Janet Lee Dupree, 72, was surprised when she received her first Social Security benefits seven years ago. About one-fifth of her monthly payment was being withheld and she called the federal government to find out why.
The woman, who is from Citra, Fla., discovered that the deduction from her benefits was to repay $3,000 in loans she took out in the early 1970s to pay for her undergraduate degree. ...
She is among an estimated two million Americans age 60 and older who are in debt from unpaid student loans, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Its August “Household Debt and Credit Report” said the number of aging Americans with outstanding student loans had almost tripled from about 700,000 in 2005, whether from long-ago loans for their own educations or more recent borrowing to pay for college degrees for family members.
The debt among older people is up substantially, to $43 billion from $8 billion in 2005, according to the report, which is based on data from Equifax, the credit reporting agency. Currently about 155,000 people, according to federal data, have money deducted from their Social Security payments to pay down their outstanding student loans. ...
4 comments:
Yes, but:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasondelisle/2014/09/11/social-security-and-unpaid-student-loans-what-the-feds-wont-tell-you/
This problem will get exponentially worse as many people (mostly in the margins economically) start online degrees and never finish them. Many students now take out federal loans that not only pay for school, but also pay for the cost of living. However, a large portion never complete their degree and are saddled with debt without any real job prospects.
Borrow the money? Then pay it back as you agreed to when you took the money. I do not care if you got the money for a large or small business, buying a home or car, credit card debt, student loan, etc. Just imagine what taxes would be needed or what the costs to purchase things would be if you did not also have to include paying for people or businesses who do not pay their bills or taxes. And now are we expected to feel sorry for people and businesses and excuse them forever for their debts?
I generally have sympathy for people, but government loans were available in the 1970s on very easy terms - 3% interest deferred (payments and interest) while you were in school, ten years to pay it back after you finished. This at a time when inflation was sometimes over 10%. I think most people should have been able to pay back the loan (I borrowed about that much and my payment was $80 every 3 months).
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