Obama takes SS checks from retirees to pay off student loans

[ShootSpeeders]

Actually i approve of this. No more bailouts for deadbeats.

According to government data, compiled by the Treasury Department at the request of SmartMoney.com, the federal government is withholding money from a rapidly growing number of Social Security recipients who have fallen behind on federal student loans. From January through Aug. 6, the government reduced the size of 115,000 retirees’ Social Security checks on those grounds. That’s nearly double the pace of the department’s enforcement in 2011; it’s up from around 60,000 cases in all of 2007 and just six cases in 2000.

The amount that the government withholds varies widely, though it runs up to 15 percent. Assuming the average monthly Social Security benefit for a retired worker of $1,234, that could mean a monthly haircut of almost $190. “This is going to catch an awful lot of people off guard and wreak havoc on their financial lives,” said Sheryl Garrett, a financial planner in Eureka Springs, Ark.

Many of these retirees aren’t even in hock for their own educations. Consumer advocates say that in the majority of the cases they’ve seen, the borrowers went into debt later in life to help defray education costs for their children or other dependents.

 

[MikeK]

I believe it's fair. I personally know several individuals who studied under federal student loans, one of whom I believe is an MD today, who openly stated their intention to never repay those loans. In fact that attitude was rather common back in the sixties and seventies (possibly longer) and I personally disapprove of it.

While I have no problem with someone who has fallen on hard times and simply cannot afford to make payments, those who simply decide not to pay back the money that helped them get ahead in life deserve to have their Social Security allotments garnished. And I give Obama credit for doing it. I just hope it's not the only place he intends to seek just financial retribution.

 

[Moonglow]

You never could write off a federal student loan. They will take it out of you tax return, garnish wages. You can't include them in bacruptcy and defaulting on these loans sets your credit score at zero.