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« Last post by jvalenzuela on August 17, 2017, 05:54:51 AM »
As a teacher, I needed to get my masters. As an artist, I'd always dreamed of getting my MFA (masters in fine art). I decided (with the support of my husband -after I was told I'd likely never conceive a child), to take on my dream and go to New York and get my MFA in documentary film (you know, to change the world by making films on world hunger). I attended Hofstra University, took out loans to the tune of 120k and finished my MFA in 3 years full time. I worked hard, maintained a 4.0 GPA and got competitive grants to travel to Africa to make a films about charity work and wildlife conservation efforts.
Once I was done, I came back, I chose to return to public school teaching (my certification is in art), thinking I'd keep teaching until my two films could be completed and I could get some local adjunct college teaching under my belt. And then... by some miracle I got pregnant. Ecstatic, as I never expected my family to grow, I now had a child to provide for with the need for stability and student loan debt. I am still teaching and we have a small house we bought that needs work, nothing frivolous, but just enough, and one child, as I had to have immediate- life saving surgery after having her.
When I finished my degree, I found out I was pregnant all about the same time and was under stress. I was contacted shortly after by a company called the Student Loan Project who promised to get me into a loan forgiveness program and consolidate my loans and lower my payments (from $834 a month) for a fee of $550 up front and a monthly $49 fee there after.
Pregnant and emotional I figured it was worth it (not thinking much about it. I signed up. They did consolidate my loans, submitted paperwork on my behalf and I did get a letter stating my new payments were $0 a month (from FedLoan). I was happy as could be, and didn't think again about it with a new baby, recovering from major surgery, buying a house and trying to keep my full time job.
The following year, I had to re-certify my info (resubmit my IBR paperwork, taxes etc.) so the company called for my updated tax info etc. I supplied it and let them do the work, not thinking much about it. In about November (several months after re-certification) I decided I didn't want to continue to pay the $49/month for paperwork I could probably figure out myself every year if I did my own research so I called to cancel my "subscription." Everything was fine. Fast forward to now... I re-certified and resubmitted my forms for IBR to get my adjusted loan payments, expecting things to not drastically change since nothing has really changed, and instead got the shock of my life when I got my adjusted payment notice. For the last two years, I got my notice of $0 qualifying payment, and this year I got my adjusted $815 / month payment on IBR. This is probably accurate since on paper, my husband makes good money working for GE, however he has to live in another state since GE re-located, and we have to work in two states because I'm not certified as a teacher in Massachusetts and he hasn't been able to find a job here in CT. So currently we have to pay for two places to live. They don't take any of that into consideration, daycare costs, or much else. We are already living paycheck to paycheck because of our job situation which is not a choice at this point.
When I got my updated annual adjusted payment, I almost threw up. I immediately logged in and pulled the forms that this old student loan project had submitted and realized the company who submitted my paperwork for the last two years lied on my forms -stating I had 4 dependents, my name was my nick name (jackie), my wrong email address and my taxes were filed separately instead of jointly. I cant believe I've let this happen. As soon as I realized my payment was so high, I called and just asked why it was changed, and they said it was because I no longer had a family of 6 and my income was not longer so small... I don't even know what is going to happen, but I'm really sick to my stomach. I don't know if I'll be pulled from the loan forgiveness program, if my last two years will qualify anymore, if my years of service will count, if anything will even be resolved or if I'll be penalized for the thing that isn't my fault in reality even though it is for trusting this scam company to help. I feel like my degree was never worth this. I'm worried I'll be homeless and I've done the worst thing I could have done for my family.
I don't know if I should get a lawyer, what type of lawyer I need to get, who I need to talk to, if nothing will even be affected if I just make my payments, or what will happen. I'm just so lost...
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