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Yes, you can still re-consolidate with Direct loans: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DirectLoan/index.html They'll be able to combine all of your loans under one repayment schedule/interest rate. They'll have to give you a new weighted average, so beware a higher interest rate than what you had if you combine the 8.5% rates with the older consolidation. They may have other options available though, so don't lose hope yet! Give them a call and see what they can do for you 
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Feb 4, 2009 01:23
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Here's an odd question. I received a loan statement from Wells Fargo and they reduced my total payment from $102.01 to $90.06. This has been going on for the last three months and I was wondering what caused this? Of course, I'm still paying the $102.01 each month - but I was wondering what the driving force behind the minimum payment being reduced was.
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Feb 4, 2009 01:34
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Wiggy Marie posted:Yes, you can still re-consolidate with Direct loans: I'll try direct loans, and I'll keep my current block of consolidated loans separate. I mean...odds are the interest rate on them will go up, right? Edit: I just did a quick little comparison using a loan calculator on the direct loans website, and I was right. I'd be paying a lot more in the long term if I consolidated the low-interest loan into the others. And speaking of, how come Stafford and Graduate PLUS loans have higher interest rates than my undergraduate ones? DrBouvenstein fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Feb 4, 2009 |
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Feb 4, 2009 01:57
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courtney_beth, a lot of systems will automatically redisclose payment schedules to account for over/underpayments. Many systems do this annually, some more, some less. Some do it whenever they darn well feel like it. If you make a habit of paying above the monthly amount due, even by a small amount, your payments will continue to redisclose for lower amounts to account for the repayment schedule timeframe DrBouvenstein, GradPLUS loans have higher rates than Stafford loans. The rates are fixed by the federal government. PLUS and GradPLUS have been 8.5% for the past few years, and the Stafford programs went up to 6.8% (I believe) around the same timeframe. New Stafford interest rates will slowly decrease against with time, but anything that had a fixed rate will remain the same. Sorry! Wiggy Marie fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Feb 4, 2009 |
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Feb 4, 2009 03:36
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Wiggy Marie, did you have an answer to my question about Wells Fargo reducing my payment by $12/mo? I'm a bit confused.
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Feb 4, 2009 17:06
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Sorry! The first part of my reply was addressed to you. I suppose I could have labeled! Edited for clarification
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Feb 4, 2009 22:52
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Thanks. I just found it odd. I never paid more than the minimum payment for the first 2.5 years. Then all of a sudden I got the reduction - but still paying the old payment because I'm a creature of habit. Once I get settled completely into my new house, I will start to pay at least $350 per month. I appreciate the help
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Feb 5, 2009 05:03
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I have about $60K in GradPlus loans that I had to start paying in December. Sadly, I'm unemployed (believe them, they're right). 1. Can I arrange an interest-only deferment? 2. Will any forms of deferment appear on my credit rating? I consider my credit rating to be an assessment of my worth as a human being and I'd rather starve than let it slide.
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Feb 5, 2009 05:58
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Ok so I changed schools(not transfer) and my loans are currently in grace, and salliemae says my school is part of the clearinghouse so they should become automatically in in school status, or do I need to tell my school to notify them?
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Feb 5, 2009 06:08
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courtney_beth, you're welcome! Payments can redisclose for all sorts of crazy reasons. If you're worried you can always call the servicing agency and ask if everything's ok. echopapa, yes and no During a deferment, they lender will probably still send you statements every so many months for the interest accrued if you would like to pay it. You can also make payments any time without penalty. Student loans have no prepayment penalty, so you can pay whenever you want at any time. Credit is not negatively affected by deferment/forbearance time. I've heard from borrowers that it just shows up as "current" during those times. Infernus, if the school is part of the Clearinghouse then you shouldn't have a problem. They'll automatically update your account. There is also an In School Deferment form available that you can probably get online at Sallie's site, if you want to fill it out manually. You can actually create an account at the Clearinghouse to monitor when your information shows up: http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/
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Feb 6, 2009 00:38
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Cool. Thanks Wiggy! EDIT:Do they do it by social? Infernus fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Feb 9, 2009 |
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Feb 7, 2009 06:00
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Yes, it's by social.
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Feb 9, 2009 23:16
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This is more of a "what should I do?" type thing, but I figure its better to ask before I turn in my FAFSA. I've been at a community college for a couple years now, and it looks like I'm going to be getting into the local 4-year for next semester (Fall 09). Real college costs just a bit more... I have rent and other financial obligations, and I can't pony up the 2500/semester for the next two years. And since it's real college, I might need some assistance with rent and whatnot because I plan on severely cutting back my hours at work. I'm about 110% sure that I won't qualify for poo poo because my parents combined make 80k+ and we're all white. So I guess this puts me in just regular student loans, right? I did some basic/retarded math and figured about 10k just for 2 years worth of tuition, and at most 10k in "living expenses" (i.e. - paying rent). But I figure that I should be able to bust hump over summer and eventually get a decent career-related gig once I transfer over.
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Feb 11, 2009 15:26
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Right now I have 3 loans for school. One was consolidated (from two smaller loans) at a very very low fixed rate while the other 2 were taken for the 2 years after. They're all Stafford subbed loans from Citibank. I didn't realize I'd have to pay for all 3 separately every month at about 60 dollars for each loan. So my question is, is there a way to lower that monthly overall payment? Can I just consolidate them or will the amount I'll be paying monthly end being 180 or something?
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Feb 11, 2009 18:20
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The consolidated monthly amount will probably be lower, but in the long term you'll probably pay more, since (as you said) the previously consolidated loans have a low rate (I'm guessing below 5%?) and the Stafford are probably over 6%. Edit: Direct Loans will have some info for you. You can put all your loans into a calculator and it will tell you how much you'll pay in the longterm, and the (estimated) interest rates for all of them.
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Feb 11, 2009 20:44
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Phone, you'll need to file the FAFSA to see how much you quality for. Worst comes to worst, even if you wouldn't qualify for Stafford loans due to a high parental income, there is still the PLUS loan as a federal loan option. That would be a federal credit-based loan taken out in your parent's name on your behalf. Before even exploring private loans I would highly recommend taking a gander at the PLUS. If that's not an option, you will need to look at private loans to fund your education. Any lender worth their salt will beg you to go for PLUS instead, not least because the private loan industry has dried up and the criteria to qualify are ridiculously high these days - which means your parents would probably have to be involved anyway. DrBouvenstein, thank you for your help! Delita, did that cover you?
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Feb 12, 2009 12:50
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Yeah, thanks! With the calculator I found out there would be a 3,000 dollar difference if I consolidated and that's pretty much the amount for what I received for just one of those loans. Yeah, really not worth it. Thanks!
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Feb 12, 2009 22:40
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I just applied for the FAFSA and obtained a notice today saying that I am not eligible for federal aid due to not registering with selective service, i remember mailing my registration card very clearly because my dad is in the air force, the sss.gov site cannot find my registration, i dont remember getting any kind of confirmation letter or further requests to register, just mailed it off and that was that. I'm 27 now and obviously too late to register. I'm hoping I can work it out with the sss and school im applying too. In a pretty bad situation right now, just got laid off my job of 5 years, grossed 51K last year, no savings, just moved into a new place 3 months ago and decided to go back to school. Starting all over to get my AA and go from there. Has anyone ran into a situation similar to mine with selective service registration? Were you able to resolve it?
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Feb 13, 2009 00:27
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Personally I have no experience with that situation. Have you contacted FAFSA directly?
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Feb 13, 2009 10:06
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SAR comments tell me to call SSS to sort it out, prove that I had reason to not register but there is no reason, just my card probably got lost in the mail and they never tried following up with me to let me know that I still needed to register. Can't get through to the number at all. Last night I called and it was after hours, this time the system just says "hey we can't take your call bye" starting to freak out here, I'll try and call fafsa EDIT: just called and got a helpful guy who said that they want ALL applications for males to say "register me" even if you are over 26. So I made a correction to my form and resubmitted. He says I should be fine so we'll see. gnarstache fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Feb 13, 2009 |
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Feb 13, 2009 18:41
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I'm graduating from Law School in May and going on to study for an L.L.M. in the fall. I'll probably have upwards of 250k when its all said and done. I did some research on the Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Law, which allows for debt forgiveness after 10 years of public interest law practice, among other things. My question is this: What constitutes a public interest job? Local legal aid? Working for the FCC?
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Feb 13, 2009 21:11
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franzkafka, honestly the best people to call with your questions is Direct Loans. They're the ones with the program so they know a LOT more about it than us poor FFELP types. I'd hate to guess and be wrong. gnarstache, keep me updated on how that turns out!
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Feb 17, 2009 02:15
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Wiggy Marie posted:
Will do! I just applied for a job that is in the field that I plan on studying for, so hopefully I can get that full-time while going to school part time and meet financial aid half-way to cover tuition/living expenses. I'd rather do the opposite and go full time for school but im trying to stay as flexible as I can in this situation.
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Feb 17, 2009 02:36
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this is such a pain in the rear end, the correction I made has been processed and I'm still running into the same notice that I never registered with selective service. I don't know how that is possible since I received a federal pell grant for my first year of school in 1999. I have no idea where to go to find records of that grant. It's impossible to reach the contact numbers for selective service, always get a busy signal on two numbers 847-688-6888 and 888-655-1825. google searches show forums of many people that have had trouble calling those numbers for the last 2 years. anyone work with selective service?
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Feb 18, 2009 18:07
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selective service is very selective on what type of calls they will take. I went through menus that indicated that I've already received aid and looking for more info and im finally on hold waiting. The options would place me on hold then immediately say they have high call volume and disconnect me. I found an alternate number that is not listed on their website, the main number they have has been sending a busy signal all day...so retarded.
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Feb 18, 2009 22:08
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goddammit, I finally get through to a person at selective service and found out that my social security number was off by one number when I submitted it. its updated and they are mailing me the confirmation! gently caress yeah federal aid!!
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Feb 19, 2009 21:48
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Any luck so far? Unfortunately we don't handle the selective service portion of the FAFSA process at all, so I can't really offer help in your situation 
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Feb 20, 2009 02:59
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Wiggy Marie posted:Any luck so far? Unfortunately we don't handle the selective service portion of the FAFSA process at all, so I can't really offer help in your situation oh i know, ive through to them and sorted everything out, now I'm just waiting to get the updated paper work and complete my fafsa and go from there.
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Feb 20, 2009 05:56
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Are there any reputable lenders offering consolidation these days? It seems like almost every lender isn't doing that anymore - any tips?
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Feb 21, 2009 16:23
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The only lender I know of is Direct consolidation. http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DirectLoan/index.html As far as I'm aware everyone else has dropped out.
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Feb 21, 2009 20:04
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Ok, here we go. Is there a time limit to obtain student loans? Right now, I would like to get a loan for the spring semester 2009 (of NJIT graduate school) which has to be paid by April 6, 2009. Am I way too late to even think of getting a bank to give me a subsidized loan? Also, do I have to fill out a FAFSA, regardless of whether I want to get a subsidized or unsubsidized loan? If so, Am I too late to fill out a FAFSA form for Spring 2009 this late in the game? Thanks in advance.
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Feb 23, 2009 13:43
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I searched back a few pages and didn't see anything about this. What do you know about the TEACH grant that apparently just started up. I plan on teaching mathematics in secondary education, and this would be an amazing program to help with tuition, but I'm scared there is going to be some shady loophole that I didn't know about and most likely wouldn't be informed about. Teaching for 4 years in a low income area wouldn't be hard, since 5/6 schools in my area are low income...but one concern is that they might secretly 'assign' me somewhere in the state that they deem needs me versus letting me apply for a job at a low income school in my area. It seems silly, now that I'm actually typing it out...but I figure it's better safe than sorry to make sure. I guess in a nutshell, is there anything shady that I should be aware of if I can apply for this grant or is it exactly what it says it is?
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Feb 23, 2009 15:59
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OK, from an undergrad education and a masters my loans look like this: AES - 11,500 Sallie Mae - 27,800 Education Direct - 40,000 (here's the Master's degree) Based on what I have read, private loans cannot be consolidated. However, I believe at least some of the SM loans come from before they were privatized in 2004, so it might be that the bulk of that was public money when it was lent to me. Which means I *might* be able to consolidate 7/8ths of my debt. Based on your earlier post, DL is the only consolidator still running. How can I get the info on the SM loans I need to find out exactly what DL can handle and what they can't? Also, here is the breakdown of the AES loans: Federal Stafford Loan $4700 Federal Unsub Stafford Loan $6100 Federal Stafford Loan $635 Since those involved the federal gov't in some way, can they also be consolidated? I know AES is private but these loans don't appear to me to be the same thing as a straight-out loan gotten from the local branch of Wachovia. Thanks in advance for your help to us all.
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Feb 25, 2009 23:41
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radtrad posted:Based on what I have read, private loans cannot be consolidated. However, I believe at least some of the SM loans come from before they were privatized in 2004, so it might be that the bulk of that was public money when it was lent to me. Which means I *might* be able to consolidate 7/8ths of my debt. Private loans can still be consolidated through Wells Fargo. They are the only game in town that don't charge origination fees. If you have good credit you be able to get a lower interest rate. https://www.wellsfargo.com/student/repay/private_consolidation/ (Wiggie it would be great to see this added to the OP since it comes up so often)
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Feb 26, 2009 04:44
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RJ, you are so right. I'll get on it. I'm sorry about yet another delay guys, it's been crazy around here. jimslim, there is indeed a timeframe but the FAFSA doesn't update for the new school year for another few months if I'm not mistaken (PLEASE call FAFSA directly and ask, though!!!) The real question is whether the school would certify a loan for you this late in the game. The best answer I can give you is "maybe." Private loans are certainly still certified at this point, so if you qualify for a FAFSA there's a high chance the school would certify that for you as well. We're still getting certifications where I work Yarrbossa, I know pretty much nothing about that program. I will look into it if you don't mind yet more delays radtrad, federal loans most certainly can be consolidated but the only business doing it is Direct. You'll need to call them and ask if your balance is enough, and get an estimate of what your interest rate would look like (I can't imagine the payments would be very high). RJ is correct about private loans. In order to get the information for the SM loans you need to contact Sallie Mae or set up your online account to view your information if you haven't already. The biggest limitation to consolidation is that federal and private loans cannot be consolidated together under any circumstance, so you will have two separate consolidations instead of just one.
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Feb 26, 2009 13:11
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Alright, here is a question and I apologize if this has been discussed before. Tried doing a scan, didn't see it. So here is the run down: I am a lawyer working a low-paying government job. Graduated in 2005, consolidated my federal and private loans in 2005 through Access, except for my Perkins loan. Then the big federal student loan forgiveness act came about a year or so ago and I remember thinking that I was not eligible because I had already consolidated. However, am I correct in reading that as of July 1, 2008 I can reconsolidate with the government and now be eligible for the program that will forgive my outstanding debt after 10 years of public service? Thank you very much.
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Mar 5, 2009 01:01
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Yes, you are correct. The place to call to make sure that your work makes you eligible for the forgiveness program (chances are yes) is Direct. You can transfer your consolidated loans there without an actual reconsolidation (it's a weird process), or you can reconsolidate to include the Perkins loan. They'll discuss your options with you.
Wiggy Marie fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Mar 5, 2009 |
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Mar 5, 2009 01:09
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My mom told me there was this private loan with 1% interest for selected people that I should apply. I'm going to be oweing 200k easily after pharmacy school so umm low interest is nice.
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Mar 8, 2009 20:27
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I'm not familiar with any program offering a 1% interest rate. Does your mom have anything else to contribute, like a name? State the program is in?
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Mar 8, 2009 20:39
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Farcus posted:My mom told me there was this private loan with 1% interest for selected people that I should apply. I'm going to be oweing 200k easily after pharmacy school so umm low interest is nice. Doesn't exist. Why would any company loan you thousands of dollars for 1% (or any rate less than prime) when they could stick it in any bank or CD and make 3%? It's not like a car or some other purchase where more money can be made on the back end. Unless it's some sort of teaser rate (in which case stay away) I don't see such a thing existing - there's no profit to be made for the lender.
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Mar 8, 2009 20:58
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