I signed up for federal loans my first semester college. One of my parents co-signed. Then I did a some more semesters and took out loans each time.
I took a year off to try and earn money to pay down these debts.
At the end of that year, I called the federal loan people to ask about my options for an affordable repayment. I also went back to school on short notice, ironically in part because one of my abusers threatened that I had to. All in all, It was a matter of life and death for me to move out into my car and take classes again. This all happened pretty quickly.
But unfortunately I didn’t have much planning and the decision was made relatively quickly.
So I’ve been living out of my ~5k car (on which I pay $100/month) for a year now, and I don’t receive any mail. I work the best job that I’ve been able to find around here, and it pays $11/hour. I’ve gotten my budget down to about ~$600-~$700/month (liberal estimate) by living in my car and eating as cheaply as possible.
There are clauses in my contract that don’t allow me to pick up a second job, but thankfully it seems I’m getting promoted to a $30k full-time role.
Since I work inconvenient hours, it’s difficult and seemingly impossible for me to make it to places where I can get on a computer while also using a phone and printer to sort my messy financial situation out.
Yesterday, I finally got a chance. I got to the library and sat down to print out my tax documents to file for my tax refunds, which I’ve been looking forward to for a while now. The refund will give me about $1500, which is like a lifeline in itself. As I opened my email, the first message in my inbox said my student loans had gone into default. I was so disappointed and didn’t know what to do.
It seems the loan people have thought that I’ve been out of school for the past two years, when I actually enrolled again recently. According to them, they don’t penalize students for not paying if they’re enrolled. But because of an issue with my school processing my financial aid, the loan people thought I’d been out of school for two years and just not paying, I guess?
Anyway, I’m not sure what to do. I’m assuming I won’t get my tax refund anymore. I’m homeless, and I need my car to get to work. Public transportation is a bad option for where I live. I’ve worked relentlessly on trimming my budget to where it is now. I thought I was finally going to get things moving forward efficiently when I read that email. Now I’m trying to figure out the best way forward.
Advice please?
Submitted July 17, 2018 at 09:25AM by expectedtourist https://ift.tt/2LlKRp9
