All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Joe Bertolino, I wouldn't say anything serious, possible. ADD. I'm the type of person that can read an entire paragraph and then have no idea what I just read. I understand a lot of college kids do this, it's just hard for me to keep focus and actually take in and learn something when I'm mentally exhausted. It's not laziness either, just hard for me to actually take in a lot of info when I'm drained. People have told me it's an excuse my entire life, but I've always been like that. Like I said, I can physically work like a dog but trying to study 4 subjects on top of that is extremely difficult for me. I also don't think that means I'm not capable of being a REI. Just that I'll have to work on getting better and being able to multitask those things. I don't know how many times I have to stress it isn't laziness. When I was in high school I worked every day after school, every week off for holidays, etc. I did enough to get by grade wise. But college is a different monster.

@Seth Larson, that's awesome. Thanks for the encouragement. I'll hopefully be in the same boat as you in that time!

@Douglas Dowell, thank you. I don't believe I will file. The main thing that scared me was paying it off for so long without the guarantees of having a job or any income. I think I'm just going to put up every dollar that comes my way and try to pay them off. Hopefully lower the interest rates as well. 

@Sarah Larbi, my parents are kind of on the fence about it. They know a few friends who have done it and been fine. They're mostly against it, but can somewhat see the good. They would rather I do absolutely anything else to get out, but if it came down to where I had to file, they would support my decision. I think I'm going to pay it off though. $20k really doesn't seem so bad now that I've talked to everyone on here.

@Andrea Castor, thanks for the advice. I think you have a great point. I feel very strongly about my education right now, but I do see where you're coming from. A construction management degree just seems very beneficial to me for what I want to do. I'd kind of like to learn those things in college rather than to learn in the real world solely and potentially lose profits. I know it won't necessarily land me a great job, but it would give me a lot of education in what I'm wanting to do. I eventually want to get to the point where my real estate investing is my sole source of income, not just a side gig along with a well paying job.

@Douglas Snook, I'm pretty much in the mindset that there's no job I would be happy working in. An hourly pay just makes me cringe. I gave up a year of my life for over $23/hr and it was for nothing. I wasn't happy. I think that even if I was offered another great job, I'm not sure if I would take it. I feel like I just have way too much potential than to settle at a job working 40+ hours a week. Maybe that comes off as dumb or immature, but it's just how I feel. If I were to pay off this debt, then have the choice of going to school for free (with grants and Hope) or to go back into the workforce, I would probably still go back to school. Now if I had gone back to school for 4 years and gotten a degree, then I would look for a job and try to invest on the side of that. But as for currently, my education is my biggest want right now. 

Thank you so much, @Jason Krick. I'm going to try to repay for now. I may just have to put off college. I would hate to, but maybe I could somehow work it out to where my minimum payments by then, I could afford to pay along with college fees. I will just try to really knock it as low as possible over the next 7 months so I can still go to college. If not, just go back in 2017. It just seems so far away.

Thanks, @Ken Sauer! I'm actually less than two weeks into unemployment now. I just was scared that I may end up losing that and not having a job. Then being forced to file anyways. And I figured it would be best to do it sooner rather than later. I'm going to spend the weekend calling all my lien holders and trying to come up with better ideas than filing. I also from the beginning of this thread thought that $20,000 was a LOT of debt, but everyone's responses has made me feel a lot better about the situation.

 Thank you for your response. And for clarification, I meant I wouldn't purposefully leave my debts unpaid unless it was in my best interest. But I think it would be better for me to do as you and many others have said. Instead of filing and getting the "easy way out". I'll just work and pay off my debts and consider that the consequences for my actions rather than having horrible credit as a "consequence."

@Douglas Snook, that's where I'm concerned. I'm looking from the worst perspective: the unemployment runs out and I can't find a job. So I do fine until then. But wouldn't it be best to file now and keep the money I would otherwise pay to debts if in the end I'm going to have to file anyways? Maybe that's a dumb question, I just am so scared of running out and having to file regardless. Then having no money because I gave all my unemployment up to pay debts that would eventually go into bankruptcy anyways.