didn't have enough votes by themselves anyways to make anything happen. Biden tried to enact his personal proposal through executive order, but that got shut down by Republican justices.
So. No. It's not a both parties thing. It's one sided. And if you aren't willing to tell the truth about that, then I have to wonder about your motivations and what you seek to do.
Dems aren’t your friends but the GOP is fascist and we don’t vote for fascists ever. So slag off with the slander.
You can work with people who aren’t your friends towards some goals. You can’t ever work with fascists who want you dead.
Well one big difference is that PPP loans were a one time thing, they are gone now and not coming back for a very long time.
If you paid off all student loans today, there would be more tomorrow, and every day after that. If we do it once, we basically have to keep doing it until school is completely paid for and student loans are no longer a thing.
Forgiving student loans just has a much bigger and longer lasting financial obligation than one time PPP loans.
It didn't seem to be an issue when previous generations went to college essentially for free.
The problem is that we never bothered to create a system where free education would actually work.
Producers always like to sell their goods for as much as they can get. Normally, a consumer looks at a product, decides if it's worth the price and then either buys it or doesn't. If prices are too high, producers are forced to lower them to stay in business.
The current system essentially created a 3 way business transaction that guarantees runaway education costs.
The universities provide a service. It's really hard to determine the value of that service since there isn't a liquid market for "an education" or "a Harvard degree" that you can easily look up.
The government then says they'll cover a percentage of that cost. This is a bit tricky. A normal subsidy is effectively a paying a fraction of the cost. Once you introduce loan forgiveness, either as a frequent or guaranteed event, that fraction effectively goes to 100%.
The student is getting a degree of unknown value but since they don't have to pay (at least not the whole thing) they'll just agree to the purchase, even if they don't personally think the good is worth as much as the provider is charging. There's no reason to if someone is picking up the bill.
The universities see that their price elasticity of demand (how much their sales suffer when they overcharge) is essentially 0. That means they can raise them with impunity. The end result is that Universities can essentially help themselves to large government grants without any requirement to show the public how we benefit from those grants.
If we consider education to be a public good then we should treat it as such. That would mean that we cancel the student loan program, get rid of tax subsidies for educational institutions and just have the federal government create a competing educational system. Take the money we're spending on outsourcing education to the private sector and add to it. For the system to work it would need to attract top tier professors and that means good research facilities and salaries. It's not a complicated idea but it would be a massive undertaking.
As a bonus we'd get some great initialisms. The federal universities would obviously be the FU system. State campuses might have names like FUNY and FUCA.
And yes, the point of such a system is that it would be paid entirely by taxes and would be free to students.
One single question: Cui Bono?
Who benefits? The ones that make the rules.
Garnished wages is still a huge problem.
Student loans are not forgiven in bankruptcy.
The federal government will garnish borrowers wages until they are paid, even if the borrower is bankrupt.
Fuck now I want turnips.
Jan Jansen?
i applied for income based repayment program 3-4 different times, always denied. I was making around 2k/month, and they wanted me to pay $1000/month. after getting rejected the third or fourth time, I just stopped even attempting to handle the debt in good faith.
@wintermute_oregon @jpreston2005
Why shouldn't it be free? I mean if businesses are making A LOT of money from the labour of those who've paid extraordinary amounts for their education - and are no where near providing equal compensation for that labour - then businesses should be paying for ALL education.
We shall see. The court battles could rage for decades.
If enough people refuse to pay, the courts can't keep up.
yes, I will use the money I don't have to leave the country. 🧠
Where are you going to get the money or skills to get some other country to accept you, though? If you had those, you wouldn't be trying to leave (at least for this reason) in the first place!
It's not a question of getting in; it's a question of getting in with the kind of visa that allows you to work and being allowed to stay long-term.
For example, even a white engineer like me would have trouble immigrating to somewhere like New Zealand without already having an employer lined up beforehand. The relevant type of visa isn't even accepting new "expressions of interest" right now, LOL.
✊
I've been boycotting mine for years.
You know, I think you just convinced me.
I'm considering not paying as long as they're doing the "ease you back into it" stuff like not reporting to credit agencies or garnishing wages. Seems essentially like a forbearance without the interest freeze. It really just depends on what my new payments end up being. But until that dog gets its teeth back, Nelnet can have what's left after I pay my actual bills and buy my weed.
Drugs before keeping promises is my motto too!!
Definitely not a "too" in this situation. I still handle my responsibilities.
Some of us need it for medical reasons. Like severe pain.
No, I said paying my actual bills first. AND buying weed. Now go lick on nelnet's tasty boot "r-tard".
Don't worry, they just can't read.
"And with enough evaders,
Escaping from the game,
The rule becomes an empty shell
That rules in only name..."
Boycotting only works when there is a noticeable financial hit to the producer. The federal government is not going to notice this. This can be good for campaigning though. Tell people that the reason they are not getting some forgiveness is because Republicans are doing everything they can to block it. Send out some flyers to everyone who has a federal student loan with a list of every Republican official who has had a PPP loan forgiven.
Let's get those numbers up, I'm not paying.
Great news we are now at 62.0001%
Yeah, but 58% are lying.
Not from America so please someone explain to me, I read Biden wanted to forgive student loans but somehow it didn't get through. Sure it would be much better if the loan is forgiven, but now it is not, shouldn't you still pay back what is owned? They really think they can just not pay and expect no consequences?
These loans are out right predatory. I was offered a 12% interest rate 7 years ago and have friends who've been offered 16%!!!
Yes you can say just don't sign it, but we're 17 years old we can't comprehend how much affect a 16% interest rate will have on you in 8 years and you've been told all your life college is the goto life path and you have to do this to get a "good job" and live a good life.
I agree we should payback the money we loaned, but taking advantage of genz via predatory loans for wanting a higher education is downright criminal in itself.
Adding onto this a lot of us will struggle to make these payments. I have 20k in loans and I haven't paid a dime on EVER. Now I suddenly have a second car payment out of nowhere!
12 and 16% from federal student loans?
I think those predatory rates are private lenders, but those are still given the same protections to make you pay no matter what as far as I am aware.
Yes my 12% is a federal loan. Not sure on the 16.
You can look up historical interest rates for federal loans. They have never been that high. https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/interest-rates#older-rates
Of course everyone involved knows they will face consequences, but they may feel those consequences are better than the payments. Courts can't garnish paychecks that don't exist and a ruined credit rating only matters if you were ever going to be able to afford to buy a house or car in the first place. Afaik actual jail time isn't really a thing for defaulting on a loan. If the only leverage the government has to get people to pay the loan is to threaten their future financial security, then anyone who thinks the initial promises of security is bogus has nothing to lose.
There's also some people who are willing to take the hit just to send a political message.
That said, I suspect nowhere near 62% of borrowers will actually meaningfully boycott in any way.
He didn't want to. He wanted to go thru the motions. If this mattered he would have executive ordered it and forced Congress to override. Even the Supreme Court can't force the federal government to collect a debt/tax. And given the state of Congress there was no way Congress would override it.
This. For all the shit he did, Trump expanded the executive powers through EO more than any modern president ever has. Biden could have 100% EO'd student loan forgiveness, damned the consequences but chose not to.
Biden not only wanted too, but he made sure he had a backup plan. He found a loophole in Clinton era legislation that allows a president to create income based repayment plans. It's not quite forgiveness, but it's the best he can do with Republicans controlling the house. https://apnews.com/article/student-loans-debt-college-cancellation-forgiveness-34152bb5000128a413efd2287887a37a
If you want true loan forgiveness, vote Democratic.
As I said, he could have instructed them to just not act on or pursue any payments. Let Congress vote to force the executive to do something deeply unpopular.
If the next president reverses the order, then all these people are in the same position and might owe additional interest. Banks know this, so they will hold it against anyone seeking credit. Congress doesn't even have to vote.
With the income based repayment, they aren't considered delinquent on their loans, interest doesn't build, and there is a path towards having the debt forgiven eventually.
If
The Democrats controlled both the house and the Senate for a time and didn't get it done, or am I misremembering the Democrats controlling both?
When you take Sens Manchin & Sinema into concideration, their control was very weak. It's a miracle the got the IRA done. It was a big F*ing deal.
I’m really glad I’m not going through this now, but I would boycott if I were. I fully support these people and hope to goodness they get the relief they need!
Let’s all do this with our mortgage payments
They will take your house. As someone else said, with student loans there is no collateral. With a mortgage, your home is collateral, so you will forfeit it.
Your income is the collateral. The banks will take it.
No, your income isn’t collateral. Garnishment is sought because there is no collateral to claim. Collateral is explicitly put up to guarantee a loan.
Bad move; the house is collateral. The bank can't foreclose on an education, they definitely can take the house.
Nope, but they sure can garnish wages, claiming they’re entitled to it since they paid for the education that lead to the job
Yeah after multiple trials and appeals.
And it starts to be a strain when enough people refuse to pay. If it takes multiple court cases, amd there are a few thousand in a court's district, it's going to get where you can't do anything else because of all the student loan repayment cases.
Plus the possibility of it going to heck. They screw up somewhere, lose, and it multiples. Everyone who took out a loan in PA in 2006 is now eligible to get it discharged for example.
What debt collectors and traffic court people don't want you to know is that as long as you are willing to fight them chances are you will eventually win. And once someone wins a single time it gets established. There was a reason for a while Uber settled everything out of court.
We are going to see an army of lawyers over the next few years suing the government over this while the US government has to spend more and more to get less and less.
They can take my diploma but I do t want them to take my house
deleted
So don’t pay and make them work for it.
With the labor shortage right now it would be expensive for loan collectors to hire enough workers to track down and force payments if people stop paying on a large scale.
Not to mention none of those employees would care much about "getting them robbers" either. They'll take whatever paycheck they can get and run.
Only for government-issued loans, I believe. Private loans won't go into auto-garnishing unless you agree to it.
Collections can't garnish without your permission. Only the government can force garnishments.
Granted, the lender could sue you for the debt and garnishment could be part of the ruling. But you'll probably know if you've gotten to that point.
For what it's worth, I never paid off my private loans, and they went to collections, but never garnished me. My federal loans did auto-garnish, though.
I believe this varies by state.
It doesn't work that way.
They check my credit before I can rent a place to live.
I'll boycott the next cop who drives behind me with flashing reds & blues since I don't have any loans to pay.
So why are people not paying back their loans?
Why aren't the banks paying back their excess reserves payments?
Not sure what that is
The US government gave free money to the banks to hold higher reserves of cash for years.
When are they going to pay that money back?
"Gave free money", so it wasn't a loan then?
Sure kid.
🤔
Why fuck them? I'm out of the loop. Why do you think you shouldn't have to pay back a loan?
Not sure what that means. Don't take out a loan if you're not going to pay it back though
I'm not sure what you said or what truth you are talking about
I find this interesting. By all accounts it seems it is unavoidable but to pay it back, so I am really curious how you plan to escape it. College prices are certainly predatory and this whole thing is awful, I just haven't seen a real solution for those suffering. It seems like the new slavery to me. Is there a viable escape?
What about younger people who need loans? Your refusal to pay will hurt future generations by making their loans more expensive or just impossible to get.
Fuck them too?
I know that I'm personally gonna blame this one random person on the Internet for all of our student loan problems. Definitely not gonna blame all the systematic issues.
Who is "you" here? The previous person asked a question, and you're blaming them directly. Unless I'm missing a previous comment thread.