Friday, February 27, 2004
Only $43, 683 and change left to go!
Today I made a payment on my student loans. The teller at the Royal Bank was very encouraging. She said she too had paid off a student loan. She said I was doing well. She said, "why don't you go up to financial planning and they'll be able to give you some advice"? I asked if they would maybe give me some money too. Ha.
I guess they're grateful to get someone paying off a student loan at all. It a weird experience to be so upfront about it all. My loans certainly aren't in good standing but I suppose it's exciting to money people that I'm even showing up at all. In the past I have tried to use this "showing up" as a reason for the various menacing agencies calling me to cut me a break. I mean, I answer the phone when everyone knows at 8:15 am it's only going to be the bad guys calling! Sigh.
However, it is going to feel very good to call the nice Helena, the dentist turned collection agent (someone get her the definition of sadism) and tell her, hey, I paid it, well, at least part of it. God I hope it's enough.
This weekend I'm going to try and figure out how to put some more stuff on this blog like blogrolling so I can link to others, a bio about me so you can see I'm not just financially incompetent and other neat-o stuff. Let's hope it works!
Today I made a payment on my student loans. The teller at the Royal Bank was very encouraging. She said she too had paid off a student loan. She said I was doing well. She said, "why don't you go up to financial planning and they'll be able to give you some advice"? I asked if they would maybe give me some money too. Ha.
I guess they're grateful to get someone paying off a student loan at all. It a weird experience to be so upfront about it all. My loans certainly aren't in good standing but I suppose it's exciting to money people that I'm even showing up at all. In the past I have tried to use this "showing up" as a reason for the various menacing agencies calling me to cut me a break. I mean, I answer the phone when everyone knows at 8:15 am it's only going to be the bad guys calling! Sigh.
However, it is going to feel very good to call the nice Helena, the dentist turned collection agent (someone get her the definition of sadism) and tell her, hey, I paid it, well, at least part of it. God I hope it's enough.
This weekend I'm going to try and figure out how to put some more stuff on this blog like blogrolling so I can link to others, a bio about me so you can see I'm not just financially incompetent and other neat-o stuff. Let's hope it works!
Thursday, February 26, 2004
There, I've done it. Somehow, considering the topic of this blog, the red feels very fitting.
When I started facing up to the fact that I had about $50 000 Canadian owing on my student loans I felt like throwing up. I still feel like that, plus I get cold sores now. Gross. It's such an enormous splash of cash although at the time it didn't feel like nearly enough.
There's so much out there about how to get a student loan, the perils of getting a student loan; there are hundreds of reasons to either get or not get a student loan. Most of the time it feels like there aren't any options at all. If you want an education, you need some financial assistance to do it. However, there's little out there about managing your student loan debt. That's where the options start vanishing; plink, plonk, plunk and you're down the toilet of financial debt and doom.
Anyway, I'm a "Wordie" and I feel the need to elucidate to myself, others and sundry about student loans and repaying them. One night in the loo, unable to sleep with all of this, I decided a blog about this subject was desperately needed.
I hope my blog can be useful and interesting, perhaps even funny (there have been some funny moments, although generally followed by tears). I think what I want is for it will to be a way to keep myself on track while I pay this monster down. Perhaps it will provide a way for anyone who joins in to help figure out ways of repaying student loans not involving the option of praying to be hit by a car and injured, just mildly mind you, so you can pay them off with some massive insurance settlement.
More later...
When I started facing up to the fact that I had about $50 000 Canadian owing on my student loans I felt like throwing up. I still feel like that, plus I get cold sores now. Gross. It's such an enormous splash of cash although at the time it didn't feel like nearly enough.
There's so much out there about how to get a student loan, the perils of getting a student loan; there are hundreds of reasons to either get or not get a student loan. Most of the time it feels like there aren't any options at all. If you want an education, you need some financial assistance to do it. However, there's little out there about managing your student loan debt. That's where the options start vanishing; plink, plonk, plunk and you're down the toilet of financial debt and doom.
Anyway, I'm a "Wordie" and I feel the need to elucidate to myself, others and sundry about student loans and repaying them. One night in the loo, unable to sleep with all of this, I decided a blog about this subject was desperately needed.
I hope my blog can be useful and interesting, perhaps even funny (there have been some funny moments, although generally followed by tears). I think what I want is for it will to be a way to keep myself on track while I pay this monster down. Perhaps it will provide a way for anyone who joins in to help figure out ways of repaying student loans not involving the option of praying to be hit by a car and injured, just mildly mind you, so you can pay them off with some massive insurance settlement.
More later...
