DCS taking care of my student loan. Need advice re: garnishment.

Hi everyone. Here's my situation: My husband and I have recently separated. I have no job, no savings, NOTHING. I do, however, have a wonderful 6 month old baby boy and lots of debt. I'm currently living with my mom while my husband is allowing me to use the credit card to purchase necessary things until I get a job. I'd ideally like to go back to school but that isn't happening now. So...

I spoke with DCS yesterday to try and make some sort of arrangement with them with my federal student loan. I spoke with a lady named Paige who took all kinds of random information from me (make & model of my car, 3 references, my husband's job, etc). She informed me that in order to get my loan into good standing, I would have to pay $450 by TOMORROW and then $55/month after that. I told her that I had no job, not even a bank account and that I'm literally starting my life over. She said, "I'm sorry, I can't help it but the computer will automatically send your account information over on Friday and your future wages will be garnished by 15% and you'll never be able to obtain a student loan again."

I got off the phone and freaked out. I'm trying to rebuild my life after these last two years of marriage and I literally just broke down and cried. My husband is not going to lend me the money and my parents won't; I have no one else to ask. Not that I would even want to borrow but what choice do I have? If I get ANY job after this, I would probably only be making like $8/hour and my hope of going back to school is gone.

I'm sorry. I'm very depressed, lost and confused right now. I'm 27 and feel like I screwed up the rest of my life for me and my son. Does anyone know if there is a way for them to give me MORE time on this situation? How do I speak with these people? I feel as if I gave too much information to them. Are they really going to garnish my future wages? Could they take my car? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Becky

PM(private message) SOAPLADY she is the student loan guru,and can advise you.

Thank you, Paul. I sent her a PM. Hopefully she will be able to help me.

if anyone can she can.

Ok...calm down. Nobody is going to garnish you as long as you cooperate.

You need to call them back and tell them you want to rehab your loan. Under the Higher Education Act, you are entitled to "reasonable and affordable payments"...the $55 per month sounds reasonable. However NO WHERE in the act does it require a downpayment...sure they can ask for it but they cannot demand it. The computer does NOT automatically send you to garnishment...that is a lot of hog wash. A collector has to make that decision and forward the account. You would need to make 9 payments of the $55/month to get out of default by rehab....and then you will probably want to consolidate after that point. You regain your financial aid eligibility after six months of payments. Even if you were garnished, once your loan is paid off, you do regain financial aid eligibility.

Another thing....if they do not wish to cooperate, you can call the student loan ombudsman for assistance. In most cases where the ombudsman must intervene, the collector looses the account and sometimes the account is pulled and placed with another agency.

SoapLady - I cannot thank you enough right now. I really can't. I'm going to be calling them again soon to see what I can do about this. Is there a certain way I should approach them? I currently don't have $55 and I'm in the process of opening up a bank account. I may be able to start a rehab process in about a month but I can't at this moment. Thank you in advance!!

Let me put it this way - I have $55 but I can't get it TODAY to give to the creditor. Not that I need to justify why....

please i deleted them.if they want to try and take people to task they can do it elsewhere.