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That stipulation applies to unconsolidated FFELP loans, not consolidated ones. I suggest giving direct consolidation a call and talking to a service rep, they should be able to tell you what kind of repayment plan you would be looking at.
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Apr 9, 2012 02:36
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OK, so I have lowered my 401k contribution and will be using the extra money to pay down these loans. Is there anything else I can do with the loans themselves? edit: Applied for some loan consolidation, dunno if there's anything else I can do other than ask for income-based repayment on my lowest % signalnoise fucked around with this message at 20:19 on Apr 9, 2012 |
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Apr 9, 2012 14:01
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This fall semester, I'm finally going to a University to study Music Education. Of course, as the problem with all students, I can not afford it and I would like to know what ways there are to make it more affordable. I'm paying for college all by myself. My parents will not be able to help me at all as they're trying to retire and have no savings. They're old and have already supported me enough. That being said, I'm largely scared and completely new and alone in the experience. What I would like to know is just information about financial aid and paying for college. How do loans work? My school gave me a scholarship for $11,000 but how do I know if that's including FAFSA (how does FAFSA work), should I ask the counselor? What other things should I talk about with my counselor? I would also like to know where good places are to look for Scholarships, are there alternative ways to find scholarships besides the internet? I feel like that everyone is doing those and I'll never have a chance at them, mainly because my writing is sub-par compared to everyone else. Any additional information you can think of, would be extremely helpful.
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Apr 10, 2012 03:28
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Here is my situation: I get a scholarship from my law school. On my 1098T form, however, Box 5 (where it lists scholarships) contains an amount equal to twice my scholarship. Apparently they counted my scholarships for Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, and Spring 2012 all in 2011. This is really bad for me because it means my listed scholarship amount (Box 5) is now higher than my tuition for the year (Box 2), so I can't get an education tax credit. Anyone have any idea if I can do anything about it?
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Apr 10, 2012 15:17
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Skimmed the last bunch of pages and didn't see anything like this, and i was fortunate enough to make it through undergrad debt-free. So I've been admitted to a grad program and awarded a full tuition waiver (woo!) as well as a small stipend. The stipend will be razors edge for getting by if at all and i dont have money saved to live off of, so can I borrow through erkins I think it was or w/e the normal federal grad loan program is even though I mostly need the money for books and living expenses, not actual tuition? Not sure if the fact that pretty much none of the loan money would be for payment to the university itself would've a difference or make me ineligible or anything.
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Apr 10, 2012 18:31
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I am currently attending a state school in Tennessee, and the majority of my costs are covered by scholarships, but I also take out all of the subsidized/unsubsidized loans I'm eligible for. As usual I am about to run out of money right before the semester ends, which is fine, but this year I got an internship in my field, full time, and won't get my first paycheck until June 21st. There is no way I will be able to afford my first month of rent and moving expenses as it is, and my parents, while making enough to destroy my aid eligibility, can't help at all. What options do I have loan-wise? I know student loans ask for a period of education covered by the loan - am I going to have to apply for a non-student private loan?
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Apr 11, 2012 14:58
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jake1357 posted:Here is my situation: On Turbo Tax, you input the 1098T, and then it asks you how much you actually paid as well. I had a similar situation for my University and the credit seemed to largely rely on how much you paid.
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Apr 11, 2012 16:21
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How does the Alternate Declaration of Income form work? I'm going to be graduating soon and want to consolidate my loans under Special Direct Consolidation. I understand that in order to do IBR, I'll have to fill out a form that shows my income. Since I'll only be working for 6 months out of the year, my income for IBR purposes should be half of my actual pay rate. Do I just attach my offer letter to the ADOI form showing my start date?
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Apr 12, 2012 05:50
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Residency Evil posted:How does the Alternate Declaration of Income form work? I'm going to be graduating soon and want to consolidate my loans under Special Direct Consolidation. I understand that in order to do IBR, I'll have to fill out a form that shows my income. Since I'll only be working for 6 months out of the year, my income for IBR purposes should be half of my actual pay rate. Do I just attach my offer letter to the ADOI form showing my start date? From my own experience, they will look at your documentation of income and base your loan payments on your gross income as if you will be making that full salary for the entire year. So if your full pay rate is $40,000 they most likely won't consider the fact that you will only actually make $20,000 - your payment will be ~$290. Try arguing with them to base your payments on the adjusted gross income listed on your 2011 tax returns.
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Apr 13, 2012 20:25
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blar posted:From my own experience, they will look at your documentation of income and base your loan payments on your gross income as if you will be making that full salary for the entire year. So if your full pay rate is $40,000 they most likely won't consider the fact that you will only actually make $20,000 - your payment will be ~$290. Try arguing with them to base your payments on the adjusted gross income listed on your 2011 tax returns. I have 0 income this year. Should I fill out a 1040EZ showing that for the hell of it? Will that make a difference?
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Apr 14, 2012 16:18
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I'll be graduating from medical school next month with $330k in stafford and gradPLUS loans serviced by myedaccount.com plus a $14k FFEL loan serviced by acs-education.com. I plan on either doing forbearance during the entirety of my six year residency or doing IBR (resident income of $50k, married with two kids.) I just recently heard about the special consolidation loan and it turns out my FFEL loan is eligible. Is there any point in me doing this at all? I submitted an application already and they told me my servicer would be Great Lakes, would they assume servicing of my $330k in stafford/PLUS loans as well? Hard to really tell from the Internet and their call center isn't open until Monday morning. Thanks for any insight!
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Apr 14, 2012 21:23
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Hey, I've got one other question; I haven't been able to find an answer by googling around. I'm about to be finishing grad school in about a month. I've got about $13,000 in federal undergraduate loans that are on deferment through ACS Education. I've got another $13,000 in Stafford graduate subsidized loans that are held by Great Lakes. I want to consolidate everything, and I'm currently eligible for a Special Direct Consolidation loan if I do it by the end of June. Studentloans.gov says my undergrad loans are eligible, but not my graduate loans. 1) Are my graduate loans currently ineligible because I haven't exited yet? 2) If I consolidate now, will I lose my current in-school deferment and be required to start paying immediately? Thanks!
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Apr 15, 2012 17:08
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Residency Evil posted:I have 0 income this year. Should I fill out a 1040EZ showing that for the hell of it? Will that make a difference? It depends on if you are currently making money - the Alternative Documentation of Income asks for your current paystubs. If you aren't currently making any money then just submit your tax returns. If you are making money then submit your documentation of income first then send in your tax returns and ask them to use your AGI for $0 payments.
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Apr 15, 2012 23:12
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If you graduate from school and are unemployed for 2 years while basically checking out of life as you travel the US/World and ignore your student loans, what steps should be taken to begin to repair the damage if the same person found a job and wants to start paying them off?
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Apr 15, 2012 23:52
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MSPaintClock, I do suggest sitting down with a financial aid rep at your school to get into the nitty gritty of it all, but mostly to build up that repertoire for the future. Here's a basic rundown of the steps you need to take to take out federal student loans: 1. Fill out the FAFSA online at fafsa.ed.gov . Wait 2-3 weeks for the school to receive and process the FAFSA. 2. Once processed, you will receive a financial aid awards letter via mail or online. Review what you've been offered and accept what you need. It is highly recommended to only take out what you need! 3. Fill out the Direct Stafford MPN online at studentloans.gov. You can actually get this done now if you want. 4. Complete Entrance Counseling at the same site. You should be able to do both consecutively. That's it. No credit check or any other eligibility determinations. If you've never taken out student loans before and don't have a bankruptcy, you'll be fine  As for scholarships, you can contact the department where you'll be getting your major from and ask about internal scholarships. Other than that, honestly the best database available is fastweb.com so they're your best best. Don't fear! Read the terms of the loans, ask lots of questions and don't be shy with the financial aid office or your student loan servicer. Good luck! I'm always happy to answer any questions you need help with. jake1357, Harry is correct. Thanks for the help Harry! mezzir, yes you can. I recommend filing the FAFSA first to see if you can get an unsub loan since this would have a lower rate than a GradPLUS, and then go to the GradPLUS for whatever else you need. You'll need to be sure to notify your financial aid office of your need, if you try to take out more than the school thinks you need they can deny the amount. You might even need to appeal. Congratulations on the full ride! Loutre, maybe. You can try to apply for an education-related alternative loan first to see if the school will certify it. If not, non-education is the only way left. Residency Evil, my understanding of IBR is that you must have an income for them to base it off of, and you must file taxes for them to look at your AGI from the tax return. I honestly don't know if they can take a $0 income from a tax return and process the IBR plan from that. You should call the servicer and ask. Der Meister, I would do it if only to have 1 servicer on all your loans. You would want to confirm with them if they'll take over ALL of your loans though, because it would suck if they only took a portion. discoukulele, yes, your loans are likely in In-School status and therefore they can't touch them yet. If you consolidate, you'll be placed back into in-school deferment and not have to make payments until you drop less-than-half-time. Which sounds like it will be soon! blar, thanks for the help!
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Apr 16, 2012 00:07
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Hello, Wiggy you have been able to answer questions for me before so I was hoping you could help out again. I was wondering what the best route to go was to pay for classes during the summer? FASFA doesn't cover summer classes, and the person needing the loan has no credit history (or if they do its student loans), and their parents are unable to cosign on a loan(they get denied). What is the best route to go? Tried to use findaid and simpletuition but to no avail, so any help would be great. Thanks!
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Apr 19, 2012 01:31
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Technically the FAFSA can help with summer aid. If the school goes Fall-Winter-Summer, then any funds that haven't been used during Fall and Winter are available for summer use. If the school goes Summer-Fall-Winter, then the new aid year can be covered by the current FAFSA. You should have the person check first to see if any aid is still available/could be made available, and then they will be left with the option of a private loan with a cosigner who is not their parent. Alternately, they could try to get a job to cover the summer aid costs. Not sure if that's a viable option, but it IS an option. If they have any student loan money saved up, they could dip into their pre-existing stores also.
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Apr 23, 2012 01:07
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Wiggy Marie posted:Technically the FAFSA can help with summer aid. If the school goes Fall-Winter-Summer, then any funds that haven't been used during Fall and Winter are available for summer use. If the school goes Summer-Fall-Winter, then the new aid year can be covered by the current FAFSA. You should have the person check first to see if any aid is still available/could be made available, and then they will be left with the option of a private loan with a cosigner who is not their parent. Unfortunately there are no funds left over from fall or winter, and she had to pull out a private loan to cover the costs. I really don't understand how her dad could be on unemployment mom barley makes any money and the stuff she gets from FASFA doesn't even nearly cover it. She works full-time but gets paid poo poo, so it doesn't come close to the amount she needs. I guess the only option is try to find a different cosigned... Thanks
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Apr 23, 2012 13:02
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Ugh so what are my options if my school is reluctant to give more fhan 8 semesters of financial aid?
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Apr 23, 2012 18:26
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I'd need to know more about the situation. What do you mean "reluctant"? Do you mean they're refusing or they're discouraging it? And do you have aid left to use?
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Apr 24, 2012 00:15
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How long do direct loan consolidations usually take? For nearly 2 months mine has been stuck on "your combined app/P-note application is in cert status. We sent a request to your current lenders for the exact payoff amount of your loans"
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Apr 24, 2012 01:08
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Wiggy Marie posted:I'd need to know more about the situation. What do you mean "reluctant"? Do you mean they're refusing or they're discouraging it? And do you have aid left to use? They say I've used 8, but I think it's only 7 (I took a 10 year break from college). The university's financial aid office says that it is ultimately up to my college's registrar, who hasn't gotten back to me yet.
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Apr 24, 2012 01:22
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I have a question that is about my sister. She has been accepted to London for Vet School and is wondering about what sort of loan/grant options are available to her. Our family is tied up and can't really support her.
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Apr 24, 2012 10:56
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That Darn Dog posted:I have a question that is about my sister. She has been accepted to London for Vet School and is wondering about what sort of loan/grant options are available to her. Our family is tied up and can't really support her. Is she not a UK citizen then?
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Apr 24, 2012 13:41
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Hello! Thank you for all your help. I just got accepted to medical school. I am about 35 grand in debt for undergrad. I was out of a job for 8 months last year and one of my loans, about 6000, went into default. Now I caught it before it went to a default collection agency, but the loan is still in default. I have been paying for the last 3 months on it without problems. I am current with all my other loans but, obviously my credit score is hurt now with this whole thing. I am told that I am unable to get loans while stil in default? I can pay off this defaulted loan completely, but if I do that won't it still reflect negatively on my credit rating? How much does credit rating matter in getting these loans for medical school? I think at minimum I am going to need to borrow 55000 a year for the next 4 years.
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Apr 24, 2012 15:30
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Wiggy Marie posted:I'd need to know more about the situation. What do you mean "reluctant"? Do you mean they're refusing or they're discouraging it? And do you have aid left to use? Nevermind, I got it all cleared up, Im good to go
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Apr 24, 2012 20:31
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I'm 23, planning to take out student loans for the first time for a graduate school/professional degree. I already filled out FAFSA several weeks ago although I haven't heard back from my school yet. I need to take out ~$40,000 this year to cover tuition and living expenses but I can only receive half that (maximum) via graduate stafford loans, so I was wondering what alternatives there are? As far as I understand, I can do Grad PLUS or private loans. Which is preferable and why? If I decide on Grad PLUS loans, should I apply for it now or am I suppose to wait until I get my Stafford loans first?
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Apr 25, 2012 20:14
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im an orange posted:I'm 23, planning to take out student loans for the first time for a graduate school/professional degree. I already filled out FAFSA several weeks ago although I haven't heard back from my school yet. I need to take out ~$40,000 this year to cover tuition and living expenses but I can only receive half that (maximum) via graduate stafford loans, so I was wondering what alternatives there are? Unless you love getting hosed up the rear end, never take out private loans.
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Apr 25, 2012 20:37
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im an orange posted:As far as I understand, I can do Grad PLUS or private loans. Which is preferable and why? If I decide on Grad PLUS loans, should I apply for it now or am I suppose to wait until I get my Stafford loans first? Grad PLUS. The reasons are easy: Every single drawback that comes with a federal loan applies to a private education loan as well. On top of that, private educational loans typically don't offer any of the soft benefits of the federal loans (easy deferral for education, hardship, changes to your payment plan, etc). They *may* offer those, but can say "gently caress you" at any moment, basically. Never take a private loan for education. They have no reason at all to help you out because the loan is bankruptcy-protected. They cannot lose their money, so they'll take you for everything you're worth.
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Apr 27, 2012 13:34
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I had a general question - I'm 26, and I've decided I finally want to go back to school to get a degree in Business Administration. I called a school here to get information but I had one question that has been bothering me - I filed for bankruptcy last year, and I am curious if I can still get FAFSA loans. I'm looking all over but I don't see it called out anywhere. I've never had a student loan in my life before, and obviously even if I did, I could not claim them on my petition when I filed. Shed some light for me?
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Apr 27, 2012 17:59
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Ganon, you need to call them immediately and ask what the delay is. 6-8 weeks is the estimate but it never hurts to ask. That Darn Dog, is the school US accredited? There are plenty of international schools where students can get US federal aid, but they must be accredited by the US department of education. The financial aid office of that school would know, so I suggest having her contact them and nagging them for the info. knucklehead, that is correct. Your loans have to be rehabilitated before the school can give you new loans. Once they're resolved though, you should be good to go, so paying it off might actually solve your problem. Call the financial aid office and tell them you can pay off the loan and ask if that would be enough to resolve the default. They'll probably need a letter saying that the loan is paid off. Turkeybone, hooray! I'm so glad to hear! im an orange, these people are wise. Avoid private loans like the plague and never look back. Mr.Boofu, congrats on returning to school! I wish you luck Are you still in bankrupcty? What they will need, if so, is a letter from your lawyer saying that you can take out additional student loans. Otherwise, if the bankruptcy is discharged, make sure to bring your paperwork to show that with you. You might want to get the lawyer letter up and running so that you're ready to go.
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Apr 28, 2012 01:01
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I have undergrad loans with CFINC and Direct Loans for grad school. I see that the CFI ones are eligible for special consolidation, which I believe will lock their interest rates (they are much lower than my Direct Loan interest rates anyway). But when I go to the form, it says that the ones I already have with Direct aren't eligible for the consolidation. I thought the whole point was to roll them all together and get a fixed interest rate? Or is it just to have them all with one lender? Additionally, I'm in unemployment deferment until June (with both agencies). The consolidation loan FAQ mentions that deferment options are reset. Does this mean that if I consolidate in May, I need to file deferment again immediately so that I don't end up having to pay right after consolidation? I am starting a job in May, but my first check probably won't be available until June.
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Apr 30, 2012 17:27
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My fiance has a bunch of student loans from her undergrad and grad school degree. Some of them are eligible for this (she qualifies): http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/specialconsolidation.jsp Which sounds like a really good deal to me. Is anything bad about this? It looks decent from here! edit: all of her loans are deferred, half are 'non interest accruing' or whatever at the moment, and she is one year away from finishing school. edit 2: derp, only a small amount is eligible for this redreader fucked around with this message at 00:55 on May 2, 2012 |
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May 2, 2012 00:49
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Pro-PRC Laowai posted:Unless you love getting hosed up the rear end, never take out private loans. Yeah I did, and I'm gonna get really hosed when it comes time to pay. Like $700/month forever hosed. Go to a different school. Get your employer to pay for it. Become a basketball star. Get a scholarship. Do not take out private loans.
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May 2, 2012 02:59
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ONEMANWOLFPACK posted:Yeah I did, and I'm gonna get really hosed when it comes time to pay. Like $700/month forever hosed. Go to a different school. Get your employer to pay for it. Become a basketball star. Get a scholarship. Do not take out private loans. Hell, if you are dead set on a certain school and you can't afford it, you are better off going community for the first 2 years. If after that, still unable to work something to make it happen? You are still way better off doing literally anything. Life might suck for 2-3 years in the meantime, but private loans can quickly turn your entire life into a bottomless pit of poo poo and despair until the day you die. Seriously, even if this means living at home and working at a call center, a supermarket, fast food, whatever. If anything being around people who will never go anywhere can serve as great motivation to kick rear end in school when you can finally afford it. If you're smart, in the meantime, you'll learn a trade of some kind so when you graduate with your cute little liberal arts degree you might actually have a chance at finding a job (even if it's right back at where you started) Alternative option that no one for whatever retarded reason bothers with: LOOK OVERSEAS for schools. If school means over $20k a year in loans, you are looking in the wrong places. Undergrad is undergrad is undergrad. It's just not worth the pain or the money and there are quite a few countries that will be more than happy to have you as international students bolster their reputation. If you pick a school on this list: https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/schoolSearch?locale=en_EN (select "foreign country"), you can even get FAFSA loans for the drat thing. Seriously, stop thinking about it, just go to loving Oslo already.
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May 2, 2012 05:36
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Wiggy, I just had a couple of questions for you. First my husband and I just had to send in Income Verification paperwork to recalculate our IBR payment for the year. Apparently, mine arrived and was processed, but his was not even though I mailed them at the same time and he was kicked back to Standard repayment. The CSR told us that his full payment was going to be due next month and our only option was to pay it or to request forbearance. I know that they switched to calculate IBR now based on the total number of loans for both spouses. Will ours getting calculated at different times affect the IBR payments we are assigned? Also I was wondering if you could tell how to decide if consolidation is worth it. All of our loans are currently through direct except my Perkins and a $2k that my husband has through Iowa Student Loan. Our freshman year was the only year with around 2.3% variable interest rates and everything else is at 6.8 fixed. It seems to me that there isn't much point in consolidating if our interest rates are mostly fixed already and they are already with Direct, and if we leave them unconsolidated we have the option of paying off the 6.8% loans first once we make enough money to make extra principle payments. Am I missing something important to consider? If it helps our current balances are Me Direct Sub $23k Avg interest 5.778% Direct Unsub $18k Avg interest 6.139% Husband Direct Sub $16k Avg interest 6.299% Direct Unsub $6.5k Avg interest 6.8%
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May 2, 2012 23:45
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squidtarts, it is in fact to have them all with one lender. As far as I'm aware, only the loans that aren't already with that lender are eligible. I am not an expert on the program though, so please call your servicer to double check on that. Also, yes, that's exactly what the deferment/forbearance notice means. When you consolidate they literally create a new loan, so they can't carry over a def/forb that was already applied. Qualification terms are still the same, but if you're on a program based on high repayment, you might want to check on that before reconsolidating since this will lower your monthly payments. I hope this helps! redreader, it is a good deal for the eligible loans. Unfortunately, as you said, not all loans are eligible. Ring of Light, nah, the calculations will be the same because it's based on set information. As for consolidation, there are two big benefits to it, so consider: 1. It ratios all of your rates together and fixes it at one total. This rate will never change. 2. It lowers your repayment amount. You can still use IBR if you still qualify though. Generally for larger amounts like what you have, consolidation is a great idea if only because it creates one loan instead of several and makes payments easier to manage. You can always pay above the monthly total without any penalty, so it's not like you HAVE to use the full 15-30 years to pay them off. However, the drawback is that lower interest rate loans will be fixed at a higher rate. In your case, it might be worth it to do the math for each loan and determine which totals you're paying more in interest on. For example, if you have one 3000 loan with a 6.8% and ten 1500 loans with 2.3%, you're paying more on the ten loans with the lower rate and raising the interest rate would hurt rather than help. Make sense? You can use this online debt calculator to help out with the math: http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx Careful, it might default the pounds instead of dollars. You can change it on the top right.
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May 5, 2012 04:30
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My student loans from Access Group just changed servicing to ACS (Affiliated Computer Services). Their website is terrible compared to Access Group and I'm reading horror stories about how they lose automatic payments and how if you don't pay exactly on the date your bill is do (ex you pay the 13th instead of the 14th) they apply that as an over payment and then ding you for a late payment. Does anyone else have loans through them? Please tell me that all these stories are just written by idiots. I'm really bummed, Access Group was great to me and it was so easy to make multiple payments. From looking at the site ACS only allows one payment a month. Im a Sad Panda fucked around with this message at 15:50 on May 5, 2012 |
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May 5, 2012 15:48
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I have a question about repayment. My student loan servicer is Sallie Mae. For some reason last month they decided to stop sending me notices for payment by postal mail. Because of this I had no idea that I had a payment due and I missed it by 18 days. Will this be reported to a credit bureau and ruin my credit history?
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May 6, 2012 15:07
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I went through a loan rehab with NCO and have been in good standing for more than a year. It was my understanding the negatives from Sallie Mae would be pulled from my credit reports when I completed the rehab, but they are still showing up on two of the three and in various forms (one lists 5 loans, the other only 1, for example). At this point, most of this stuff is 3 or more years old. Did I do something wrong, or did they merely pull all the default records and this other stuff wasn't affected? Who should I call to ask? I've tried Sallie Mae and haven't been able to get to a real person yet.
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May 6, 2012 15:22
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