Let me start this off by saying I am an idiot.

I did a bad bad thing and ran away from my student loans for a while, then they filed for garnishment. I have the paperwork for financial hardship, but the garnishment has already started. Can I still file it? I can barely pay my bills each month, and if an unexpected expense arises I am screwed. Also, I work in retail full time, and even though it's full time our hours still fluctuate a bit, so my paycheck is different each time. I've worked out the expense form and I'm coming in at about 10 dollars of flex room. Again I say, if something comes up I am screwed. There really isn't anywhere to cut - I live alone and I have no one that I can live with, and I live in some of the cheapest apartments in my area. I have to put gas in my car so I can get to work and I have to insure my car. I'm barely eating anything these days because I don't know where to cut. I have a cell phone that is paid for me, I have no landline telephone, so cable is the only internet I can get, and it's pretty much my only window to the outside world.

Does anyone know or have any advice? I'm ready to cry. I already know I'm a dummy so you can spare me that


Edited to Add: Sorry guys, I haven't been here in a while and I forgot about the search feature. Would consolidation be a good option, and can you consolidate loans that are in garnishment? Also, what is the possibility of getting rejected for consolidation?

What do you mean by "garnishment has already started"? Have they sent notice to your employer? Did you not receive a letter from the DOE first, warning you that they were going to begin garnishing your wages?

I'm sure others will correct me if I'm wrong, but you should still file your financial hardship papers. I believe I asked this question already and was told that the garnishment could be stopped if I won my financial hardship appeal.

Don't worry - many of us are here because we put our heads in the sand regarding our student loans.

If they agree to stop the garnishment, consolidation or rehab would be better options. However while you are in garnishment, you cannot consolidate.

Yes, and I foolishly ignored it




Ok, I'm finding conflicting information in the search, saying that it could be consolidated in garnishment. I'm glad I cleared that up. I'd like to try to rehab if I can get this under control. I just need to get copies of all of the paperwork they want, which will be a challenge since my printer is out of ink and I do all my bills online!

If anyone else has any additional advice, it would be appreciated. I can't do much until Tuesday with it being a holiday weekend anyway.


Edit: I have found many posts that say you can consolidate while in garnishment - has a law changed? Even some of them were from you Lynn so I'm confused?

The laws changed.

http://www.studentaid.ed.gov/students/publ...nsolidation.htm


If you’re in default on a federal student loan, you still might be able to consolidate, provided the defaulted loan is not subject to a judgment or wage garnishment.

Ok, thank you for finding that for me

I was in, basically the same situation, but with REALLY high balances. My paycheck was garnished every 2 weeks for 10 months and I could barely live. I was dealing with DCS and Pioneer by this time. To rehab these loans, one of them (not sure which) wanted an additional $596/month in addition to the $400/month they were already taking. The other was taking ~$370/month and initially, wouldn't discuss rehab. I contacted the Ombudsman who worked wonders (sort of). She was able to get my loans released, but because AWG had alrady begun, I could not get rid of the additional $22,000 in collection fees, etc. By not rehabbing, I had SO MANY additional costs that I didn't even know what they were. If I had done the right thing, my total loans would have been ~89,000, but by playing the game, I ended up with a $136,000 consolidated loan note. The amount they were garnishing makes it sound like I was making a lot of money, but I wasn't ($19.79/hour) and I was working all of the overtime I could (10-15 hrs/week) and was getting farther and farther behind. I had equity in my home that I couldn't touch because my credit scores were so bad (mid 400's)....I had 19 loans in default and they were all reporting every month like clockwork. There was no one to borrow from and I thought I would never be able to deal with this. Even though I took a bite on the consolidation with the fees..it was worth it. I'm repaying under income contingent and it is unlikely that these will ever be paid off (my balance is actually increasing every year because my loan payments don't even cover all of the interest), but at least the defaulted and CO ones show paid and my credit scores are coming up and I can sleep at night. The point of this is...rehab your loans if it is at all possible and then pay them every month!!

Rehab the loans no matter what it costs. Find a way to make that happen... it will just get worse if you don't. Once consolidated the light at the end of the tunnel is 25 years later they are forgiven, if not paid off by then.

Student loans are becoming an exception to the biblical belief that a creditor cannot hold you as a slave...

Sad times.

You are in a terrible situation however AWG is something I can help you with.

You have 2 options to escape Garnishment:

1: Filing an Untimely Hearing.
The AWG Hearing Process

ED starts the garnishment process itself by sending the borrower a Notice of Intent to Garnish (SO2 Letter), which gives the borrower 30 days to file a request for review of objection(s) to the garnishment action and states his rights under the process. If the borrower?s request is filed timely (within 30 days of the date of SO2 Letter), ED suspends further action until ED has considered and ruled on all objection(s). However, if the request is filed untimely, ED does not suspend action while ED considers the objections, and proceeds to issue a garnishment order to the employer. However, if ED has not issued a decision regarding the objections within 60 days of the hearing request, ED will notify the employer to suspend garnishment until ED has issued a decision ruling that garnishment should be pursued to enforce the debt. If ED determines that the objections raised in the request for review are not proven, ED then notifies the employer to resume withholding pursuant to the garnishment order.

The debtor may object to garnishment on a number of grounds:

The debtor may object that garnishment in the amount or rate stated in the Notice of Intent to Garnish would create an undue financial hardship for the borrower and his or her family.
Understand the likelyhood of this being approved is very slim, especially if you lack dependents. The fact remains that Ed approves very few Hearings and even less Untimely Hearings and you will not be seeing a representative in court, it will most likely be over the phone at a date and time over which you have no control. It is more likely you will see no change, possibly a reduction in the witholding but not a full dismissal. Even if your Hearing is approved and Ed halts AWG, it's only for 6 months and then the entire process starts over again. If you get an approved hearing you better make plans to start paying on that loan right away!
ED uses contractors to assist in the garnishment process. Contractors may, for example, assist by gathering documents and information needed to evaluate the debtor?s claims, and may negotiate repayment agreements on behalf of ED. Only the ED hearing official has authority to determine the validity of the debtor?s objections to garnishment, and only ED issues the final decision on the merits of those objections.
Ed is telling you here that the PCA's can't tell you if you qualify or not, all they can do is give you instructions

C) Current enforceability of the claim is barred by law:

The debt cannot be enforced at this time because the borrower has filed for relief in bankruptcy and the automatic stay is still in effect.
The borrower has been reemployed within the past 12 months after being involuntarily terminated from the previous job.
The borrower is responsible for providing documentation or evidence to substantiate any objection(s) raised in defense to the enforcement of the debt.

PDF file with form is here: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DCS/forms/...For.Hearing.pdf

Send it here: U.S. Department of Education
Atlanta Service Center
Attn: Hearings Branch
61 Forsyth Street, Suite 19T89
Atlanta, GA 30303
Fax: 404-562-6110

The other option is to quit but here you run into a dilemma: IRS updates to ED and if they can't find your employer that way, they'll scrub for it and will find it that way. At best it's a temporary fix. I would never suggest this to anyway as it's extremely foolish. What if you're making less? I've had so many people who end up in SWG and less than 2 months later I've had their accounts reinitiated with their new employers. The garnishment will always follow you.

The best option is to rehab on top of garnishment. At least this way in 9 months you will not only be out of Garnishment, you will be out of default as well. I would be happy to answer any other questions you have to the best of my ability.

Of course I'd like to try to rehab on top of the garnishment if I can come into some more money, but how can I do that?

Also, isn't a garnishment supposed to be withdrawn AFTER your health insurance is deducted? Mine comes out before.

Yes. Check out http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DCS/Employers_Handbook.pdf and look at page 19. Bring this to your employers attention as they are suppose to follow the worksheet.