Steve Mason and his wife Darnelle are being mercilessly tapped to repay $200,000 in student loans, even though their 27-year-old daughter Lisa Mason died of liver failure.
Unable to swing the $2,000 a month repayment plan, the California pastor says he is also unable to legally declare bankruptcy, as student loan have been conveniently excluded from the program.
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Each time they have appealed to the lenders to beg for help, the couple have been told that the only solution is to repay the mammoth loans – some of which have interest rates of 12 percent – in full. Making the situation dramatically worse is the fact that the couple are now the guardians of daughter Lisa’s three children, ages nine, 12 and 14, leaving their futures in the balance. Before her death, Lisa Mason had taken out $100,000 in private student loans to fund her education at nursing school and crucially, Steve had co-signed on them. source
In the five years since her tragic passing, Steve and Darnelle’s inability to keep up with the payments has seen the sum owed double to $200,000 because of the high interest rates and late-fee penalties.
Compounding the desperation, Steve makes less than $75,000 a year at Oasis Church in Redlands, California and Darnelle earns less in her role as director at the same church.
