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If you did a private refi of the federal loans you could probably get a much lower rate but remember that you lose a lot of benefits with the fed loans. If you have a stable job and are looking to pay them off quickly it might make sense to refi.
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Jun 1, 2016 15:40
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For married folks doing pslf: I just did a comparison of filing jointly/single and the effect on IBR. If we filled jointly (for our a specific case) IBR would increase by about 600/mo, or 7200/year. Filling jointly would save us 200 in taxes. Pretty easy choice to make (for my case) I think.
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Jun 9, 2016 14:54
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Massasoit posted:For married folks doing pslf: I just did a comparison of filing jointly/single and the effect on IBR. If we filled jointly (for our a specific case) IBR would increase by about 600/mo, or 7200/year. Filling jointly would save us 200 in taxes. Yup - if you file jointly, your spouse's income is included in the calculation for your payments. If you're both in IBR, it's doubly lovely.
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Jun 9, 2016 15:58
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I don't think that's true. If you're both in IBR, they take the other person's loans into account as well as their income so your payments don't change. I think they fixed this a few years ago.
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Jun 9, 2016 17:40
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potatoducks posted:I don't think that's true. If you're both in IBR, they take the other person's loans into account as well as their income so your payments don't change. I think they fixed this a few years ago. This is true. However, if you are both on PAYE or IBR and you go MFS you can each deduct the poverty line for a household of 2 in your federal loan payment calculation. Depending on your individual circumstances, that loop hole may or may not save you money over the course of a year.
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Jun 12, 2016 22:52
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I have a question about getting a bank loan to pay off student loans. As of right now I have about $21,000 in student loans. About $8,000 are Unsubsidized Stafford Loans with a 6.8% interest rate, the rest are Subsidized Stafford loans between 3.5-5.6%. I have been making payments on them for about a year now. Recently my parents have told me that they are financially stable enough that, if it were viable, they could take out a bank loan in order to pay off my higher interest Unsubsidized Loans. They have good credit and no debt, though they aren't wealthy. I'm considering going back to grad school in maybe 18 months, which would mean my Subsidized loans would be deferred with no interest if they were the only one's remaining. I also qualify, through a weird tax thing, to just put my loans on forbearance indefinitely at my current work, which is what I would do until I went back to grad school. I realize I would still be accruing interest on my Subsidized Loans if I did that. My question is about bank loans for something like student debt. My parents have never taken out a bank loan for anything other than mortgage and car loans, so they don't know how to do it. Is it reasonable for them to just tell the bank "We want to pay off our sons loans with this money", or would the bank be likely to deny that? And if the loan were roughly $10,000 what sort of interest and repayment period could they expect to have? I know these questions are pretty vague and it's probably a case-by-case scenario, but I've never dealt with this before so I'm just curious.
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Jun 13, 2016 01:01
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Four years in to this hellish nightmare and my loans are half paid off. $84000 to go. Anyone in the medical field having any luck with refinancing anywhere near advertised fixed rates? DRB and Sofi have both come back with 4.5% on loans currently at 6.8%. I have a stable job but based on a couple of loan calculators I've played with the 2.3% interest amounts to a couple grand over the 3-4 years I have left and I'm not sure the loss of federal benefits is worth it.Tequila Sunrise posted:I have a question about getting a bank loan to pay off student loans. I tried this a few months ago but didn't have much luck. Any non-collateral based loan had a higher interest rate than 6.8%. I'm really tired of hearing from them about mortgages and refinancing my nonexistent house too.
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Jun 13, 2016 12:36
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Tequila Sunrise posted:I have a question about getting a bank loan to pay off student loans. I would not suggest taking out a bank loan to pay them off, why not just have your parents pay towards them in your name? That way you keep all of the protections in place. If something were to happen to you, your parents wouldn't have to assume responsibility for the debt, for instance.
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Jun 13, 2016 18:38
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So, based on the IBR calculator, my wife and I would have to pay ~$2000 a month if we file jointly, and ~$1000 if we file separately for her federal direct loans. Her job is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, which means we want to make our payment as small as possible to have whatever's left after 10 years forgiven from Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Is there any reason to file jointly that I'm not thinking of? Also, someone told me that the amount forgiven through the PSLF is taxable? So if we get $60,000 forgiven, we basically add that to our income for that tax year? If that's the case, do we have to save up to make that payment at once, or can we pay that over time? Also, one more. If my wife and I have a child, and I quit my job, IBR calc says our payment would go down to 300. Now if that happens in the middle of the year, can we contact the loan people and make our payments lower, and how long would we have to deal with the $1000 payments usually before the new amount kicks in?
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Jun 13, 2016 21:50
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Iirc PSLF will not be taxed, but the normal 20/25 year forgiveness is. I believe you can contact your servicing company to adjust IBR payments but not 100% sure. As far as mfj/mfs it depends on your tax case. If you find jointly will your tax return be 12k higher? If not, mfs will probably make more sense. Probably consult a tax preparer
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Jun 13, 2016 21:55
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Raimondo posted:So, based on the IBR calculator, my wife and I would have to pay ~$2000 a month if we file jointly, and ~$1000 if we file separately for her federal direct loans. Her job is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, which means we want to make our payment as small as possible to have whatever's left after 10 years forgiven from Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Is there any reason to file jointly that I'm not thinking of? Going MFS will exclude from mortgage deductions and child deductions. Basically run the math both ways. If you don't have any kids and don't own a home you prolly wanna go MFS. Yes, you can contact your SL servicer and have them recalculate anytime during the year.
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Jun 15, 2016 17:28
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On CreditKarma next to one of my student loans it says "Loan Term Ending Soon", so I clicked on it and saw that the term for the loan was 144 months beginning in September 2004. My loans were in grace for about 5 years after that since I was in college, and this specific loan still has a $3000 balance remaining. What happens in September 2016 after the term ends - am I forced to pay the balance in full?
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Jul 5, 2016 14:04
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EugeneJ posted:On CreditKarma next to one of my student loans it says "Loan Term Ending Soon", so I clicked on it and saw that the term for the loan was 144 months beginning in September 2004. My loans were in grace for about 5 years after that since I was in college, and this specific loan still has a $3000 balance remaining.
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Jul 6, 2016 06:13
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I have two loans I'm considering refinancing. One is a stafford loan at 6.21% FIXED with a principal of $20,5000 for ten years; the other is a private loan for $25000 at 4.875% VAR also ten years. I plan on being debt free in about 3.5 years regardless of refinancing. However, it looks like if I refinance both these loans (separately to keep down min. monthly payments) I can get a hybrid 10 year loan at 4.3% fixed for the first five years for each. No ordination fees or anything else that I can see. If I refinance it will save me more than $2k and I'll end payments approximately six months earlier had I not refinanced. I already have a solid job lined up and I don't plan on using any of the government loan forgiveness policies or any income based repayment plans. Is there anything else I should be considering? This sounds like a solid deal to me.
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Aug 9, 2016 18:51
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Fish Shalami posted:I have two loans I'm considering refinancing. One is a stafford loan at 6.21% FIXED with a principal of $20,5000 for ten years; the other is a private loan for $25000 at 4.875% VAR also ten years.
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Aug 13, 2016 00:11
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Hi goons. I need a "small" loan here to cover a small part of tuition+books+contingencies since I'm poor as poo poo and my financial aid isn't what I was told all summer.(They only verified my fall classes' eligibility on Friday, since I was in summer classes until earlier last week, fall is due on 22nd). I'm an independent student in a community college transfer program, and will need a larger loan either next spring or fall when I transfer my credits to 4 year school to get my bachelor's. My main questions are "is this a good idea?" "where should I look?" and "what should I be aware of?" simpletuition is showing only Discover for my college I'm really thinking like maybe a couple grand, just to be safe and potentially pay it off by year's end while working part time(wouldn't this improve my credit score for that bigger loan?) Any advice appreciated, thanks. e: ok nevermind i got all my federal aid back after 3 days waiting around campus and talking to heads of departments Macasaurus fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Aug 19, 2016 |
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Aug 15, 2016 22:26
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Would having a joint bank account in any way impact IBR if you're going to be MFS?
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Aug 17, 2016 14:16
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Massasoit posted:Would having a joint bank account in any way impact IBR if you're going to be MFS?
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Aug 17, 2016 22:45
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I'm lucky enough to not have student loans, but my Fiance has quite a few. I'm trying to figure out our finances. Her situation is that she did a (non-funded) masters program that she had to take out loans for. Now she's starting a (funded) PhD program, so all of her loans are still in deferment. The bad news is that it looks like she'll be making around $1,100 per month (before taxes, health insurance, and student fees), and may need to take out more loans (I'm looking into food stamps now). The (sort of) good news is that she should be eligible for this once she graduates (she's in clinical/counseling psychology): https://www.lrp.nih.gov/ and as a practicing psychologist she should be able to make around 60-80k once she graduates (in 5 years). Here are her loans (total balance is a little over 120k) FFEL subsidized stafford 6% $3,451.39 FFEL subsidized stafford 5.60% $4,500.64 Direct subsidized stafford 4.50% $5,472.79 Direct subsidized stafford 3.40% $5,446.03 Direct unsubsidized stafford 6.80% $2,278.88 Direct unsubsidized stafford 6.21% $22,612.56 Direct unsubsidized stafford 5.84% $21,290.83 Direct unsubsidized stafford 6.80% $2,425.81 Direct grad plus 7.21% $25,218.85 Direct grad plus 6.84% $28,560.65 If the thread has any advice for the best way to manage these I'd really appreciate it. I'm a post-doc right now making about 42k per year, which after taxes, retirement/roth IRA contributions, and health insurance means I take home around $2200 a month, so I have a bit I can contribute towards her loans, but not a huge amount (also we live apart which means we each have our own rents + utilities). I should hopefully be making a bit more in around 2-years (in general, I'm fairly good at keeping to a budget, have an emergency fund, etc.). Does it make sense for me to make smallish contributions ($100-$200 per month) to her unsubsidized loans while they are in deferment, or should I wait and see how the NIH loan repayment program works out once she graduates? Or if anyone has any other advice I'm all ears. FWIW I'm 29 and she's 26. Neurostorm fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Aug 21, 2016 |
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Aug 21, 2016 17:51
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My advice is to say that if you work at a college or university your job isn't nearly as secure as you think it is, even if you have tenure. Keep that resume fresh, these insane education costs are just not sustainable for much longer.
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Aug 21, 2016 20:30
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Neurostorm posted:I'm lucky enough to not have student loans, but my Fiance has quite a few. I'm trying to figure out our finances. Her situation is that she did a (non-funded) masters program that she had to take out loans for. Now she's starting a (funded) PhD program, so all of her loans are still in deferment. The bad news is that it looks like she'll be making around $1,100 per month (before taxes, health insurance, and student fees), and may need to take out more loans (I'm looking into food stamps now). The (sort of) good news is that she should be eligible for this once she graduates (she's in clinical/counseling psychology): https://www.lrp.nih.gov/ and as a practicing psychologist she should be able to make around 60-80k once she graduates (in 5 years). PAYE/IBR.
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Aug 21, 2016 20:49
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Neurostorm posted:I'm lucky enough to not have student loans, but my Fiance has quite a few. I'm trying to figure out our finances. Her situation is that she did a (non-funded) masters program that she had to take out loans for. Now she's starting a (funded) PhD program, so all of her loans are still in deferment. The bad news is that it looks like she'll be making around $1,100 per month (before taxes, health insurance, and student fees), and may need to take out more loans (I'm looking into food stamps now). The (sort of) good news is that she should be eligible for this once she graduates (she's in clinical/counseling psychology): https://www.lrp.nih.gov/ and as a practicing psychologist she should be able to make around 60-80k once she graduates (in 5 years). Maybe I'm wrong, but from my experience with student loans, your fiance has dug a hole so deep she won't get out without some sort of loan forgiveness. If you do take IBR/PAYE (which you pretty much have to, because you guys can't afford a standard repayment schedule), your payments likely won't cover the interest anyway. Your $100-$200/month now won't change that. You might as well save it for any rough patches ahead.
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Aug 27, 2016 17:45
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Going back to school, I have a credit card ($18,000 limit) with about $4500 balance on it, a student line of credit (9500) that I haven't used yet, and just got Canada federal and Alberta provincial student loans for the current year. Interest on purchases and cash advances for the credit card are the same except cash advances accumulate interest immediately and purchases after one month. Should I drop all of my student loan bucks I'm getting onto that credit card to clear as much as possible off the credit card, and pull out cash advances when needed for rent etc? Or should I trade all the credit card debt to the line of credit? Some combination!?
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Aug 31, 2016 07:10
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Out of curiosity, I looked over one of my my student loan original notes it says 'my obligation to repay all loans made under this note will remain in force even if I become totally and permanently disabled or die.' thats pretty sweet
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Sep 7, 2016 22:27
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I'm working helldesk and my deferment expires in either November or December (I know, I need to check). I'm uncertain whether I will be able to pay the 10 year plan. I'm currently making $33000/yr with a lot of medical expenses and $5600 in credit card debt. I'm going to chop at least 2000 off of the credit card in this next month due to a windfall, so maybe I should think of it as $3600 by that point. My loans are roughly $20,000, I can't find the minimum payment on fedloan anywhere. Maybe I'm dumb. My thought is that I should go for the graduated payments, since in two years I should be making 50k at minimum, likely 60, maybe 70 if I can get a foot in the developer door. I can put anything extra I have towards the credit card until that's paid off, then a non credit card efund, then probably the loans. Does that make sense for me? I definitely qualify as entry level with a lot more money coming in the next two years.
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Sep 9, 2016 03:10
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22 Eargesplitten posted:I'm working helldesk and my deferment expires in either November or December (I know, I need to check). I'm uncertain whether I will be able to pay the 10 year plan. I'm currently making $33000/yr with a lot of medical expenses and $5600 in credit card debt. I'm going to chop at least 2000 off of the credit card in this next month due to a windfall, so maybe I should think of it as $3600 by that point. My loans are roughly $20,000, I can't find the minimum payment on fedloan anywhere. Maybe I'm dumb. Have you considered IBR/REPAYE? That will cap your monthly payment to 15 or 10%, respectively, of your take-home pay. You can always pay more on top of the minimum on those plans, but you may find them more manageable now until your pay instead vs the standard or graduated. I would suggest calculating what your monthly payment would be depending on your choice of repayment plan, and go from there.
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Sep 9, 2016 03:42
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Unfortunately, that would be pretty much the same thing. It's not necessarily the 10% that's the problem, it's the 10% plus everything else on a budget already stretched tight.
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Sep 9, 2016 06:05
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Call your servicer to discuss options. If a payment plan can't help, you can look at some other type of deferment or forbearance to give yourself time. But use those wisely and mind accruing interest. Make sure to make a financial plan and follow it.
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Sep 9, 2016 12:07
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I currently have about $46k in federal loans at an average of 7.25% being serviced by Navient. I've been seeing ads for Credible, who lists private lenders with whom I could refinance at about 4-4.5%. 3 points is a big improvement and I'm not seeing any obvious catch, but it sounds too good to be true so I'm wary. How likely am I to get screwed if I refinance with a private lender?
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Sep 9, 2016 13:21
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How stable is your employment and do you want to keep federal benefits (income based payments, forbearance, etc)
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Sep 9, 2016 14:16
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Massasoit posted:How stable is your employment and do you want to keep federal benefits (income based payments, forbearance, etc) This is what I've been wondering about. My job is stable for now but there's no telling what the future holds; I'd like to have forbearance as an option if I absolutely need it.
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Sep 9, 2016 14:23
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You won't get close to the advertised rates unless you have very high income and low debt. There have been threads on bogleheads with surgeons who weren't getting the best rates. It'll still save money but probably not as much as it would seem at first glance.
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Sep 9, 2016 16:06
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Wiggy Marie posted:Call your servicer to discuss options. If a payment plan can't help, you can look at some other type of deferment or forbearance to give yourself time. But use those wisely and mind accruing interest. Make sure to make a financial plan and follow it. Yep, we're starting budgeting, and already have stuck with it longer than ever. Are the advisors actually helpful? It looks like my servicer is Fedloan, which apparently has a reputation for being godawful. Strangely enough, my most recent loans are actually at 4.26% and 4.6%, which is nice.
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Sep 9, 2016 16:07
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22 Eargesplitten posted:Yep, we're starting budgeting, and already have stuck with it longer than ever. Are the advisors actually helpful? It looks like my servicer is Fedloan, which apparently has a reputation for being godawful. All the servicers are awful, but keep in mind that a lot of the bitching that goes on is from people that aren't proactive about their loans and then ask the servicers for something they can't provide/is too late for. Fedloan has been pretty good for me, I've just had to make sure i stay on top of communications with them
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Sep 9, 2016 16:54
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I started med school a month ago and my dad just gave me the info for all my undergrad loans that he's been taking care of for me up until this point. I have 4 outstanding subsidized stafford loans with a 3.4% interest rate total, and the fedloan website says they're all in "full-time school deferment" until December 2020, but they all say the next due date is at the beginning of last month. Will interest accumulate on these loans while I'm in school and they're in school deferment? If no, is it better to keep making payments on them while I'm in school or should I wait until I'm working? Since my current school loans have a higher interest rate I think I should wait but I'm not an accountant.
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Sep 21, 2016 00:45
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You need to ask which loans are subsidized, if any. Those do not accrue interest while you're in school but the rest do
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Sep 21, 2016 02:25
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Is there anything I should know or be extra careful about prior to paying off the entirety of my Navient student loan debt, all at once? Obviously they aren't going to be happy because it means they are going to lose out on 6 figures in interest, and I frankly don't trust them at all. My plan is to audit my entire Navient transaction history starting from disbursements to adjustments and fees, and every payment I've made and interest charge they've given me. referencing the original loan documents, audit their interest calculations, and so forth. Some initial calculations I've done based on their excel report online don't match up with what I have on file. I assume it's all done by a computer and accurate but I want to make sure they didn't cross any lines. I'm also going to give them a call to talk to them about how to do pay them off properly, but again, I don't trust them, at all, especially with the amount of money on the line that they are going to lose. mitztronic fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Sep 28, 2016 |
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Sep 28, 2016 20:31
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Oh my god. They don't give a poo poo. This is way too paranoid. They're not losing out on 6 figures of interest. They can just go ahead and put whatever you give them now into the S&P 500 or whatever. Depending on what your interest rate is, they might even make more that way. My wife refinanced >300k away from them and it couldn't have been easier. I'm not saying you shouldn't pay attention to what your payoff amount is. But the idea that they're gonna try to screw you in some way is comical. You're a very small drop in a very large bucket.
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Sep 29, 2016 01:08
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Mistakes happen but it's ignorance, not malice. They don't care enough to actively screw you over, trust me.
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Sep 29, 2016 02:30
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We always congratulated people on paying off their loans, so hopefully that's the response you get. If it's that much, though, I have to ask - are you paying it off with a refinance or otherwise? There's benefits to federal loans that you'd lose, which is the reason I ask. If it's a straight up payoff, then congrats 
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Sep 29, 2016 02:42
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