If you are behind on your student loans and live in Houston, you could be arrested. He was imprisoned in a cell there for about an hour before the marshals brought him before a judge and forced him to sign up for a payment plan for a loan he took out back in 1987. In addition to having a loan balance that grows with late fees, debt collection fees and interest, people who default on federal student loans face wage garnishment, seizure of tax refunds and reduction in other government benefits.
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This isn’t the first time U.S. Marshals have arrested people with outstanding student debt.
Several news outlets picked up the story, painting a dramatic scene in which “U.S. Marshals armed with automatic weapons” arrested Aker “for not paying a $1,500 student loan from three decades ago”. Aker says his treatment by the US Marshals over a $1,500 loan has left him “shaken” and “afraid to go outside”. These civil processes can include summons for individuals to appear in court to address delinquent federal student loans.
Thanks to the U.S. Congress, this has all been made possible.
It’s “totally mind-boggling”, he said on the Fox affiliate with Rep. Gene Green, a Democrat from Texas, at his side.
Aker’s case is an extreme one but it might have been avoidable.
Being behind on student loan payments in Texas could cost you more than your credit score. Despite these flexible options, the government has struggled to get the word out to borrowers. “There’s bound to be a better way to collect on a student loan debt”, said the congressman.
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“If you don’t show up”, she says, “you don’t have the opportunity to defend yourself”.
