Law for Real People - John Gear Law Office & Salem Consumer Law 503-569-7777

Before you sign up for any student loans, read this

1/3/2014

The federal student loan system has become so bloated and rife with abuse of borrowers by debt collectors that I'm forced to conclude that the only people who should borrow to pay for schooling are those who could afford to pay for the schooling without borrowing if they chose.

This story tells the tale, a ruthless firm that gets nice contracts to squeeze student-loan debtors, complete with morals that make the Sopranos enforcers look like choirboys.

Got student loans?

12/20/2012

A student loan expert writes:

The Dept. of Ed has released a new form for borrowers who wish to select Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR), or the new Pay-As-You-Earn plan (available starting tomorrow). This form replaces the repayment section form AND the alternative documentation of income form (ADOI).

Borrowers should use this form; however, the Department of Education will continue to accept the old forms until April 2013.

Here is the Department’s announcement: http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN1222.html.

With luck, having only one form to complete will be easier for borrowers.

Thinking of Co-signing a Student Loan?

8/26/2012

Don't. Really. Just don't. Here's just one story of thousands about what can happen if you ignore this advice.

The Student Loan Default Trap: new NCLC report

7/30/2012

The good folks at the National Consumer Law Center have just issued a new report that addresses a lot of the problems with student loan lending (pdf download), particularly the problems caused by for-profit "education" mills that really seem to be about something quite different than education.

On Student Loan Collections

6/13/2012

A frustrated lawyer in Alabama sums it up eloquently:

     This whole area of law is completely out of control. We are creating a subclass of educated (and some not-so-educated) poor people. We are basically creating a class of indentured servants who were essentially unknowingly induced into loans that they cannot repay. Many were sold a bill of goods that they could get good jobs upon graduation and repaying their loans would not be a big issue, then the economy tanked.
     This is a worse crisis than the mortgage crisis.
     At least with a mortgage, once they foreclose, you can walk away - student loans are making American citizens slaves to debt collectors and banks - two of the most unscrupulous entities in our society.
     The taking of 80 year olds' social security money to pay on 30 year old student loan debt is beyond inhumane. I am shocked there has been no rioting or occupy movements based on the outrageous laws Bush signed into law making student loans super-liens on par with, or maybe even above, the IRS.
     Our founding fathers would not have stood for this type of treatment of their American people. This is a shameful time.

Speaking of Student Loans

5/17/2012

THE SCOOP ON STUDENT LOANS
      Whether you saw the cover story in the New York Times, or chuckled as President Obama advocated the issue on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, student loans continue making headlines. With interest rates for Stafford Loans possibly doubling in July, now is an excellent time to inform yourself about this issue.
     For further reading, try The Student Loan Scam. This analysis of the $85-billion industry covers the history of student loans, exposes how universities have profited at students’ expense, and shares the stories of people whose lives have been shattered as a result. The Boston Globe calls “The Student Loan Scam passionate and informed.”
     Also: Read chapter 3, "Collection Abuses" from The Student Loan Scam. Read a recent Salon.com article featuring Alan Michael Collinge. Visit Alan's website for more information.
$20.00 Paperback

(Blurb above from a Beacon Press promo email. Beacon Press is one of the best.)

Hopeful sign for student loan borrowers

12/21/2011

Thanks to our Champion in Congress, Rep. Hansen Clarke, Student Loan Borrowers finally have good reason to hope this holiday season: that real help is on the way!

Please take a moment of your time to watch Congressman Clarke's brief, yet inspiring remarks on the House Floor yesterday by clicking here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaStPo-aPHg

Amidst all the chaos and dysfunction in Washington, D.C. these days, especially yesterday, at least one Member of Congress goes to work each morning and returns home each night with the plight of student loan borrowers at the forefront of his mind. And, thanks to the more than 650,000 people just like you who signed the petition supporting Rep. Clarke's efforts, your voices ARE being heard!

Keep the faith, and please know that your active participation in this movement is making a difference.

Please share this video far and wide and, together, let's make sure that all student loan borrowers begin to feel that sense of hope during this holiday season that real change is on the way!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. From ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com to all of you - Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and a Happy, Healthy and Hopeful New Year!

Sincerely,

Robert Applebaum
Founder - ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com

Generation Debt

10/20/2011

GENERATION DEBT -- HOBBLED BEFORE THEY START

. . "It's going to create a generation of wage slavery," says Nick Pardini, a Villanova University graduate student in finance who has warned on a blog for investors that student loans are the next credit bubble — with borrowers, rather than lenders, as the losers.

Full-time undergraduate students borrowed an average $4,963 in 2010, up 63% from a decade earlier after adjusting for inflation, the College Board reports. What's happening:

•Defaults. The portion of borrowers in default — more than nine months behind on payments — rose from 6.7% in 2007 to 8.8% in 2009, according to the most recent federal data.

•For profit-schools. The highest default rates are at for-profit schools that tend to serve lower-income students and offer courses online. The University of Phoenix, the nation's largest, got 88% of its revenue from federal programs last year, most of it from student loans.

"Federal student loans are like no other loans," says Alisa Cunningham, research chief at the Institute for Higher Education Policy. "The consequences are so high for making a mistake."

An unusual idea that looks better and better all the time

9/23/2011

Forgive student loan debt?! What kind of a cockamamie idea is that? Why should we do that? OK, since you asked:

1) There's no better way to immediately put a little more money in the hands of people who need it most, and will spend it immediately.

2) A huge portion of the student loan debt now crushing people was taken when student loans were able to be discharged in bankruptcy. Then, years later, the companies that make these loans -- at virtually no risk, and with VERY high profit rates -- gave enough money to Congress to buy themselves a change in the law to prevent student loans from being discharged in bankruptcy. In other words, the rules of the game changed in a crucial way AFTER people had taken these loans.

3) Kneecapping young people with huge debts might feel good in a "you oughta pay your debts" way, but it's penny wise and pound-foolish. One of the reasons our economy is struggling is that young people cannot afford to start new ventures, because they have huge loan payments to make.

We need a total rethink of our system for financing higher education, one that makes the colleges and universities have a lot more skin in the game. Right now, the student loan business is a lot closer to loan sharking than it should be. A jubilee (debt forgiveness) would not only help millions now, but it would also give us the opportunity to start over with a much more far

=======================
Thank you for signing the petition to Forgive Student Loan Debt as a Means of Economic Stimulus! Thanks to so many people sharing, posting, emailing and tweeting, as well as MoveOn.org's promotion of the petition, nearly 400,000 people have signed it! There's absolutely no doubt that we're making waves and getting noticed, but this campaign is really just beginning. There's more work to be done!

Today, I'm asking you to take a few moments of your time to remind those who purport to represent us in Washington that we truly care about this issue and that we're not going away!

Therefore, I'm asking everyone to please call your Senators and Representatives in Congress TODAY and ask them to support H.Res 365 and the efforts of Rep. Hansen Clarke with respect to student loan forgiveness.

Signing a petition is one thing, but flooding the Congressional switchboard with calls from every state in the nation and from all political stripes and backgrounds is quite another. It's extremely important to remind Congress that there's a human being behind every single one of the nearly 400,000 signatures we've obtained thus far, and that every single one of them is truly suffering under the weight of their student loan debts, preventing them from spending, starting businesses or families and buying homes - the very things we need middle-class and working-class Americans doing right now to help re-build the economy that was nearly destroyed 3 years ago.

To quickly and easily find out who your Senators and Representatives are and to obtain their D.C. office telephone numbers, please click here.

Then, simply type in your address and/or zip code and 3 names should immediately pop up - your state's two Senators, as well as your Member of Congress. Call all three at their D.C. offices today and implore them to listen to the voices of the American people who are speaking up loudly on the issue of crushing student loan debt.

To whatever extent possible, please try to stick with calling their Washington, D.C. offices so as to make the greatest impact possible. If we can jam up the Congressional phone lines - all the better!

Thanks again for all of your help in making this petition such a huge success! Let's keep the momentum building!

Sincerely,
Rob Applebaum, Esq.
Founder, ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com

Thinking about a trade school or "career college"? Read this first

9/8/2011

Good concise article of warning from USAA Magazine. Download this file (short pdf)

LAWYERLY FINE PRINT:

John Gear Law Office LLC and Salem Consumer Law; John@JohnGearLaw.com and SalemConsumerLaw.com. My office is in the Security Building in downtown Salem at 161 High St. SE, across from the Elsinore Theater, a half-block south of Marion County Courthouse, just south of State Street. I'm in Suite 208B. There is abundant, 3-hour free on-street parking throughout downtown Salem, and three multi-story free parking ramps as well.

I am only licensed to practice law in Oregon. This site may be considered advertising under Oregon State Bar rules. I don't give legal advice on this site; don't interpret anything you read here as intended for your particular situation. Besides, I'm not your attorney unless we have met in person and you have hired me by entering into a representation agreement with me. While I do want you to consider me when you seek an attorney, you should not hire any attorney based on brochures, websites, advertising, or other promotional materials. All original content on this site is Copyright John Gear, 2010-2017.

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