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Cacafuego posted:What kind of info can you tell me about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program? I'm a nurse and I work for a not for profit hospital. I've already consolidated all my current loans through the federal Direct Loans consolidation program. Am I correct that if I make payments for 10 years and I'm employed as a nurse full time while working for a not for profit hospital, my loans will be forgiven? There's also this http://www.hrsa.gov/loanscholarships/repayment/nursing/
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Jul 22, 2013 13:45
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Cacafuego posted:What kind of info can you tell me about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program? I'm a nurse and I work for a not for profit hospital. I've already consolidated all my current loans through the federal Direct Loans consolidation program. Am I correct that if I make payments for 10 years and I'm employed as a nurse full time while working for a not for profit hospital, my loans will be forgiven? Honestly, this is a better question for Effexxor, who works on the servicing end of loans. However, finaid.org has a fantastic write-up on the program: http://www.finaid.org/loans/publicservice.phtml
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Jul 22, 2013 14:59
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ShaqDiesel posted:There's also this http://www.hrsa.gov/loanscholarships/repayment/nursing/ Wiggy Marie posted:Honestly, this is a better question for Effexxor, who works on the servicing end of loans. However, finaid.org has a fantastic write-up on the program: Thanks for the help! I looked into the nurse corps one earlier this year, which is a great program. However, for 5610 applications they got last year, ~500 were accepted. I don't think I'll make that 10%, however it's worth a try if it doesn't screw up the public service loan forgiveness. Florida state also has a program that will pay $4,000/year for 4 years which I would most likely be able to receive. My only concern is you can't use the nurse corps one and the FL state one together, but will one or the other ruin eligibility for the federal loan forgiveness?
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Jul 22, 2013 15:21
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I've been using Direct Loans for my student loans for the past several years and just got a letter from Sallie Mae's Department of Education Loan Services informing me that they've taken over as the new servicer of my student loans. I'll be checking their system to make sure my information is correct, but barring that should I be worried? 
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Jul 22, 2013 21:44
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Is there any way to get the loan servicer to auto-deduct more than the 'standard' amount? I want to pay off the loans quicker, and I'm going in manually and paying more, but during travel or when I'm jet lagging I don't get to do it right away.
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Jul 23, 2013 00:38
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GFBeach posted:I've been using Direct Loans for my student loans for the past several years and just got a letter from Sallie Mae's Department of Education Loan Services informing me that they've taken over as the new servicer of my student loans. I'll be checking their system to make sure my information is correct, but barring that should I be worried? It has been pretty smooth on my wifes loans with sallie Mae. I don't think you have to be too worried.
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Jul 23, 2013 01:29
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Cacafuego posted:Thanks for the help! I looked into the nurse corps one earlier this year, which is a great program. However, for 5610 applications they got last year, ~500 were accepted. I don't think I'll make that 10%, however it's worth a try if it doesn't screw up the public service loan forgiveness. Florida state also has a program that will pay $4,000/year for 4 years which I would most likely be able to receive. My only concern is you can't use the nurse corps one and the FL state one together, but will one or the other ruin eligibility for the federal loan forgiveness? I'm not sure about eligibility, that would be a good question for your servicer. GFBeach posted:I've been using Direct Loans for my student loans for the past several years and just got a letter from Sallie Mae's Department of Education Loan Services informing me that they've taken over as the new servicer of my student loans. I'll be checking their system to make sure my information is correct, but barring that should I be worried? What spwrozek said, just try to use their website as much as possible and avoid calling if you don't have to. Uncle Jam posted:Is there any way to get the loan servicer to auto-deduct more than the 'standard' amount? I want to pay off the loans quicker, and I'm going in manually and paying more, but during travel or when I'm jet lagging I don't get to do it right away. My company allows this, the borrower just needs to send the request in writing to increase their monthly deduction. Yours probably works the same way. Try sending them an email request with your information. Be specific about exactly how much you want deducted a month.
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Jul 23, 2013 01:36
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Is there a way or set of guidelines to tell if you can apply for GradPLUS loans without a co-signer? I am being mindful of my loan balance, but I wanted to have a Plan B in case funding fell through.
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Jul 24, 2013 04:40
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You can just apply, GradPLUS loans are a "soft" credit check rather than a hard one like private loans. Most graduates, even those with little or no credit, can get one. If you're denied, that's when you'd need to look into getting an endorser for the loan.
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Jul 24, 2013 15:34
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Does that mean the rates on GradPLUS loans can improve/worsen based on your credit history? Or is it simply a check for debt-to-income ratio?
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Jul 24, 2013 17:32
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As of right now, the GradPLUS loans have a fixed rate of 7.9% regardless of your credit. However, the rates could change depending on the deal moving (sloooooowly) through Congress right now, so that's pending Congress getting something done (hahaha).
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Jul 24, 2013 23:09
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Is anyone familiar with First American Student Aid? They keep sending me notices claiming the government is going to garnish my wages. The problem is I'm on a payment plan and I've been paying. As far as I was aware my loans were private. I called to see what was up and when I said the loans were private they offered to check "against the national data base" if I gave them my SSN. That was were I ended the call. I can't find anything on them on the web but the name is really generic. Low and behold the The National Student Loan Database is listed here. I don't think I'll be calling them back. I looked into what I have and the Sallie Mae Signature loans I'm sure are private. But then I remember I had some unsub/subsidized Federal Stafford loans. Apparently they are eligible? I have about $25k in them that I pay $350 a month on. Is it likely the payments would be reduced? And I just go to http://www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov/ and sign up? Not having half my salary go directly to student loans would be awesome. This Public Service Loan Forgiveness program sounds great. I need to check at my job tomorrow as I believe my current work place would qualify (pension board for a church, their website claims to be non-profit). Although looking at the payment schedule I think I'm on schedule to be done paying in 10 years anyway. If I'm going to pay them off in the time period it doesn't seem worth it to bother. I'll have to look into it more. This stuff is kind of confusing.
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Jul 30, 2013 01:33
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Your Federal loans aren't private loans. Did you go on the National Student Loan Database to make sure you are paying everything you are supposed to?
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Jul 30, 2013 02:35
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Also, private loans won't show up in the NSLDS - you can find them on your credit report. I have honestly not heard of First American Student Aid, but they could be a smaller servicer I'm just not familiar with. Consolidation is really for people who can't afford the payments, so it's certainly an option BUT you will extend your repayment schedule longer than 10 years. You could use public service forgiveness then, but you'd still be paying for ten years up to that point, so it's up to you if it's worth it or not. The consolidation website you linked is the correct one for federal loans. They'll be able to give you estimated payments so that you can decide if consolidation will help or hurt you. Pay close attention to the total interest you'll end up paying, depending on the payment plan!
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Jul 30, 2013 03:16
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Wiggy Marie posted:Also, private loans won't show up in the NSLDS - you can find them on your credit report. I have honestly not heard of First American Student Aid, but they could be a smaller servicer I'm just not familiar with. I hadn't checked the database at the time because I had to locate my PIN number. I've since checked and my Federal loans are all listed as in repayment so I think it was just some company, maybe legit, trying to get me to signup through them. Is there an advantage to using a company instead of signing up myself to reduce the loans? It looks like I'm eligible for the Income Based Repayment option but the site I found said I have to signup through studentloans.gov Is there any reason to use the studentloans.gov site instead of the loanconsolidation.ed.gov site? It seems like I can apply through either one for the reduced option.
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Jul 31, 2013 03:09
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Studentloans.gov and the other website are both the Department of Ed, so they should take you through the exact same process. However, if you go through studentloans.gov and want to consolidate, it might direct you to the consolidation website anyway. But don't worry, those two are the same entity, just a different shirt, so to speak.
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Jul 31, 2013 03:12
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Somebody please tell me if this sounds like a terrible idea: If the proposed student loan deal passes, interest rates for subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans will be around 3.9%. I am going into my senior year, and currently have some unsubsidized loans at 6.8%. I could probably pay all my expenses this year by borrowing about half of my allowed limit. Should I instead borrow the maximum and use the extra cash to pay off my higher-rate loan, effectively refinancing thousands of dollars to a lower interest rate? The idea makes mathematical sense, but I'm afraid I might be missing something that would cause my plan to fail.
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Jul 31, 2013 21:16
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I don't know much but perhaps there are origination fees that would cause that to be a bad idea?
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Jul 31, 2013 21:22
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JohnnyPalace posted:Somebody please tell me if this sounds like a terrible idea: This is a very easy way to get a lower interest rate without having to worry about consolidation. Once you have the money, you can do whatever you want with it - just don't pay until after 180 days have passed, because any funds paid to the account before them are treated as a returned disbursement and applied to the new loans instead of the old ones.
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Jul 31, 2013 21:31
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an skeleton posted:I don't know much but perhaps there are origination fees that would cause that to be a bad idea? I thought about that, but paying a 1% one-time fee to cut 1.9% off the rate is a good deal since I will be paying it off for years. EDIT: Thanks, Wiggy. I wouldn't have known about the 180-day condition.
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Jul 31, 2013 21:33
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Not a problem! Just in case it comes up, that's 180 days after any disbursements, which means if you get the money in the Fall and Spring, you might need to wait a while after Spring to pay the way you want to. Something to keep in mind!
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Jul 31, 2013 21:37
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Slowly getting all the info on consolidating loans and paying them off: Wife's undergrad loans: Sallie Mae: $5,566.0 at 6.8% Great Lake loans: $2500 at 1.75% (can that be correct?) My undergrad: Ed Financial: $13,045 at 5.65% $1860 at 5.65% We have an impending $50-60K in grad loans as my wife is about to finish grad school. But out of these, is there anything i should do differently or consolidate? The obvious seems to be to take care of Sallie Mae first.
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Aug 12, 2013 15:25
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That 1.5% rate is great, it could be an older loan (which did have lower rates). I think the plan to pay off the highest interest rate is solid, and if you two can afford the payments as-is, then consolidation wouldn't really do much for you.
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Aug 12, 2013 16:15
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What is the best way to pay more money toward a loan? Right now we pay about $300/month towards my wife's loan but we might be able to drop an extra $1k-$2k toward to the loan. Do you just send in a bigger payment or is there a smarter way to do it?
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Aug 13, 2013 03:01
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Just add more money to your payment and make sure it goes to principle, not paying ahead. If you pay online it is pretty simple.
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Aug 13, 2013 03:37
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I just got an email informing me that my Direct Loan has been transferred to Great Lakes Educational Loan Services Inc. The email said "Also, please be aware that if you are a borrower that was on the Direct Loan Servicing Center's Kwikpay auto debit program, that this information will be sent to your new servicer." Does this mean that my auto payments will still go on with the new provider and I don't have to do anything?
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Aug 13, 2013 07:30
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spwrozek posted:Just add more money to your payment and make sure it goes to principle, not paying ahead. This. Only catch is you have to pay off any accrued interest before hitting the principle. Remember, only principle generates interest, so only knocking down the principle gets you a future return on your investment. If you have multiple loans (i.e. 1 for each semester), target your entire payment towards a single loan, so that you can cut through any accrued interest and take a chunk off towards principle. i.e. Loan 1: 10,000 principle + 2000 accrued interest Loan 2: 10,000 principle + 1500 accrued interest Loan 3: 10,000 principle + 1000 accrued interest Loan 4: 10,000 principle + 0 accrued interest If you have $2000 to spend, putting it all into loan 4 gets you down to 8000 principle, or a return of 6.8% annually. If you put it on Loan 3 instead, you only knock $1000 off your principle, so your return on your $2000 is 6.8% * 1000/2000 = 3.4%. If you put it all on Loan 2, you're only knocking down $500 of principle or getting a return of 6.8% * 500/2000 = 1.7%. If you just divide it evenly among all loans, you waste all the money on the accrued interest and your effective return on investment is zero.
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Aug 13, 2013 07:50
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mongeese posted:I just got an email informing me that my Direct Loan has been transferred to Great Lakes Educational Loan Services Inc. The email said "Also, please be aware that if you are a borrower that was on the Direct Loan Servicing Center's Kwikpay auto debit program, that this information will be sent to your new servicer." Does this mean that my auto payments will still go on with the new provider and I don't have to do anything? Yes, you shouldn't have to do anything. Great lakes is a pretty good service to deal with as well.
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Aug 13, 2013 13:54
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So I'm in my last year of college and I've taken out all my Federal Student Loans as of now. They'll start being due by in December of 2014 since I graduate in May. The total price of student loans that I borrowed over the course of my college career I'm going to owe I believe is roughly $30,000. I am also interested in taking out a loan for an additionally $30,000 for a medical procedure I need sooner rather than later. I know that you need a good credit score to do something like this, but will having student loans due effect any possability of even taking out a medical loan for this? I'll have no other bills due by this October as they'll all be paid off (medical bills). I've heard as long as you are on schedule paying the student loans on a monthly basis you'll retain good credit score and could do something like this. As long as I pay the monthly fee I should be eligible? Additionally, I've been late paying for bills (medical bills, and BillMeLater) but I'll financially be able to pay them all off in October. So I'm wondering if that's going to strike against having bad credit score or if they'll see I've paid it off and it'll wipe the slate clean and thus give me good credit. LemonLimeTime fucked around with this message at 14:40 on Aug 13, 2013 |
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Aug 13, 2013 14:31
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Are you getting a job with insurance out of school? If yes that procedure will be way cheaper (my max out of pocket is $7000 per year). Also I know hospitals have to let you setup a payment plan with them. My brother in law had a $400 hospital visit and paid $25 a month interest free. I am not sure where all in the actual law this falls but you might have much better options than a $30000 loan. Someone else can probably answer better.
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Aug 13, 2013 15:04
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Well I have a retail job right now and I have health insurance covered. So I'm not quite sure what you're asking?
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Aug 13, 2013 15:37
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I guess I am confused on how it will cost you $30K and was seeing of there was a cheaper option (unless the operation is completely voluntary and not covered). Most plans have a yearly out of pocket maximum in the $5-15K a year range which would bring the cost down. Maybe you have looked at all this already so my thoughts at moot.
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Aug 13, 2013 17:24
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LemonLimeTime posted:So I'm in my last year of college and I've taken out all my Federal Student Loans as of now. They'll start being due by in December of 2014 since I graduate in May. The total price of student loans that I borrowed over the course of my college career I'm going to owe I believe is roughly $30,000. I am also interested in taking out a loan for an additionally $30,000 for a medical procedure I need sooner rather than later. I know that you need a good credit score to do something like this, but will having student loans due effect any possability of even taking out a medical loan for this? I'll have no other bills due by this October as they'll all be paid off (medical bills). I've heard as long as you are on schedule paying the student loans on a monthly basis you'll retain good credit score and could do something like this. As long as I pay the monthly fee I should be eligible? I can't say that you'll be eligible since the other loan will not just be based on your student loans, but your total debt-to-income ratio. You might need a letter stating that the payments are deferred (this is often required for mortgages). However, as long as you stay on time with your payments, your credit will be positively impacted.
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Aug 13, 2013 17:30
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So I was going to college right after graduating High School and I was being an idiot and partying more than going to class. I then decided to stop wasting my time, did some other stuff for a while, and basically got my poo poo together. I've been going back for the past year, but now I've hit the maximum number of credits attempted (150% of the credits for the degree you enrolled under) so I can no longer receive financial aid. My school's website states that there is an appeals process for this, but they say that the only things that will be considered are circumstances outside of the student's control. Does anybody have any experience with this? My circumstances are basically me being an rear end in a top hat 6 years ago, and I've got military service between now and then that I imagine would reflect well, but it still doesn't meet the "out of my control" criteria. I can't really afford to pay out of pocket. My parents will likely help me out here, but are private loans/scholarships my only other options outside of my GI Bill?
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Aug 13, 2013 18:30
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Kumquat posted:So I was going to college right after graduating High School and I was being an idiot and partying more than going to class. I then decided to stop wasting my time, did some other stuff for a while, and basically got my poo poo together. I've been going back for the past year, but now I've hit the maximum number of credits attempted (150% of the credits for the degree you enrolled under) so I can no longer receive financial aid. I would contact the VA, because there might be other bills you can use to help yourself out. Private loans are certainly an option, but before you touch that route, go ahead and file your Max Time appeal. It's very common for students to hit this at some point, and personally I haven't seen it denied - the very worst that can happen is that you're in the same boat you already are, so it's worth the effort to try!
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Aug 14, 2013 22:12
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I have an odd question. A couple of semesters ago, I took a short term loan to get some dental work. Had the payoff taken out of a refund. Apparently now they're saying I was refunded again and need to pay it again (And I should've had a hold on my account, but never did). I have no problem with that, but I was worried it would hurt my GradPLUS chances. How long does it take to show that I have everything paid off? The sad thing is, I even kept an eye on my balances with the school. :/ They just told me that this was really weird and they had never seen it before.
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Aug 14, 2013 22:38
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So big IBR question. (And I'm doing math while I'm doing this so I may answer my own questions) My wife got a PsyD (don't do this) at the expense of 220k in student loan debt. (All Federal) Her salary will max out at around 60-80k. Mine could be as high as 140-150k this year (hoping it continues to go up) Together we make too much money for IBR but I'm considering Filing taxes separately for the sake of IBR. So the numbers. Straight payments is about 2,400-2,600 a month (hasn't graduated yet). IBR at 55k/yr is about $450/mo. If we file taxes separate, I would pay an additional 7-10k in taxes/yr depending on income. And she would pay another 1-2k. Meaning: Standard 10 year repayment: ~30k/yr =300k total 25yr IBR at 55k: ~16k/yr with taxes added (from higher taxes) = 400k cost + forgiveness tax. IBR at job with 30k/yr repayment: 16k/yr+30k (free) = $110k (including taxes over 7 years) and with 210k free from job Standard payments with 30k payment: 30k/yr + 30k free = 130k paid by us and 120k paid for free (done in 4 years) Sounds like 10yr if affordable is a much better deal. BUT, while we could make the payments in that 10yr range (Only due to my income) we would have serious trouble affording a house(living in a major city) and kids and we would be pretty broke. If she lost a job for any reason we wouldn't be able to. So I'm considering this for 2 or 3 reasons: 1. She may not find a job right away/not work during children for a few years and IBR during this time would be $0 + tax costs on my income. (Without school loans we can afford her not to work) 2. Being a psychologist and with her area of focus (children) she will most likely work in schools or non-profits. So after 10 years she can get forgiven 3. As a Psy, she can also get a job at locations that are under served and she will qualify for 30k/yr loan repayment via a gov program while working at these. So my question, assuming she does #1 and maybe both #2 and #3, and assuming I want to have some saving (and live just a little like I have a 6 figure job), is there any reason we shouldn't do IBR? My thought is to pay them back in 10yrs either way but if she gets a job outlined in #3(which includes 30k/yr payback), I'd be wasting money by sending every penny I have to her loans. If she is fully employed for 5-6 years and we did send EVERY penny extra (no house, no additional investments (past 401k matching), no kids) we could pay them off in 5-6 years paying 2.5k/mo + me sending a 20-30k check each year. Does this make any sense? TL;DR: can afford payments if she is working but can't have kids or live and her timer is ticking (per her words), should we do IBR. Non-Edit: I think if possible, best bet may be IBR, file jointly ( only IBR in case of job loss or children) and she gets a job that repays AND we pay an extra 30k a year. This would be about 90k/yr going to loans and pay off in 2.x yrs. Only issue is we would lose the 30k/yr that would be sent to her loans if she doesn't have them..... (Meaning in 2 yrs we could have a 60k down payment for a house). Sorry for this huge lump of poo poo text.
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Aug 15, 2013 00:15
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Hello, I just registered for my classes and everything and it seems that my stanford/government loans leave me approximately $1500 short for the semester. I'm guessing that a private loan is my best bet (short of paying out of pocket, but the whole point of the previously loans was me not having money at the moment :p ,) how do I go about getting a private loan? (if this is a commonly asked question I appologoze and would be happy with a link to a previous answer!) My classes start monday and I received an email today stating that if I was more than $2000 in the hole, they would have dropped my classes (yikes!) so I'm hoping to get this resolved as soon as possible so I can keep the oh-so-nice schedule I set for myself.
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Aug 15, 2013 01:11
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Stool Sample posted:Hello, If you're a dependent student you might consider having a parent apply for a PLUS loan. If you they are approved you will be covered (although parent would then be obligated to repay that loan) ;if they get denied your Stafford loan would increase by $2000/semester.
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Aug 15, 2013 04:02
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Wiggy do you know what deferment options are available for Sallie Mae private loan borrowers? Specifically regarding unemployment.
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Aug 15, 2013 04:05
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