‘There’s no escaping’ – Reckon

For a lot of people, resuming student loan debt payments will mean their lives are turned upside down and inside out. In short, people are worried about their finances, future, family and more.

Understanding the weight of this debt, Reckon has asked readers to tell us what debt relief would mean for them and how paying back their loans would shake up their world. They appear weekly in the Broke & Bothered newsletter and regularly on our site.

Brittney H. is 34 years old, lives in Massachusetts and has $65,000 in private and federal student loans.

A student loan debt story, as told to Reckon.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I went to college right out of high school when I was younger, and I took out student loans just like most people. Then I dropped out of college and I started working to pay for those loans within six months of leaving school, even though I didn’t have a good job.

I soon lost my job and had to go bankrupt. It was really hard, but for 10 years I paid on my federal and private student loans until I was able to pay the federal ones off.

During those 10 years, I had my daughter and made a career out of bartending. While I made good money, I didn’t get any benefits and I decided that I couldn’t keep going down that path – I needed something better, more secure and with benefits for my daughter and me.

In 2018, I decided to go back to school for accounting and my private loans went into deferment.

Going back to school made me think about when I was younger and took out private loans with variable interest rates. Now my loan has ballooned and it’s insane. I’ve already paid close to three times the original amount; at this point, I don’t know if it’s ever gonna get paid off.

Now I will be graduating with an accounting degree this December, and I feel strongly about how predatory private loans are, but knowledge is power and I know so much more now.

There’s no escaping student loans, especially from a private lender. Oh my God!

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Want to read more student loan debt stories like Brittney’s? Click here to read real stories of people most impacted by the student loan debt crisis.