“It looks like I actually have $29,093 in student loans I didn’t really know about…” my wife says way too early on a Saturday morning. I have not had my first sip of coffee. I’m already thinking about it.
“What…..?” I don’t know if I’m still sleeping. I can’t believe it’s all a dream. “Did you just say….” Before I say anything else, she stops me. She looked at me and said, “We need to talk.” “Yes”. I feel like I have $30,000 more in student debt. I’m not sure how long it will take to pay off. I spent 5 years paying off my debt, but I didn’t know that my new wife had some debt. I was determined to help her pay off her debt as quickly as possible so that we could move forward with a clean financial slate.
“This has to be a mistake,” I said. I jumped on my computer after she gave me the login. I was granted access to her account after I typed in her password. I forgot about the coffee while I was awake. I ran to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee after jumping out of bed. My wife has student loan debt with an interest rate of between 4% and 6.8%. We want to get rid of her student loan debt as quickly as possible. How could this have happened? It’s a mystery as to why this happened, and it’s even more puzzling as to how it could have happened.
How did my new wife have $29,093 in student loan debt that I didn’t know about?
This was my mistake. I will do my best to prevent it from happening again. It might even make the list of my top money mistakes. I wrongly assumed I knew how much student loan debt my fiancée had. But the truth is we really only talked about it a few times in passing and I thought she owed approximately $6,000 in student loans – but $29,093 is a different story. I made a down payment on my condo. I’m confident that the investment will be worth it.
Why is it hard to talk with my wife about money?
My wife and I have kept our finances separate since I got married in August. We have been working together to create a plan for our future. It is difficult to have conversations about money before. In order to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to finances, it’s important to have these conversations.
The reason we don’t talk about money is because of the large difference in income between us and my wife just wants me to handle it. Money has become something we don’t discuss openly and it can be difficult to approach. She trusts me to make a good decision when it comes to money because I am obsessed with investing and personal finance.
My wife uses her income as her spending money for whatever she wants after contributing to her retirement accounts, while I have always paid the mortgage and managed all of our expenses. Thanks to this arrangement, we have been able to save for a comfortable retirement. We don’t really talk about it because it worked well for us. I don’t know why I didn’t know about her debt. It came as a complete shock to me that she was struggling with her finances.
The mystery of the $29,093 in student loan debt
She didn’t know where the student loans came from. She hadn’t looked into it because she was so busy studying. “Seriously???” You don’t know that you owe $29,093. It’s important to keep track of your debts so you don’t end up in this situation. My wife is an honest person and has never lied to me or tricked me about money. She makes sure I’m aware of every purchase she makes. Some of the qualities that I love most about her are that she is generous and not greedy. She makes sure everyone around her is taken care of and is always looking for ways to help others.
Why didn’t she know about the debt? She had trusted her husband to take care of the finances, but he kept the debt a secret from her. It had to be a lie. I was convinced. Some kid in Florida took out $29,093 in loans and blew it on games like Mountain Dew or it was an organized crime network. It’s an alarming amount of money that was taken out in a short period of time. I started looking into what we did and didn’t know after I looked at all the forensic files. The case was going to take a lot more detective work than I had thought.
It didn’t take long. I knew I had made the right decision. My wife co-signed on student loans with her family and now is responsible for them. We worked together to come up with a plan to pay off the loans as quickly as possible, so that we could move forward with our financial goals. Don’t co-sign anything ever! If someone asks me to co-sign something, I will politely decline and explain why it is not in my best interest.
After more than a decade, the student loans showed up in her account. She was surprised to see the student loans reappear, but she was determined to pay them off as soon as possible. She has never received a bill for them. She has been using the service for a long time and has always been impressed with its reliability. She doesn’t remember signing them. She didn’t notice that the documents had been sitting in her desk drawer for months. I don’t remember much from when I was 18. I’m sure there are some memories that have stayed with me from that time. I let it sink in that we had $29,093 in student loan debt. We were already starting out with a lot of debt, and I couldn’t believe that this was our future.
Alright, deep breath. I know what is happening. I’m ready to act. I crush my own student loans. I’m confident that I can make a difference in these loans and eventually get them paid off. I don’t fear marrying into student loan debt. I’m confident that I can manage my finances and make the right decisions to pay it off quickly.
Our strategy to pay off my wife’s student loans
1. Check the StudentLoans.gov website: On this website, I can see if there are any other student loans associated with my wife’s social security number that we don’t know about. If someone has taken loans out in your name, this is the easiest way to find out. It’s important to check your credit report regularly to make sure it doesn’t happen. Some of the information on my wife’s loans was out of date when I looked it up. I requested updated information from the lender so that I could make sure the loans were being managed correctly. It is definitely worth checking. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for something unique or a great deal.
2. Request More Information : I’m going to call Navient to find out the background on the loans that have shown up in her account. I want to make sure I have everything I need. We don’t have the background paperwork that they have on the loans, so I am going to request it. This will help us build a more accurate picture of the loan portfolio. To get as much information as possible, ask for copies of the original loan documents. All of your responses should be documented in writing.
3. Refinance the loans : I am going to start shopping the beset student loan refinance companies for rates that are a lot lower than my wife’s current average rate of 5.37%. While I have the cash to pay off her loans completely right now, the simple fact is that I didn’t plan for this unexpected $29,093 expense for the end of this year. Setting up a payment plan to spread out the cost is one of the options I’m considering. I have other plans for that cash that I am confident will generate a higher return over time than the percentage interest over time. I’m looking forward to seeing the results of these plans.
4. Schedule a regular money convo with my wife : The debt has been a wake-up call for us. We can avoid getting into a similar situation in the future by budgeting and saving for future financial goals. We want to have more productive discussions about money. Setting clear goals and expectations will ensure that our conversations are productive. Even though my wife has no interest in managing our finances, I am going to push for it. It’s not going to be easy for me to take the lead in this. It is important for her to understand how I am saving and investing for our future.
So what’s next?
I am going to tackle my wife’s studentloan debt over the coming months. I want to find a solution that will help us achieve financial stability in the future. To see how our money conversations go. To gain a better understanding of our financial situation and how we can work together to reach our goals, I’m hoping that this will be the start of an open dialogue between us.
Do you have any suggestions for me? I’m looking for a place to eat that’s good. What did you do when you got into student loan debt? How do you have conversations with your partner about money?
