Just 60% of student loan borrowers made a payment when the bills resumed in October. "This is, in essence, a massive student debt strike," one activist said.
Not sure what proportion of loans it accounts for, but the 60% figure probably also includes people like me who currently have $0 monthly payments. Hilariously every month it takes 3 days to “process” my “auto-debit payment” of $0 but I imagine those are all being marked as “paid” in the system.
Thankfully, Biden’s new IDR plan (“SAVE”) waives any additional accrued interest for the month after you’ve made your minimum payment (even if it’s $0.) This fixes the pretty massive flaw in the IDR plans that were allowing loans to grow out of control, despite payments made on them. As if people barely scraping by will not be unduly burdened by an even more massive debt if they ever manage to claw their way out of the low wage hole. Personally, after a long stretch of unemployment and low-wage jobs, I had like 5 years of payments under my belt and my loan had grown by 25%. Lol… Still hurts to think about even though I’m doing much better these days.
FYI, idk if anything will actually come of it, but Biden is now trying to do a more targeted loan forgiveness and one of the groups he is targeting are those who owe more than their initial loans. So, I guess we’ll see what happens.
I don’t know what you mean by “it doesn’t really matter”, but I’m assuming because it got forgiven, you don’t have to pay it. However, the forgiven amount is seen as income by the IRS and subsequently taxed. The higher the amount due to interest accrual, the higher the tax.
This is correct. While someone’s $50k of student loans could be “forgiven”, it means that year they will have an additional $50k worth of “income” on their taxes and will be taxed like any regular income would.
Also! You do need to make payments, and $0 is not considered a payment. You need to set up $1/mo payments on all your outstanding loans for them to count. Not that you go 10 years making $0 only to be told nothing counted.
While someone’s $50k of student loans could be “forgiven”, it means that year they will have an additional $50k worth of “income” on their taxes and will be taxed like any regular income would
Maybe one of the best examples of “the cruelty is the point.” Jesus.
the fact that they actually hit the restart button was so insanely unnecessary and cruel. 60% seems high really
The cruelty is the point. You gotta use the whip to motivate your ‘workers’ right.
It’s one of the classic conservative rules: “Rich people perform better for money and poor people perform better when starved.”
Not sure what proportion of loans it accounts for, but the 60% figure probably also includes people like me who currently have $0 monthly payments. Hilariously every month it takes 3 days to “process” my “auto-debit payment” of $0 but I imagine those are all being marked as “paid” in the system.
Be careful. Mine has $0 monthly payments for some years but is still accruing interest.
Thankfully, Biden’s new IDR plan (“SAVE”) waives any additional accrued interest for the month after you’ve made your minimum payment (even if it’s $0.) This fixes the pretty massive flaw in the IDR plans that were allowing loans to grow out of control, despite payments made on them. As if people barely scraping by will not be unduly burdened by an even more massive debt if they ever manage to claw their way out of the low wage hole. Personally, after a long stretch of unemployment and low-wage jobs, I had like 5 years of payments under my belt and my loan had grown by 25%. Lol… Still hurts to think about even though I’m doing much better these days.
FYI, idk if anything will actually come of it, but Biden is now trying to do a more targeted loan forgiveness and one of the groups he is targeting are those who owe more than their initial loans. So, I guess we’ll see what happens.
If it’s income driven it doesn’t really matter when it all gets forgiven
Downvotes with no reply. Brilliant. Explain how I’m wrong…if you’re in ibr for 20 years it all gets forgiven.
I don’t know what you mean by “it doesn’t really matter”, but I’m assuming because it got forgiven, you don’t have to pay it. However, the forgiven amount is seen as income by the IRS and subsequently taxed. The higher the amount due to interest accrual, the higher the tax.
This is correct. While someone’s $50k of student loans could be “forgiven”, it means that year they will have an additional $50k worth of “income” on their taxes and will be taxed like any regular income would.
Also! You do need to make payments, and $0 is not considered a payment. You need to set up $1/mo payments on all your outstanding loans for them to count. Not that you go 10 years making $0 only to be told nothing counted.
Maybe one of the best examples of “the cruelty is the point.” Jesus.
Do you have to pay a fee for each such processing?
No