Two States Will Revoke Your Driver’s License If You Can’t Pay Back Student Loans

[jimmy olsen]

Are there no poor houses? Are there no workhouses?

http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/01/these-states-will-revoke-your-drivers-license-if-you-cant-pay-back-student-loans/

These States Will Revoke Your Driver's License If You Can't Pay Back Student Loans

January 17, 2015 9:38 pm·

Most of the nation is unaware of it, but there are two states which will take your driver's license away if you do not pay your student loans.

Alums in both Montana and Iowa, face laws that allow the state to revoke driver's licenses if the individual is unable to pay back their loans.

This has obvious consequences for potential employment, as well as childcare, creating a downward spiral of self-perpetuating poverty.

The Montana Department of Justice says that those who default on their student loans face "indefinite suspension until student loan association notifies Motor Vehicle Division of compliance."

The Department of Motor Vehicles in Iowa parallels this legislation almost identically. The law says that the State will "suspend a person's driver's license upon receiving a certificate of noncompliance from the College Student Aid Commission in regard to the person's default on an obligation owed to or collected by the commission."

But the group Jobs With Justice notes that in October 2010, there were also 42 nurses in Tennessee who similarly had their licenses suspended for nothing other than falling behind on their student loans.
   
The irony of all of this is that taking away the ability to drive makes student loan defaulters even more certain to fall behind on payments.

In effect, this is little different than debtors prison, which, in a misguided effort to deter loan default, actually perpetuates it.

[Admiral Yi]

As one might expect from a site called countercurrentnews.com, this story is bullshit.

[jimmy olsen]

As one might expect from a site called countercurrentnews.com, this story is bullshit.

Link me then, and I'll glady give a mea culpa.

[Admiral Yi]

To what?  The bullshit is in the misleading story title.  No one is revoking a license for "being unable to pay."  They're revoking a license because borrowers are not calling up Student Loan Servicing to arrange deferments or forebearances or alternative repayment plans.

[Ed Anger]

KICK HIS ASS YI. SWEEP THE LEG

[CountDeMoney]

Yeah, Timmay.  There's a distinct difference between "being unable to pay" and "not paying".  Go get 'em, Iowa and Montana.

[garbon]

Yeah, Timmay.  There's a distinct difference between "being unable to pay" and "not paying".  Go get 'em, Iowa and Montana.

[jimmy olsen]

The Montana Department of Justice says that those who default on their student loans face "indefinite suspension until student loan association notifies Motor Vehicle Division of compliance."

The Department of Motor Vehicles in Iowa parallels this legislation almost identically. The law says that the State will "suspend a person's driver's license upon receiving a certificate of noncompliance from the College Student Aid Commission in regard to the person's default on an obligation owed to or collected by the commission."

This doesn't seem to make a distinction between those who can pay and choose not to, and those who are unable to pay.

[Admiral Yi]

It doesn't make a distinction between those who don't want to pay, and those who are unable to pay but can't be arsed to call a toll free number and ask for a forebearance, or an income based repayment plan.

[Razgovory]

I don't know what a forbearance is.

[Admiral Yi]

I don't know what a forbearance is.

A forebearance means you don't have to pay for the time being.  You don't go into default while in forebearance.  You don't get threatening letters and you don't get your wages garnished.  Interest keeps accruing.

[CountDeMoney]

After that, when you owe more in interest than the actual loan and can't pay it off, that's when your license gets suspended.  So you see, Timmay, there's more to this story than what was in that article.

[Ideologue]

If the laws include private loans, then eternal forebearances and IBR/PAYE are not available.

Additionally, these laws may be unconstitutional.  I vaguely remember something along the lines of states aren't allowed to do stuff like this, meddling in interstate commerce issues that are already governed by federal law outside of a clear nexus with state interests.  Maybe I'm misremembering.

Either way, I'm curious how this involves the states whatsoever: the loan money is either private or (in almost every circumstance now) federal.  Not state.

[CountDeMoney]

Either way, I'm curious how this involves the states whatsoever: the loan money is either private or (in almost every circumstance now) federal.  Not state.

It involves the state's conservative bases, who want to make people who can't pay, pay.

[Ideologue]

But the group Jobs With Justice notes that in October 2010, there were also 42 nurses in Tennessee who similarly had their licenses suspended for nothing other than falling behind on their student loans.

I wonder if this is lost in translation.  Revoking professional licensure is a conventional punishment for non-payers, and is determined by the governing body: state bars will throw you out, and I believe medical boards will too.  It's to keep the profession morally pure, I guess, purity being something lawyers and doctors are well-known for.