More Than 40% of Student Borrowers Aren’t Making Payments

Re:More Than 40% of Student Borrowers Aren’t Making Payments by pc86 on Thursday April 07, 2016 @09:42AM (#11447142)

It seems like you are arguing in favor of people even with the ability to pay back a loan, simply deciding not to because they don't want to. If that's accurate, it is absolutely disgusting.

This is not about TARP. It's not about taxpayer-funded bailouts of whatever industry the royal you happens to dislike today.

There are two completely separate obligations in play.

1. The legal (civil) obligation: There should be stiff penalties for people who decide not to pay back a student loan because "LOL TARP." Especially if it's a loan where the government ends up on the hook. Wage garnishments and sub-500 credit scores seem appropriate. Not to mention the fact that signing a prom

2. The moral obligation: You said you'd pay it back. Keep your word. Despite extenuating circumstances, you're just a plain old bad person otherwise.

None of this applies to people who can't pay back the loan because they're a barista with a law degree. I think we need to look at why they spent the money they did on a degree that is apparently doing nothing for them but regardless they don't have the ability.

But they're in for a world of hurt when the loan is forgiven and they have a 4 figure (or higher) tax bill from the IRS for the income.

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Re:More Than 40% of Student Borrowers Aren’t Making Payments by rdtsc on Thursday April 07, 2016 @10:24AM (#11447460)

> 2. The moral obligation: You said you'd pay it back. Keep your word. Despite extenuating circumstances, you're just a plain old bad person otherwise.

That's exactly the problem. You are applying guilt and morality to people (and not just you, this is a popular PR technique) but when businesses choose to not pay the fines, loans, or choose to continuously violate a law (because paying a fine is cheaper than complying), for whatever business reason, then it is seen "as a business decision".

For example, during the housing crises years, there were a few articles warning about the second wave of housing crisis -- that where wealthy people who see their house under water, would stop paying even if they could. They would choose to mail the keys to the bank and walk away because 7 years of bad credit is better than paying an extra $200k over the value of their house. And that was scaring some economists -- that fact that people will start acting rationally and applying "normal business principles" to their own affairs.

> There should be stiff penalties for people who decide not to pay back a student loan because "LOL TARP."

Where are the stiff penalties for banks and insurance companies pissing away money on shady deals? People were not blind they saw what happened.

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Re:More Than 40% of Student Borrowers Aren’t Making Payments by pc86 on Thursday April 07, 2016 @11:07AM (#11447824)

I'm going to say something crazy here: A multinational bank with a quarter-trillion dollar market cap potentially going belly up and crippling the US/world economy is a slightly different scenario than someone with $180k in law school debt not paying it back because they don't have a job or someone not paying back their $50k in student loan debt even though they could.

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