This past June, when the Texas heat was hotter than a blazing furnace, a borrower named Amy reached out to me about her student loans. Amy was struggling with her payments, and believed that defaulting was imminent. She was hot with anger and distraught about her predicament. But I quickly realized that, because of the type of loans she has, IBR was a possible option. She was misinformed when she first called her lender, but we eventually sorted it out. (You can read the full story here). Amy is now enrolled in the IBR program.
It has come to my attention that Amy is not the only person who has been misinformed about IBR. Some borrowers have told me, when they called their lender, that they weren't even told about the program. Others have said that call service representatives told them that they didn't qualify for IBR. Many of these borrowers, thinking that that information was false, did research on their own and discovered that the claim was, indeed, incorrect.
Do you believe you were misled or misinformed about IBR? If so, I'd like to hear from you. You are welcome to comment on this post, but I recommend that you send me an email. All information will remain confidential, unless you say otherwise.
My email address is ccrynjohannsen (AT) gmail (DOT) com.
Resources
Information about IBR - http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/IBRPlan.jsp
Toll Free Numbers to the Department of Education - http://www2.ed.gov/about/contacts/tollfree/index.html
A non-profit organization dedicated to the eradication of all student loan debt through activism, education, and legislation; because student loan debt is dangerous to the US economy and to the health and well-being of individual Americans and their families. CRYN JOHANNSEN, Founder & Executive Director
1 comment:
Interesting. I never spoke to a customer service representative about IBR. I already knew that borrowers were not getting good advice about it, because of advocacy websites. I just went online, downloaded the application for IBR, and sent it in. I didn't have any problems after that, and have been paying a very reasonable amount. What I'm wondering is if the customer service reps are badly trained, or if borrowers are being deliberately misled.
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