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Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by YankeeFan, Jun 9, 2015.

Page 12 of 26
  1. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    There were many times in my young life that I tried to get credit and was denied. (Nothing recent, though -- sorry to spoil the fantasy, Ragu!) I would have taken the money in a heartbeat, but the bank's internal controls flashed a big red light and said "This fucking guy?" That's how it's supposed to work.

    I am positive that my credit worthiness was better than this guy's. And yet he found people who were willing to give him money. That's on them.
     
    LongTimeListener, Jun 10, 2015
    #133
  2. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    He didn't intend to make good faith effort to live up to the terms of the promissory note. If he did have that intention, he wouldn't have decided one day to stiff his lenders and write a story in the New York Times about it!

    I am not sure what you are disagreeing with. When you sign your name to a contract, you either intend to make good on the terms you are agreeing to. ... or you don't. In which case, I'd argue that an honest person wouldn't sign their name to those terms. It's not a semantic thing, where your intent only matters the moment you are signing it, but if you decide that your intent has changed a minute later, or a day later or 10 years later, it somehow changes what you agreed to. Otherwise, what good is your word? If you agree to something for financial gain, and then don't live up to what you agreed to, what would you like to call it -- a lie? a deliberate deception for gain?

    You keep saying things like, "default isn't fraud no matter how much you say it is." Of course "default isn't fraud." A lot of people default on loans because they are unable to repay. But we are talking about someone who agreed to terms to secure a loan, even when he had no intention of making every good faith effort in the future to live up to what he agreed in order to secure the loan.
     
    The Big Ragu, Jun 10, 2015
    #134
  3. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    That's apples and porcupines, Ragu.

    When he signed, he had the intention.

    You don't get to label him a deadbeat at the start of the contract. He was just another college kid with a student loan.

    Let's take a ride in the time machine and go back to when he signed the loan papers and ask then-freshman-to-be if he planned to bilk the system.
     
    Songbird, Jun 10, 2015
    #135
  4. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    How do you know he didn't?
     
    Dick Whitman, Jun 10, 2015
    #136
  5. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Yeah, the only time he clearly didn't intend to pay anything back was later in life when he kept getting the credit cards.

    At that point it's unconscionable stupidity on the part of the issuing bank to give him the card.
     
    LongTimeListener, Jun 10, 2015
    #137
  6. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    Sure it has. And the writer has the right to legal action to obtain payment, provided there was a written or verbal contract.
     
    micropolitan guy, Jun 10, 2015
    #138
  7. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Jeez. I am not semantically arguing the word "intent." It doesn't matter what he literally was thinking as his pen hit the paper. By signing his name to an agreement, he was saying that he intended to make good on the terms. Jeez.

    This isn't a child who gets candy for promising to behave and then misbehaves and says, "But I meant it when I said it." He's an adult. ... who entered into an agreement that he didn't intend to follow through on. How do I know? If he HAD intended to make good on what he agreed to, he wouldn't have decided one day to breach the contract. He'd be making good faith efforts to live up to what he agreed to.
     
    The Big Ragu, Jun 10, 2015
    #139
  8. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Don't you think the same can be said about every person and business that ever files for bankruptcy?
     
    LongTimeListener, Jun 10, 2015
    #140
  9. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    I am disagreeing with your assertion that because he defaulted on the loan today, he never intended to make good on the loan. I'm also disagreeing with your assertion that this is fraud.

    You are arbitrarily assigning intent to a 17-year-old's decision made decades ago and construing it to mean that he always intended to stiff the lender and commit fraud. He did not commit fraud, and I'm not really sure why you're twisting yourself into pretzels to call it that.
     
    bigpern23, Jun 10, 2015
    #141
  10. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    It depends on the bankruptcy

    If you have no ability to repay a loan. ... it is different than having agreed to terms to get a loan and then decided to just reneg.

    I make a huge distinction between someone who CHOOSES to not repay a loan. ... and someone who is INCAPABLE of repaying a loan.

    This is all about intent.
     
    The Big Ragu, Jun 10, 2015
    #142
  11. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    This is absurd.

    What he determined down the road has nothing to do with his intent when he signed the contract. Nothing.

    Again, I promised my high school girlfriend that we'd be together forever. I broke up with her three months into college.

    By your logic, I never intended to be with her forever. But I did.
     
    Dick Whitman, Jun 10, 2015
    #143
  12. amraeder

    amraeder Well-Known Member

    Yeah, intent is very much a moment-in-time concept.
     
    amraeder, Jun 10, 2015
    #144
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