Comments on: Student Loan Sob Story

By: Sandra

Sandra — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 03:17:47 +0000

you all mseem so smart…so why is it you dont get that the student loan industury and it’s “special” rules set many people up for finicial failure. with other loans you can get insurance to cover the loan if you become Ill, and are unable to work and pay, not with these loans, with other loans you get documentation on your payments, interest rate, who owns your loan Etc, you have many more safegards with reg loans then student loans…why? And thanks to degregulation the whole student loan indurstry has to be invistigated. do you know that they have no rules, they are not accountable for what they do or “forget to do” and they refuse to email you any information (because you cant prove what they have “told” you over the phone), or provide documentation to you about your loan. the are not “accountabel” for any errors they may have made to your account. My online access to my account said it was paid off (yeah) I questioned this and never got an answer that made any sence…just no longer had any access to my loan history…still dont. PA must be the wost..its been a horror dealing with AES, I could go on and on about the “way they operate” but whats the use..it wont change a thing…we are all at the mercy of an agency that operates by there own rules and owes no answers to us the consumers who are forced to pay what ever they say for as long as they say…with out providing any documentation to us to confirm the payments or charges…no wonder they can afford to give employees bonus (and what they are being given bonusis for is another issue!) they go on trips, and top guy gets huge salery W\Bonus. we have been had and no one is going to reform these agencies. I should have borrowed from the loan shark instead..he has more integreaty and more honist!!

By: Matthew

Matthew — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:49:20 +0000

I dislike big business, but lets be real about what Mr. Applebaum agreed to. How about being a man of your word instead of crying about what you signed up for! His student loan payment does help the economy, it’s just that he doesn’t get to choose where to spend it! Yes, your plan would benefit you! If everyone had their loan forgiven, than what’s the value of a loan? I can just take out a loan for my pleasure and decide not to pay it back because it may be forgiven some day. Money is not loaned for free! What is this guy thinking? I was screwed with my student loan debt and worked my butt off for years to get even! For fregkin’ years, and sacraficed a lot!Now this dude wants me to pay for his student loans with my tax money so that he can have an easy life playing around with his easy law job. Great, this guy gets a law degree for free! Thanks to me and all the other tax payers out there? No way dude! Go live in a box for free and work your butt off like I did! You’re only 35 years old. With hard work and little expense, you can pay it off easily within 10 years, if not 5. Sacrafice 5 years of your life to be a man of your word. It’s not like someone changed the rules on you Mr. Lawyer! You’re just sore and lazy!

By: Mac

Mac — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:37:13 +0000

In the interest of further argument, I totally support your suggestion Mr. Applebaum. This country offers a variety of public service programs to assist those who have a ‘higher’ calling and want to serve. Why not do the same for attorneys who are willing to make c— for money. There are many like you–passionate, bright, committed– who would have and should have stayed in the system if the system paid more. This country appears to be more interested in bail outs which have not proven to be particularly successful than supporting this part of our infrastructure. There is a huge turnover in DAs’ offices. Our ADAs work as many or more hours than private attorneys and get paid as much as or less than some of the secretaries who work in their offices–if they’re lucky enough to have one.
The feds have finally figured out (as a result of years of lobbying) the critical need to help DAs with their government loans for this very reason. Still, there are hundreds, dare I say, thousands of ADAs who decided during law school to work within the system for the greater good only to discover that even if they CAN afford to pay back their private loans, the chances of say, owning a home, or putting money away for retirement is slim to none.
We can continue to take newbies out of law school and hope that they are in the unique position of having paid for law school (or parents paid). If they stay, the system will run more smoothly. Take a look at the turnover rate. It’s not pretty. That does not make for a consistently well run system. I support your contention that we should review this. If we want to attract and keep good attorneys in our DA offices, we need to look at this problem and not accept the status quo.

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:46:15 +0000

Where is your outrage regarding the bailouts to the banks? And for everyone stating that the money is now being paid back, you have bought into the delusional PR from the Wall Street machine. What is being paid back is TARP loans. TARP is the money that came from the approved $700 billion bailout. That is only one part.

What about the $12 trillion in financial back stops that are still in place? Do you realize that Goldman Sachs is back to high frequency trading using the Federal Reserve as a short term loan with rates near zero? What about the backstops at Citi and Bank of America?

I understand the outrage with student loans. No bailout, agreed. Yet I find the outrage with this one issue misplaced since I don’t remember a “hell no” regarding the financial bailouts of the banks.

By: LOL

LOL — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:35:19 +0000

#61 Robert) You didn’t address my argument:

File for bankruptcy if you want the debt forgiven.

A lot of posters erroneously stated that student loans can’t be forgiven, but they can be:

http://www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/bankruptcy/

I’m my opinion, if you don’t file for bankruptcy, then that means you actually can afford to make the payments. And if you can afford to make the payments, then YOU SHOULD MAKE THE PAYMENTS!

I understand completely why the litmus test is harder for student loans — because we can’t repossess your mind and take back the education that you are trying to get for free.

(FYI, JLP doesn’t ban people — cause I’d be the first

By: JLP

JLP — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:02:27 +0000

You were never banned.

By: Robert Applebaum

Robert Applebaum — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:51:06 +0000

Oh look, the ban was lifted. Not sure exactly what I said last week that was not allowed to be seen by the rest of you, but let me address a few of the comments that have been made.

#1 – I did not attend Fordham initially with the intention of becoming an ADA. If that was my goal at the beginning, I’d have gone to Brooklyn Law or something similar. Believe it or not, things happen over the course of 3 years and my priorities changed during that time. So, had I known then what I know now, my choices may have been different. I don’t think it’s necessary to crucify me for changing career paths between the ages of 21 and 24.

#2 – “I’ll bet you’re a defense attorney. . .” Uhhh, no. Try reading. I’ve put myself out there – explained my story openly and honestly only to illustrate some of the inherent problems in the system. Again, I did not propose this for myself and I’m not complaining about myself. I can and do pay my loans back.

#3 – “Pay your loans. . .take personal responsibility” – Good advice. That’s precisely what I’ve been doing. Go figure – had you read what I’ve written, you’d have already known that.

#4 – “Nothing you can say will change my mind” – Fair enough. Glad to know you have an open mind and are open to rational, civilized debate.

#5 – “Sorry about your predicament.” Again, I don’t have a predicament. I borrowed money for my education, I’m paying it back. This isn’t about me. This is a proposal I’ve put forth as an alternative to spending TRILLIONS of taxpayer dollars on bailing out the very institutions that caused the economic mess we’re in.

#6 – “Get a high paying job, pay your loans back and then go back to public service if that’s what you want to do.” Again, good advice. Again, try reading. I left the DA’s office 5 years ago precisely because of my loan situation. I made the unfortunate, but responsible decision to leave a low-paying job I loved to take a higher paying job so as to pay those loans. I didn’t like it, but I did it because I AM responsible. I’m NOT looking for a handout. I’m merely proposing an alternative to throwing trillions of good dollars after bad with the hope and belief that propping up the middle class is a better use of OUR tax dollars.

By: JLP

JLP — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:46:44 +0000

Robert,

“Rational, well-reasoned” is debatable.

I didn’t censor you. I don’t censor commenters unless they are:

1. Leaving off-topic, rude comments.

2. Spamming my blog.

What I want here is a discussion. You can’t have a discussion if you censor opposing points of view.

By: Robert Applebaum

Robert Applebaum — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:37:19 +0000

Just curious at to whether I’m still banned from this debate. Apparently the owner of this blog didn’t like my rational, well-reasoned, non-personal explanations for what I’ve proposed and, thus, chose to censor me instead.

By: Stacey

Stacey — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:27:06 +0000

I guess you picked the wrong law school…But good luck in your careers!