Friday, October 30, 2009

Student loans that just won't go away

I was 17 when I went to college. Because I was underage, my student loans were done with my father as the Borrower. He did all sorts of funky things, and I have been the one who paid for it....literally.

Upon graduation from my undergraduate degree, I was handed all sorts of papers and coupon books and was told the loans were my responsibility. Thanks! While I agree that I should be responsible for at least some of my loans, the way this went down stunk.

And what really stunk was that most of these loans had an incredibly high interest rate attached to them and there wasn't anything I could do. They couldn't be consolidated or negotiated. Nada.

I currently have $1,691.81 left of the loans that I couldn't do anything with. It has a variable rate that is currently 4.75%, but it has been as high as 10%!!! I looked at the statement today...

Original Principal amount - $5,831.57

Interest paid to date - $5,281.66
Total Principal paid to date - $4,275.00
Fees - $11.80

Aggregate Amount - $9,568.46


That means that 55% of what I have paid since I graduated in 1996 (this loan was disbursed 11/23/94) has been interest and fees. I have had this loan for 15 yrs!!!! A stupid, lousy $5800 loan.

Per the estimate, it should be paid off 05/16, which seems off to me. There is no way I am going to take another 5.5 yrs to pay off $1,700. Not a chance. This sucker needs to go away!!!

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