- Mar 5, 2001
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-loan-crisis-risks-turning-aaa-debt-into-junk
The student loan problem is starting to come to a head. Payment rates are slowing down massively, borrowers are on Forbearance/Deferment for far longer than they should be, Income Based Repayment is becoming more prevalent and borrowers are paying marginal amounts on debt. The result? Bonds backed by student loans are extending past their original intended maturity date which is a default. If the bond has a high probability of default, even if it has a low probability of not having a principal loss, it is junked by the rating agencies.
The "profit" we are making on Student Loans is farcical. There is no profit. The only way there is a "profit" is if the student loans are assumed to default at a nominal amount (12-20%) while the remainder pay full balance, full interest, on time, according to the original payment schedule. However, that is slipping and the discount rate used is the 10-year treasury, not a risk-based actual discount interest rate.
Now, you have to wonder, why did they actually end the FFELP program in 2010? Why, of course, to pay for ACA. The government realized it needed money from somewhere. Those big, evil, banks were making *huge* profits (not) from loans, why couldn't the government? So why not just get rid of the FFELP program and fund ACA using the "profits" from the loans to "fund" ACA.
But...now we are finding out that this farcical "profit" is just that, farcical. It is a sham. A flim-flam. A way of profiting off of the inability of students to repay the debt they are incurring. All of it perpetuated by the US government through multiple administrations, by both parties, and we are all on the hook for it.
This is just the beginning.
The student loan problem is starting to come to a head. Payment rates are slowing down massively, borrowers are on Forbearance/Deferment for far longer than they should be, Income Based Repayment is becoming more prevalent and borrowers are paying marginal amounts on debt. The result? Bonds backed by student loans are extending past their original intended maturity date which is a default. If the bond has a high probability of default, even if it has a low probability of not having a principal loss, it is junked by the rating agencies.
The "profit" we are making on Student Loans is farcical. There is no profit. The only way there is a "profit" is if the student loans are assumed to default at a nominal amount (12-20%) while the remainder pay full balance, full interest, on time, according to the original payment schedule. However, that is slipping and the discount rate used is the 10-year treasury, not a risk-based actual discount interest rate.
Now, you have to wonder, why did they actually end the FFELP program in 2010? Why, of course, to pay for ACA. The government realized it needed money from somewhere. Those big, evil, banks were making *huge* profits (not) from loans, why couldn't the government? So why not just get rid of the FFELP program and fund ACA using the "profits" from the loans to "fund" ACA.
But...now we are finding out that this farcical "profit" is just that, farcical. It is a sham. A flim-flam. A way of profiting off of the inability of students to repay the debt they are incurring. All of it perpetuated by the US government through multiple administrations, by both parties, and we are all on the hook for it.
This is just the beginning.