Student Loans Deferment

Student Loans Deferment.org is a site dedicated to helping student loan borrowers learn about deferment of their debt and many other aspects of student loans. In particular we offer a lot of common sense advice to people who are looking to borrow money for higher education.

As for deferment of college loans, there are certain times when this is necessary and useful. The main thing to understand is this: never, repeat never, default on your student loans whether they

are government backed or private loans. So if you have gotten into financial trouble and you can qualify for the various types of deferments available, which include in-school deferment, unemployment deferment, economic hardship deferment, military deferment, graduate fellowship deferment, or Perkins loan deferments, then defer your loans if it will save you from defaulting.

Here is another piece of advice: Do not take student loan debt lightly. Understand that there is no way to escape student loan debt except to pay it off. And pay it off you will. You cannot get out of student loan debt by declaring bankruptcy as you can with credit card debt or even gambling debts. And the student loan companies can have your wages garnisheed as well as other money that is due you, like tax return refunds or social security payments, for example. On top of that if you default you’ll be hit with huge penalties for collection and for having defaulted, not to mention accrued interest added to your loan. Here is one example of how student loan debt can balloon if the loans are defaulted upon. Recently in the news was a story about a 41 year old doctor (yes, even doctors can get into trouble with student loans- it has been reported that the average doctor has taken out about $150,000 in student loans). She borrowed $240,000 to finance her medical school, but it took a while for her to start making any money after she finished. She didn’t understand fully the consequences of defaulting on her loans and let her debt slip into default. The bottom line is that she now owes $555,000 in student loan debt, and that is after having made payments for several years now that she is working as a primary care physician. She makes high payments each month, but she will not pay off her student loan debt until age 70 at her current payment rate. Because of all the aggravation caused by her burdensome debt load she and her boyfriend have put off getting married and starting a family. There are millions of student loan horror stories out there as more and more borrowers default on their loans. If deferment of your loans can keep you out of this type of predicament, then by all means look into it.

You are urged to keep reading the articles on this site, but keep a few basic things in mind if you are considering student loans. First, do not borrow more than what your expected first year of income is likely to be. Secondly, do everything you can to stay away from private student loans. As an example of both of these principles, I recently read an article about a young man who borrowed $75,000 in private student loans, and he graduated and became a teacher with an income of $24,000 per year. His private student loan lenders are demanding payments of $1,400 per month, and his monthly take-home pay barely exceeds that amount. This poor fellow is in deep trouble. He is beyond help from deferment of his student loans.

So approach student loans with caution, and don’t take them for granted. Think about deferment of your student loans if it can help keep you out of trouble. If you think the only way you can finance student loan debt is through private loans, think again. Find some other way to pay for college. You’ll find lots of ideas on this site.