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MechanicalUnderwear posted:Thanks for the information! Would my husband and I filing our taxes as separate married impact the amount I would pay on IBR? If you file separately, then only your income is taken into account for IBR, so it helps you tremendously! For the sub loan info, you can just google "graduate students losing sub loan" and dozens of articles will come up, such as: http://thepost.ohiou.edu/content/graduate-students-lose-subsidized-loan-program And the guy who runs fastweb.com AND finaid.org published this article: http://www.fastweb.com/financial-aid/articles/3216-congress-raises-debt-ceiling-with-shifts-and-cuts-in-student-aid-funding?print=true Also, for all those who need the info, here is the clarification for the grace period interest: All subsidized loans originated between July 2012 and July 2014 will not have deferred interest during their 6 month grace period.
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Jan 31, 2012 02:19
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Double posting to let this update stand alone. Here is the clarification for the grace period interest: All subsidized loans originated between July 2012 and July 2014 will not have deferred interest during their 6 month grace period.
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Jan 31, 2012 02:20
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So I'm trying to do a Special Consolidation Loan to essentially bring a loan I have that is held by a New Hampshire company to the Dept. of Ed. and wow do they enjoy trying to make this a pain in the rear end for me before they even knew this would exist. Essentially, I have to enter account numbers and payoff amounts for my loans that are held by ACS and Great Lakes, just for kicks I guess. The problem is that it the Dept. of Ed. wants this specific info for each loan, except ACS and Great Lakes consolidate loans into school years, thus instead of 6 loan accounts(2 loans each semester for three years), I only have 3 loan accounts and I can't find the specific info anywhere. Can I just duplicate account #'s and then insert the correct payoff amount of each individual loan(Which Great Lakes does display). Also does it really matter if the "Loan Codes" correspond because I can't find out that info either.
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Feb 4, 2012 17:07
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I am honestly not sure what you can and can't do at the consolidation site, and I would hate to steer you wrong. It would be better for you to call and ask Direct themselves. I hear their customer service is lacking...sorry 
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Feb 6, 2012 00:04
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Does a ding on my credit report affect my eligiability for a loan at all through FAFSA etc.? I was in the hospital 2 years back and didn't get that sorted yet. Also I don't exactly know what school I want to go to yet, so is there a way to specify that in the FAFSA?
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Feb 6, 2012 10:58
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I think I might have asked this before and if I did I apologize, but I have a bunch of different types of federal loans, and each type has multiple individual disbursements. For example (these are not real values or amounts): 10,000 of FFEL at 8.25% 10,000 of Direct GradPLUS at 7.9% 8,000 of Direct GradPLUS at 7.9% 10,000 of Sub Direct at 6.8% 12,000 of Unsub Direct at 6.8% and so on. What I'd like to do is consolidate my loans by interest rate. So, in the above example, I'd like to consolidate the 7.9%s together and the 6.8%s together. I have a few questions based on this: 1.) I want to go on IBR to minimize the amount of money I need to pay each month, and then use money that I may have left over to pay the highest interest rate directly. Will consolidating my loans by interest rate somehow gently caress up IBR repayment? 2.) Will I in fact be able to "direct" extra payments towards the highest interest rate loans? 3.) If I do this, will I receive the .5% interest rate deduction consolidation bonus per consolidation, or will I only get one .5% interest reduction? Thanks dudes.
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Feb 6, 2012 16:54
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I don't have a lot of detail on what I'm asking about, here, because I don't even fully know what exactly I'm looking for. But if somebody could share their experience, it'd be phenomenal. I went to school in 2009 for a semester. My folks told me they did the FAFSA, they didn't, I had to drop out and became immediately in debt to the tune of 13,000 dollars. I've got that down to under 10,000 now. I'm trying to return to school, and I'm certain I have a 2012-2013 FAFSA done now. I can't do much of anything until I pay the previous school, though. I was talking with one of our clients at work today, and the FAFSA came up. When I mentioned my problem to her, she said "Look into that." I asked her what she meant, and she told me that she did the same thing as me, and that she was able to pay the money she owed her previous school through the FAFSA anyways. I asked her if she used her one year's loans to cover the older school, or if she was able to get some kind of retroactive aid, but she didn't really know how to explain and just kept telling me there was "rollover money". Can anyone make sense of this? Is there anything I can do about the aid I missed out on?
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Feb 8, 2012 01:12
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I recently got an email saying I'm eligible for the Special Direct Consolidation Loan. I remember looking into consolidation a few years ago, and because all of my loans are at 6.8%, the interest rate was actually going to be higher than just keeping them separate. I can't seem to find any information on what my actual interest rate will be if I choose to consolidate. Do I really have to sign up for this without knowing the interest rate, or am I missing something? Thanks!
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Feb 8, 2012 04:06
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Shinx, it depends on the nature of the ding. Bankruptcies and defaulted student loans will affect eligibility; otherwise your credit has no bearing on your loans. Feces Starship, I am not familiar enough with IBR to answer that question. That is a much better question for your servicer or Direct. Assuming you can consolidate the different loans separately (used to be able to, not sure if regulations have changed since only Direct does it now) you can pay however much you want to at any time on your different consolidations. The reduction should be per loan, not per account. Anonymous Robot, that is really up to the school and most schools don't do things like that. You can always call them and ask because the worst you can hear is no, but normally if the aid year is already up and you're no longer enrolled they can't retroactively assign aid to use for past amounts - even if the amount is due to the school and not an outside lender. amethystbliss, that program is to help kids with loans in multiple servicers. No one is obligated to use it at all, so you can pretty much ignore it if you're doing fine as-is.
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Feb 12, 2012 03:16
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amethystbliss posted:I recently got an email saying I'm eligible for the Special Direct Consolidation Loan. I remember looking into consolidation a few years ago, and because all of my loans are at 6.8%, the interest rate was actually going to be higher than just keeping them separate. I can't seem to find any information on what my actual interest rate will be if I choose to consolidate. Do I really have to sign up for this without knowing the interest rate, or am I missing something? Thanks! It's a little bit confusing, but any loans that move over to the servicer who is doing your consolidation (which would be whoever is advertising to you about it) would get a .25% interest rate reduction. However, the interest on the loans that are already with that server don't get any interest rate change.
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Feb 12, 2012 03:22
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I currently have no private loans taken out, just the maximum amount of Stafford loans. My tuition & book fees have already been paid in full out of these, but I've been unable to maintain enough work hours to keep paying for my rent/bills. I've noticed most private loans I've looked into are disbursed to the school. Does this mean since everything I owe to the school is already paid I'd get the full amount from the school, or would they just say it isn't necessary and deny the loan or something?
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Feb 17, 2012 21:12
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Schools will generally certify the amount you request, but they do have the option of not doing so if you have no further need. In addition, some schools won't even participate with private loans. You can always try to take one out and hope for the best, or call and check with them if it's even worth it to try.
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Feb 18, 2012 02:04
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Wiggy Marie posted:Schools will generally certify the amount you request, but they do have the option of not doing so if you have no further need. In addition, some schools won't even participate with private loans. You can always try to take one out and hope for the best, or call and check with them if it's even worth it to try. Makes sense. How long do private loans usually take to get a yes/no on the application and then for disbursement to occur?
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Feb 18, 2012 02:12
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Minimum three weeks, on average. There could be some automation that speeds things up, but I would bank on a month and hope to be pleasantly surprised. You may need to nag the college to get it done ASAP.
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Feb 18, 2012 02:16
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So for the past year I have been on the income based repayment plan (poor government lawyer) with a payment amount of 120 bucks or so. My original payment amount was a bit over 500 before getting onto the income based plan. I just noticed this month that they took 651 dollars for repayment. This freaked me out as it leaves me with less than 100 dollars for the rest of the month (including two autodebit bills that come out shortly). I went to the loan servicing site, realized it had changed to a new site, re-registered, and saw I had messages. It would seem that I overlooked the fact that each year I would need to fill out another form and send in tax return info. I thought I just did that if my income changed. Anyway, I hosed up, but now I am truly hosed if they won't refund that last payment when they get my IRS info (and see I am just as bad-off as ever). Do I have any chance of a quick refund (or any refund at all?), or will I be hitting a pay day or title loan place on Monday? The thought of burning over 500 dollars, one sixth of my total monthly income, on this mistake, makes me want to throw-up, cry, and then shoot myself in the loving head. Kinda losing it.
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Feb 18, 2012 22:47
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Does the capitalized interest count towards the aggregate loan limit for undergraduates? Due to coming back for a second Bachelors degree (and next year I start graduate school, "yay"!), my total aggregate loan amount is approaching the undergraduate maximum Stafford amount. I've checked and for the actual amounts I've borrowed it's below, but if you include the interest on the unsubsidized direct loans it's above. I've heard that interest isn't counted towards the limit, but I just wanted to make sure since I submitted my FAFSA for the following year (and put down that I'll be a first-year graduate student), but my processed information that came not long after I submitted my FAFSA said that my school needs to review my Stafford Loan eligibility, so I'm a little worried. Thanks!
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Feb 18, 2012 23:01
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Lucificate posted:So for the past year I have been on the income based repayment plan (poor government lawyer) with a payment amount of 120 bucks or so. My original payment amount was a bit over 500 before getting onto the income based plan. I got a message saying that I needed to send in my tax info for IBR and I did right away (This was on 2/7/12). My payments have always been $115.35 on IBR. I noticed that for my March payment it says I owe over $1,000! Even when I made money and paid the regular amount it was only $525. I emailed them right away today because if they take out $1,000 on 3/7/12 there is no way I can live (poor government social worker)! Maybe they have some type of glitch in their system because there is no possible way I could be paying over $1,000 a month for my student loans. Sounds like we are in the same boat.
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Feb 19, 2012 02:37
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I have a few questions about loan deferment and cancellation for Perkins loans. I teach high school science, and if I've read correctly I'm eligible for both deferment and cancellation on a yearly basis. When should I send in the required form to petition for cancellation for this current school year and deferment for the next school year? Will my deferment continue during the summer? As it is, my Perkins loan is on deferment because I was taking enough education classes to qualify as a part-time student, but this semester I'm only taking a single class (because there's nothing else for me to take) and so I've lost part-time student status. Will I be able to send in a form for teacher deferment in June for the upcoming school year and avoid having to make payments in July and August? Or will I not be able to submit the form until the school year actually begins? On a related note, I have a subsidized Stafford loan (variable rate around 2.3%) that just dropped off of deferred status. Is there any way to lock in the rate on that single loan without affecting my Perkins loan?
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Feb 19, 2012 03:29
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Lucificate, I am honestly not sure if they will refund the payment but you can certainly call, explain the situation and plead your case. I know that my company can refund a payment at the borrower's request but may not do so if that's what was needed to satisfy the payment due. I sure hope they can help you! Also, rather than taking out a title loan, do you have a credit card you can use for living in the meantime? I guarantee that the interest rate/payoff plan, even if you get a cash advance, will be FAR superior to taking out a title loan in any amount of money. If you don't have a credit card, maybe this is the time to try getting approved for one for emergencies only. But be sure to make it emergencies only! SourKraut, no, they only look at the total of the loan borrowed. Interest is not included in those totals. The school does have to manually review your information though, so it can take a bit longer than normal to get your aid processed. Sleipnir, the servicer on your Perkins is most likely ECSI and I would highly recommend directing your questions to them. Perkins are a different animal from Staffords and have their own rules and regs that I am not familiar with, since we're never serviced them. Call the source! As for the sub loan, is that your only Stafford loan? It IS possible to consolidate one loan by itself and exclude your Perkins, but you will need to go through Direct for all consolidation information because no one else can do it anymore. I wish I could be more help to you!
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Feb 20, 2012 01:51
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So I finally made an account on the new myedaccount.com website. What a pain in the rear end this website is. So I want to increase my auto-debit amount, so I fill in the "additional amount" box, fill in the back account information and e-sign it. AND NOTHING HAPPENS, there is no "save" box or "make payment" or anything. And the additional amount I entered disappears. Has anyone figured this out? edit: Do i need to cancel my autodebit and set up a new one? th3t00t fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Feb 20, 2012 |
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Feb 20, 2012 19:14
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Thank you Wiggy Marie! It had me a little worried, but glad to hear that interest isn't included.
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Feb 20, 2012 20:37
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Wiggy Marie posted:
So after talking to ECSI, I apparently just need to send in one form for cancellation/deferment per year and that covers me from, say, August to August.
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Feb 20, 2012 21:26
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th3t00t posted:So I finally made an account on the new myedaccount.com website. What a pain in the rear end this website is. I have heard that the new site is ridiculously glitchy, so you might just want to call and talk to someone over the phone.
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Feb 21, 2012 02:59
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Sorry if this has been asked/answered before, but I didn't see anything similar on the first few or last pages. I'm 21, and my parents moved out of state last August, so now I'm living on my own. I'm planning to transfer to a state college this coming Fall, and I will need to live on loans. The problem is, I will need a minimum of $14,000 to cover tuition and housing for the year, and the maximum for a third year student is $1500 short of that. My parents made over $100,000 in 2011, so I assume I won't get very much, if any, in the way of grants, and they are not going to be helping me pay for college at all, and refuse to cosign on a private loan for me. I have pretty much no credit history (as in I got my first $500 limit credit card 3 months ago), so do I have any chance of qualifying for a private loan by myself? And even if I did, would it totally screw me later on with the interest rates I'd get? Or is there anything else I can do if I don't get awarded enough?
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Feb 21, 2012 08:11
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One of my friends is trying to apply for student loans, but her completion rate is <67%, and she said that FASFA requires it to be that high. It sounded like she can't submit the FASFA form because of that. Is her only route private loans then? Her completion rate is so low because of a medical emergency, and she is working on trying to get some classes taken off her record from it, but her school sucks at getting anything done. She's 24, and her parents don't help at all.
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Feb 21, 2012 23:39
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I graduate in May with my PharmD. I'm a full time student with no income over the past year. I'm hoping to start a one year residency in July that will pay $41,600 July 2012 -> July 2013. Then, hopefully, I'll have a hospital job that pays ~$100,000. I have $93,419 in federal loans. I've been reading up on IBR today. Am I interpreting things correctly? I graduate in May and then have a 6 month grace period.. so I start paying in November. But because IBR is based off of the previous year's tax return (?) my income would be $0 and so my payments would be $0. On my next tax return, I will have made $20,000 over six months of working, giving me a monthly payment of ~$40. The next year, I will have worked 6 months as a resident and 6 months as a pharmacist, giving me an overall income of around $60k and monthly payments of ~$550. The next year, I'll be a full pharmacist and make $100k and have payments of ~$1025. Then, because I'm working in a non-profit hospital, my loans are forgiven after 10 years. So, in essence: $0, then $40, then $550, then $1025 for seven years, then forgiven? That's a lot better than the $1075/mo for a standard repayment. Too bad about all those Sallie Mae loans I have..
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Feb 23, 2012 01:44
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I know I've asked this about private schools, but regarding the 10 year public services forgiveness program, if I work for a for profit institution (something like ITT Tech) working as a librarian, would that disqualify me from the program? Or what if I worked for a private contractor that manages public schools and libraries. Would that also be a disqualification from that program?
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Feb 23, 2012 21:08
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Wiggy Marie posted:Shinx, it depends on the nature of the ding. Bankruptcies and defaulted student loans will affect eligibility; otherwise your credit has no bearing on your loans.
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Feb 25, 2012 14:18
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I just logged into my myedaccount website to see what date my loans were due (I'm on autodraft, just wanted to make sure there was money in the right account). It says my loans were transferred on 2/9. Doesn't say where or mention why the hell they were transferred, I certainly didn't consent to anything. I also pay PLUS loans that my dad took out for me when I was in school, those were transferred as well, same lack of information. Anyone know what the hell happened? I'd like to know how they were transferred without my consent, why they didn't bother to mention anything about it and of course where I should pay the loans at now...I'm assuming I'm going to need to call these fuckers up If it makes a difference they were Consolidated Direct Loans ntd fucked around with this message at 14:00 on Feb 26, 2012 |
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Feb 26, 2012 13:43
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You should be able to go here: http://www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/ It will tell you about all of your student loans, including who the servicer is.
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Feb 26, 2012 15:13
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Guy Axlerod posted:You should be able to go here: http://www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/ Thanks...apparently Cornerstone. Why the hell do they do this without informing people BEFORE? I'm assuming this outsourcing is just a handout to please senators and get their state some jobs? Edit: Found Cornerstone via Google, my EDA is still setup so I'm cool. Seems like missing a payment due to this if I didn't use EDA would have been some pretty ridiculous bullshit ntd fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Feb 26, 2012 |
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Feb 26, 2012 15:54
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ntd posted:Thanks...apparently Cornerstone. Why the hell do they do this without informing people BEFORE? I'm assuming this outsourcing is just a handout to please senators and get their state some jobs? When loans are transferred between servicers a forbearance is usually applied so that they don't go past due. The Department of Education is trying to have people have the same servicer- that's why the loans get transferred around. Also, there are rumors that ACS is just plain going out of business and they are losing all of their loans. No one seems to know, though.
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Feb 26, 2012 16:58
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Namirsolo posted:When loans are transferred between servicers a forbearance is usually applied so that they don't go past due. Yeah, it looks like my loan was ACS, never realized it because I've always used dl.ed.gov or myedaccount to pay it. My debit is still scheduled, which I'd prefer over a forbearance
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Feb 26, 2012 20:00
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Cosmopolitan. not unless you had enough credit, which unfortunately it sounds like you don't. You're going to need to sweet-talk your parents into getting either a PLUS loan (so much better than a private) or cosigning on a private loan. As for the interest rate, I always compare taking out a private loan to taking out a credit card, if that gives you an idea of how the interest rate will work/fluctuate. ZarathustraFollower, she can go ahead and submit her FAFSA and file an SAP appeal at the school due to medical issues. SAP is where that 67% completion rate comes from, not the FAFSA - although if one fails SAP it can revoke your eligibility for federal aid. SAP - satisfactory academic progress, by the way. Flillia, congratulations on your upcoming graduation! As far as I'm aware you can only use IBR if you actually filed taxes because they need a tax return to calculate your payment. Did you file taxes with your 0 income last year? Lee Harvey Oswald, I am honestly not sure. That would be a better question for a servicer. I am sadly not super familiar with the public forgiveness program's stipulations since I don't work in the servicing end anymore. Sorry Shipon, it actually can affect eligibility because if the servicers report to the NSLDS with a bankruptcyy notification, something called a "C code" will come in on the person's FAFSA. There's a specific field in every school's system to indicate bankruptcy. Normally the person needs to send information on whether the bankruptcy has been discharged in order to continue receiving loans. Exceptions can certainly be made, but the point is this does affect eligibility. Just not the same way as a credit check with a bankruptcy would.
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Feb 26, 2012 21:10
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:I know I've asked this about private schools, but regarding the 10 year public services forgiveness program, if I work for a for profit institution (something like ITT Tech) working as a librarian, would that disqualify me from the program? Or what if I worked for a private contractor that manages public schools and libraries. Would that also be a disqualification from that program? I know that whichever company you work for has to have a federally assigned Employee ID Number and that is only given to non-profit agencies, so I'm guess that neither of these situations would work for PSLF.
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Feb 26, 2012 22:31
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I'm sure you've answered this plenty of times, but I cannot find it in the thread. About IBR, PSLF, and Direct Consolidation. I have $245,000 in student loans (medical school) made up mostly of Stafford loans with $15,000 in Perkins, $8,000 GradPLUS from medical school and $20,000 in a consolidated loan from undergrad. Overall interest rate is about 6.3%. I currently make the 25 year monthly payment of ~$1,700 but it's not particularly fun devoting 35% of net income to student loans. My 10 year repayment would be $2,900 per month, which is way higher than 15% of my net. I currently am a resident at a non-profit hospital. If I were to consolidate under Direct, and made IBR payments ($820) towards PSLF, would the interest I don't cover monthly be subsidized or be added to my principal? Finaid.org says it will be subsidized, but other sources say no.
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Feb 27, 2012 05:06
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Wiggy Marie posted:Cosmopolitan. not unless you had enough credit, which unfortunately it sounds like you don't. You're going to need to sweet-talk your parents into getting either a PLUS loan (so much better than a private) or cosigning on a private loan. As for the interest rate, I always compare taking out a private loan to taking out a credit card, if that gives you an idea of how the interest rate will work/fluctuate. The problem with the PLUS loan is that it's solely in their name, which I think they'd be even more reluctant about. And if the PLUS loan is a loan that they take out themselves, I don't even know if I could promise to make the payments once I graduated. We would each have our own payments to make, which would effectively double my monthly payments, wouldn't it? Could I consolidate the loans once I graduate to avoid that situation? But in any case, if they don't agree to take a PLUS loan or cosign on a private loan, am I just hosed?
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Feb 27, 2012 07:47
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I am about to apply for a school. I have been trying to find their FASFA code but nobody seems to know what it is or they give me a code for a school that is a few miles away. Do I need that code right now or does it not matter? In California the deadline is March 3 for the CalGrant and I want to complete it in a few days.
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Feb 29, 2012 08:06
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For everyone asking about Public Service Loan Forgiveness, I found the following link that seems to be pretty comprehensive about information: http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/PSF.jsp#Q1 That is the Dept of Ed's site, so it's legit. The definition of public service is very broad and does not seem limited to non-profit or not-for-profit businesses. Utzie, here's what that site has to say for your situation: Under the IBR and ICR plans, your monthly payment amount will likely be lower than under any of the other PSLF-qualifying repayment plans and your repayment period will likely be longer. Because of the longer repayment period, additional interest that will accrue on your loan, and the smaller monthly payment amount, you will be left with a higher loan balance that could be forgiven. However, if you ultimately do not meet the eligibility requirements for PSLF, you will be responsible for repaying the entire balance of your loan, including all accrued interest. Cosmopolitan, that is the exact reason a lot of parents don't take out a PLUS loan. It's unfortunate but true that this one feature is the one that prevents parents from using them. It sucks, I know. In terms of aid, if they won't take out a PLUS and you can't find a cosigner for a loan, there's not really another option out there b0nes, I hope all goes well for you! If you file your FAFSA online you can search for schools by state, so you should be able to get the code that way.
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Mar 5, 2012 01:58
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| # ? May 15, 2024 23:02 |
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Along Utzie's question: I understand that under IBR, the interest on Sub-Stafford loans is subsidized for three years. Does the the subsidized part survive if I consolidate my loan?
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Mar 7, 2012 01:54
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