Canada (Federal) + Ontario Student Loan in 2 different places, want to repay.. help!

[tail_duck]

Hi there,

This is a plea for help! I've graduated University 3 years back but my OSAP loan has since gone into default. I've had collection calls from an agency (Total Credit Recovery based in North York) regarding my Ontario portion, which is just under $4000. My federal portion comes in at $7600 and for the last two years since I've got my first job, my full tax refunds have been getting sucked up by the federal portion to diminish it, only to see it go up monthly with interest again.

I'm ready to repay both portions, but my problem is they're in two different places, and I need advice from someone who's dealt with either of the two and how much (% wise) you've settled. I've got about $5k saved up for the both of the loans, my question is, would it be possible to knock off the federal (settlement) with say $3k and the Ontario (dealing with TCR) with $2k and get them off my back?

Neither of the two places are calling me anymore, but I know it's on my credit and I want to deal with it one shot (no monthly payments). Any advice? Should I be dealing with a financial advisor, or is there a specialist on Ontario/Canada student loans that can offer me advice in Toronto?

I'm not looking for debt consolidation companies, because I hear they're credit collection agencies themselves, and all they will do is allow you to make affordable monthly payments, but with interest if you are late. I'm looking for more of a one shot paid-off type deal.

Any thoughts?

Thank you guys for reading!

[tail_duck]

:arrowu:

[setell]

I have a question though, why can’t you pay off the ON one with your 5k as it’s max what 4k. Still leave you with 1k to pay off towards the Canada student loan. You could always negotiate with the collections agency how much they will take if you pay back the ON portion in one shot since you know you can pay it all back at once. I would pay the ON portion off first as it’s gone to collections already. Might as well deal with that. Sorry I don’t have much advice as I’ve never had to deal with collections and I’m slowly paying off my student loan myself. If you had difficulty paying you could have applied for interest relief! I can’t stress that enough!

EDIT: on a side note, you can do online banking with your Canada student loan! Found out last week and right now I've set up a small weekly payment of $20 on top of my monthly payment and any future lump sum payments!

[elty]

I borrow money from OSAP but I don't want to pay them back. Can anyone help me?

I hope RC will continue to suck money from your tax refund with a high interest.

[Fox]

There are interest forgiveness, debt forgiveness and many grant programs relating to Canada/Ontario student loans. It sounds like you might qualify for some of them. I'd start with a google search.

[ZxExN]

No such thing from the gov't unless he has a serious case as to why he cannot pay it back. Disabled etc.

I don't know why you just don't pay what you owe? Are you trying to ask us if there's a way for you to pay only a portion of the amount? Trust me, I've looked into it deeply and unless there REAL good reasons, not wanting is not a reason, then you're out of luck.

[tail_duck]

Thank you all for the great answers, except for the miserable guy who couldn't read and failed to understand I'm wanting to pay the loan off in one shot.

So I spoke to Federal and they are going to accept full payment. I will handle provincial next week and look to settle with them.

Does anyone have experience settling a provincial loan (i.e. settling for a lower sum?) I'd like to know what your experiences were like.

[tail_duck]

Does anyone have experience settling a provincial loan (i.e. settling for a lower sum?) I'd like to know what your experiences were like.

:arrowu: Looking for help!

[liorsyncro]

When you deal with the government and especially once you've defaulted on loans you have with them, it's difficult to negotiate anything with them. Normally, once they passed the file to a collection agency, the government will ask you to deal only with that agency and wash themselves of any kind of settlement. Depending on your negotiation skill you can get the collection agency to accept less to settle the debt. They're certainly given that headroom by the government. It won't be much less, so don't expect to have half the debt wiped out, and the rating for the trade line will stay on your credit file as delinquent. But at least you've paid it off and moved on.

[Psycho44]

better to pay off the provincial loan first. I heard the Federal loan doesn't go on your credit record. It hasn't gone on mines so far. The provincial one did and I paid that off and got a mortgage. Anyways ask for a free Equifax credit report to see if any of your student loan went on your credit record and pay those off first but I see you might have already paid off the Federal one.

[tail_duck]

Well I just paid off a nearly $8k fed. loan and feel great. I had the money and they told me 30 days from now and the gov't would have pushed to have my credit rating go to a 0.

Next pay cheque I'm getting is for negotiating the Provincial loan with the credit collection agency. I've been reading that offering 25% is a good start, what have some of you gone through regarding settlements?

[tail_duck]

Next pay cheque I'm getting is for negotiating the Provincial loan with the credit collection agency. I've been reading that offering 25% is a good start, what have some of you gone through regarding settlements?

Bump on suggestions for negotiating a settlement on Provincial Loans!

[liorsyncro]

Dream on in terms of 25%. Both loans reflect on your credit report. If you default or if they're in collection, it'll show on your credit-file. As I've said earlier, the government does give collection agencies some headroom to negotiate settlements. There are no fast rules on how to accomplish this, you just have to negotiate what you believe is fair to settle the debt. Either way, if your loan is in collection, your credit-rating on that trade line will remain screwed regardless of if you pay them or not, which is why the collection agency will prefer to do the deal. That way at least they get paid. You can try to ask them to bump up your rating after making some payments, but that's up to them. Also, if you come to any kind of agreement with the collection agency, make sure it is in writing. I would even suggest you have a lawyer look at that agreement.

[tail_duck]

Dream on in terms of 25%. Both loans reflect on your credit report. If you default or if they're in collection, it'll show on your credit-file. As I've said earlier, the government does give collection agencies some headroom to negotiate settlements. There are no fast rules on how to accomplish this, you just have to negotiate what you believe is fair to settle the debt. Either way, if your loan is in collection, your credit-rating on that trade line will remain screwed regardless of if you pay them or not, which is why the collection agency will prefer to do the deal. That way at least they get paid. You can try to ask them to bump up your rating after making some payments, but that's up to them. Also, if you come to any kind of agreement with the collection agency, make sure it is in writing. I would even suggest you have a lawyer look at that agreement.

Thanks for the tip. It's around 4k owed for the provincial one. The Federal loan I paid this week for 8k, the rep told me it had not showed up as going into default, and my credit rating was still +1 as the Government doesn't have it in their interests to screw us over long term.

Regarding the provincial one, I'm going to offer 25% of it to start, and negotiate they totally remove all traces of the loan from my account, not 'paid in full' or 'settled', and to ensure it doesn't touch my credit. I'll have them send that to me in writing (along with the agreed $ amount) and then I will pay them.

Does this Provincial loan with the collection agency deal sound feasible?

[99rs]

just wondering when u pay ur 8 k was it including interest over the past three years or just the original loan. if the government can give interest relief they should have not charge u the interests accumulated over the three years.

[Archanfel]

The best way to settle it is to pay what you agreed to pay when you get the loan, which was the full amount + any interests.