The Republican-led congress helped the executives of student
loan corporations get rich while the American dream of a better life for my family has gone down the toilet!

"It is in exchanging the gifts of the earth that you shall find abundance and be satisfied. Yet unless the exchange be in love and kindly justice, it will lead some to greed and others to hunger."
~Kahlil Gibran

My wife and I met in a rehabilitation center in Minneapolis in 1984, while we were in our early 20s. We were both diagnosed MI/DA(Mentally Ill and Drug Addicted). I was there seven months, my wife for ten months. June of 1985 we decided to leave together and moved to the Washington, D.C. area where her family lived. Our future was looking bright. I had dropped out of school and decided to attend college to make up for that. No one in my family had ever been to college and only one had graduated high school (six children). My parents didn't graduate from high school either. My wife had attended college for a couple of years but never finished, so she decided go back to college as well. We both worked full time to save money for school. In one year we saved $10,000. I worked construction and my wife worked as a secretary. We got married on September 13, 1986 and I started college while she continued work full time. In August of 1987 we moved to Fargo, ND and both of us started college full time. During the summer we would return to D.C. and work the summer at our old jobs to help us complete our undergraduate degrees. We still had to take out loans, of course.

My wife graduated in 1989 and I graduated in 1990. Our first child was born two weeks after I graduated. That summer we moved back to D.C. to look for jobs with our newly acquired degrees. We were in heaven. I started work as an accounting assistant and she went back to secretarial work.

I decided to go to graduate school for a Masters of Accounting. I was accepted into the graduate program at George Mason U. in Fairfax, VA and took out another loan. After I finished some required undergraduate accounting courses, I talked to my advisor and was informed that it would be extremely unlikely that I would be able to obtain my CPA because of my background. Our little bubble of heaven popped.

Both my wife and I started some old behaviors again. We decided to separate for a while in 1992. Things went downhill for both of us. We reunited in the fall of 1993 and moved to Utah and had our second child in 1994. I went back to construction while my wife stayed home with the kids. Financially we were struggling. In the fall of 1994 my wife’s mother passed away from cancer. My wife had a breakdown and had to be hospitalized. It was a very stressful time which did not help our financial situation.

In 1996 we got a call from SallieMae with a wonderful offer: We could consolidate our loans and lower our payments! Of course I didn't read all the masses of fine print. Specifically, the part about the government no longer picking up interest payments if we had to put off payments. It's funny how their nice salesperson forgot to mention that as well, especially to people whose loans had been put on deferment many times in the loan repayment period.

In 1997 we received about $20,000 from my wife's mother's will. We bought a “new” car (six years old) since ours was almost dead, and we used the rest to buy a small home (1050 sq. ft.).

I realize people are going to cringe and ask why, but we had two more children, a decision we wouldn’t change now for anything. Our second daughter, at that time 3 years old, was diagnosed developmentally delayed. Over the years the severity of her condition became more apparent. She is now 13, and our 7-year-old has passed her in intellectual ability. It is now apparent that my oldest daughter will be with us until we can no longer care for her. She is already on social security disability at 13! My wife and I have continued to have emotional and physical problems. During all this, however, we have never given up on ourselves or each other. I have continued to try to push past depression, anxiety, and drug addiction and have never given up hope that the future would be brighter for us.

Since we moved to Utah I have done nothing but construction and have had many periods of unemployment. From 2005 to July 2006 I was completely lost due to depression. I was a homeless drunk, sleeping on the streets or at shelters. My wife has obviously had many emotional and financial problems as a result. My wife and I decided to try again, and since July 20th, 2006 I have been completely clean. I have finally gotten an accurate diagnosis and am finally on several medications that so far have helped with my mental illness.

We are doing well except, of course, financially. We have run out of deferments and SallieMae REFUSES to work with us. Our loan is at 8% and I had asked them if they could at least lower that (at that time they were giving out loans at 1 to 3%). I was told that “by law” they could not do that.

At this point we have no choice but go into default, which I believe is what they want since it would be to their benefit. I have called them too many times to count. I always have to wait on hold for a minimum of half an hour, and when I finally get through it's like talking to a robot. I don't know why I keep trying; they obviously could not give a crap about our situation. The last time I called the “representative” told me in a threatening voice that they were going to run a credit check on us to see what kind of loans we have out, obviously to see how "lavishly" we are living. Some of them will give me a name and employee number or last name, and other times I'll be told they don't give out that information. I have asked to speak to supervisors have even been told that's not possible.

We have made payments over the years, but have had to put off payments as well. In 1994 we owed just over $18,000 in student loans, of which we have paid approximately $8,000 back. We now owe $32,000 (see below). My wife and I can't take the stress anymore so we'll just have to let them come after us. We're stuck. There’s nothing much they can take anyway; we live on the bare minimum: a tiny house with one bathroom for the 6 of us, and a 13-year-old car with 210,000 miles on it. We are lavishly blessed compared to the rest of the world, we know. Yet why does SallieMae refuse to do anything to help us in any way? We have now filed bankruptcy with almost all of it being for medical bills and student loans. We know the chances of discharging the student loan on bankruptcy are slim to none, but it’s our last-ditch effort. If you have any ideas for us, please get in touch with me.

I believe the Democrats can and will help people like us, and I'm sure there are a lot of us, if they can get enough power back and remove it from the "representatives" who are controlled by greedy corporate sponsors.

SALLIEMAE TOTAL OUTSTANDING BALANCE AS OF 07/26/2007
= $32,918.40 (ORIGINAL LOAN AMT $18,116.00)
FILED BANKRUPTCY: 07/18/2007
APPROX. $45,000 IN STUDENT LOANS AND UNPAID MEDICAL, EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE ALTIUS INSURANCE
(UNSECURED: VISA CREDIT $732.69, VISA DEBIT overdraft $981.60
SAM’S CLUB: APPROX. $1200, T-MOBILE: APPROX: $900 = APPROX. $3,800)

Julie and Randy
Utah
mtjulie@comcast.net