What a relief!
My current student loan balance is $2,947.76, which I feel is monumental because the original total exceeded $16,000 when I graduated college in 2018.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020 and interest charges on federal student loans were frozen, I seized the opportunity and paid down on my principal. I used every stimulus check and money I would have otherwise spent on food or entertainment to pay down the principal.
At the start of the pandemic, Joe Biden had started his campaign for president and was telling me and millions of other adults struggling with student loans he was going to forgive at least some.
I never believed him for a second.
“Never going to happen,” I thought. “Politicians will say anything to get elected.”
So, I used every extra dollar I had to pay down my principal. From March 13, 2020, to the time of this writing, I chipped my principal balance down by $13,071.60.
Before the interest freeze, I had been struggling to make those loan payments for about a year and a half, but the amount of interest I was charged every month exceeded the principal I was paying off, so I was going further into debt.
Well, on Aug. 24 I was shocked to see what I thought was just a crazy campaign promise become a reality.
A total of $10,000 will be forgiven for people who make less than $125,000 on their own or per household. People who had Pell Grants – typically, those are given to those with “exceptional financial need” – are eligible to have $20,000 of their loans forgiven.
I qualify for the $10,000 in relief (journalism is a great job, but it doesn’t typically launch you into the higher tax brackets) and the moment I heard the news, I logged on to my loan servicer’s website and canceled my automatic payments.
I was filled with joy and felt like crying. This means I am debt free!
I paid off my car several months ago and with student loan forgiveness I will owe money to no one.
It’s difficult to describe the rush of freedom I felt, and putting things into words is kind of my job, not to mention my college major.
I can now concentrate on making good financial decisions, build an emergency fund and maybe start investing.
I realize I am indeed fortunate, as a $16,000 loan is miniscule compared with the balances of other college students. I had help from my parents and several large scholarships to keep my college costs down.
According to studentloanhero.com, graduates from four-year public and private nonprofit institutions in the Class of 2020 left school with a bachelor’s degree and $28,400 in debt.
I have heard a lot of people who have repaid their loans complain about the “unfairness” of the situation.
I truly understand the point. However, sometimes life is not fair.
I just hope people can be happy for people who are now achieving financial freedom from debt. This is going to help a lot of people and improve the quality of life for many.
If you already paid off your loans, you are to be commended. It’s a laudable achievement.
But I hope you are more sympathetic to people who have struggled with their debt rather than be bitter and resentful. Lifting someone else up doesn’t push you down. And there is really no point to walk around mad about something you have no control over.
We all pay taxes and probably have a couple things we would prefer our taxes not go toward, but that’s also part of life.
When the loan forgiveness was announced, several members of Congress were quick to criticize the program. They said they didn’t believe it was fair for people who have already paid off their loans or never took out a college loan.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) was very outspoken. However, we learned that she has had $183,504 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans forgiven for the construction business that she and her husband own.
To be fair, loan forgiveness was part of the PPP deal, as long as the company that received the loan used the money as it was intended. But still, as a taxpayer, helping her business would be on the short list of things I would rather not pay for. But I don’t have much control over that.
About two weeks ago, I saw rumbling on social media about how you could ask for a refund for any money paid toward your student loan during the pandemic.
This naturally piqued my interest, so I started doing research and most of the articles said all you had to do was call your loan servicer and ask, so I did just that.
After a 20-minute wait on hold, I finally was connected with a human, who informed me, “Yes, it’s true.” I was asked how much of the $13,071.60 I have already paid that I wanted back, so I did some quick math and figured that asking for $7,052.24, added to my $2,947.76 outstanding balance, would get me to the $10,000 in assistance.
I sat at my kitchen table in stunned silence for several moments to soak in my new financial situation. I will soon be completely debt-free and have an extra $7,000 back into my savings.
This is making my financial outlook bright and I hope people can just be happy for me – and for others in the same boat – with no bitter taste in their mouths.
What a relief!
