<prompt> Human: I know this has to have been asked before. But, the shear volume of student loan comments on reddit is overwhelming. I have defaulted on my student loan for years. I borrowed about 10,000 I think, but it has been turned over to a collection agency they want about 50,000. There is no way I can pay what they want, but would like to start making some kind of payment. Do I have any kind of options? Not ruling out swallowing a bullet.  <response>: Login there and find out which and how many federal loans you currently have.Did you take out private loans?Theres no way that a 10,000 loan has ballooned to a 50k repayment without tons of notices coming your way. You need to find out how much you owe and to whom, first. 