How to pay back $120,000 in student loans?

[Unix2]

I thought my 30K debt was bad.

I suggest you go get a job, even if temporary. It won't be easy to pay that student loan off, but with a masters in business, you should pay that off within 5-7 years. Now go get a JOB!

I have a job already, but the salary is not sufficient to pay for all my needs, specially the loans. I get pay $21 a hour but is nothing at all.

[betasp]

The wife and I are floating about $60k in loans. We pay around $502.00 / month and probably will until we die. No big deal I guess. If times are tough, we can defer a few months to make sure we don't get behind. Communication is the key. They will work with you typically.

Oh, read the documentation. On mine, it states that when I die it goes away and the estate is not libel. That means my wife and son would not be on the hook for my $20k.

[Art3x]

God I'm thankful I went to college for free ;x

[lt8480]

People who criticize aren't all silver spoon fed guys.

Sure times are difficult - people I know had to write over a 100 CVs (whilst doing a job they didn't want to do just to pay some bills), and it took weeks, and small fortunes were spent on going to job interviews, and then a relocation cost.

May I ask -

How many specific jobs you have applied for relevant to your degree?

What feedback are you getting?

The question isn't how to solve bill problems like there is a simple fix, but rather we should be helping to solve the core issue - that is helping you to get a job you want.

If in the mean time money is a problem - axe things like the internet to the minimum you need. Move to a cheaper flat in perhaps a not so good area etc. etc.

[chconline Veteran]

Yeah, I would highly advice you to get a job and cut expenses. Even if you think it's "negligible", every bit helps. I'm working to keep myself out of debt (Third year into university and no debt) but since you can't go back in time... cut the extra expenses is the best thing to start with even if you can't get a job at the moment.

I just dumped a couple thousand dollars on electronics in the last 2 months and I realize how bad of an idea it was lol.

[ILikeTobacco]

The wife and I are floating about $60k in loans. We pay around $502.00 / month and probably will until we die. No big deal I guess. If times are tough, we can defer a few months to make sure we don't get behind. Communication is the key. They will work with you typically.

Oh, read the documentation. On mine, it states that when I die it goes away and the estate is not libel. That means my wife and son would not be on the hook for my $20k.

It is actually illegal for the debt to be passed on to other family members other than spouse in the United States. The only way that lenders can get to your family is hit the inheritance assuming there is one. If you die with 20k debt and a car worth 20k, they have the right to take the car. If you die with 20k and having nothing, they get to eat the bill. That is why they try and intimidate family members after death. While your spouse is responsible for your debts, children are not as they are not part of the legal entity that signed the contract for the loan.

In your case the fact that it doesn't go to your wife is actually nice since the law doesn't require that.

[sc302 Veteran]

I have a job already, but the salary is not sufficient to pay for all my needs, specially the loans. I get pay $21 a hour but is nothing at all.

You make roughly 43,680 a year...what do you have going out the door, there is something you can cut out I know there is...it is going to be whether or not you want to cut it out (again needs vs wants).

Write it out.... and how many people that 43,680 is feeding, marrige status and kids status on top of that. How far do you drive to work? Do you have a car payment?

[mollick2]

I'm 30k in debt and im on my first year of undergrad, with a $10k/yr scholarship. hopefully something is done about the tuition and student loan situations going by the time im in this boat.

[DrJohnSmitherson]

I don't know if you'd be up for this OP, but consider posting the details of your degrees, school work and experience, maybe someone at Neowin would hire you! (I won't be me though, I don't own a business)

[Gerowen]

Here's some things I've done, and some pieces of advice that I hope you find useful.

1) Cancelled the wife's cell phone, and bought an unlimited US & Canada subscription from Skype, on a 3 month renewal basis, for about $35 every 3 months. She's a stay-at-home mom, and we only have one car; so there was no need for a 2nd cell phone. That's down from the extra ~$100 per month the extra phone was costing me. Also I only upgrade to phones that are free. Why do you need a smart-phone that can take hi-def pictures when you have a laptop and a digital camera?

2) Cancelled XBox Live, sold my XBox 360, and bought a Playstation 3. The slew of extra features outweigh my desire to play Halo, not to mention the PS3 has some pretty sick exclusives now that I actually have one.

3) Cancelled my TV cable. That knocked roughtly $45 off my monthly cable bill, which is replaced by Netflix and Hulu Plus which we use on the PS3. That saves us about $10-$15 per month after the increase in the price of internet after the disconnecting of the cable, and adding the price of Netflix/Hulu.

4) I'm in the military, so I get a salary instead of an hourly wage, with 2.5 days of paid leave per month. I save up my leave days and use them to take care of the family during holidays, emergencies, etc. However, even with a salary, I still only make about $45k a year.

5) Don't feel like you are above things like Goodwill. You can find good stuff for dirt cheap in Goodwill stores. Yeah, sometimes it's crap that just got donated, but if you take the time to actually look around you can find some good stuff. I bought a couch from there for like $50, in great shape except for some stains on the upholstery. $20 worth of leather and an hour or two with a sewing machine and we had the whole thing reupholstered, and we taught ourselves how to do it with videos on youtube and ehow.com. My point with this is, go for all the free/cheap stuff you can. There's no reason to pay for stuff if you can get it for free. Goodwill, yard sales, craigslist, the Dollar Tree, and other such resources are your friend.

6) Use free open source software whenever and wherever possible. All of my computers run Ubuntu Linux. It's powerful, open source, does everything we need it to do, and best of all, it's free of charge. No expensive upgrades, no extra bank withdrawals to pay for Office software so we can work at home, etc.

7) I know you have a Masters in business, but make a budget for yourself, and prioritise the necessities. Number 1 on your list of stuff to pay off should be your rent, electricity and groceries. If you have your own land you can drill a good well for not a lot of money and get good clean water. If you live in the city though it's probably a better idea to just sign up for public water, and it goes right up there with rent and electricity. Make a budget that accounts for the exact amount of money you make per month. Prioritise your bills, and draw a line where your money stops. Every bill below the line just doesn't get paid. Too bad for them. Believe me, if they really want your money, they'll work out a payment plan that you can work into your budget.

8) When writing your resume, don't be afraid to include volunteer work. You may not have actual, for a paycheck, experience, but include EVERYTHING. If you had a work/study, include it. If you babysat for your friends, include it. Just because you didn't get paid does not mean it isn't valuable experience that can at least give some fat to your resume.

9) Figure out how much money you need to make to support yourself, and be aggressive with people. Don't accept lower paying positions they try to talk you into unless they really have nothing else available. Just tell them right off the bat, "I need to make at least X amount of dollars per month, I have a Masters in Business, and I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty, what can you offer me?"

10) You can get good cars for CHEAP. Don't jump into the first car that gets pitched to you off a lot. Travel a bit, look online. Back home I know several places where I could go buy a good used car with not a lot of miles for less than $3k. Those places are out there, but you won't find them in down-town NYC. Look around a bid, 99% of the people in big cities will try to rob you blind. On that note, if you live in a big city with public transportation, you may not even need a car. Yeah, buses are smelly and "public" sometimes, but they're a hell of a lot cheaper than a car payment when you're trying to pay off $100k+ school loans.

Hopefully these points will help you out, and at least get you started on the path to success.

[Rudy]

Oh wow....and I was giving **** to my gf for having 30K in loans :/ Good thing I managed to do all my university without getting a loan

[_I am Reptar]

holy **** and i complain about $8,500 i owe in loans. never again will i complain :pinch:

[medium_pimpin]

$120k for an MBA? Can I ask where you went to school? Did they have gold buildings?

[ILikeTobacco]

You make roughly 43,680 a year...what do you have going out the door, there is something you can cut out I know there is...it is going to be whether or not you want to cut it out (again needs vs wants).

Write it out.... and how many people that 43,680 is feeding, marrige status and kids status on top of that. How far do you drive to work? Do you have a car payment?

43680 is before taxes. He probably only sees 30,000 of that from actual paychecks and maybe another 2 or 3k with a tax refund. That is if he is lucky. I lose 1/3 of my actual paycheck before I ever even get it. With whats left I have to pay for health/dental/eye/life insurance and enough up only getting about 2/5 pretax pay. I doubt he has to pay as much of his for the same stuff assuming he has it so chances are he has somewhere between 25/30k a year to work with.

I see two things that make me believe he is probably living beyond his means. Most financial advisers I have talked to have said the same thing about certain items that we all get in debt with. The first thing is cars. Never buy a car with a loan that has a total that is more than half of what you actually bring home. Either he has bad credit, or he has a car that cost over 15k. My car has a 20k loan on it at 3.99%. I have excellent credit but either way, my payment is $380 a month.

The second problem is how much he pays for rent. $1100 a month is a lot. A $125,000 house with insurance on a 30 year loan amounts on average to just below $900 a month. An $80,000 house is closer to $500 a month. $80,000 house isn't all that nice, but like other people said, you need to suck it up and do what you need to do. The advice financial advisers gave me was never by a house that has a total that is more than 3 times what you actually bring home. If you are on the high end of things at bringing home $30k a year, you should be in a $90,000 house which happens to cost less than what your paying for rent.

[sc302 Veteran]

43680 is before taxes. He probably only sees 30,000 of that from actual paychecks and maybe another 2 or 3k with a tax refund. That is if he is lucky. I lose 1/3 of my actual paycheck before I ever even get it. With whats left I have to pay for health/dental/eye/life insurance and enough up only getting about 2/5 pretax pay. I doubt he has to pay as much of his for the same stuff assuming he has it so chances are he has somewhere between 25/30k a year to work with.

I see two things that make me believe he is probably living beyond his means. Most financial advisers I have talked to have said the same thing about certain items that we all get in debt with. The first thing is cars. Never buy a car with a loan that has a total that is more than half of what you actually bring home. Either he has bad credit, or he has a car that cost over 15k. My car has a 20k loan on it at 3.99%. I have excellent credit but either way, my payment is $380 a month.

The second problem is how much he pays for rent. $1100 a month is a lot. A $125,000 house with insurance on a 30 year loan amounts on average to just below $900 a month. An $80,000 house is closer to $500 a month. $80,000 house isn't all that nice, but like other people said, you need to suck it up and do what you need to do. The advice financial advisers gave me was never by a house that has a total that is more than 3 times what you actually bring home. If you are on the high end of things at bringing home $30k a year, you should be in a $90,000 house which happens to cost less than what your paying for rent.

You are also forgetting taxes on that land and depending on where he lives, it could be 5000-10000 a year (1/4 acre property with 1800 sq feet I pay 8000/yr in taxes, my mortgage is about 1200; then there is maintanence like lawn care, when something breaks you have to fix, painting if it is a old house, upgrades when needed, etc). I know that 43000 is pretax, he hasn't listed his expenses. Every two weeks his bring home is between 1100 and 1500 (depending on taxes and deductions, could be higher if married with kids). 2200 to 3000 a month...half to a third is rent, where is the rest of the money going?

[Southern Patriot]

Personal loans can be written off right? If you know your current path is going to lead to bankruptcy, could always take personal loans and use them to pay for the student loans, then file.

Get caught trying to do that and you will be in big trouble with the bankruptcy court. In fact, if you take out a loan too close to when you file, chances are that the court won't allow you to include it in your bankruptcy anyway.

Additionally, your credit will tank so you can forget about getting a car or home loan.

That is one of the things that people misunderstand about bankruptcy though. Usually, if you are in such bad shape financially that you HAVE to file, then your credit score is probably pretty bad to begin with.

[OOOOOOOO]

100 gas .... 100 electric? 100 cable?! Holy crap. I don't understand why your outgoings are so insane. Turn your heating down a few degrees, turn off lights, and switch cable companies!!!!

Also ... I came out of uni with ?8000 worth of loans ... I have no idea how anyone can have that intense amount of loans. Not judging. We're all different. I didn't have any help by parents ... I just lived off of cracker bread for 3 years. LOL!

[Southern Patriot]

100 gas .... 100 electric? 100 cable?! Holy crap. I don't understand why your outgoings are so insane. Turn your heating down a few degrees, turn off lights, and switch cable companies!!!!

He listed that as cable/internet, so he probably has a bundle deal with cable TV and internet combined, so $100 is about normal (especially if it also includes telephone service in that). And in the US, you usually don't have the option to simply "switch cable companies" since most companies have a monopoly in their particular area. His only other option might be to switch to DSL with his local phone company and get satellite TV if he can get it where he lives, but once you do that, you often are paying roughly the same as you would with cable. $100 a month for electricity is not at all uncommon either. I have a relatively small house and do what I can to save power, but still have a power bill in the neighborhood of $125 a month. We only have gas for our central heat and our water heater, so it only runs about $60 a month (mainly during the winter) but I could see it being more expensive where he lives if he has more things in his home that use it.

[gooberdrops]

The one thing and only thing you need to do (if you are serious about getting out of debt), is to talk to a financial advisor.

[sc302 Veteran]

Cable internet and phone is not a necessity, kill it

Where are you driving, only drive to work and home to cut back on gas.

[neufuse Veteran]

$120k for an MBA? Can I ask where you went to school? Did they have gold buildings?

$120k sounds about right for a MBA around here if you include living expenses and other things you might have to get loans for during the process.... they are not cheap

[Rudy]

100 gas .... 100 electric? 100 cable?! Holy crap. I don't understand why your outgoings are so insane. Turn your heating down a few degrees, turn off lights, and switch cable companies!!!!

Also ... I came out of uni with ?8000 worth of loans ... I have no idea how anyone can have that intense amount of loans. Not judging. We're all different. I didn't have any help by parents ... I just lived off of cracker bread for 3 years. LOL!

Cable + Internet = $120 / month

Cell Phones (2 phones) = $140 / month

Electricity (electric heat) = $130 / month during the winter and $50-70 / month during the summer

Gas (for my car) = $120 / month

Bus pass (to go to work) = $95 / month

Groceries (for 2 people) = $300 / month

It goes up pretty quickly ;)

[Hum]

Get a tin cup and beg on the streets -- you too can make $500 a day :woot:

[sc302 Veteran]

Cel phones can get dropped quite a bit. For 2 I am paying 70. Cable/internet can go.

[rkenshin]

Damn, 120k to get a MBA.

I'm only running just under 30k for my Bachelor's, and it will be another 20k to get my MS in Information Tech / Network Security.

Trying my hardest to get into that field (currently working retail). Re-did my resume and attending a job fair this Friday. Also getting a ton of feedback (on my resume) from my father-in-law, who is also having me meet with people soon. Can't wait. Hopefully I'll land something better than retail (and pays better), although I make slightly higher than $21/hr. My mortgage takes a fair share of that, however, as well as car payments and bills.

I find it hard to believe that somebody with an MBA doesn't have a good resume, and "can't find a job"? Honestly though, didn't they teach you in school how to write a better resume, how to balance your finances, etc.?