Consumer complaint received 2018-04-20
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: CA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan

Complaint:
I sent the below letter to Discover on XX/XX/XXXX. I have also written a letter to the President of the United States and the Attorney General. Now I am writing to the CFPB. This is a financial death sentence. I will never have stability or financial security in my entire life because all I am paying is interest on my loan balance. I took out {$100000.00} in student loans from XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX, have currently paid approximately {$50000.00} to them over the course of the last 11 years and my current total balance is over {$120000.00}. Do the math, it doesn't make sense. My rent is {$1400.00} per month, my car and insurance are {$550.00} per month. My gas, food/drink, necessities total about {$500.00} per month. My pet costs are {$50.00} per month. I have 1 student loan serviced by XXXX which is {$210.00} per month. I would like to have a future with my girlfriend and obviously that costs money so I save {$400.00} per month. $ 100- {$200.00} for emergencies and other unforeseen. My salary after taxes is {$3200.00} per month so that leaves me with {$0.00} and some months I am even in the negative if something happens and at XXXX years old I have to borrow money from my father. Do you have any idea how horrible that makes me feel. And this is month in and month out, I will NEVER escape this. Something needs to be done. I laid it all out there for everyone to see and still no one is willing to help. Please help! 

SEE BELOW ... 




XX/XX/XXXX To Whom It May Concern : I am one of the millions of students who have borrowed student loans from a private lender. My loans originated with XXXX and were transferred to Discover and recently XXXX, and possibly some others in between. I took out approximately {$110000.00} for my XXXX XXXX degree studies during the period of XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX where I graduated in XX/XX/XXXX. Upon graduation I could not find work until XXXX of that same year where I worked at a XXXX XXXX making {$29000.00} per year. I could not afford to make any payments. My father, who cosigned my student loans, had lost his job in XX/XX/XXXX and had struggled to find work, doing mostly odd jobs and contract work. My parents divorced in XX/XX/XXXX and my father moved out into his own apartment. It was extremely difficult for my father to afford his own apartment at {$1200.00} per month on top of the mortgage payments for our house, which we kept so my younger sister and younger brother could attend the schools they had started at. He could not help me at the time so I scrambled around and tried to defer my payments. I was told I had to use forbearance which I did for about the entire year if I remember correctly. 
When things werent looking up job wise I decided I needed to jump start my career by attending XXXX XXXX, learning that my XXXX loans would be deferred during the time I spent enrolled in school. Therefore, I applied and was accepted to XXXX XXXX started my studies in XX/XX/XXXX. My parents sold our house in XX/XX/XXXX and my mother moved in with her boyfriend. During the summer sessions I would be harassed regularly by Discover and other loan providers within a week of my semester ending because they said during the summer months I was not enrolled and the payments started again, which was ridiculous and I had to continuously tell them I am in school but they argued with me because it showed I wasnt enrolled. When I graduated in XX/XX/XXXX I was immediately harassed again, even though I was studying for the XXXX XXXX and trying to complete what I had started, all because Discover wanted to get my money ASAP with no questions asked. I never did pass the XXXX XXXX. 
From XX/XX/XXXX until I moved back to New York in XX/XX/XXXX were a real struggle. I applied to over 800 jobs and did not receive a single offer. Moreover, I was only asked to come in for one interview, which was for a position I didnt even want and didnt get anyway. I worked with resume coaches, changed my resume 11 times, and tailored it to fit specific jobs which was a highly recommended tactic. Still nothing. I worked with my school and counselors to apply to all the jobs in my XXXX XXXX job bank which was specifically for recent graduates. I didnt receive any responses. All told, out of the 800 resumes I sent out, most including cover letters, writing samples, even letters of recommendation, I received 1 single interview, and about 40 or 50 form rejection emails. Yeah thats right, form as in I didnt even get a personalized response. I couldnt even get hired at XXXX or XXXX XXXX. The other ones just went unanswered. My father was paying all of the {$1300.00} per month in payments because Discover refused to offer us any options. My girlfriend had to support me because I had XXXX dollars and many times when I did get some money from my father or from doing an odd job like participating in research study for a measly {$60.00}, I would just give it to her to try and help with bills. Needless to say, the relationship crumbled and I was XXXX  and I packed up my stuff and had to move home. 
I arrived back home in XX/XX/XXXX and started applying for jobs. I had missed 3 months of payments because I had no money and now had to play catch up by making sure I did not default. I went for an interview in XX/XX/XXXX in a  position working as a XXXX XXXX. I did not hear back until XX/XX/XXXX. In between that time, I applied to hundreds of other jobs. My father talked to everyone he knew ; my mother did the same and even my step-mother helped and found me things to apply to. I spoke with countless people retooling and revising my resume again, but no one could do anything about getting me a job or even an interview. I still wasnt getting interviews no matter what I did. When I got called in for an interview for the XXXX XXXX position, I finally gained a full-time job for the first time since XX/XX/XXXX. I started in XX/XX/XXXX making {$53000.00} per year. Finally, around that time Discover came out with a program to reduce my payments for 3 months or 6 months I believe, provided I make 6 months of on-time payments, which I did. I was grateful for that but clearly my financial situation wasnt going to change and all the money I saved would just be recycled right back to them after it was up, which is exactly what happened because the payments went up even higher than before I did reduced payments and all the money I " saved '' was gone in 3 months and we had to start all over again. The XXXX XXXX job however was a dead-end. I would never reach a position that would fulfill me or pay me a high enough salary to justify the money I took out for student loans between XXXX and XXXX XXXX. So I searched for something better and found it at a prestigious XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. 
I started in XX/XX/XXXX. I received an offer for {$50000.00}, which was less than what I was making, but this was one of the most prestigious XXXX   in not only the country, but the world. I knew there were endless opportunities for advancement and I was excited. However, that died quickly. I made it clear I wanted to eventually work my way into an XXXX XXXX   position, and the XXXX  was receptive of the idea. However, within 6 months and a couple reviews with my bosses they made it clear that it would be next to impossible for that to happen. Feeling lied to and cheated I left the XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX with the hopes of working for XXXX XXXX. A relative worked there and a position opened up and she was able to get me an interview. All the paperwork was being finalized and I had received a preliminary offer, only to have it rescinded when it was brought to the head of Human Resources, who said because I would be reporting to my boss, who was also my relative 's boss, even though our work was unrelated, it was a conflict of interest. So once again, I was out of a job. I applied to 1200 jobs in the next six months. I again reworked my resume, revised my cover letters and still only received 12 interviews, 6 of which were with job placements agencies, who all promised to get me work but never could. Only one agency even responded after our initial interview. Everyone said all I had was legal experience and because I went to XXXX XXXX no one was going to hire me as a paralegal. So now I am being blacklisted from being a paralegal even though I had a XXXX XXXX! It was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. Around 50 % of employers wont consider a XXXX XXXX ( XXXX. degree you received from graduating XXXX school ) for a XXXX   position, for whatever reason. Either, I didnt complete a XXXX  certificate, or they thought once I passed the XXXX XXXX I would leave. In a way it was like I was overqualified but at the same time underqualified. Many of the people at these agencies said I was in a really bad spot and all of them suggested I just sit for the XXXXXXXX again because being an XXXX was all that would help me. So basically, I had no options. I took the XXXX XXXX six times and I didnt pass it. They only offer it twice a year and I had to work during that time so what am I supposed to do if no one will hire me? Again, loans kept piling up as they had been for 10 years at this point. 
Finally in XX/XX/XXXX I got hired doing contract review work as a XXXX. {$25.00} per hour, no health insurance, no benefits. Just 40 hours per week. I worked there until XX/XX/XXXX where by a stroke of luck I visited a friend from XXXX XXXXl prior to attending another friends wedding. His wife was working at a startup and offered to talk to her boss and try to get me hired. I didnt think much of it until she said I would have a phone interview with him next week. When it came time I was prepared, we spoke for about 45 minutes. The next day he offered me the job I currently have now. I started in XX/XX/XXXX and I work as an XXXX XXXX making {$55000.00} per year. 
I now live with my girlfriend. We moved out here because she was relocated for her new job. I work from home so I can work from anywhere. The past year my payments had been reduced substantially from {$1200.00} to {$420.00} per month. This has helped a lot but it is still not enough. It is insanely expensive out here but we came for my girlfriends job. I make {$3000.00} per month after taxes, insurance, etc., so calculating all my expenses and subtracting them for that I am left with around $ 50-100 for myself which I can not even save because it has to go to Discover, and my father helps me with the rest. Basically, I am operating in the red as it is and have been for quite some time. I have XXXX savings, no 401K, no  pension, no other benefits at all. It would be nice to save money for you know this thing called life. But Discover is stripping me of those privileges to have a normal life because you force me to pay what will now be {$1300.00} per month because of another variable rate increase, and are no longer offering me any assistance and are refusing to reduce my payments. Sure, they offered me reduced payments for a year. Big deal! Unless you win the lottery or somehow magically get a raise to {$200000.00} per year your financial situation isnt going to change in a single year. I will never be able to pay off this debt in my lifetime, given the insane amount of interest you are charging me. If you simply just stopped charging me interest I would have a chance to pay it off. My original loan amount for XXXX was approximately {$110000.00}. Currently, my balance is {$100000.00}. How is that possible?! That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I have paid Discover, XXXX, XXXX, ( whichever lender handles my student loans now since they change so frequently ) approximately {$50000.00} to {$60000.00} over the lifetime of this loan. Yet somehow my balance is MORE than it was when I graduated from college in XX/XX/XXXX. It makes absolutely no sense. You have already been paid that money. The logical decision to make here, really the only educated decision, that will ensure I pay this off, which is what Discover should want, is to stop the interest from accruing and let me pay off my Principal Balance. I am not trying to get out of paying my student loans completely, I want to pay them, but I can not afford what amounts to a second rent payment per month. I do not make that much money and I do not see that changing anytime soon. I am more than willing to fulfill my end of the agreement when I signed for my student loans and entered into a contract. All I am asking for is a little help so I can make these payments while still being able to afford all other necessities and try and start a life with my girlfriend. At this point we will NEVER be able to own a home. 


Therefore, I propose three options : 1. Grant me additional deferrment/forbearance. My financial situation is not going to change overnight, but I feel I have a good job with room to grow and I am finally happy at it, which is the most important thing. If I did not have to make a payment for five years ( 60 months ) ( NOTE : WITHOUT INTEREST ACCRUING ) this would allow me to save money and put me in a much better position financially so I could pay a higher amount per month, such as ~ {$1200.00}. This option only works if interest does not accrue during the forbearance time. After completion of the five years I would resume making full amount ~ {$1200.00} payments until my Principal Balance is paid off. We can figure out the exact figures this is just an estimate ( Again, this only works if NO interest accrues ) 2. Stop the interest altogether and subtract what I have paid from my original balance. I have paid you approximately {$50000.00} from my calculations, give or take. My original loan amount was approximately {$110000.00}. Subtract that and I have {$60000.00} remaining. I will then pay {$1000.00} per month for five years ( 60 months ) and the loan will be paid off and removed from my records. We  can figure out the exact figures this is just an estimate. NOTE : This option also only works if there is NO INTEREST ACCRUING. 

3. Reduce my payments permanently. I was able to manage paying the {$420.00} per month right now. It is difficult to pay more without incentive to do so, especially since I am basically only paying interest and not any of the principal, as evidenced by the fact that I still somehow have {$100000.00} remaining, even though I have paid you around {$50000.00} which has basically been all interest. Clearly thats not fair. However, if the interest means that much to you I will continue paying it if you lower my monthly payments permanently. With this option, I will pay {$270.00} per month and will pay the remaining {$100000.00} with NO ADDITIONAL INTEREST from this point forward. Clearly the idea here is to allow me to pay them off and not have me paying them until the day I die, and I should be afforded that option on my terms. By my calculations {$100000.00} divided by {$270.00} = 378 months or 31 years 6 months, so I will pay off these loans by retirement age of XXXX years old.  Even with this option, you will have made approximately {$40000.00} off of me. Again, we can figure out the exact figures this is just an estimate. 

I offer these options because, again, I am not trying to get out of these loans. But I am not paying one cent more in interest. I owe you approximately {$110000.00} in total, not {$110000.00} plus $ 50,000+ in interest. I took these loans out when I was only XXXX years old, with the help of my parents, who were in a much better financial position than they were a mere 3 years later. Sure we took out the loans, but we also didn't ask for the XX/XX/XXXX market collapse. But to make me pay {$1300.00} per month, while interest accrues means I will never pay them off in this lifetime. Couple that with the fact that I also have federal student loans for XXXX XXXX and I am certainly never getting out of debt unless I somehow win the lottery or come into a lot of money by some other miracle. I will never be able to own a home, put my own future children through college, etc. I can not even get a credit card even though my credit score is XXXX, because I have too much total debt. 

Please afford me the opportunity to pay off this debt by changing the terms. Pick one of the three options, or I would certainly be open to having a dialogue where we could discuss another option that maybe you come up with. I can not pay {$1300.00} per month without knowing what is in store for the future of this loan. I need guidelines and I need deadlines. Help me so we can come to an agreement. 

Also, please do not give me an explanation about the whole if you make an exception for me you have to do it for everyone nonsense. That is a cop out. You have every right to make your own decisions on my behalf and other borrowers do not matter and have no bearing on my situation. I am the one putting forth all the effort to better my current situation and help me plan for a future I would like to have, without this crippling debt ruining it. 

I apologize for the length of this letter I just wanted to make sure you knew the whole story. If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me. 

Thank you for your time and I hope we can discuss my options soon. 

Respectfully, XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation