Hello all,
I have private student loans from Chela (Great Lakes is administering them), which was based on the credit worthiness. But they have been charging me way too much interest. When I was a student, I did not realize that until I graduated and thanks to the economy, It took me relatively long time to find a job. But everything was deferred, so all interest was capitalized. I got approximately $21K (they cut over 1K for originating fee), and after 3 years, it is now over $30K. Interest rate is 12%. I cannot consolidate (although I receive so many calls wanting my student loans are consolidated but when I tell them it is from chela private student loan, they say sorry). I used my Credit cards to survive, my debt really went up. But some of my credit card APRs are even lower than Chela's. I cannot go BK because it is not dischargeable. I don't know what to do.
Can the private student loan providers charge any amount the want? Is there any way I can sue them or something? They are worse than loan sharks in terms of APR. If the government protects them from BK etc., is there some government agency or a regulator that investigates this and tell them you cannot charge this much interest. If it goes like this, I am only making payment for the interest, and the debt stays the same.
Please help. Thank you for your time.

*courtesy bump*

sorry I am really not knowledgeable about private loans or interest rates. I'm sure some other posters here have some first-hand knowledge they'd be willing to share.

Under current BK law, private (for-profit) educational loans are dischargeable if it creates an "undue hardship." The new BK laws that take effect on October 17th make private ed loans non-dischargeable.