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Court says man has to pay student debt of $350,000
You think you're burdened with student loans?! Mark Jesperson hoped that he could make his hundreds of thousands in student loan debt vanish by declaring bankruptcy, but an appeals court says that won't happen. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)July 15, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
Why not? Corporations can do it.
Posted by: sometimesilie | Jul 15, 2009 7:01:38 AM
Oh Boooo-whooo! He knew what he was getting into. Why should he be exempt from his loans when the rest of us have to pay them back?
Posted by: ohio | Jul 15, 2009 7:13:51 AM
A lawyer - I'm SHOCKED?!?!
Posted by: Amy Gdala | Jul 15, 2009 7:15:45 AM
Technically Ohio, many people don't have to pay back loans, legally, through bankruptcy. GM is such a company- all their previous lawsuits against them were thrown out of court last month. poof.
Posted by: DCer | Jul 15, 2009 7:15:55 AM
lawyers get erections when they hear sirens.
Posted by: American Veteran | Jul 15, 2009 7:19:15 AM
I'm paying my school loans back, and at the moment, I'm making much less than $48K a year. It really pisses me off when people take on debt, and then expect everyone else to take care of it for them. Bankruptcy should be a last resort, not the first choice for some loser who just doesn't care to pay his debt! Same thing with the welfare system. For those who need it, I have no problem...for those just to lazy to get off their ass and take care of business...cut em off!!!
Posted by: jojo | Jul 15, 2009 7:20:25 AM
I'm paying my school loans back, and at the moment, I'm making much less than $48K a year. It really pisses me off when people take on debt, and then expect everyone else to take care of it for them. Bankruptcy should be a last resort, not the first choice for some loser who just doesn't care to pay his debt! Same thing with the welfare system. For those who need it, I have no problem...for those just to lazy to get off their ass and take care of business...cut em off!!!
Posted by: jojo | Jul 15, 2009 7:20:25 AM
He just needs to create a new entity called "Mark Jesperson" and transfer all of the good assets to it, leaving behind his burdensome obligations. Sounds ludicrous, I know, when applied to a single person's debt, but why does it suddenly make sense when applied to General Motors? I guess it makes me a communist, or maybe a capitalist -- some sort of 'ist' for sure.
Posted by: Sigh | Jul 15, 2009 7:22:12 AM
IF IT IS HIS DEBT THEN HE SHOULD PAY
Posted by: MONKEY JERKm | Jul 15, 2009 7:43:31 AM
I do feel bad for the guy. He's homeless and working. It sounds as though the $48K was the highest income, not his annual income. It's not that I think he shouldn't have to pay it. But it seems as though his life might not get better. One flu or bad sprain could take out someone in a precarious position like his.
Posted by: Displaced | Jul 15, 2009 7:57:27 AM
Sigh it makes you an ism-ist.
Posted by: sometimesilie | Jul 15, 2009 8:07:33 AM
Shouldn't one consider the cost of paying back loans when one goes $350K in debt? And who's idiot enough to lend to an alcoholic?
Posted by: Pop | Jul 15, 2009 8:08:39 AM
Sigh, if only our politicians every had such a clear thought in their heads.
Posted by: Drake Timbershaft | Jul 15, 2009 8:10:28 AM
Kudos to the judges! The audacity of that horrid little man (and I use "little" to refer to his being a man)!
I have heard people tell me that they are using their student loans as a means of welfare checks. Each semester, these people try to manipulate school authorities into keeping their enrollment open so they can get another student loan. They then make half-hearted attempts to take classes because the purpose of the loan is to live yet one more year without working.
Luckily, this is very, very rare. I know most students take out loans to go to school to better themselves (as did I), and then dutifully pay back the loans (who make much less than $48,000/year, BTW).
Also, luckily, the government is wise to these leeches. Student loans (via government assistance) are pending a high completion rate. Also, there is a cap. Therefore, if a person cannot live off of public student loans longer than a few years. However, they can rack up a huge amount of debt.
Oh, and I second the, "Boo-hoo." Buck up and get a better job (or does the alcholol interfere with that even though you're sober?)!
Posted by: Worker | Jul 15, 2009 8:26:36 AM
I'm with the judges on this one.
Posted by: twerp | Jul 15, 2009 8:58:55 AM
11 years for an undergrad and then law school. Stupidity isn't an excuse for bankrupcy (did I spell that right Sheila?).
Posted by: 305club | Jul 15, 2009 9:15:48 AM
"One flu or bad sprain could take out someone in a precarious position like his."
Garbage.
Those that want to work would work through a "flu or bad sprain."
I say this as I sit at my desk, nursing a 4th degree separated shoulder. Painful yes, but somehow I'm still managing to do my job.
Posted by: chiarams | Jul 15, 2009 9:36:36 AM
It's 95% of the lawyers making the rest of us look bad.
Posted by: tiacheryl | Jul 15, 2009 9:59:42 AM
Lawyers aren't evil -the majority of lawers go into law to help people (and be recompensed hansomely). However, I suspect THIS guy isn't one -in fact, it's funny that he isn't practicing...
As for the "one bad sprain" thing: WHAT?!? Lawyers get benefits (at least the good ones do). And a bad sprain doesn't keep a lawyer from court (usually gives him the reason to be there).
This guy is not, and has not been, on the level.
Posted by: Worker | Jul 15, 2009 10:18:57 AM
I dunno if it's as rare as you think, worker. I know 2 people who have done/are doing it. One has been banned from ever receiving any kind of credit for any reason ever again. He accepts that as being fair, works under the table. Actually he's kind of like Kramer, only not so racist.
The other guy, well into his 30's, will eventually graduate (snicker) from undergraduate art school after manipulating the agencies out of about twice as much as it took him to pay tuition and living on takeout food, pot, and cigs, play videogames till 4 am and not have to work. At all. As somebody who worked three part time while finishing my bachelors, I have no respect for him.
I don't know how it sits today but not so long ago when I took out loans to go back to college the loan folks were practically begging me to take more. It was actually a hassle to get them to STOP. But at 7%+ interest, that's not a surprise.
Posted by: sometimesilie | Jul 15, 2009 11:22:41 AM
There was just recently a guy in NY that was rejected by the bar because of the substantial amount of student loans he had and the fact that he has never made an attempt to pay any of it. They questioned his morality...you have to admit it's pretty bad when other lawyers think you're too unethical to be a lawyer.
Posted by: Chrysos | Jul 15, 2009 11:27:44 AM
Haha, to play on Chrysos' example, that is like a shark at a feeding frenzy getting grief from the other sharks for being a hog.
Posted by: sometimesilie | Jul 15, 2009 11:42:06 AM
I was astounded by the total, but it's very possible that very much of it is excessive interest over many many years - I wish the article gave details about that, it may make quite a bit of difference if the guy took out $100K in loans (not impossible to pay back with a modest lawyer-type income in a reasonable length career).
If the guy had been struggling with the complications of diabetes (or depression) instead of alcoholism, would it make a difference as to how we condemn him?
Posted by: Theodosia | Jul 16, 2009 5:00:02 AM
Theodosia, are you insinuating that there is no difference between diabetes (or depression) and alcoholism? The old "I'm an alcoholic therefor I'm not responsible for my actions" schtick is growing pretty tiresome, imo.
Posted by: sometimesilie | Jul 16, 2009 6:32:46 AM
Not insinuating.
But what if he were a diabetic who could have taken better care of himself -- or any condition where there's voluntary actions a person can take that might mitigate the progression of the disease, like a person with high blood pressure who neglects to take medication/change diet/et cetera, then suffers a stroke which makes their college career stretch out for a decade, so that unpaid loans get hit with high interest?
Alcoholism is a disease -- which doesn't excuse the bad judgment part of it, except that yeah, JUDGMENT is affected by it.
The guy wasn't living off multiple second mortgages, and I see no reason offered in the article to show that he wasn't sincerely meaning to pay off the loans when he took them out. I would seriously want to see a spreadsheet of what he took out when, how much went to the actual tuition(s), and how much interest he's on the hook for now, before I passed judgment. Since several lower courts found for him before this, I'm willing to believe there's more to the story than what we've seen.
Posted by: Theodosia | Jul 16, 2009 8:09:59 AM
