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I worked as a Pharmacy Technician a few years ago and just realized that Pharmacy Technician is a position that qualifies for Perkins loan forgiveness. How long would I have had to work at that position for me to have part/all of my loan forgiven? Is it true that I can retroactively get reimbursed for the entirety of the loan if forgiveness is awarded? edit: actually, since I worked at a retail chain and not a nonprofit, I don't think I qualify EugeneJ fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Jan 10, 2014 |
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Jan 10, 2014 04:59
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My student loan provider denied my IBR request because my "spouse didn't sign the form". After looking at it, I believe that, because my bank account is under my mother's bank account since I haven't changed it in the preceding decade and a half, they think the female name on my bank account is my wife and not my mother, that I'm committing fraud and lying to them about being married. Weird, the other student loan company didn't have this problem.
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Jan 11, 2014 00:38
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Is anyone else looking into the public service loan forgiveness program? I got a crappy job at my university after I graduated and I was planning on holding onto it for the tuition benefit so that I could go to grad school for free. This means I'll be working for the state for a good 5 or 6 years probably just based on my current plans. The field I'm looking to get into is also usually government or non-profit, so there's a good chance I'd be working for the government for 10 years anyway. Otherwise I'm looking at either joining the army or doing the 25-year thing. And honestly the military is a lot more appealing than being a slave to this until I'm 50. The main problem is how much of a gamble it is to assume that I'll have worthwhile and steady government employment for 10 years, even given my plans to already.
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Jan 13, 2014 18:21
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EugeneJ posted:edit: actually, since I worked at a retail chain and not a nonprofit, I don't think I qualify I believe this is correct, but the worst that can happen from double checking with your servicer is that you end up in the same position you're already in anyway. CraigK posted:My student loan provider denied my IBR request because my "spouse didn't sign the form". After looking at it, I believe that, because my bank account is under my mother's bank account since I haven't changed it in the preceding decade and a half, they think the female name on my bank account is my wife and not my mother, that I'm committing fraud and lying to them about being married. Weird, the other student loan company didn't have this problem. Who knows. Presumably there's no spouse listed on your tax return, correct? If not, call them up and explain the situation to see what can be done. Just beware: different servicers can interpret the federal requirements with different levels of strictness. Fitzy Fitz posted:Is anyone else looking into the public service loan forgiveness program? I got a crappy job at my university after I graduated and I was planning on holding onto it for the tuition benefit so that I could go to grad school for free. This means I'll be working for the state for a good 5 or 6 years probably just based on my current plans. The field I'm looking to get into is also usually government or non-profit, so there's a good chance I'd be working for the government for 10 years anyway. Unfortunately this is the gamble that people take with forgiveness programs. You can't guarantee anything, you can just work toward that goal. I'm counting on the 20 year forgiveness, myself! 
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Jan 13, 2014 22:17
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Have I said I hate SallieMae in here before? Yes? Because I hate SallieMae so much. I'm going through an application to consolidate my loans through my credit union with CU Student Loans and all the records I uploaded were accepted except for every last shred of documentation from SallieMae. I keep looking for this "10-Day Payoff Amount" for my loans that they reference several places on their website but I swear to god there is no such thing that I can find.
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Jan 15, 2014 19:56
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Just(applied to) consolidated my wife's loans... Went with Great Lakes instead of Sallie Mae, due to all the hate. 360 monthly payments of $1450 left!! Can't wait. She is a psychologist and will be working at NPOs so I'll take that route and also there is some program that pays up to $30k a year she can apply for. Hoping one of these works out for us. Otherwise it a huge part of her salary. We went with the 30 year so I could float the payments if needed and she didn't work, otherwise the $2500/mo would be a bit much... Edit: just found out you cannot do the public service if you do a 30yr repayment. MasterColin fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Jan 16, 2014 |
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Jan 16, 2014 01:03
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MasterColin posted:Just(applied to) consolidated my wife's loans... Went with Great Lakes instead of Sallie Mae, due to all the hate. Can you guys apply for IBR, ICR or pay as you earn? If so, those are the plans that PSLF can be used for: quote:To maximize forgiveness under the PSLF Program, you should repay your loans on the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Plan, Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan, or the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan, which are three of the repayment plans that qualify for PSLF. From here: http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts/public-service#what-loans-are-eligible Great Lakes has always been pleasant when I've dealt with them, I hope you experience the same!
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Jan 16, 2014 02:49
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I have Great Lakes for my federal loans (they got transferred over there early last year automatically) and I've been generally pleased with the service I've gotten from them so far.
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Jan 16, 2014 02:51
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MasterColin posted:Just(applied to) consolidated my wife's loans... Went with Great Lakes instead of Sallie Mae, due to all the hate. I literally feel terrible for you. Good luck paying it off. Also I really like working with Great Lakes over Sallie Mae though. So you made a good choice there.
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Jan 16, 2014 03:09
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Only way we qualify for the income based programs is if we do not file joint tax returns. This screws is tho and would cost 10k+ a year in taxes (higher tax rate+ no loan interest write off...) It sucks but don't feel bad for us. If it were just her, working as a licensed psychologist, no way she could pay them off but once she gets a job we should have over 150k in income so I plan to pay them off quite quickly. My plan is to pay them off in the next 4-6yrs. I want to pay them off before I turn 30 (4yrs almost exactly) but that would stop us from buying a house or investing a lot so idk. Realistically, we could afford the full 10yr payment but I'm just worried about if something happens MasterColin fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Jan 16, 2014 |
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Jan 16, 2014 03:38
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I need advice and this looked like the most appropriate thread. I have two loans - currently at 3600 & 6180. Both unsub stafford loans I took out to pay for undergrad courses. Since I got married summer of '12 I've been making payments on the accounts for60 and 90 bux respectively. I don't have to be making payments technically because I'm still a student, but I've been trying to chip away at the interest. Also, I'll no longer be "In School" as of May 12, and I'll have to make payments. The situation is that I have enough in savings to keep making payments on these loans while I'm (potentially) serving abroad with Peace Corps. I won't be feeding into my savings while I'm abroad, however. The payments would wind up being 4050 dollars altogether over 27 months. Is it reasonable to take that 4050 and pay off the 3600 (3560 principal w/ 40) altogether right now, use the change to cut down the accrued interest on the 6180 (5500 principal w/ 680), and then lower my monthly payments? What's the best approach to this? Fake edit: After having checked my loans last night, I think I'm just going to drop 40 dollars to get rid of that interest.
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Jan 19, 2014 12:12
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My loan situation is pretty straightforward, so I'm sure someone has asked a similar question in the last 90 pages, but here goes: I've got about $80k in unsubsidized loans (out-of-state graduate school). I'm currently on the extended plan (NOT graduated), which leaves me with loan payments just under $600 a month. My wife and I have a combined income of about $65k. I'm employed full-time, she's a graduate student. I expect my income (~45k) will rise slightly each year, while hers should remain flat for a few years before climbing once she's out of school. She has something like $20k in loans on her own, which I believe are all subsidized loans from undergrad. With careful budgeting, we're making all the payments and putting some money in savings to boot. Making these payments for 24 more years would suck, but is doable. Is there a better repayment plan for us? The 10-year plan is impossible for us. The income-based options seem really nice (calculators I've poked at say payments should be cut to about half of what they are now), but I have no idea what the long-term implications are. I know any forgiven amount is taxable, but that's a problem I can make a plan to deal with. Are there other drawbacks? Would my payments rise suddenly in a few years?
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Jan 20, 2014 05:07
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My wife and I have a crushing amount of Sallie Mae loans that are loving us over long and deep. I think we owe $50k or thereabouts. We also have another $50k in various debts, not including our house. We are seriously considering bankruptcy because each month we are falling a bit further and further behind. I have been told that Sallie Mae loans are immune to bankruptcy proceedings. But Google searching implies that in some circumstances, that's not entirely true. If we file for bankruptcy (and we're far from making that decision because of its consequences), are we still stuck with Sallie Mae loans? Also, I work as an LVN nurse. Is there any way to get any Sallie Mae forgiven for this work?
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Jan 20, 2014 19:03
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Quick question for the wise gurus of this thread- I've been accepted to (and am at the moment still going) to grad school over in the UK (I'm a US national) which participates in the FAFSA loan program. Long story short, qualified for everything I could possibly qualify for loan-wise and had the full amount granted to me through unsubbed and PLUS loans for the two year program. Now, of course, the universe being what it is, a few snags have arisen, including the fact that it took the university two weeks longer than they thought it would to get my necessary visa documents over to me, so I'm looking at starting between 3-5 weeks late into the course, and that's at best. To top that all off, my fathers health has suddenly taken a distinct turn for the worse, so now it looks as if I might not end up going after all. I've already received the CAS letter where they've stated that my loans have been disbursed (as proof of having funding sufficient for tuition + maintenance I need for the visa) but I haven't actually signed or done any 'official' paperwork regarding the loan. Term starts officially in one week (the 27th). My question is- if for whatever reason I don't end up going, what's the situation going to be regarding my loans? I've attempted to get in touch with the school itself to clarify what its position would be, but as of yet no word, and the last thing I want to do is end up having paid over tuition for the year and not actually attend with no recourse to just give it all back to dear old Uncle Sam.
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Jan 21, 2014 04:07
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Quick questions: I'm looking at a private, 2-year program that costs about 33k. Looking at the chart in the OP, the total eligibility for Year 1 and 2 combined is 20k (I think?). These are for a federal loan right? So what would I do for the remaining 12k? A private bank loan?
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Jan 22, 2014 18:06
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N. Senada posted:I need advice and this looked like the most appropriate thread. I have two loans - currently at 3600 & 6180. Both unsub stafford loans I took out to pay for undergrad courses. Since I got married summer of '12 I've been making payments on the accounts for60 and 90 bux respectively. I don't have to be making payments technically because I'm still a student, but I've been trying to chip away at the interest. Also, I'll no longer be "In School" as of May 12, and I'll have to make payments. I always recommend paying off a lump sum if you can. If you are able to pay that specifically toward an unsub loan, do that to save yourself some interest! Doc Faustus posted:My loan situation is pretty straightforward, so I'm sure someone has asked a similar question in the last 90 pages, but here goes: Payments will rise based on income, so as you both increase in salary, so will your payments. Eventually payment plans like IBR can no longer benefit you because of a high salary, but I'm not sure of the cutoffs. You can definitely ask your servicer for some hard numbers. Oxford Comma posted:My wife and I have a crushing amount of Sallie Mae loans that are loving us over long and deep. I think we owe $50k or thereabouts. We also have another $50k in various debts, not including our house. We are seriously considering bankruptcy because each month we are falling a bit further and further behind. I have been told that Sallie Mae loans are immune to bankruptcy proceedings. But Google searching implies that in some circumstances, that's not entirely true. If we file for bankruptcy (and we're far from making that decision because of its consequences), are we still stuck with Sallie Mae loans? It is extremely rare and incredibly hard to get student loans of any kind wiped out through bankruptcy, so I would assume that you can't and save yourself the struggle (lawyers often tell their clients that yes, the loans are discharged, and 5 years down the line surprise! Your loans are still there plus 5 years of unpaid interest! It's the gift that never stops giving). I would suggest looking into consolidation of your federal and/or private loans away from Sallie Mae. You can also call the servicers of any federal loans you have and ask about repayment plan options. I'm not sure about the forgiveness options based on nursing - it might qualify for public service, but that's a picky program so you'd need to do more research. FelixReynolds posted:Quick question for the wise gurus of this thread- Wow, that's a complicated one! If the funds really did disburse (which legally they shouldn't have if you didn't sign the paperwork - are you sure it was saying the loans went out and not that they're available/have been offered?), then the school can just return them to the Department of Education without an issue. If you do physically attend, the school will need to prorate funds. I'm sorry to hear about your father. I hope he gets better! Baldbeard posted:Quick questions: Yes. What is the program? Is it worth it? Because that's a large chunk of private loans that I would highly recommend avoiding if possible.
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Jan 22, 2014 23:29
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Wiggy Marie posted:Yes. What is the program? Is it worth it? Because that's a large chunk of private loans that I would highly recommend avoiding if possible. It's an Occupational Therapy Assistant program. Program gets you an associates in OT, and allows you to become a certified OTA(ssistant). Tons of jobs right now all over the country for the position, with entry wages around 40-50k. There are community colleges that offer the program for nothing (3-5k), but right now they have 2-3 year wait lists, plus require at least 1+ year of prerequisites. So basically I'm looking at up to a 6 year plan with no debt, or a 2 year plan with quite a bit of debt. The decision is driving me insane because I don't want debt, but I also don't want the field to get saturated before I get in. I'm 25 right now, so I didn't exactly get an early start.
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Jan 23, 2014 04:41
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I'm not an expert, so take this with a grain of salt: do not pay attention to the estimated salary or job prospects provided to you by a school or provider that wants your money. Always do your own research and think critically. My sister wants to be a personal trainer and the folks selling the certification class said she'd start at close to 60k, salaried. Right.
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Jan 23, 2014 15:52
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Baldbeard posted:It's an Occupational Therapy Assistant program. Program gets you an associates in OT, and allows you to become a certified OTA(ssistant). Tons of jobs right now all over the country for the position, with entry wages around 40-50k. What are you doing now? $33k in debt sounds like a lot to get a job paying $40-50k, particularly when it's only an Associate's degree.
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Jan 26, 2014 00:33
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antiga posted:I'm not an expert, so take this with a grain of salt: do not pay attention to the estimated salary or job prospects provided to you by a school or provider that wants your money. Always do your own research and think critically. No no, don't take this with a grain of salt. Take this as Gospel. This is a true statement that I wish I could emblazon across the mascot of every institution. Do not believe the estimates they give you for salaries. Instead, look up their default rate on the DOE's website. This is the percentage of their students who, after leaving the school for any reason, default on their student loans. If that number is high, run far and fast.
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Jan 26, 2014 01:09
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more friedman units posted:What are you doing now? $33k in debt sounds like a lot to get a job paying $40-50k, particularly when it's only an Associate's degree. Right now I'm making < 30k as a retail supervisor. I have about 10k in the bank, so I guess it wouldn't all be debt -- but yeah. I'm basing the salary off of the actual job offers I'm seeing, not the school. If I went off of government salary sites or schools, it would be higher. I've been volunteering in the field for a few months, and have spent the last 6 months doing a lot of research on job opportunities. Seems like something I want to get in to. I'm just faced with this decision of sticking it out through public programs and having to be on a wait-list for ~3 years before entering the program, or being in debt and getting into a private school right away. I hate the idea of possibly being 31 or 32 before I can work as a certified OTA, but I would be able to do it debt free and work the ~3 years while I'm on the wait-list.
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Jan 26, 2014 01:47
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Taking time may suck, but having debt sucks worse. If you're already volunteering/etc., that gives you three solid years of time to continue building experience and getting references. Personally, I would choose the option with no debt. Your future wallet will thank you!
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Jan 26, 2014 02:28
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Well, poo poo. Apparently I had to begin paying my student loans last month and I wasn't even notified, now I'm a day past due on that payment. The thing is, I don't have any money to pay these loans with. Still looking for a job after college. I tried looking through the delay options, and I don't think I can defer most of them. There are six loans total, with 23k in debt. Four department of education loans with two Stafford and two subsidized direct loans, as well as two federal Stafford loans. Is voluntary forbearance the way to go, or do I have another option?
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Jan 26, 2014 18:10
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What about the unemployment deferment?
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Jan 26, 2014 18:47
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Guy Axlerod posted:What about the unemployment deferment? As far as I can tell, that's if you're receiving unemployment benefits, and I don't have those.
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Jan 26, 2014 19:45
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I used economic hardship deferments, which were easy to prove because I'm on food stamps. I believe I also got an unemployment deferment when I first graduated, and I've never collected unemployment benefits, I just legitimately did not have a job. It's worth investigating, at least.
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Jan 26, 2014 20:42
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A lot of the servicers will let you have the first 6 months of the unemployment deferment free, so to speak, so definitely call and ask. You can also use the temporary hardship forbearance (they could call it the verbal forbearance also), or the economic hardship deferment/forbearance depending on your financial situation. In short, you have a lot of options. Don't worry about being a couple of days late, they won't report you to credit yet.
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Jan 26, 2014 21:20
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Baldbeard posted:Right now I'm making < 30k as a retail supervisor. I have about 10k in the bank, so I guess it wouldn't all be debt -- but yeah. Could you begin taking prerequisites at the community college, or are those also wait-listed? At least that way you'd feel like you were making progress while you were on the list. I'm very skeptical of private programs at such a high cost. What are the employment numbers for graduates?
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Jan 26, 2014 23:04
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more friedman units posted:Could you begin taking prerequisites at the community college, or are those also wait-listed? At least that way you'd feel like you were making progress while you were on the list. I'm very skeptical of private programs at such a high cost. What are the employment numbers for graduates? Yeah, that's what I'm doing now. I'm working on prerequisites (to enter the wait-list) while I figure this out. I need to take a bio course, and then 2 anatomy courses. So unfortunately it forces me to split it into 2 or 3 semesters depending on which classes I get in to. Because I already have an AS in Graphic Design, my college district sees me as super low priority for getting into classes. Makes it very hard to get these few prerequisite classes done even though I could blast them out in a single semester if I could. At the private school, there's a 92% Graduation rate, 81% Employment rate, but only a 57% graduate-on-time rate (yikes?). Overall, I think doing it through public programs will be better. I'm just super worried that in 5-6 years when I graduate I will totally miss the job boom that is happening in the field. It would be such a huge potion of my life spent on an Associates degree. Other 2-year medical programs such as X-ray tech, Cardiology tech, Respiratory Therapist, etc.... all had similar booms and then got over-saturated. I guess the good news is the scarcity of school options in my state for this program would slow that down.
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Jan 26, 2014 23:45
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I love that out of the over $10k student loan payments I made in 2013, my actual total loan amount dropped only about 1/4th of the payments (IBR+6 figure student loans). Wish I could have spent that other (nearly $10k) on about a million things (that all would have helped the economy but whatever! america!) Really wish there was some kind of federal dollar cap on student loan interest. (which is on the big list of things that will never happen)
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Jan 27, 2014 06:49
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mitztronic posted:I love that out of the over $10k student loan payments I made in 2013, my actual total loan amount dropped only about 1/4th of the payments (IBR+6 figure student loans). Wish I could have spent that other (nearly $10k) on about a million things (that all would have helped the economy but whatever! america!) Just wait... It gets worse, if you have a good job you (60-80k) you can't even deduct interest nor use any tuition credits. Oh yeah, and if you had to take grad plus loans, it's a 8.5% interest. I've posted a few times in here, I've got 205k on a 30yr repayment which will be about $17k year in payments (1450/mo). I just wish rates were at like 4% or something. Getting a college degree isn't a promise of being rich and people can't afford 7%+ rates on an entry level job.
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Jan 27, 2014 14:52
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It is only a $2500 deduction as well, even if you pay way more in interest. Limits are $75k for an individual, $155k for joint filling on your modified gross income.
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Jan 27, 2014 16:02
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spwrozek posted:It is only a $2500 deduction as well, even if you pay way more in interest. I should be signing the papers to consolidate my private student loans this week. Much better interest rate, much better customer service in general, I'm super excited about this.
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Jan 27, 2014 16:27
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Last two years I have more than doubled the cap. If the government wanted to actually do something to help people they would allow full deduction of interest of student loans.
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Jan 27, 2014 17:14
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So I just found out that summer tuition at my university is much higher than spring and fall tuition (I'm not sure by how much, they've not posted the actual costs yet), and I'm thinking I might want to get a loan. Does summer have to be filed on the 2014-2015 FAFSA, or can I file a 2013-2014 one?
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Jan 27, 2014 19:24
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Pinball posted:So I just found out that summer tuition at my university is much higher than spring and fall tuition (I'm not sure by how much, they've not posted the actual costs yet), and I'm thinking I might want to get a loan. Does summer have to be filed on the 2014-2015 FAFSA, or can I file a 2013-2014 one? This actually depends on whether the school considers summer part of the previous or next school year. Most schools consider it the end of the school year, which means you can use the 13-14 FAFSA, but there are some who consider it the beginning, so you'd need to file for 14-15. You'll need to check with the school to see how they treat summer session.
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Jan 27, 2014 21:23
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I feel like I should be able to figure this out but ... My husband is still in school -- it's grad school, and he's going to be there, presumably forever (another 2-3 years). He's taken out a LOT in student loans, but we've stopped the bleeding and are now paying tuition out of pocket. But, his federal loans are still in deferment because he's still a student. I'd like to start paying down some of this debt. Both of them are at the same ridiculously high grad school interest rate, and are about 50/50 in terms of subsidized and unsubsidized. My question is, assuming the service (NelNet) allows me to pick the specific loans I am paying $ towards -- does it make more financial sense to pay down the subsidized loans, or the unsub? I feel like I can make a case for either - so I could really use some help here.
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Jan 28, 2014 19:46
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Eris posted:I feel like I should be able to figure this out but ...
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Jan 28, 2014 21:27
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That's what I think too ... but what about trying to knock out loans before they have a chance to accumulate interest?
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Jan 28, 2014 21:41
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You should start paying on the unsub loans as much as possible, because those are the ones still accruing interest. Same for any GradPLUS or private loans he might also have.
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Jan 28, 2014 21:42
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