FoRbEaRaNcE....

So I Graduated from Siena College last year, and about 6-7 months, later it finally hit me; no I didn't have an epiphany, it was that monster called Student Loans! So it came, times weren't as good as they could be, so i did what almost any person who is fresh out of college would do; IGNORE IT! I mean I didn't feel like they can just want their money that fast in that small increment of time, and plus, I haven't even found my career job yet! So yes I blew them off. Fast forward over 45 days in delinquency; a great friend suggested that if i didn't have the money (or didn't really feel like paying them just yet) that I should call them and talk to them, before they send my account to the creditors, she said then it will be to late to try to work things out with them. So I decided to take the wonderful advice in calling the people that I owed a total of 1,348.92 to, and spoke with a representative. What I found out really made me excited and anxious to share with everyone. Now I know that not everyone is in debt and not everyone ducks and dodges bill collectors, but I am here to tell you that there is an easier way to not pay your student loans when you just don't have the money (or don't feel like paying it, to be honest). Ok back to the story I told the lady my "situation" and she told me things that I really had no idea about, such as you get 60 months of forbearance (which means if your loans have been past due like mine were, they bring your account to CURRENT status) So if you owed 1,000 or more orrrr less and your account hasn't been sent to a credit bureau then you can request forbearance and you no longer owe that amount at that certain payment due date; IT DOESN'T DISAPPEAR you just brings your account to current status , and gives you a chance to basically "start over". You can request forbearance for up to 12 months at a time, which means you don't have to pay ANYTHING until that date, 12 months later ( this includes the time you were already delinquent). So am I losing you yet? Good, hoped that I wasn't! The only thing you must worry about during forbearance, is the interest that accumulates. They suggest you pay the interest for your time in forbearance so that it wont accumulate. phew, with that said I choose to go into forbearance just until august, then i will start paying my school loans again ( with this time actually paying) I would have used a total of 7 months of forbearance leaving me with 53 more months in my lifetime to use forbearance (which i will now use veryyy wisely). Also know that you can decrease how much your payment is a month but you cant do this while in forbearance you would have to cancel it, but no worries you can always request it again (forbearance) if you're going through hard times or ("going through hard times") 8-) Hopefully I have been clear enough for you. The moral of the story is to not get caught up in debt especially when there are tools such as forbearance you can use to really help you through. I shared this because I thought that this info could help at least one person out there, because I know if I would of seen this post, it would of definitely helped me. Please don't take everything I said and apply it to every loan company or bill collector, I am sure there are different procedures for different companies, the thought is to get you to asks the loan comapany what can be done to help you, instead of not paying your bill( don't forget to mention FORBEARANCE). Ok, on on last note, lets not get forbearance confused with deferment (that's a whole 'nother post) those are two different things, which are very similar, yea that sounds confusing enough already. Ok I am done, I hope this helps!