Question:
Dear Steve,
I was fired from my job August 2015. I had only 6 months of savings & stretched it as much as I could. I have been living out of my car & house sitting for friends for the past 2.5 months. I landed a job & I start 9/12/16.
All of my creditors have worked with me except Navient Private Student Loans. The loan is for $17,000. I have explained to them over & over my situation, but my Mom co-signed & she is on a fixed income & if she could pay it (which she can’t),
I don’t want her to pay cause it’s my debt. After calling & trying to get them to work with me, I stopped answering their calls. I have been trying to communicate with them through email. They have sent me emails about the loan defaulting.
Should I let the loan default (which it probably has cause I have not gotten anymore calls from them)?
If it is defaulted & sent to collections, what do I need to do to prevent them from garnishing my checks since I am about to start working?
Should I call & let them know I just got a job & about to start working?
Dee Dee
Answer:
Dear Dee Dee,
First off, congratulations on landing the new job.
Realistically, you could do nothing till you get your first paycheck. I say that but keep reading. At the end I have a bit more to say about that.
Navient isn’t going to garnish your wages because they don’t know who your employer is.
It does not sound like your mom can promise to pay anything on your behalf anyway.
Once you start getting paid you can then call Navient and negotiate a repayment plan you can afford. Just make sure you are not too eager to over-promise a payment you can’t continue to make.
One last thing, I know you said this is just your debt but from Navient’s point of view, this debt is the legal responsibility of the borrower and the co-signer. It is within their right to pursue the co-signer for the debt if they elect that route.
Personally at this point I would open communications with Navient, explain you are starting a new job and will be able to enter some repayment plan as soon as you start getting paid. At least that would reduce the need for Navient to bug your mom. Let’s get some notes in their collection system so they can hold up a couple of weeks if they were planning to take more drastic action in the absence of any communication.
In some situations is makes sense to go silent and default but in your case it sounds as if you will be able to begin to repay once you start your new job in a couple of weeks.
Steve Rhode
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This article by Steve Rhode first appeared on Get Out of Debt Guy and was distributed by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.