62% of Student Loan Borrowers Say They're Likely to Boycott Repayments

I think this is an example of what people say in surveys being drastically different than what they'll do in reality.

Today's phrase is "garnish your wages." If their protest doesn't involve moving to another country it's not going to happen. I've thought about it too, but my contingency,for that definitely involves moving to Scandinavia.
- Ah bullshit. Civil rights weren't achieved by threatening to leave and not be the oppressor's problem anymore, they were achieved by standing ones ground damned the consequences. No one wants to be a martyr, but that's how battles are unfortunately won, especially against today's brand of fascists.
- The US government: let's enable the economy to get to the point where it's basically impossible for young people to even participate in society.
  Also the US government: damn, why do people keep going on suicidal mass shootings? If only there was anything we could do about it.
Exactly, they’d be ruining their credit scores.
- Oh NOES anything but THAT.
- Ppl need to know that student loans (federal or private) and medical related debts don't impact your credit scores nearly as much as say private loans, mortgage, auto loan, etc.
I think you underestimate how many people simply can't pay their loans at all

Is it really a boycott if you simply can't make the payments?

Not that I mind.

I'm just confused as to why it's all fine and dandy that PPP loans were all forgiven regardless of the corrupt practices used for disbursement, but student loans, which impact the economy as a whole far more than PPP ever will, is a must repay.

A lot of wealthy people benefited from PPP loans including House and Senate members, that's why.
Because Republicans will fight so that the rich can get richer by getting handed free money, and Republican will fight so that the working class has to pay back every cent.
- Please remember that the Dems are doing this too. Neither party is our friend here.
Well one big difference is that PPP loans were a one time thing, they are gone now and not coming back for a very long time.
If you paid off all student loans today, there would be more tomorrow, and every day after that. If we do it once, we basically have to keep doing it until school is completely paid for and student loans are no longer a thing.
Forgiving student loans just has a much bigger and longer lasting financial obligation than one time PPP loans.
- It didn't seem to be an issue when previous generations went to college essentially for free.
One single question: Cui Bono?
Who benefits? The ones that make the rules.

Wouldn't our wages just get garnished or shit repo'd or something? I'm 100% for forgiveness cuz fuck that predatory shit, but this route seems like a guarantee to just exacerbate harm to the borrowers.

- Garnished wages is still a huge problem.
  Student loans are not forgiven in bankruptcy.
  The federal government will garnish borrowers wages until they are paid, even if the borrower is bankrupt.
We shall see. The court battles could rage for decades.
If enough people refuse to pay, the courts can't keep up.
- yes, I will use the money I don't have to leave the country. 🧠

✊

I've been boycotting mine for years.

You know, I think you just convinced me.

"And with enough evaders,

Escaping from the game,

The rule becomes an empty shell

That rules in only name..."

Leslie Fish, "Zero Game"

Boycotting only works when there is a noticeable financial hit to the producer. The federal government is not going to notice this. This can be good for campaigning though. Tell people that the reason they are not getting some forgiveness is because Republicans are doing everything they can to block it. Send out some flyers to everyone who has a federal student loan with a list of every Republican official who has had a PPP loan forgiven.

I'm considering not paying as long as they're doing the "ease you back into it" stuff like not reporting to credit agencies or garnishing wages. Seems essentially like a forbearance without the interest freeze. It really just depends on what my new payments end up being. But until that dog gets its teeth back, Nelnet can have what's left after I pay my actual bills and buy my weed.

Drugs before keeping promises is my motto too!!
- Definitely not a "too" in this situation. I still handle my responsibilities.
- Some of us need it for medical reasons. Like severe pain.
- No, I said paying my actual bills first. AND buying weed. Now go lick on nelnet's tasty boot "r-tard".

Let's get those numbers up, I'm not paying.

Great news we are now at 62.0001%
- Yeah, but 58% are lying.

I would love this to be true, but when it comes down to it, I think most of that 63% will make payments as expected. This is just something they can tell a surveyor to make themselves feel better unfortunately.

Not from America so please someone explain to me, I read Biden wanted to forgive student loans but somehow it didn't get through. Sure it would be much better if the loan is forgiven, but now it is not, shouldn't you still pay back what is owned? They really think they can just not pay and expect no consequences?

These loans are out right predatory. I was offered a 12% interest rate 7 years ago and have friends who've been offered 16%!!!
Yes you can say just don't sign it, but we're 17 years old we can't comprehend how much affect a 16% interest rate will have on you in 8 years and you've been told all your life college is the goto life path and you have to do this to get a "good job" and live a good life.
I agree we should payback the money we loaned, but taking advantage of genz via predatory loans for wanting a higher education is downright criminal in itself.
Adding onto this a lot of us will struggle to make these payments. I have 20k in loans and I haven't paid a dime on EVER. Now I suddenly have a second car payment out of nowhere!
- 12 and 16% from federal student loans?
Of course everyone involved knows they will face consequences, but they may feel those consequences are better than the payments. Courts can't garnish paychecks that don't exist and a ruined credit rating only matters if you were ever going to be able to afford to buy a house or car in the first place. Afaik actual jail time isn't really a thing for defaulting on a loan. If the only leverage the government has to get people to pay the loan is to threaten their future financial security, then anyone who thinks the initial promises of security is bogus has nothing to lose.
There's also some people who are willing to take the hit just to send a political message.
That said, I suspect nowhere near 62% of borrowers will actually meaningfully boycott in any way.
- Debtor's prisons are actually unconstitutional so they could never jail you for refusing to pay any loan.
He didn't want to. He wanted to go thru the motions. If this mattered he would have executive ordered it and forced Congress to override. Even the Supreme Court can't force the federal government to collect a debt/tax. And given the state of Congress there was no way Congress would override it.
- This. For all the shit he did, Trump expanded the executive powers through EO more than any modern president ever has. Biden could have 100% EO'd student loan forgiveness, damned the consequences but chose not to.
- Biden not only wanted too, but he made sure he had a backup plan. He found a loophole in Clinton era legislation that allows a president to create income based repayment plans. It's not quite forgiveness, but it's the best he can do with Republicans controlling the house. https://apnews.com/article/student-loans-debt-college-cancellation-forgiveness-34152bb5000128a413efd2287887a37a
  If you want true loan forgiveness, vote Democratic.

I’m really glad I’m not going through this now, but I would boycott if I were. I fully support these people and hope to goodness they get the relief they need!

Let’s all do this with our mortgage payments

They will take your house. As someone else said, with student loans there is no collateral. With a mortgage, your home is collateral, so you will forfeit it.
- Your income is the collateral. The banks will take it.
Bad move; the house is collateral. The bank can't foreclose on an education, they definitely can take the house.
- Nope, but they sure can garnish wages, claiming they’re entitled to it since they paid for the education that lead to the job
They can take my diploma but I do t want them to take my house

Sounds like a good way to have your wages garnished.

So don’t pay and make them work for it.
With the labor shortage right now it would be expensive for loan collectors to hire enough workers to track down and force payments if people stop paying on a large scale.
- Not to mention none of those employees would care much about "getting them robbers" either. They'll take whatever paycheck they can get and run.
Only for government-issued loans, I believe. Private loans won't go into auto-garnishing unless you agree to it.

It doesn't work that way.
They check my credit before I can rent a place to live.

I'll boycott the next cop who drives behind me with flashing reds & blues since I don't have any loans to pay.

So why are people not paying back their loans?

Why aren't the banks paying back their excess reserves payments?
- Not sure what that is
Because it's a pointless waste of money that'll stop people from getting anywhere in life.
I am not going to repay mine. If I have to make major purchases in another country, I will. If I have to expatriate to escape the debt, I will. But I am not gonna give them a dime of my money, at least until I'm rich enough that paying off the debt won't affect me in any meaningful way.
Fuck them.
- Why fuck them? I'm out of the loop. Why do you think you shouldn't have to pay back a loan?
- What about younger people who need loans? Your refusal to pay will hurt future generations by making their loans more expensive or just impossible to get.
  Fuck them too?