My son and I could be the poster for what can go wrong when a family is starry-eyed when beginning their college journey. Every new semester when we got a fresh, new loan, we didn’t worry because having a college degree is a guarantee for a successful life. Right? I am starting $230/mo. Payment on a parent plus loan this month. My son is going to help me with this payment as much as he is able with his $13/hour job but he has an apartment and a girlfriend and he says he can’t really afford $200 per month. And now for the part that has me physically worried sick: A private student loan is saying he will owe $1235 per month beginning in March. This is apparently the best they can do as far as reducing payments. They don’t have any income-based payment options like the government loans. My son is going to start looking for a better-paying job but he doesn’t have his degree yet. He’s a few classes short. What are my options? I am a 43-year-old widow (within the last few years) who owns my home. I make $35,000 a year and have $56,000 in a 401(k). I want to get my name off this mess as soon as possible because I’m scared of losing my home — the one security I have left. Here are things I’ve considered so far while tossing and turning in the middle of the night: 1. Find a job that pays twice my current salary (this would involve moving to a big city and the housing/moving costs could defeat my purpose. Plus, I love my hometown.) 2. Hire a lawyer to help me 3. Offer the big loan my retirement in exchange for taking my name off or reducing payments (I’d start over again with an aggressive plan) 4. Not paying them and just let my credit be ruined forever. (Also I heard they can garnish my wages at 15% which, for me would be about $600/mo. gross and, for my budget, that would mean no food or gas or saving) 5. Get advice on reddit.
Please, please help me. I haven’t slept in days.
TLDR: my son will soon owe $1235 per month on one loan, and he can’t afford even $200 per month on another (which I am paying now) and I am the co-signer who was recently widowed and has my own budget set up as a house of cards. What are my options?
Submitted November 26, 2017 at 08:18AM by ArtyKay http://ift.tt/2johGF8
