My brother sent me the article from the "Georgia Strait" and this website was mentioned. As I'm no stranger to these types of message forums I figured I should be an active participant.
So..whats MY story? It goes back quite a few years and has lots of the usual worries, setbacks and letdowns normally associated with Student Loans. I've seen people have nervous breakdowns over the issue. These are YOUNG people with no attachments and they should know better than to let it get to them in such a manner, after all, its only money when looking at it in the grand scope of things. I know, that sounds rather flippant, but its still not worth your health and welfare to get bent outa shape about it.
To begin, I decided to go back to school back in 1988, wow!, so many years ago. I completed 2 years at BCIT in Fish, Wildlife and Recreation Program and then did a 5 year hitch at UVic. So I have a Degree of Technology and a B.Sc. out of all that. During that time I was employed on a seasonal basis with a consulting firm that gathered information used for the management of the commercial salmon fishery on west coast BC. I completed my studies, ie. didn't change my format and graduate with a degree in hair dressing or basket weaving. As a result my BC Student Loans were forgiven and I only owed a balance of $55 which I paid promptly. However, I found that the CSL was a totally different animal alltogether. I was in to the tune of roughly $25,000! I applied for Interest relief to hold things at bay until I could get the finances organized. They send you a financial questionnaire every month. Around the second month I did not receive any correspondence from them. I found out later that it was sent to a house a few blocks away from me and it was too late to renegotiate interst relief. I don't know if that was the intended plan or not, suffice it to say, I was no longer elegible for interest relief.
Things were getting better at work and I found myself getting a better wage, in a position of hiring and training people and working about 8 months out of the year. Just before I was going to negotiate payments everything came crashing down around me. The federal Gov't cut back the fishery and took all the contracts away from my employer. I contacted those people who had taken over the work (Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans) about getting hired, after all, I was fully trained for the work and knew pretty much every aspect of dealing with personnel and those involved. But unfortunately, they had no room for me, citing budget constraints etc. and even then the fishery wss cut back to such an extent that there wouldn't have been enough work available to feed a cat for a year let alone myself.
So here I am living from paycheck to paycheck (when there is one) like the rest of you good people, doing odd jobs, yardwork for sympathetic friends and relatives, working for sweatshop painting outfits who can't tell you if you are working from one day to the next. Credit cards are dragging in the mud. They've been keeping all income tax refunds and GST cheques since 1997. A couple times I thought I had a good job and sent the collection agency (TCH International) cheques but those jobs fell thru. Since then I've been in a financial position where I can only take whats available. You just can't hold out for a high paying full-time job, as its a simple matter of survival. I'm lucky that I don't have any dependants, and live in a low profile lifestyle, but I'm just eking by.
The collection agency contacted me thru my mother. She didn't know what it was all about and its not something that is openly discussed, ie. student loan default, to family. Too many alarm bells go off. So this woman calls me and asks for payment in full. I basically said, "C'mon over! If you can find anything in my place thats worth $25,000 ITS YOURS!" Then she went on about me asking my parents to take out mortgages on their properties to help pay the debt, etc. etc. the usual impossible and implausible stuff. They sent me a financial questionnaire to see where my income and expenses were. At the time I was on EI and lo and behold! my monthly $1200 income was EXACTLY the same as my monthly $1200 expenses, imagine that! So I wrote them a nice letter, explaining my situation and arranged to send them $20 a month OUTSIDE of what I was capable of paying.
I have been sending $20 monthly cheques to TCH International for a long time now. I have not had any more phone calls, mainly because I changed my number and got it on the "unlisted" status. If they want to contact me they can do so by mail. I'm trying to justify my financial status and Student Loan situation and find that only way out of this mess is to declare bankruptcy (shhh don't tell anyone yet :)). The 10 year period will be up this year in May as I graduated in May 1995. I have not lied to anyone about my financial status throughout this ordeal. If they want to bring me in front of a judge then I feel my honesty will win. I can partially blame the Gov't for my loss of a career by killing off the commercial salmon fishery and opening the door for salmon farming. This was a specialized type of work that could only be done in one venue. I know the loan people don't care about that, I could go work at MacDonald's for all they care. But starting over in a company and working into a high paying position over the years is no longer feasible.
I've managed to keep my sense of humor through all this. I have paid out a total of roughly $9000 through income tax/GST seizures, attempts at repayment and those $20 monthly cheques and my principle is still getting higher. Thats what I call free money for someone. I could go on like this for the rest of my life if I choose and I wouldn't be surprized if someone out there wishes I would. Like someone said, its all business. My advice? DON'T LIE! and be cordial to all those who contact you. Make photocopies of ALL cheques you send and don't give them any reason to come after you and prosecute.
Sure, I'm in pretty deep, my nose is juuuust above the surface. I'm buying weekly lottery tickets and still actively hunting for that "payola" job. I went into this with every best intention, going to school, beginning a decent career in a field of my interest and paying off my debt. But it was all taken away from me overnight. I don't know if that was poor planning, but everything happened so fast that no alarm bells went off and before I knew it I was back where I was 20 years ago.
OK, thats MY story, I'm sure there are lots of areas that you can relate to and hopefully there is some incite for those of you who are just beginning that long road. take care
SP