|
Is Nelnet generally thought to be poo poo? My wife and I have had a terrible time dealing with them. Every person we talk to seems to have a different story, we keep having to re-send documentation, we keep getting the runaround trying to figure out if the requirements have been satisfied to switch to REPAYE, always seeing weird poo poo on her account and having to chase them down for an answer to find out what any of it means... It's just been a miserable experience overall and makes me wonder if switching loan servicers is a thing, or if it's more akin to the US cable market and we're stuck.
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2016 20:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 13, 2024 23:46 |
|
|
EugeneJ posted:But wouldn't all the unpaid interest capitalize if I consolidate?
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2016 06:50
|
|
|
Minidust posted:Is Nelnet generally thought to be poo poo? My wife and I have had a terrible time dealing with them. Every person we talk to seems to have a different story, we keep having to re-send documentation, we keep getting the runaround trying to figure out if the requirements have been satisfied to switch to REPAYE, always seeing weird poo poo on her account and having to chase them down for an answer to find out what any of it means... It's just been a miserable experience overall and makes me wonder if switching loan servicers is a thing, or if it's more akin to the US cable market and we're stuck. They were probably the most straightforward to deal with for me, but I paid off my loans eight years ago and wasn't using any of the alternate payment plans.  Sallie Mae seems to get the majority of the vitriol I've heard.That I know of (would love to be wrong, as SM holds most of my wife's loans) there's no way to change servicers other than consolidate with someone else. And then the other entity could sell your loans right back to the servicer you don't like. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2016 18:28
|
|
|
Ok I'm a bit confused on consolidating: I have 6 individual loans across 3 servicers. One of them is a 6.8% rate , the other are all variables in the 2-3% range. I'd like to consolidate the 2-3% ones only so as to lock the variable rate before it goes up. How do I go about doing this and make sure the 6.8% one isn't included? These are all stafford/gradplus. Also, does consolidating reset the repayment term? I'm assuming yes. mastershakeman fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Mar 10, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2016 17:29
|
|
|
When I consolidated I was given the choice, I could take standard 10 year, I could also just ask for 8 or something like that If I wanted to keep on the same term with all my loans. Also, nothing stops you from telling them to debit more then the normal amount. The only challange there is its not often asked so people will have no clue how to process it (took me 2 hours to bump up my payment $200)
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2016 06:27
|
|
|
mastershakeman posted:Ok I'm a bit confused on consolidating: The rates change on July 1st, so you probably want to get on it sooner rather than later. Consolidating does rest the repayment term. <$20k in loans goes to 10 years. >$20k gives you the choice between 10 years and 20 years.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2016 15:09
|
|
|
Nevermind.
Focacciasaurus_Rex fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Mar 29, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 07:25
|
|
|
Would it benefit me at all to dump a portion of my savings to buy a less lovely car or prepay rent for the rest of the year? I'm starting college in the fall, and I'm not trying to do anything illegal as far as filling out forms for loans/fafsa. I'm just assuming the fact that ive got $20k in the bank is going to net me far less in aid.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 02:44
|
|
|
Has studentloans.gov been working for anyone lately? I've been unable to even fully log in for the last week or so(It redirects me to an account management screen then errors out right after, saying " We are unable to process your request at this time. Please try again later. ) Just hoping it isnt on my end somehow.
mastershakeman fucked around with this message at 20:08 on Mar 25, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 20:06
|
|
|
Quabzor posted:Would it benefit me at all to dump a portion of my savings to buy a less lovely car or prepay rent for the rest of the year? I'm starting college in the fall, and I'm not trying to do anything illegal as far as filling out forms for loans/fafsa. I'm just assuming the fact that ive got $20k in the bank is going to net me far less in aid. Do not prepay rent that is just giving your landowner an interest free loan. I don't know the specifics of how your college's financial aid department works but taking all that money out and hiding it under the couch or prepaying rent with it or whatever else will likely not affect how much aid you get.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2016 21:34
|
|
|
Does anybody know anything about timing on recertifying consolidated, federal loans, or dealing with anticipated future changes in income? I'm on IBR for federal consolidated loans, as is my wife. I usually recertify in the spring/summer. I'm anticipating that my loans will go up by maybe a couple hundred this spring/summer as I had some increases to my AGI in the previous period. However, my wife and I just found out yesterday that we're expecting twins. This is gonna decimate our budget, especially when childcare costs kick in. On paper it looks like we're doing great but we know that all our money is going down a very deep hole very shortly. Am I going to just have to eat higher than survivable payments until the next recert? Or is there some kind of way to communicate with them that this is happening and they can adjust my loan payments based on family size? In the alternative, do I have options to defer my IBR loans? We're basically staring down the barrel of having absolutely no money whatsoever until they are at least 4 and in school. I don't really know how we would make that work without a reduction in our loan payments. Want to stay on my forgiveness plan. If we can and have to defer my payments for a few years and push back the forgiveness date, then that's what we'll do. Will try and call myfedloan this week but I can't imagine that I'm the first person with this problem.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2016 22:12
|
|
|
You can recertify whenever, you don't have to just do it annually. So you can do it on your annual deadline, then re-submit it when your family size increases. Congratulations!
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2016 22:24
|
|
|
Tyro posted:You can recertify whenever, you don't have to just do it annually. So you can do it on your annual deadline, then re-submit it when your family size increases. Oh poo poo that's great news. I honestly don't remember the recert paperwork - but family size is part of the calculation, right? So adding 2 dependents will have a downward effect on my IBR payment amount, but they will still count towards my monthly payment forgiveness count, right?
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2016 23:13
|
|
|
E-Money posted:Oh poo poo that's great news. I honestly don't remember the recert paperwork - but family size is part of the calculation, right? So adding 2 dependents will have a downward effect on my IBR payment amount, but they will still count towards my monthly payment forgiveness count, right? Correct.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2016 23:19
|
|
|
Tyro posted:Correct. Studentloans.gov says the following about family size on their repayment estimator: Family size always includes you and your children (including unborn children who will be born during the year for which you certify your family size), if the children will receive more than half their support from you. Support includes: money, gifts, loans, housing, food, clothes, car, medical and dental care, and payment of college costs. For the purposes of these repayment plans, your family size may be different from the number of exemptions you claim on your federal income tax return. For the PAYE, IBR, and ICR Plans, family size also always includes your spouse. That sounds like I can claim a family size of 4 (include spouse and twins) starting... now! This is like the biggest lifesaver I've ever heard.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2016 19:21
|
|
|
So I'm graduating soon and just coming to terms with how bad my debt is. I've got about 70k across 5 or six loans and I'm pretty clueless as to what first steps I can take. The fafsa site gives me an option to apply to consolidate all these into one loan with around 5.5%. Is this, broadly speaking, a decent idea?
|
|
#
?
Apr 7, 2016 04:24
|
|
|
meanolmrcloud posted:So I'm graduating soon and just coming to terms with how bad my debt is. I've got about 70k across 5 or six loans and I'm pretty clueless as to what first steps I can take. The fafsa site gives me an option to apply to consolidate all these into one loan with around 5.5%. Is this, broadly speaking, a decent idea? Consolidating federal loans doesn't change overall interest rate - the new rate is based on the weighted average of all the loans. It can make managing the loans a bit easier. Keep in mind that consolidating will 'reset' payments for forgiveness if that's something you're aiming for (like PSLF). If you do a consolidation for federal loans make sure it is a direct consolidation through the DOE. If you have any private loans they cannot be consolidated with federal loans. e: federal loans provide nice forgiveness options and payment options. It if possible to refinance and consolidate federal loans into private loans, but you will no longer be eligible for forgiveness. This may make sense for some people to do if they think they can repay the loans quickly and refinancing would give them a lower interest rate. A lot of the stuff is based on specific case - types of loans/interest rate/career field etc. Make sure you look at all potential options before you make any decisions. For example I consolidated federal loans and refinances private loans (from 9.8% down to 5.2%). Hoping to pay off the private loans quickly and have the federal ones forgiven under PSLF and IBR in ten years. The Slack Lagoon fucked around with this message at 17:35 on Apr 7, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 7, 2016 17:27
|
|
|
Is SoFi legit? I'd been getting letters from them in the mail, but the intense skepticism I've gained from being in massive student loan debt made me disregard it as some kind of scam.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2016 15:50
|
|
|
SoFi is legit but if you're looking to refi you should get quotes from multiple lenders. E.g. Darien Rowayton Bank, Citizens, Alliant Credit Union, Sallie Mae (the worst), CommonBond are a few.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2016 16:08
|
|
|
See, I had thought about refinancing or consolidating before, but my dad and stepmother are for some reason convinced that it's a bad idea and that my original lender will charge me fees or something. Then I figured I might should ask people who probably know what they are talking about.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2016 21:51
|
|
|
See my above post - there are advantages and disadvantages for refinancing loans depending on what type of loan it is. If they are private with high interest refi might be a good idea. No reputable lender will charge fees.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2016 21:56
|
|
|
Okay, so I'm looking at SoFi's student loan calculator. Loan Amount - $41,721.92 APR - 10 Remaining Term (months) - 20 My current minimum payment for this loan under my current private lender is $473.36/month; the calculator's estimation for my current monthly payment is $2273, which is way off. What I want from refinancing is to reduce my loan's interest rate and monthly payment, as so far my financial situation is such that, despite having a degree, I'm pretty much forced to keep a factory job that pays $16/hour (with hardly any room for advacement) that I absolutely despise when I'd rather be trying to get my foot in the door practically anywhere else with a somewhat lower paying position that is more satisfying and has greater opportunities for advancement. Furthermore, my father, who set-up my current loan, somehow made the mistake of taking out a variable interest loan when he thought it was actually a fixed interest loan. My interest rate recently increased to 10% from 9.75%, so I'd like to get out of that situation. With this in mind, the SoFi calculator is presenting several possible options (although I have no idea how indicative these are of actual offers): Fixed Interest Rate, 15 year term APR: 5.13% - 7.49% Estimated Monthly Payment: $333 - $387 Fixed Interest Rate, 20 year term APR: 5.38% - 7.74% Estimated Monthly Payment: $284 - $342 The Variable Interest Rate options look even better. I'm hesitant to accept one of those, as I'd always heard the interest can skyrocket, but I've apparently had a Variable Interest Rate loan for years now and didn't even notice, so maybe those fears are exaggerated. Any advice? I'll be the first one to admit that I don't know what I'm doing financially (if I did I wouldn't be in this situation), and I've learned a bit late that one's parents aren't the best source for financial advice. .
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2016 22:58
|
|
|
Interest rates are going up, slowly but surely. Get that fixed rate loan now while you can. Also jesus christ this thread is depressing, I seriously doubt I would go to college if I were 17 years old today.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2016 23:45
|
|
|
I'd absolutely take the fixed rate if you're going to take the full term to pay it, but you can't really answer conclusively until you apply and know what the rates will be.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2016 23:45
|
|
|
I just looked at Citizens Bank's repayment plan examples. It says I can consolidate both my loans for $597/month at 5.19% APR over a period of 20 years. One thing I'm worried about is the fact that I started out going to a much more expensive school, which is why I took out larger loans, but then decided to switch to a much cheaper one later. Would this make a difference?
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2016 02:14
|
|
|
SOFI usually strongly considers your degree type if they will refinance with you or not (on top of credit worthiness). My GF has had success with it and they seem to be a decent company. Your current private loans are terrible. Figure out something to get that rate down for sure. Hopefully the lower payment will allow you to take that fit in the door job and then move up doing what you want to vs factory work. Good luck.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2016 03:09
|
|
|
Is taking someone's degree into account unique to SoFi, or is that standard? For example, would Citizens Bank factor that in?
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2016 10:35
|
|
|
Hexmage-SA posted:Is taking someone's degree into account unique to SoFi, or is that standard? For example, would Citizens Bank factor that in? Citizens kind of factors it in in that there is a higher amount you can refi based on degree. Ba? 90k max. MBA? Up to like 150k
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2016 13:38
|
|
|
Massasoit posted:Consolidating federal loans doesn't change overall interest rate - the new rate is based on the weighted average of all the loans. It can make managing the loans a bit easier. I actually went to try and consolidate my variable loans, and the website seemed to think they should all jump up to 6%+ interest instead of being down around 2-3% (where they are). Is it just a website mixup that's common for folks? I decided not to do anything on it without a bunch more research.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2016 14:05
|
|
|
Are your federal loans variable interest? None of my federal ones were variable so I don't have any experience with that specific case. e: if these are private variable loans it is possible that you may not be able to get them fefid at a fixed rate that is comparable to your current variable rates. The variable rates I had ballooned up to 9% and I was able to refi down to a pretty good rate. If your variable have favorable interest rates it's possible you won't be able to get similar fixed rate, but at some point the rate will be going up. If this were the case it would make sense to keep the variable, but keep am eye on their interest rates and an eye on what you can refi them to, and when you can refi to a favorable fixed rate pull the trigger then. ee: mastershakeman do you know which of your loans are which re: public/private? The Slack Lagoon fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Apr 11, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2016 14:37
|
|
|
I just started to make large repayments to kill off my loans... don't envy me- you should see my credit card balances! (into 0% APR.. I got this) For the first time, I called Great Lakes to ask them to apply a payment to a specific loan, which they said they would. Two weeks later, that loan still shows a higher balance, as they applied the payment evenly. I was told they would back-date it, but nothing yet. I remember similar problems happening to an ex, but this is the first time I've tried it. Is this common?
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2016 05:02
|
|
|
Massasoit posted:Are your federal loans variable interest? None of my federal ones were variable so I don't have any experience with that specific case. Yeah, they're variables from 05-06 and around 2-3% interest. There's one that's fixed that I don't want to include that's 6.8%.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2016 16:00
|
|
|
Moneyball posted:I just started to make large repayments to kill off my loans... don't envy me- you should see my credit card balances! (into 0% APR.. I got this) Never had a problem with this with great lakes. The customer service usually is stellar.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2016 18:08
|
|
|
My credit report is showing more loans from Nelnet than I actually have (three vs. the two I took out). Should this be taken up with them or the credit bureaus?
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2016 16:00
|
|
|
Are there any good refinancing options these days? I've got 8 public loans, totaling ~16000 with an average interest around 4.8 (some are up in that lovely 6.6 range) and I've got a good job and I'm paying the hell out of my loans and it still feels like I'm barely making a dent (getting hit with like $65 a month in interest blows) SoFi is apparently an rear end in a top hat and won't touch balances under $25k in Pennsylvania. Discover will do a balance transfer at 0% interest for 15 months with a 3% fee, so I'd save a few hundred dollars by transferring my higher interest loans over that way but is there anything else out there that's remotely promising?
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2016 21:08
|
|
|
I wouldn't worry about it with those low rates and such a low amount. Just pay it down and be done with it. SOFI is about as low as I have seen for rates but they are variable.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2016 01:17
|
|
|
For those of you who don't follow financial news today we learned that rates are definitely going up this summer, and possibly more times later in the year. It is probably a good idea to figure this out soon and refinance everything if you've been considering that option.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2016 02:21
|
|
|
I'm currently doing grad school in Germany. It seems my plan was entirely poorly thought out, and I'm rapidly running out of money. I still have a few months before I run out, but I need money to cover what will hopefully be my last 3 months here. I had really banked on getting student loans before coming, but no banks would loan to me because I wasn't on the list of schools that are approved for that or something. So now I'm kind of considering getting a personal loan. I don't know if they'll even accept though since I'm unemployed. But is this a good idea? (No, probably not?) Getting more loans seems like a bad idea, and personal loans are probably the worst kind of loans. Does anyone have any experience or advice on these kind of loans?
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2016 21:05
|
|
|
I have two 6.8% student loans: -one is subsidized w/ a balance of about $7700 -one is unsubsidized w/ a balance of about $11,600 I also have a 7.9% (ugh) unsubsidized loan with a balance of about $6000. All are fixed-rate, and all have an expected payoff date of about 2023 (ten year plan) which, just seems so far away and just seems like I pay everything in interest. My monthly payment is about $237 (I have $154 in unpaid interest right now) but I try to pay more when I can, an extra hundred here, an extra hundred there. My questions are: Should I pay the minimums on the first two loans and just focus on reducing the principal for the 7.9% right now? Is there any advantage to refinancing/consolidating these to get lower interest rates? I make about $48k right now and while I expect to make more in the next 3-5 years, I don't honestly know how much more based on my work. I don't anticipate getting much more than mid-fifties or low 60's at best.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2016 14:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 13, 2024 23:46 |
|
|
Earnest came through with a refinancing offer at 4.5% fixed, which beats the hell out of my 6.8% loans I'm pretty happy about this.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2016 15:03
|
|