I'm so bummed. I went out and checked the mail yesterday, and there was one piece that just looked funny. It was from a company I didn't recognize but it didn't look like junk mail. I figured I'd play it safe and open it up to see what it was.

To my utter dismay, it's a statement saying that a student loan DH took out was now coming due and payments would start this month!!! DH is incredibly scatter-brained and a horrible record keeper, so he's never mentioned this loan, and I certainly don't have documentation or a promissory note for it. I thought he knew about all of his student loans and had them all neatly consolidated. Not so, I guess!

DH contacted his school and found out that during his last semester, the federal government outsourced their Stafford loans. His got issued by Educaid, which then became Wachovia, which then became the company that contacted us. Since it wasn't issued by Direct Loans, it wasn't picked up when he consolidated and DH didn't remember it or have records to review.

This new loan is almost $9,000 at a variable interest rate of over 7%!!! We've decided to dip into the emergency fund and just pay the darn thing off. DH's job is very stable, and mine seems OK for the moment too. Refinancing it won't save us too much in interest, and I'd rather just be done with the whole thing. Still, I'm not exactly thrilled at seeing 35% of my emergency fund vanish in one fell swoop!

And it's not even like we get anything for it. If we'd spent 9k on a new car, or a really cool home remodeling project, or a couple of great vacations, at least there would be something I could look to for how we enjoyed the money. But no, it went to his never-ending college degree.

I'm just so depressed. I was so excited to be moving forward again and now this...