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Muslim Says Paying Back $32K In Student Loan Interest Is ‘Against My Religion’… Gets BRUTAL Response
I’m sure in a religion where blowing up a bunch of people can get you several dozen virgins, some sort of loophole can be arranged...
Wilmot Proviso April 24, 2015 at 3:32pm
Well, this is a new one: a student who converted to Islam since his time in university now claims that it’s against his religion to pay back the loans that he accrued to pay for his schooling.
Amir, a Seattle-area student who wrote to financial blogger Steve Rhode, the “Get Out of Debt Guy,” said that his religion forbids loans that involve interest.
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However, Rhode gave Amir a religious smack-down, telling him that his position on student loans might jeopardize his entrance into the afterlife.
Amir had, according to his letter, taken out $32,000 in student loans from a company that then sold his loans to Sallie Mae (now Navient). Thanks to some deferments, Amir’s $32,000 has now exploded into $64,000.
“My conditions have changed I was born into Islam however never knew much about my religion. Since 2012 I have been learning more about my faith and it is strictly forbidden in my faith to have dealings with interest,” Amir wrote.
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“I am offering to pay off the original amount I owe however due to religious reasons would like them to recognize that my awareness and conditions have changed from the time of originally accepting the loan with Citi-Student Loan Corp and not even with them at Sallie Mae.
“Can I get the interest wiped out and close this account and case with just paying the original amount borrowed?”
I’m impressed. Who could have thought the religion of peace could be so cynically used in a temporizing fashion?
Unfortunately for Amir, Rhode was having none of it.
“Asking any lender to adjust their terms and conditions after the fact for religious reasons is just not going to happen,” Rhode wrote.
“You’ve also learned a painful lesson, the damage caused by deferment is enormous,” he added. “Most people think it is an innocent time not to make payments and get a payment vacation. In fact it just puts the debt in turbo and the interest causes the balances to explode.”
Rhode then told Amir that, if he were actually motivated by religious reasoning, he might want to pay that loan off posthaste.
“(I)f your faith is guiding your repayment then you’ll have to seek wise counsel on how to deal with what (an) imam told me. He said, even those that borrowed with interest, are obligated to repay their entire debt and if they don’t they will be prohibited from entering paradise when they die,” Rhode wrote.
“How you overcome that little issue is above my pay grade,” he concluded.
I’m sure in a religion where blowing up a bunch of people can get you several dozen virgins, some sort of loophole can be arranged. However, don’t expect Sallie Mae to buy it.
And don’t expect us to buy it, either.
h/t: EAGNews
Please like and share on Facebook and Twitter if this is one of the most ridiculous reasons you’ve heard for not paying back your student loans.
This article originally appeared at Conservative Tribune. Like their Facebook page:
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