Recent college grads aren’t the only ones suffering from student loan debt.
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Recent college grads aren’t the only ones suffering from student-loan debt.
Terry and Edward Fackler of Everett, Wash., are down to $20,000 in savings from $80,000 and are responsible for $116,000 in student-loan debt from two of their three children, according to ABC News.
“Well, I’m still working,” church minister Edward Fackler, 73, told ABC News.
The Facklers aren’t the only ones bound by student loans.
An estimated $36 billion in student-loan debt burdens a large number of retirement-age Americans, according to ABC News.
“The whole concept that student-loan debt is a 20- or 30-something problem is just misplaced,” William Brewer, president of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, told ABC News.
The problem was the co-signing.
The Facklers co-signed on their children’s loans, and now their kids can’t make the payments. The loans then fall to the couple for repayment.
Their son, Mark Fackler, has two master’s degrees and a bachelor’s and is still unable to pay the $600 interest-only monthly payment.
“I am 40,” he told ABC News. “They are 73-plus and my mom is a little younger. I don’t want to be a burden on them. I think about it all the time.”
EMAIL: jferguson@desnews.com
TWITTER: @joeyferguson
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Joey Ferguson is a business reporter for the Deseret News who focuses on public finance. He joined Deseret News after graduating from Brigham Young University-Idaho with a bachelor's degree in journalism in May 2011. He more ..
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Don't co-sign for irresponsible borrowers. Even if they are your kids. Let them go to community college if they can't figure out how to do it on their own. And really? 2 masters and a 3rd degree? Maybe you should stop going to school and More..
I wonder - in what fields did Mark Fackler get his bachelor's and 2 master's degrees? Also, what is his current living situation? Does he own a home? A car? A big screen TV? What financial duties has he taken on that are keeping him More..
This article is good but would be better if it mentioned the type of degrees the son
got. Dave Ramsey said don't consign. I think he is right. Or if you do just don't
consign for more than you are willing to lose. If people were More..