Gotta love the Student loans...

[BigBear]

Student loans are from a variety of sources since degrees are from different states. Some private, some federal. I've tried consolidating, but some private can't be mixed with federal and vice versa.

Batteriesnare, that was my thoughts as well.

Greenscout, it was mentioned in previous post. About $40K give or take. I agree as well, probably not good to sell off to just get $2K ahead.

Stuart... I hate needles... but I may have to bite the bullet, lol. I'm sure I could give a gallon without it affecting me (haha).

Newracer, apparently there is some formula they use to calculate payments, henceforth the minimum payment will be x percent of x amount. I'll have to type out one of my phone coversations one of these days, there are infuriatingly hilarious!

[BigBear]

Being a musician and owning instruments that were given to me by relatives that are quite costly, I could NEVER sell them for money. I would be quicker to sell a firearm, my firstborn, or the neighbors cat.

In all seriousness, you can always pick up musical gigs on the side (look around, a lot of churches pay good money for talented musicians). And, if all else fails, you can play your trumpet on the street and make a few bucks.

Granted, you could also play your firearms on the street and make quite a bit more, but at that point I doubt student loans would be your biggest worry...

Remember, quality instruments (performance) increase in value with age. Firearms decrease slowly. It's hard to say. Any way you can ride it out and not pay the payments until summer when you get a job (as in, how much extra interest would accrue if you didn't start paying?)

Once again, I'm impressed by all the musicians on this forum... Serisouly gives thought to starting an COAR15 Band, lol.

I am in the Springs area and I've tried to pick up gigs on the side. However, with the shear amount of musician in this area it is hard. There are the musicians from the Ft. Carson, Ft. Peterson, Air Force Acadmy, Colorado Springs Symphony, band teachers, etc all vie-ing for the one or two secular gigs that come along. I do play in church but unfortunately, it's a smaller church and it's a "for the glory of the Lord" situation. Back in Texas I played at a "mega" church in the panhandle and made about $300 a week for 2 hours of work... I miss those days, lol.

Payments are already due, even missed once hence the declining of the forebearance/deferrment. Interest is low but I don't want to "skip" payments if I can avoid it. That leads to all sorts of problems, especially with Sallie Mae I've heard.

Good thoughts, I appreciate them all.

[mutt]

Mutt, they are the only things I really own that can actually being a return. So I am considering selling them to have some money to start making bigger payments. Granted, I get by each month but it's just barely, no unnessecary spending (except teh occasional range trip or date night with the wife). However, with both a BM and a MM to pay for, the payments are getting larger. Minimun payments won't cut it. My student loans will (most likely) not be paid off for several years. Total is around $40K +/-.

I feel sorry for the robber if I ever get robbed. Most people don't know the value of musical instruments and the guns are locked up. I guess they could try to steal the VHS player and the TV that only gets three stations but only in a blue/green shade! HAAHAAHAHA. They could steal my car but then... oh wait, why would they want it! (no suspension, no front bumper, no electronics, hood won't open, etc) HAHAHA.

That's a tough one BigBear. If selling your stuff would let you get out from under the Debt Monkey, I'd recommend you do that in a heartbeat just so you could sleep easier at night and not be beholden to another. But if it's just going to let you make payments, that's a bit more complicated.

If you are making ends meet now, I would recommend hanging on to your stuff. I can only assume you will be selling your stuff at a loss, so replacing it in the future is only going to cost you more money. That's not such a good deal if your not actually paying off a debt IMHO. You don't know what tomorrow, next month, next year may bring financially. You may have better means then. It will probably be cheaper just to up the payments when you can rather than trying to re-buy all your goods.

I would also highly recommend keeping anything with sentimental value (such as items your Dad or Grandpa gave you) because no amount of money will ever replace those memories. Those kinds of items should only be sold when you have no choice. Sell or starve so to speak.

As for telling your creditors to blankety-blank: You can't do that with govt guaranteed student loans (and I'm assuming these are). Bankruptcy doesn't get rid of em, and not paying will just eventually put you in a bad situation in front of a federal judge.

Now if you have other debts, like unsecured credit cards, there's some wiggle room there. You can call your creditors and ask for some help (reduced payments, interest rate reductions, out-right forgiveness, etc). Your mileage there will vary. You can also claim bankruptcy to get the payments reduced. And, depending on your situation, it may just make better financial sense to walk away from your credit card debt. That's a touchy subject though. Even if you can technically do it, there's a matter of honor and repaying the obligations you owe.

I feel for you my friend, it's no fun to be under a mountain of debt. It took me a while to learn my life's lessons ( I was plain stupid in my younger years) and climb out. Now that I know what it feels like to be debt free, I'll never go back.

[BigBear]

Rgr that. Credit cards are paird off as of last year. It's just the student loans now. I know I can't really tell the creditors to blankety-blank... I just needed another option for the poll, lol. I do not plan on declaring bankruptcy... that's a last option, and then again as mentioned, I'm still responsible for gooberment loans so it wouldn't help.

Good thoughts/comments all.

[Irving]

The biggest thing that helped me, and the smartest thing I did was call creditors and move due dates to better serve how I got paid. I wrote down EVERYTHING I owed on and WHEN it was due (also wrote the amounts). I pay my rent on the first of the month, and it is over 50% of my check so I made sure to move stuff to the second part of the month if I could. The credit card I was having the most trouble with was due before the 15th, so I called and had it moved to after the 15th and now it's not a problem at all.

Another thing I did was to take advantage of some of the perks or my auto insurance policy. I'm with one of the companies (a lot of them are doing it now) that reduce your deductible by like $50 every 6 months you go accident free. Well, once I got to having $250 taken off my $500 deductible, I called and switch to $1,000 deductibles. Now I'm paying the $1,000 rate, but only have a defacto deductible of $750 (and dropping). It was kind of a risky move but it saved me a LOT of money per month (in relation to what I make anyway) and I figure that both our cars are getting low enough in value that any significant damage would total them anyway.

Those may not apply directly to you this time, but I thought I'd throw them up as useful tips for anyone else and something to keep in mind for the future.

[BigBear]

Interesting about the car insurance... Mine would be totaled for a grand total of... "tree fiddy dolla!" lol

[funkfool]

BigBear:
SallieMae loans... crap.... yeah - I got 'em too.
Looks like I have 14.3K left on them - mo. payment is 175.00 - paying 200.00 even - maybe it will get paid off one day... tough to deal with - but I am paying off credit card debt first - the interest isn't deductible.

Some good news - (if there is any):
Student loan interest IS tax deductible...
Free Turbo Tax on Sallie Mae's website...

What repayment option are you set up with?
Check other options here: https://www.manageyourloans.com/MYL

You are in the Springs - right?
Hit the jam nights - gotta be a paid gig or two out there for you...
Not sure about these - but worth a try for extra paid gigs...
http://www.bandmix.com/colorado/colorado-springs/
http://www.musicianhunter.com/Messag...=Colorado&ID=6
http://www.coloradospringssuperads.c...eds/index.aspx
http://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/region.php?f=52
Personally can't stand the CSIndy - but:
http://www.csindy.com/colorado/playi...nt?oid=1111447

BTW - if you have a good video camera (I have one if needed)- go to a jam night - video your performances and post it on you tube then start linking it for musician wanted ads...
In our industry - you know it is all promotion... (I used to say "You could sell pressed dog $h1t if it had the right label on it!")
Hang in there brother.

[Troublco]

Did you happen to ask whether or not you could re-apply for a forbearance once you got current? You might see, maybe you could go that route.

[funkfool]

Stuart:

Another thing I did was to take advantage of some of the perks or my auto insurance policy. I'm with one of the companies (a lot of them are doing it now) that reduce your deductible by like $50 every 6 months you go accident free. Well, once I got to having $250 taken off my $500 deductible, I called and switch to $1,000 deductibles. Now I'm paying the $1,000 rate, but only have a defacto deductible of $750 (and dropping). It was kind of a risky move but it saved me a LOT of money per month (in relation to what I make anyway) and I figure that both our cars are getting low enough in value that any significant damage would total them anyway.

This is a great idea... I have a older model truck I should do this with - I think we have our ded. at 500.

BigBear: Should have prefaced my reply with: Try not to sell your music gear OR your firearm heirlooms - find a work around.
Disclaimer: I know - I'm not you - but try to find a pick-up gig here and there - some pay pretty well around here - find some other folks that are paying trumpet in local bands and befriend them - I used to fill in for friends of mine when they had 'other commitments' and couldn't make a gig - happens more often as we get older - especially in spring/summer and holidays (Have to attend weddings, go to family functions etc...)
Good luck.

[Irving]

Write a cook book. Or better yet...my lady is a great cook, and has always wanted to do a Spanish cooking show, since those don't exist on local spanish programing. So why don't you write and teach her some recipes, she'll show how to make them in Spanish, we'll put them on youtube and wait for a producer to call us. What do you think?