All Posts Tagged With: "college graduates"
You Should Not Walk Away From Your Student Loans
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Sun, Oct 11 2009 | 0 Comments
Student loans are part of life for a lot of college graduates. From time to time, those who still owe thousands to the loan companies will think about what they can do. The one thing that they shouldn’t do is default on the loans.
Things can go downhill quickly for someone who decides to stop paying their student loans and it only gets worse with every month of non payment.
Within the first missed payment, the person’s credit card score will begin to suffer. The first missed payment will negatively affect a credit score if it is reported to one of the three credit companies.
Some of the other negative consequences of walking away from student loan debt:
The account will go into collections. Like any debt, even small ones, companies will always try to find the debtor to get their money from them. Collection agencies are always pushy and it will seem like they stop at nothing to get money out of you. They’re kind of like the loan sharks on TV without the physical threats.
A debtor that walks away from his or her student loan obligations can also be sued. While this practice is more often associated with private lenders versus federal loans, this is still something that happens and it often ends with the debtor’s paycheck being garnished.
A problem that occurs when someone’s credit score takes a hit that has been happening more and more frequently is, while on the hunt for a job, many employers are now checking credit scores of applicants. You can read what I had to say about credit score checking and employment at one of the previous articles I have written here:
Your Credit Score and Job Prospects: Why It Matters
Something very interesting I learned while researching this topic is that some people with very high student loan balances, typically of over $100,000, move to Europe to find employment and escape the student loan debt, as well as any negative action taken by the courts in the United States. This would work stop wage garnishments because if the debtor is paying taxes in whatever country he or she is living in, then the United States cannot take any of that money and court rulings are not valid in a different country anyway. However if he or she decided to return to the United States, there would be a huge mess that would have to be dealt with.
There might look like there is no end in sight when it comes to your student loan debt, but there are a number of reasons not to default on these kinds of loans. Student loans don’t go away when someone files for bankruptcy, they only go away if they are paid off, if the debtor becomes disabled and unable to work, or once the debtor dies.
Related posts:Student debt is on the rise
Your Credit Score and You!
What determines your credit score?
Tags: student loan debt, loan sharks, private lenders
Seven places a college graduate can find work…what a joke.
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Sep 02 2009 | 2 Comments
SmartMoney has an article on its front page today talking about seven career fields that college graduates can work. The list is pretty good if you have an accounting, engineering, or computer science (IT) degree, but if you are anyone else things are not looking too good for you.
From the article:
That liberal arts degree isn’t a total waste. Various companies are looking for business or liberal arts students to fill their management training programs.
Rental car agency Enterprise?Rent-A-Car says it plans to hire 8,000 college grads by July, many of whom will start out at a rental branch in a customer service position and, within a year, move up to assistant manager, according to spokesperson Lisa Martini. L’Oreal and Macy’s are also seeking graduates to join their training programs, says Trudy Steinfeld, executive director New York University’s Wasserman Center for Career Development.
Wow. So, if you’re a liberal arts major you can start your life by working at a car rental place? I think that the “promise” of being able to be an assistant manager within a year is a complete joke.
Recently, I found a job that promised the same thing, but when I started talking to other employees about wanting to move into corporate to work in marketing all I got was a laugh. During my interview with this company, I was told that after about a year and a half I would be able to get a promotion (from a retail sales position at a department store) to area sales manager, it just moved up from there depending on if you wanted to have a higher store position or a corporate position.
Well, that all went out the window when I spoke to a girl who graduated with a marketing degree two years before I did. She was working the exact same position I was and was actually making $9 an hour, $1 less than I was.
I’m sure that there are companies out there that want to hire graduates to promote them, but I know at least one that is taking advantage of graduates on a regular basis. Besides, Enterprise wants to hire 8,000 new grads to move them into assistant manager positions? Does it have that many stores? Some of those graduates will be making minimum wage for a bit longer than a year.
SmartMoney: 7 Places Where College Grads can Find Work
Related posts:College graduates are finding work in some fields
The Five College Degrees you will see a good ROI on
How college can negatively impact your retirement
Tags: rental car agency, retail sales, liberal arts students
