Originally Posted by FlyerJosh
SkyHigh,
The last thing that these folks need right now is your holier then thou, "you should have/shouldn't have" attitude. The fact of the matter is good or bad, they did and now their asking for help in resolving this matter. Your post does nothing in this regard. Unless you have something advice to add on how they might resolve the situation, why not go start a different thread about how terrible it is to take out loans to get education towards a dying career or some other topic along those lines?
As for the two of you that are having difficulties, before you talk bankruptcy which will have very adverse effects for 7 years (although it wont completely kill your chances of credit, it will definately hurt you ability to get any loans at any reasonable interest rate), consider having your lawyer call these people on your behalf.
Your lawyer is an independent party that has no reason to get emotional and can stand relatively firm ground. Additionally the lawyer can help assist in persuading the company from constantly hassling you at all hours of the day. They will also likely have some added weight should you decide to use a bankruptcy arguement in trying to negotiate a reasonable payment plan.
Good luck, that's not a situation that's fun to be in by any means.
Josh,
It is important to me to know why people still think this is a good idea. I empathise with them and am sorry for their situation but something convinced them that a loan would be a good choice.
By nature I am half pilot and half business man. To me is seems highly unlikely that a career as a pilot would be unable to overcome the inertia of a 100K loan. My guess is that the lender is banking on getting a job at SWA within a year or two after signing. To me the only option is to get a real job and pay the debt off before returning to a life on continued poverty. Like one poster mentioned the interest and charges will climb faster than the pay will. I have a friend who got a school loan from ERU in the late 80's and is still 85K in debt. The good news is that at 45 he finally got hired at SWA last fall.
Skyhigh