The Number of Virginians Aged 60 and Older with Student-loan Debt Rises
Diane Bernard, Public News Service, reports that Virginians age 50 and older are urging state lawmakers to pass a measure called the 'Borrower's Bill of Rights' to help protect folks from potential predatory lending practices.
Bernard says "Seniors are the fastest-growing population in the United States to become crippled by student-loan debt, according to a 2019 report by AARP." For example, a seventy-three year-old Virginian still pays for loans she took out to finish her bachelor's and master's degrees 25 years ago. Bernard explains that "because her lenders recommended that she defer payments while she was underemployed, she said an enormous amount of interest accrued on her loan and she now owes more than $200,000."
"I feel the student-loan rates, the way they are charging things, is predatory," Anderson said. "They just need to make a very simple rule that if you don't pay it off at a certain time, this is what's going to happen, and make them very, very clear rather than allowing you to continue to forbear and defer."
Reports show that 15 years ago, adults age 50 and older accounted for about $50 billion of the nation's student-loan debt. "By 2018 that number skyrocketed to around $290 billion." Bernard explains AARP's numbers here:
"Natalie Snider, associate state director of advocacy with AARP Virginia, said more and more older folks are gripped by student-loan debt because more of them are funding college for their children and grandchildren. The AARP report found almost 45% of folks over 65 default on their student loans."
Snider says people do not realize that "if you're over 65 and default on a student loan, the federal government can garnish your Social Security payments to repay the money owed."
"Social Security payments already aren't a huge amount of money," Snider said. "And for folks living on a fixed income, particularly, to be able to garnish that money from them I felt was particularly difficult for them to face."
In 2018, Virginia passed the ombudsman law to help consumers with their student loans. If the Commonwealth passes this new legislation, it will join other states including California, Colorado and Washington that have enacted a "bill of rights" or created an ombudsman to deal with the student-loan crisis."
Read Bernards full article click here
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Source: https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2020-01-14/consumer/seniors-crushed-by-student-loan-debt-push-for-Virginia-bill-of-rights/a68849-1