In this day and age, it is not easy to find a job. A couple months passed, still unemployed, scrounging around to make payments. Some months I just could not afford to pay the whole amount. They finally threatened to garnish my fathers wages, and when he fought back, and explained my situation (for the third time at this point) the response he got….. almost put a hole in the wall. He was asked why I had not called as soon as I lost my job and claimed a hardship. ARE YOU SERIOUS?! DO YOU PEOPLE NOT HAVE EARS? OR SOULS FOR THAT MATTER? Then I was told I had to double my payment to get caught up. Even after landing another job, doubling the payment seems more like a punishment rather than them ‘helping me out’. I have just one question. How do these people sleep at night? I guess its my fault for wanting a good education. MY BAD. If I knew I had to sell my soul to the devil to pay for college, I might have reconsidered.
I think Teresa Gervasio, head of HESAA student services, has some ‘splainin’ to do. Why wasn’t this borrower informed of her right to a hardship deferral after she explained to a HESAA rep that she couldn’t make her monthly payment? “Ask your parents for money” is not a proper response to a student borrower who can’t make monthly payments, when the Hardship Deferment clearly exists.
Why wouldn’t they tell her about that? I bet it’s because they are coached NOT TO by management because the more people in deferment the less money that filters back to the anonymous bond holders who are making a killing on the student loan sharking racket. Thanks to the State of New Jersey and Governors Corzine, Christie and McGreevey for allowing this.
Here’s our friends story:
Hello, I just recently read your blog and felt the immediate need to contact you and thus, share my story. I graduated college two years ago. I owe more than $100,000.00 and my monthly payment is almost equal to my father’s mortgage payment. The thought of paying my loan, that could have been a mortgage, while still living with my parents sickens me to the core.
Last summer, I had the unfortunate experience of my company downsizing and I lost my well-ish paying job. The first thing I did was call HESAA to tell them that I could no longer afford to make my usual payment and I needed help. The response was appalling. Like the other stories on your blog, I was told to ask my parents for money. How could they say this to me? I couldn’t believe it. This was all the help they gave me — telling me to ‘figure it out’ and ‘ask around’. I believe this to be the decline of humanity. Turning a blind eye to people who need help. If I turned my back on a person in need I think I could physically feel myself being damned to hell.
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