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So, I have about $30.5k in student loan debt, right here at the start of the grace period. I'm working 25-30hrs/week at $10.25/hr, with a rent of $415 and some other important though much smaller expenses. However, I have about $29k in savings from a death in the family about a year ago, along with a month's expenses saved on the side. Assuming my employment doesn't change, what should I do? My first thought is to pay off the loan in one fell swoop, then focus on rebuilding savings. On the other hand, maybe just pay off the ~$12k unsubsidized loans and the ~$6k high interest subsidized, using the rest to start an IRA, do monthly payments while looking for better work, etc. If I have exactly enough money to erase all my debt, should I just go for it? Or should I try to make a slightly more long-term plan to maintain as much of my savings as possible?
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# ? Jan 21, 2016 10:09 |
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# ? May 14, 2024 03:26 |
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I'd say figure out an emergency fund you're comfortable with. $3,000 - 5,000, maybe more, maybe less. I don't know if you can open an IRA now and contribute for 2015. Probably not, but it's worth checking out. Otherwise, contribute the $5,500 for 2016. The amount leftover should wipe out everything but your subsidized loans, which I imagine are around 3.2%? Emergency fund: $3,000 IRA: $5,500 Leftover debt: $10,000 Seems like a pretty good way to begin post-college life. At that point you could afford to pay off the low interest loan slowly, partly fund both an IRA and 401k, and be set up nicely. Work on increasing that income, though.
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# ? Jan 21, 2016 15:38 |
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A loophole might allow student loan debt to be forgiven if your college misled you about job prospects: http://www.wsj.com/articles/thousan...=trending_now_1 quote:Thousands Apply to U.S. to Forgive Their Student Loans, Saying Schools Defrauded Them
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# ? Jan 21, 2016 16:23 |
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You can contribute to an IRA for tax year 2015 until the filing deadline in April. If it's traditional you may be eligible for a tax break depending on MAGI.
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# ? Jan 21, 2016 17:05 |
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antiga posted:You can contribute to an IRA for tax year 2015 until the filing deadline in April. If it's traditional you may be eligible for a tax break depending on MAGI. Even if it was not opened in 2015? Wickerman posted:Can I contribute to an IRA for tax year 2016 before April 15th? Specifically, I want to roll over my government retirement to a Roth IRA and I want all that to happen for the 2016 tax year. Assuming you have an IRA at Vanguard, Fidelity, etc, there should be an option when you contribute that shows what year you're contributing for. I guess that answers my question about contributing for 2015, except for whether or not there is a rule that the IRA must be open in that year. Moneyball fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Jan 21, 2016 |
# ? Jan 21, 2016 17:09 |
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antiga posted:You can contribute to an IRA for tax year 2015 until the filing deadline in April. If it's traditional you may be eligible for a tax break depending on MAGI. Can I contribute to an IRA for tax year 2016 before April 15th? Specifically, I want to roll over my government retirement to a Roth IRA and I want all that to happen for the 2016 tax year.
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# ? Jan 21, 2016 17:13 |
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This is student-loan adjacent so wondering if anyone has experience with this. My wife and I both have significant student loan debt from law school and are on IBR. This is our first year filing as a married couple. Because of the way our income is imputed it will likely make the most sense for us to do married filing separately. My question is: for folks who have done this, all things being generally equal (income, etc) was your return bigger, smaller, or about the same as when you filed singly? Trying to figure out if we're going to get hosed this tax season. PS - yes, we will run it both ways and see which makes more sense but i'm gonna say there's a 99% chance that filing married separately will make the most sense due to how income is calculated for IBR. More interested in whether i can expect to have a big change in my tax burden.
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# ? Jan 21, 2016 18:26 |
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Moneyball posted:Even if it was not opened in 2015? Should be able to, yeah. Can't say I've been there. Wickerman posted:Yes, you should get an option. My monthly payments default to current calendar year but I can override that
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# ? Jan 21, 2016 21:00 |
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E-Money posted:This is student-loan adjacent so wondering if anyone has experience with this.
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# ? Jan 22, 2016 01:06 |
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Ok goons I've got a doozy here for you. Would appreciate any thoughts. Goal: - I want to apply an education grant towards intro photography classes with the aim of picking up new gear (camera, lenses, etc), and probably learning something. Basic info: - I have $10k sitting in a Segel Americorps Education grant. It can be used for tuition and costs of attendance, and to repay qualified fed-backed loans (including unsubs). - I already have 2 degrees and let's just say completing the next one is not a priority - I have a real job and make enough not to totally gently caress myself if this all goes down in flames - I live overseas so any enrollment would have to be online Considerations: - The only online program I've found is an AS through the Art Institutes (AI) - Segel grants can only be paid directly to the academic institution - Segel grants disperse in two 50% rounds: one immediately and one half way through the academic period - You can only purchase a poo poo camera kit directly from AI. I'm looking for something nicer (and significantly more expensive) - AI includes camera + lens cost in their cost of attendance estimate, but what I'm looking to buy is higher than this number. (Need to appeal for a higher CoA?) With all this in mind, what's the best way to make it happen? At the moment I'm thinking an unsub loan that I over-request and get refunded back to me. Then I use the education award to snap repay the loan? I'm really talking out of my rear end here because I never dealt with loans in undergrad or grad. I'm happy to pay for the class as a gateway to the gear, I'm just having a hell of a time putting the pieces in place. Any thoughts/ideas would be super helpful. The Mantis fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Jan 26, 2016 |
# ? Jan 26, 2016 22:17 |
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Ask the course provider if they could include a higher specification camera and lenses as a part of the course kit. If not it seems to be a lot of effort to go to just to end up with a camera and lenses that you don't want. If there is a way to legitimately charge the course costs and equipment to a student loan that may be a better option. You could get a course kit and use it during the course then sell the camera and lenses afterwards and put the money towards a better camera.
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# ? Jan 26, 2016 23:20 |
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Devian666 posted:Ask the course provider if they could include a higher specification camera and lenses as a part of the course kit. If not it seems to be a lot of effort to go to just to end up with a camera and lenses that you don't want. If there is a way to legitimately charge the course costs and equipment to a student loan that may be a better option. Absolutely agree. The grant is for education-related expenses, they just don't make it easy to access. I guess I'm wondering how most people charge equipment costs to student loans. If Stafford loans are held by/paid to the university, how do people go about buying laptops etc from anywhere but the school store? I know it's a common thing because I've seen people use student loans for way stupider poo poo than actual materials. I guess I just don't understand how they get less-restricted access to the money. Sorry for the rather basic question!
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 05:50 |
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The Mantis posted:Absolutely agree. The grant is for education-related expenses, they just don't make it easy to access. If your loans and grants are more than tuition for the semester the school sends you a check about a week after school starts for the balance. At least when I was in college 8 years ago that is what happened. Basically you could take out more loans to pay for rent and food if you lived off campus.
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 06:00 |
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spwrozek posted:If your loans and grants are more than tuition for the semester the school sends you a check about a week after school starts for the balance. At least when I was in college 8 years ago that is what happened. Basically you could take out more loans to pay for rent and food if you lived off campus. Ahh okay this is making more sense. Thank you. I'll file a new FAFSA aimed at being offered a financial package that includes an unsubsidized Stafford loan.
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 07:12 |
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Just filed my taxes, so I looked to also start the paperwork to renew my income driven repayment plans. I have two loans in repayment: Consolidation Loan of ~$42k Stafford Loans of ~$10.8k The Consolidation loan is IBR, and last year the payment was $130 a month. The Stafford Loans are ICR and last year the monthly payments were $38. The estimated figures for the coming year are $171 for the former and $91 for the latter. Did something change? I've been in the same job for three years, and only received small yearly raises. I don't understand why my total monthly payments will go from $168 to $262 when I'm not making an extra $100 a month. I especially am confused by the ICR loan more than doubling. It will be more than I would pay by choosing Extended Level or Extended Graduated. Should I stick with ICR in this situation? Edit: I did some more digging and apparently my AGI for 2014 was artificially low thanks to how much student loan interest I paid thanks to a garnishment + payments to get the consolidation loan out of default. I also found out there is this new repayment method REPAYE that came out last month? It looks like I can apply for it, and apply using my 2014 AGI. Will doing so also reset the clock before I need to recertify my AGI using my higher 2015 AGI? Any reason that switching to REPAYE isn't the no-brainer that it looks like to me? Sub Rosa fucked around with this message at 11:35 on Jan 27, 2016 |
# ? Jan 27, 2016 10:02 |
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E-Money posted:This is student-loan adjacent so wondering if anyone has experience with this. Depends on how much your loans are. Since you say that you are both on IBR, I assume you both have like large loans. You should probably file together, as the student interest paid tax return is really quite large. It's likely that you two filing separately will only save ~200-300 per month on student loan payments, while costing your 2-3k per year in tax returns (this all depends on how much you guys actually make). This would also affect the tax bomb in 25 years. I also married a law school grad, so I have become somewhat familiar with the loan/tax implications of IBR. My situation is that I'm an engineer who graduated 3 years before my wife finished law school. I had nearly half my loans paid off before we got married. Now she has nearly 6x my original loan debt while also making less than me. Luckily she has found a job with the government, so we will be filing separately and she will be contributing a significant amount of her income to a 401k to reduce the student loan payments further. We can do this because we can live comfortably on my salary. Hopefully in 10 years we will be debt free with a large base in our 401k.
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# ? Jan 27, 2016 17:27 |
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What are some good companies to talk to about refinancing one of my loans? I have a private loan with a horrible interest rate (9.1%) that I've been itching to lower the rate on, and I'm finally at a spot to look into that.
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# ? Jan 30, 2016 22:44 |
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momtartin posted:What are some good companies to talk to about refinancing one of my loans? I have a private loan with a horrible interest rate (9.1%) that I've been itching to lower the rate on, and I'm finally at a spot to look into that. SoFI gets mentioned a lot. I think having a marketable major is pretty important to them though.
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# ? Jan 30, 2016 23:52 |
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I used Citizens Bank. Not the best rate but they allow cosigners. Right now SoFi/Earnest dont really.
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# ? Jan 31, 2016 06:35 |
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Check Darien Rowayton Bank too. Highly suggest you shop around, they don't offer their advertised rates easily.
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# ? Jan 31, 2016 07:51 |
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I have a question on my situation. Currently I have one high interest loan at 10.5% and the rest with not the best interest rates. My highest amount of loans is $18K at 6.55% (although these are government backed) My understanding is SOFI takes into account your weighted average. I currently have around $700 a month to spend this year on my loans - about $150 above the minimum. My plan is to pay off the high interest loan this year about $274 a month while the rest goes to the minimums and a little bit more for the 6.55% loans. Should I look to refinance the lower interest loans to lower the 6.55 down. The biggest benefit is a lower monthly payment and potential for lower interest over time, but I would lose government protection. I am not too concerned about losing my job in the next 3-5 years and all other debt obligations will be gone by the end of this year as well. Navient $7K 3.75% - Adjustable Navient $3K 10.25% - Adjustable Nelnet $18.6K 6.55% - Fixed (but I think the government can raise it?) Nelnet $3K 4.25%-Fixed (but I think the government can raise it?)
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# ? Jan 31, 2016 18:16 |
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You're confusing refinancing with consolidating. In a consolidation, the new rate is based on a weighted average of the old rates and isn't related to current market interest rates. For a refi, the rate is going to be based on today's interest rates, your creditworthiness, and ability to pay (income). The cost of that lower rate for you is losing some or all protections, so read the terms carefully. So it shouldn't matter which loans you choose to refinance. Obviously if you have any rates currently below what they offer for your refi, leave those as they are. E: I could be wrong but those fixed rates should not ever change. They can choose to change the rate for new loans, which is different. antiga fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Jan 31, 2016 |
# ? Jan 31, 2016 18:24 |
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antiga posted:You're confusing refinancing with consolidating. In a consolidation, the new rate is based on a weighted average of the old rates and isn't related to current market interest rates. For a refi, the rate is going to be based on today's interest rates, your creditworthiness, and ability to pay (income). The cost of that lower rate for you is losing some or all protections, so read the terms carefully. Doh! I see - I don't think I will likely qualify for a lower interest refinance, but I just applied with SoFi to check out what they would offer me.
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# ? Jan 31, 2016 18:40 |
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Does actual cost of attendance/tuition matter when the government determines the amount for which you're eligible for an unsubsidized Stafford? Say a program is only $5k, but you need another $4k just to cover qualifying expenses. All other things being equal, is it even possible for you to qualify for $9k of an unsubsidized Stafford loan?
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# ? Feb 1, 2016 21:10 |
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Has anyone switched over to REPAYE and gotten the interest subsidy yet? I finally sat down and crunched the numbers and switching from IBR to REPAYE would only give me a $13 interest subsidy, hardly seems worth it. I guess if my income goes up again I may consider switching.
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# ? Feb 1, 2016 23:19 |
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The Mantis posted:Does actual cost of attendance/tuition matter when the government determines the amount for which you're eligible for an unsubsidized Stafford? They won't let you borrow more than the cost of attendance, so it matters in that sense. However for undergraduates, there are also yearly maximums on the amount of Stafford loans you can borrow, so if the cost of attendance is greater than that, then it doesn't really matter since you'll hit that annual limit.
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# ? Feb 2, 2016 00:15 |
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Hillary Clinton just implied during the MSNBC forum that she wants to replace PAYE with Income Contingent Repayment Prepare for the worst
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# ? Feb 19, 2016 04:52 |
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what hte gently caress does that even mean
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# ? Feb 19, 2016 06:03 |
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http://www.finaid.org/loans/icr.phtml Seems to mean something about helping people going into low income public service careers.
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# ? Feb 19, 2016 06:48 |
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ICR's the one thats been around since the mid 90s, where it's 20% of your takehome (vs 15% for ibr, vs 10% for paye). Actually, its technically " The lesser of: 20% of discretionary income and 12- yr repayment amount x income percentage factor" whatever that means. Basically if she wants to go from PAYE to ICR she wants payments to double and go back to the 25 year timeframe. That being said, do you have a recap/video of what she said? That's a hell of a position to take. mastershakeman fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Feb 19, 2016 |
# ? Feb 19, 2016 15:15 |
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mastershakeman posted:That being said, do you have a recap/video of what she said? That's a hell of a position to take. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4aucLbLWKE 1:34:25 quote:I have a very specific plan to make college affordable, and I also have a really aggressive plan to get student debt down. To enable you to repay, refinance at a much lower cost. And be able to get out of it sooner so you're not paying your student debts 30 years from now. That's ridiculous. I didn't have to do that. I had student debt, and I got it paid back within about 15 years. Because I had it at a reasonable amount. And I want to move more young people into what are called Contingency Repayment Plans - that's a mouthful, but it basically means you pay as a percentage of what you earn, not a fixed interest rate. I want to triple the number of national service jobs. I want to double the amount of education grants that go to people who do national service. So I have a comprehensive plan.
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# ? Feb 19, 2016 16:16 |
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If she wasn't a massive policy wonk I'd simply think she didn't know what she was talking about, especially because ICR went into effect when she was First Lady. Weird.
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# ? Feb 19, 2016 16:55 |
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mastershakeman posted:If she wasn't a massive policy wonk I'd simply think she didn't know what she was talking about, especially because ICR went into effect when she was First Lady. Weird. It's confusing, because on her campaign site she seems to be supporting PAYE: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/college/ quote:Under Hillary’s plan, if you have student debt, you will be able to refinance your loans at current rates. An estimated 25 million borrowers will receive debt relief, and the typical borrower could save $2,000 over the life of his or her loans. But it's vague enough where she could be ditching PAYE all together
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# ? Feb 19, 2016 17:08 |
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Anyone have experience researching the option of taking out new private loans? Most of my graduate school tuition is covered by Stafford direct loans but there are a few thousand extra that I don't want to pay in cash right now. Grad Plus loans have higher interest rates and a horrible origination fee, so I'm looking for other options. To be clear I have good credit and income and don't need federal loan protections, just looking to minimize cost (rate and fees).
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# ? Feb 19, 2016 17:27 |
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I just looked at the new Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) guidelines, and my Stafford loans don't qualify I could consolidate them into a loan that would qualify, but then the clock would restart on the number of years I have to pay off the loan (I've already had my loans in IBR for 7 years). Depressing! EugeneJ fucked around with this message at 15:28 on Mar 5, 2016 |
# ? Mar 4, 2016 23:43 |
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I've seen some things that say all Staffords have to consolidated to be eligible for REPAYE, but that isn't correct. It's only ones made under the FFEL Program. https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/sites/default/files/income-driven-repayment-q-and-a.pdf
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# ? Mar 6, 2016 09:08 |
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Yeah, I'm old and have FFEL loans Also apparently there's no mechanism in REPAYE that will cap your monthly payment at the standard repayment amount like there is with IBR once you start making more money. That's awful.
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# ? Mar 6, 2016 13:28 |
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EugeneJ posted:Yeah, I'm old and have FFEL loans It would still be 10% of your discretionary income, so it should be still affordable.
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# ? Mar 6, 2016 15:20 |
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Ancillary Character posted:It would still be 10% of your discretionary income, so it should be still affordable. But wouldn't all the unpaid interest capitalize if I consolidate?
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# ? Mar 6, 2016 15:56 |
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# ? May 14, 2024 03:26 |
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EugeneJ posted:But wouldn't all the unpaid interest capitalize if I consolidate? It would. Hopping around payment plans is not really a good idea for people who are allowing interest to accrue that they're not planning to have forgiven tax-free.
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# ? Mar 7, 2016 00:06 |