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Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Sorry about the wait! Thank you for your patience. Ashcans, it does not. Current loans only affect availability of older loans if she's actually reached her aggregate limit for total loans she can take out as a student. Consolidation just combines the loans she already has into two easy to handle ones which are treated as one (one is subsidized, the other unsubsidized, but by law they have to be treated as one loan). Consolidating now would not hurt your ability to apply for IBR, however it would not hurt to call Direct and ask them if you can revise the IBR terms if your financial situation changes after it has been applied the first time. I would think you could but I don't want to say for sure!

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cheese eats mouse
Jul 6, 2007

A real Portlander now
I'm guessing there is no possibility to borrow internationally if you want to go to school overseas? The dollar to pounds conversion rate is horrendous right now and with the Fed printing more money I don't see it getting better.

I am applying for international scholarships though, but those are few and far between it seems.

cheese eats mouse fucked around with this message at 05:22 on Nov 10, 2010

RICKON WALNUTSBANE
Jun 13, 2001


I'm in medical school and at least online there seems to be a mood that IBR won't actually last long enough for any of us to pay off our loans. What's your opinion?

Ashcans
Jan 2, 2006

Let's do the space-time warp again!

Thank you, Wiggy, I appreciate the help! She hasn't hit the limit (thankfully) at this point, we just want to make sure we aren't closing any doors without knowing it. She's going to call Direct and talk to them about how often we can revise the IBR payments, and under what conditions. I'll let you know if there is anything surprising in what they say.

I would also like to know about the above, seeing as I expect we'll be repaying under IBR for a long time to come :( Is anyone even talking about repealing it?

Yarris
Apr 2, 2010

by Y Kant Ozma Post
Not sure if anyone has an answer for this question, but here's hoping.

I need to get a forbearance on my student loans (federal and private) while I'm looking for work. My six month grace period is ending soon (in little over a month).

However, I've never been employed previously, so I don't know what qualifies as proof of unemployment in my case! (And had to move back in with my parents, oy vey).

The forms I've looked at for requesting a forbearance ask for documentation on unemployment benefits (which I don't get, never having had a job) OR proof of "conscientiously searching for full-time employment."

I've searched, but can't find any information on what documentation that requires. Any ideas of what to do in this situation?

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
cheese eats mouse, if you go to a school that is internationally accredited by the Department of Education, you can actually take out the exact same federal loans that you would within the States. You would need to contact the school to ask if they participate in the Direct loan program through the US Dept. of Ed. Here's another good place to start: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/international/edlite-index.html

If not, you'll need to contact their financial aid office and ask about private loans/scholarships they might have information on for you.

Foaming Chicken, I'm not sure what you mean. The IBR program is a permanently available program. However, it is based on your income, and that needs to be renewed annually using your tax return. If you start making a lot of money (as a medical student might, for instance), then the IBR program may no longer apply to you. IBR is really for people making lower salaries. But it would still be around!

Ashcans, does that help?

As always, for IBR questions PLEASE call Direct or your servicer on your loans and ask them your questions directly. IBR is a beast and very hard to figure out on your own.

Yarris, the first time you use the unemployment deferment you don't actually need to provide proof of unemployment. If the servicer gets persnickety about it though, ask about the economic hardship forbearance, and the temporary hardship forbearance. Use the EHF first if possible, because the THF is essentially free time.

Anyway, for the unemployment deferment, you need to enter the "date you became unemployed" (in your case, just use your graduation date) and the date that you want the deferment to start (first due date). Check box A, sign and date the form and fax it in. Ask your servicer before doing that so that you don't waste any time submitting a form that they'll reject, but our company would take it so hopefully your servicer will too.

You will need to ask your private loan servicing agency if they have anything available. Don't get your hopes up, private loans can be much more strict about their forbearances.

RICKON WALNUTSBANE
Jun 13, 2001


Wiggy Marie posted:

Foaming Chicken, I'm not sure what you mean. The IBR program is a permanently available program. However, it is based on your income, and that needs to be renewed annually using your tax return. If you start making a lot of money (as a medical student might, for instance), then the IBR program may no longer apply to you. IBR is really for people making lower salaries. But it would still be around!

Residents make little money when considering debt to income ratio. Most hospitals are non-profits, I think a lot of people are hoping to hideout in long residencies and fellowships trying to run out the 10 year clock. To a lot of people this seems too good to be true and assume the government will replace or modify IBR as a result.

GFBeach
Jul 6, 2005

Surrounded by wierdos
Do consolidation interest rates change, or is it strictly based on the interest rates of the loans you're consolidating? I have about $30k in Stafford loans fixed at 6.8% and then another $20k in GradPLUS loans fixed at 7.9%. Using the calculators from https://loanconsolidation.ed.gov it looks like consolidating now would lower my monthly payments by about $50 a month (with consolidated interest rate of 7.25%), but I'm wondering if I ought to tough out the higher payments for a while to see if interest rates improve.

Also, the DLSS website advertises that if you move your account correspondence online with automatic billing it'd lower your interest rate by 0.25%. Would enrolling in this then later consolidating mess that up?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the above figures are based on a 25-year repayment plan, though I'm planning to put in more than the minimum payments each month once my finances are more stable.

GFBeach fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Nov 12, 2010

Crackpipe
Jul 9, 2001

Sallie Mae really is the worst.

I pay online before the due date, and I get calls, emails and letters saying I'm delinquent. My co-signer gets calls, emails and letters saying I'm delinquent. Every month. She freaks out, I get annoyed.

Sallie Mae Rep: "You are heading towards default and it is your responsibility to pay on time... blah blah blah..."
Me: "Sallie Mae withdrew that amount from my checking account on the due date. So I don't understand why..."
*keystrokes on their end*
Sallie Mae Rep: "I'm truly sorry sir." *CLICK*

EVERY MONTH

I paid $100 to put my Tuition Answer loans into deferment for three months (what a bargain!) and two weeks later Sallie Mae still says I owe them $522. (This includes the piece of poo poo Smart Option loan they refuse to give any deferments, extended / interest-only payment plans)

melaneyelia
Apr 4, 2006

put on your adventure helmet, it's time for an adventure!
Everything was fine. I came out of two year deferments with both companies that have my Stafford Subsidized, and paid one of them.

Then I noticed a late fee on the other. I went into deferment before my grace period ended out of college, and have been in deferment until last month (Peace Corps service, so it's not like I was just broke).

I should not have a late fee on something that I didn't have to pay. I called last week Monday when I received my bill; the customer service rep said it didn't make sense and she'd put in a request to waive it.

I went to pay it online this past Monday and the fee was still there. So I emailed them, and today I received word that

quote:

Your loans were transferred to Edfinancial Services on 1-8-2010 and the
late fees were on your loans prior to converting to Edfinancial Services.
Unfortunately, the late fees are not able to be waived.

My payment, of course, is due Monday.

Is there anything I can do?

Dick Smegma
Oct 12, 2010

by T. Couchfucker
I have a question. I go to a local CC and I get Financial aid. I have always got Federal Pell Grants and they have paid for my school+books and a little more. But I need more money. The FA office gave me a paper that is something about a direct loan program? I had to get online and fill out a mastery promise note. Anyways, I guess were talking about Stafford loans right? I have lovely credit, but I know the Stafford our not based on credit. Will the money I get from uncle sam from this "direct loan program" be enough to pay for school and live on?

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Foaming Chicken, the only constant is change so there's no guaranteeing that Congress won't someday enact a bill that removes IBR. But it's never been proposed so far. Of course, if cuts start being made, education-related stuff is generally one of the first to go. Still, the most recent bill actually extended IBR to *all* federal loans, and now all federal loans are through Direct - so I'm doubtful it will ever go away.

GFBeach, when you consolidate you fix your interest rate using a weighted average of the rates you already have plus an eight of a percent, so once you've consolidated the rate would never change again (unless you 1. reconsolidated another loan with a different interest rate or 2. had a benefit which will lower the rate a little more). The federal rates you quoted are actually fixed, so you might as well consolidate now because those aren't going to change. The benefit they're mentioning sounds like that's a generic benefit for the company, but it NEVER hurts to call and be sure.

Crackpipe, that Smart Option loan is one of their private loan products, and I have only ever heard horror stories about it. If that conversation happens every month, have you asked for a supervisor in the call center to discuss the continuing situation? Are you set up on automatic debit with Sallie Mae or do you pay through your bank? Anyway, yeah, Sallie Mae? Pretty much the devil. I have yet to hear of a student having a good experience with them. Their employees are super sweet to US, though. I kind of miss them!

Dick Smegma, that is indeed a Stafford loan and is in no way based on credit but rather need. Did the paper the financial aid office give you have totals for sub/unsub loans on it? If not, contact them and ask exactly how much they're offering you. Chances are it's above what you need, since a portion of loans is sent to the student to help with personal expenses.

Epic Doctor Fetus
Jul 23, 2003

Is there an income limit to getting offered subsidized loans? I'm going back to school and my last year's tax return filed jointly with my wife is in the very low 6 figures range. I'll be quitting my job to return to school and will file a loss of income form to go along with my FAFSA, but my wife still makes a decent amount of money, so there is no way I'm getting any need-based financial aid. I'm not really looking for scholarships or grants anyways, since I'd feel like a douche for taking money that could potentially go to someone who wouldn't be able to attend school without it, but getting a loan I don't have to pay off until I graduate would help alleviate any financial stress.

I'm going to arrange a meeting with a financial aid advisor once my FAFSA application makes its way through the system, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask here in the meantime.

GFBeach
Jul 6, 2005

Surrounded by wierdos
Thanks for your advice, Wiggy!

I think I ran the math wrong earlier; I re-checked everything and it looks like consolidating might actually cost me more in the long run as it wouldn't lower my monthly payments by any significant amount and I'd end up paying more in interest by the time everything's said and done. Whoops. :suicide: Guess I'll stick with separate loans.

seacat
Dec 9, 2006
Quick question: What do people mean when they say private student loans are structured like a credit card and not like a mortgage? Ive heard some law school grads pointing this out. The most I can come up with my google-fu is that it means interest accrues daily... how does this compare to a mortgage and how is it screwing student loan borrowers more than mortgage borrowers? (I know nothing of mortgages and indeed, shamefully little about debt structuring)

Horky
Oct 27, 2004

Through a series of mishaps and Sallie Mae not having my correct address, I've just discovered that my two private loans of approximately $3000 each became defaulted on September 5th. I tried repeatedly to contact Sallie Mae to try to arrange something but they are having my phone number automatically forwarded to National Enterprise Systems, a collection agency. NES informed me that my only options were to pay about $5800 on the now $10190 total, or start payments of $400 a month and no less. Absolutely no less. I offered to start with a $30 payment starting next month and was told that I might as well flush it down the toilet. They've also informed me that legal action has not taken place on my account but that it could happen any day now.

My grandmother cosigned for the loans in 2002. She had no issue with helping as she said, 'I'm old! They can't take money from me if I'm dead.' She has since come down with Alzheimer's and I can't even speak with that side of the family because they are so angry about Sallie Mae calling them constantly and because they bullied her into paying $30 on the loans. In fact, I applied for a deferment at some point and it apparently didn't go through because she would have needed to sign for it as well.

The Department of Education also seized my last tax refund, though it's not listed anywhere as any sort of payment. Edit: Apparently this was done for a hidden Federal student loan.

I'm currently trying to get things back together and even planning on going back to school in January. What can I possibly do? I did try to apply for a consolidation from Wells Fargo but they declined. I can only imagine it's because my credit report now looks like Swiss cheese, with no less than 6 entries for Sallie Mae on it. The worst part of that is, this is my only real debt aside from a missed $100 emergency room bill. I don't even have a credit card, let alone multiple maxed cards.

At this point is the only option to bend over and wait for legal action?

Horky fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Nov 18, 2010

Handsome Ralph
Sep 3, 2004

Oh boy, posting!
That's where I'm a Viking!


I've got a pretty easy question, how long does it take for a loan consolidation application to get processed if I went with the Dept. of Ed?

I applied at the beginning of the month, and my deferment status is up at the end of the month. I'm starting to get worried since it's been in verification status since the sixth and because while my loans aren't that much, they are split between six different payments and I'd much rather make one 200 dollar payment a month than six of them and if this thing doesn't go through on time I'm afraid my lenders aren't going to give a poo poo and tell me to pay regardless.

Please tell me if I call them Monday morning and explain, they will defer payments for another month to let poo poo get squared away.

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
mboger, there's an income limit in the sense that the larger income you have, the higher EFC you'll be calculated for. A higher EFC means less need-based aid, including Stafford loans. This is why kids with parents who make lots of money will be offered basically nothing, even if the kid is paying for their own education.

Don't feel any shame for taking out loans; loans are not based on availability and they also don't have a limit. They're offered to anyone who is eligible for Stafford loans. Pell grants are the aid that runs out, and frankly anyone who's eligible for one of those deserves it as much as the next person.

GFBeach, you can always pay off a consolidated account as quickly as you like. If you ever need to look into consolidation for yourself, I wouldn't worry too much about the cost since you can still pay however much you want and pay it off in as few years as possible :) Do whatever works for you!

Horky, auuuugh! Auuuuuugh! Oh god, Sallie Mae...and NES. I've heard the tales of NES. You have my sympathies :(

Although I do question them calling anyone other than you or your grandmother if they have valid contact info. That, to me, sounds like harassment. There's a thread in this forum with some great advice for dealing with harassing collectors. I won't say that it will get you out of the debt itself, but they should NOT be calling other family members except for reference purposes.

The Department of Ed can indeed garnish wages through a guarantor for a defaulted loan. It sounds like all of your loans are in default at this point :( I'm sorry man. Unfortunately, private loans consolidations are based on credit, so if your credit isn't pretty they won't process a consolidation for you. The only thing you can do at this point is try to pay what you can. Call NES (I know they're evil, I'm sorry) and tell them you'll be back in school soon and ask if this will make any difference to what you can contribute, or maybe put the account into deferment status. I can't say they will for sure but it can't hurt to ask. And if they get snotty, just hang up and call to speak with someone else. You don't have to put up with harassment, even if you're legitimately needing to make payments.

Boondock Saint, the timing depends heavily on their processing time as well as the response time of the company they have to contact for the information (if any). We would generally estimate 4-6 weeks for a consolidation if everything went smoothly. Sadly, Direct was never known for its smooth processing times. If you call Monday and ask for another few months, you should be fine. At the very least they should have temporary hardship forbearance time to slap on there, if you haven't used it all up before.

Sundae
Dec 1, 2005
Okay - student loan question.

My girlfriend has two loans, and I have one set of loans as well. Mine total $34,000, and they'll be easily paid off.

Her loans are $14,000 and $85,000. The $85,000 is a parent PLUS loan.

We're getting married sometime in the next year or two, depending on how my employment status is looking at the end of this year. Her parents have given me the OK, with the caveat that we'll need to take on the $85K loan for ourselves. (They were going to toss it off to her regardless of whether I marry her or not - it wasn't a secret 'no'.)

The problem: They've consolidated it with the loans for their other four children at 8.5%. I can't "take" the loan from them in the first place. I can't consolidate it into anything else, as far as I can tell.

He wants me to take out another loan and use it to pay off the $85K, then pay back my own loan. My view is that this is impossible, because nobody's going to throw me an unsecured $85K loan, and I have no collateral to use. On top of that, I don't expect her to ever earn enough to pay it off since she's an illustrator. It's basically going to be my salary to deal with $133K in loans.

Are there any educational options available to me by which I could take on her loan? I don't think there are, but perhaps I missed something. 8.5% interest will tear me a new one, especially while I'm paying off $34K at 5.5% already.

Sundae fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Nov 22, 2010

seacat
Dec 9, 2006

Sundae posted:

He wants me to take out another loan and use it to pay off the $85K, then pay back my own loan. My view is that this is impossible, because nobody's going to throw me an unsecured $85K loan, and I have no collateral to use.
You pretty much answered your own question. There's no way to do "transfer" an educational loan that big from person to person, short of resorting to some sort of financial fraud. I investigated this with the PLUS loan my mom borrowed for me a couple of years ago. Theoretically, if you have somewhere to borrow the money, this is feasible. Realistically, there's nobody that would approve a loan that big unless you have an absolutely ridiculous salary. They're stuck with it until they pay it off.

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
antwizzle is right. There's absolutely no way for you to take on that much, especially since they've consolidated it into other loans. Technically the 85 grand loan doesn't even exist anymore. And even if it did, there's no way to transfer a PLUS to a student's name instead. The major drawback of PLUS loans, but that's how it is.

The best you all can do is calculate how much of their total monthly payment you and your wife should pay, and pay it. Or if they're really insistent, take out what you can in a personal loan, pay off what you can, pay that down, then rinse and repeat until the 85 grand is satisfied. I doubt this is a feasible or realistic option though.

Affi
Dec 18, 2005

Break bread wit the enemy

X GON GIVE IT TO YA
Swedish goon reading this thread being all :smug: You should all move here and study instead!

RICKON WALNUTSBANE
Jun 13, 2001


Affi posted:

Swedish goon reading this thread being all :smug: You should all move here and study instead!

I'd be all over that if your godless socialist paradise didn't speak a crazy moon language

hitension
Feb 14, 2005


Hey guys, I learned Chinese so that I can write shame in another language
You guys expect us to have $12k in the bank for every year we study there.
I know because I already researched that option :sigh:

Groda
Mar 17, 2005

Hair Elf

Foaming Chicken posted:

I'd be all over that if your godless socialist paradise didn't speak a crazy moon language
Actually, I did move over there and learn the moon language to study for free, and Wiggy Marie helped me get a loan for it!

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Not without stress! I'm so glad everything worked out for you, Groda.

LuckyDaemon
Jan 14, 2006

Lower your standards.
This means dating fat girls because you can't do better.
I plan on becoming an expat for a little while after I graduate. I have about $40,000 in loans back from my useless undergraduate Philosophy degree.

I know that the worst thing ever would be to let these loans go into default because in my field it's likely that I can take the NGO for 10 years route to have them forgiven, but I'm not sure how to deal with the 2 planned years of living on a remote rock in the middle of the ocean with husband and baby. It's unlikely that we'll be making that much money, but we do have savings built up. I really don't want to burn through it just on student loan payments if at all possible, though!

Would we be able to do IBR when they stop letting me do deferments/forbearances? If so, are there difficulties in showing proof of income abroad? Does this happen a lot?

In your opinion, what would be the best way to stay in good standing but pay as little as possible for a couple of years? :shobon:

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Assuming your loans are federal, if you work full time with low income you can use the economic hardship deferment. If you work part-time with little income or have no income, you can use the economic hardship forbearance. If you don't qualify for either of those, you can use the temporary hardship forbearance. All three of these options have 3 years total available, so if you're overseas for 2 years you should be fine. You will need to be able to communicate with your servicer via email/faxing though, for when you need to renew the forbearance/deferment.

If you want to try continuing to pay you can always sign up for IBR now and keep that running, but if you use a def/forb you can still pay anyway.

LuckyDaemon
Jan 14, 2006

Lower your standards.
This means dating fat girls because you can't do better.
Wow, thanks for your speedy reply!

I have already taken a deferment/forbearance before, for about 6 months. I think I would prefer to start IBR as soon as possible. But from my reading, they use your US federal tax returns. Foreign countries don't have W2s, so the tax form is sent in without proof of income.

Do you anticipate this being a problem in qualifying for a low (or $0) payment under IBR?

Groda
Mar 17, 2005

Hair Elf
As an American citizen, you are required to declare all foreign earned income (either I.R.S. form 2555 [EZ] or 1116), so you will have a tax return (no 1040EZ with foreign income, though), but you will be deducting or crediting away 100% of your income up to $91k of earned income.

Dividends, interest, and rent payments (as in you renting to someone else) from abroad are another story--there are tons of good expat forums to ask about these things.

meatpath
Feb 13, 2003

I took out Stafford loans for two years of grad school, as well as Grad Plus loans for each year. When it breaks down, there's something like 6-8 individual loans on paper, all through Sallie Mae. I graduated in May 2010.

On Sallie Mae's website, it tells me that they are not offering consolidation services anymore/at this time "because of the economy." Additionally, while I have a job in my field, the pay is currently entry level because I am waiting on my state license to be approved before I can practice. Realistically, my salary may be doubling within the month, but it may also not occur for another two months.

My questions:

1) Is there no consolidation option for me if Sallie Mae is just "not offering it at this time"?

2) These bills come crashing down upon me this upcoming January. SM's website tells me I do not qualify for any kind of additional deferment. What's the likelihood of getting them to let me defer these loans for 3-6 months further? Or should I just plan on turning each 6-8 month loan into 30 year loans individually? If my license goes through and I get the job bump, none of this will be an issue. If that doesn't happen until Feb or March, then there is no way I can pay those bills, not even a remote possibility.

Thanks! Oh, BTW, my total loan amount combined is just shy of 50k, for reference.

meatpath fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Nov 28, 2010

thebehaviorist
Jan 11, 2009

68k posted:

I took out Stafford loans for two years of grad school, as well as Grad Plus loans for each year. When it breaks down, there's something like 6-8 individual loans on paper, all through Sallie Mae. I graduated in May 2010.

On Sallie Mae's website, it tells me that they are not offering consolidation services anymore/at this time "because of the economy." Additionally, while I have a job in my field, the pay is currently entry level because I am waiting on my state license to be approved before I can practice. Realistically, my salary may be doubling within the month, but it may also not occur for another two months.

My questions:

1) Is there no consolidation option for me if Sallie Mae is just "not offering it at this time"?

2) These bills come crashing down upon me this upcoming January. SM's website tells me I do not qualify for any kind of additional deferment. What's the likelihood of getting them to let me defer these loans for 3-6 months further? Or should I just plan on turning each 6-8 month loan into 30 year loans individually? If my license goes through and I get the job bump, none of this will be an issue. If that doesn't happen until Feb or March, then there is no way I can pay those bills, not even a remote possibility.

Thanks! Oh, BTW, my total loan amount combined is just shy of 50k, for reference.

You sound like me. I have about 7 different loans through Sallie Mae. I thought I was going to have to pay each one separately since they don't consolidate anymore. However, after calling them I realized that I actually only have to pay them one payment per month for all my loans, which is nice. They aren't consolidated into one loan, but at least I only have one payment. I don't really understand it. Anyway, there's no way I could pay my minimum payment and I didn't qualify for deferment so when I called they told me they could lower my payment to an interest only payment, but that was still too much for me. They absolutely will not defer if you are not in school. The only thing they offered me was a 3 month forbearance and it costs 50 bucks per loan or a cap of 150 if you have more than 3 loans. You have to pay the fee up front on the phone before anything else. In 3 months you can pay more $$$ to get the forbearance extended for an addition 3 months.

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
LuckyDaemon, what Groda said. You should also contact your servicer for more details on the IBR payment option. I've never dealt with it directly so I don't want to steer you wrong!

Groda, thank you so much! Your advice could probably help a few students studying or trying to study abroad also. VERY appreciated input!

68k, Sallie Mae is the devil. Don't listen to them. You can still consolidate your loans, but you have to consolidate with Direct Loans - that's the government's program. So you still have that option available. That is specific to federal loans, which it sounds like you have.

I would suggest you contact Direct for a consolidation walk through before looking at any other options, especially with a high overall balance. Go here: http://www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov/ There's a calculator for you to play with numbers.

lunarian, it sounds like you have private loans. If you do have any federal loans, I suggest you look into consolidation with Direct also. For those private loans, have you looked into consolidation with Wells Fargo? They've come recommended by people in this thread. I apologize if you've popped in before and talked about this already, my memory is terrible when it comes to this thread!

thebehaviorist
Jan 11, 2009

Yeah, I applied for loan consolidation with wells fargo, but they denied my application without a cosigner. I really don't have any other options now. I do have federal loans, which I consolidated with Direct so these private loans are the biggest pain right now, but I think I'm pretty much screwed since I don't have a cosigner. Thank you for advice, though. I'm glad to know that I at least tried to do the best thing.

The Rising Suun
May 10, 2006

watch out I'm ornery

Wiggy Marie posted:

Foaming Chicken, the only constant is change so there's no guaranteeing that Congress won't someday enact a bill that removes IBR. But it's never been proposed so far. Of course, if cuts start being made, education-related stuff is generally one of the first to go. Still, the most recent bill actually extended IBR to *all* federal loans, and now all federal loans are through Direct - so I'm doubtful it will ever go away.

As someone getting a degree in a field that pays very little, and having prior experience being paid very little in that field, this makes me feel a little better.

I took out loans when I have more than enough savings to pay for my masters. Am I crazy? I did get a few thousand in grants, but total for two years is gonna be like 32k, barring an increase in aid next year.

samizdat
Dec 3, 2008
Wiggy Marie, I have a bit of a weird question. What happens to your PLUS/Grad PLUS if your (co-)signer dies? Does it become an estate issue at all? Will you need to find a new person to sign if it's before you've finished your schooling?

My father had great credit until his recent health issues and now he's on the verge of bankruptcy, so I could have to enlist one of my grandparents. They're in relatively good health for being in their 80s but, well, grandparents tend to die. :( I'm wondering if maybe I should avoid this and get a non-elderly relative involved instead.

samizdat fucked around with this message at 09:55 on Nov 29, 2010

MrPT
Jul 25, 2010
Hey, I was wondering if you could help me out. I've been taking out loans for the last 2 semesters for helping with Grad School. I recently received more than I was asking for ( but still within the limit ) for my recent semester in PLUS loans and I received a check for the difference from my school as a refund. I have some high interest credit card debt right now ( 29.99% ) and with the PLUS loans locked at 6.8% I was wondering if I could use the rebate for the loans in excess of my tuition to pay off the card was legally( and if so, is this the smart move it seems to be ). Note that in the past as I couldn't qualify for the student loans at first ( was working and partial payment of the tuition was supposed to come through my job ) so some of the standing debt is due to tuition payments I had during a previous semester. Thanks for any help you can provide.

seacat
Dec 9, 2006

MrPT posted:

Hey, I was wondering if you could help me out. I've been taking out loans for the last 2 semesters for helping with Grad School. I recently received more than I was asking for ( but still within the limit ) for my recent semester in PLUS loans and I received a check for the difference from my school as a refund. I have some high interest credit card debt right now ( 29.99% ) and with the PLUS loans locked at 6.8% I was wondering if I could use the rebate for the loans in excess of my tuition to pay off the card was legally( and if so, is this the smart move it seems to be ). Note that in the past as I couldn't qualify for the student loans at first ( was working and partial payment of the tuition was supposed to come through my job ) so some of the standing debt is due to tuition payments I had during a previous semester. Thanks for any help you can provide.
Hi, I've done this exact thing (used a Stafford loan to pay off a high interest CC that I used to pay tuition for the previous semester). If the amount of credit card debt isn't too high, and you have interest in keeping up your credit score, I would go ahead and do it - 29.99% is highway robbery. Over the repayment of that CC you will save a ton of money paying off at 6.8% rather than 29.99%.

The only hesitation I would have is that you're trading dischargeable debt for a nondischargeable debt, so if the balance on the CC is very high (like 15,000 or more) and you foresee yourself being financially hosed and need to declare bankruptcy in the future, you might not want to do it. However, from the phrasing of your post I doubt you have this case. Besides, it's pretty difficult to get to default stages on federal loans anyway, due to the generous deferments.

As I pointed out earlier ITT you can use your leftover loan money for whatever you want -- as long as you're not funding terrorist organizations in the Middle East absolutely nobody will care. Just make sure you've budgeted everything out for your semester and this is actually "extra money"; otherwise you'll just end up charging that card back up again at the end of the semester, ending up with twice the debt!!

Lee Harvey Oswald
Mar 17, 2007

by exmarx
I have some questions about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. I know that it forgives all loans after 10 years if someone is employed in a public service job, so could a borrower use that program AND the Income Based Repayment plan together? If I don't make much money out of the gate (and I don't expect to as a librarian), I could end up paying significantly less than I owe on the loan?

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nesbit37
Dec 12, 2003
Emperor of Rome
(500 BC - 500 AD)
From my understanding the public loan fogivness and IBR are linked, or at least non-exclusive. I certainly hope I have that right at least since its how I have been treating it.

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