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The Slack Lagoon posted:And yes, I could do a backdoor Roth, but I have a rollover IRA - would I have to backdoor that into a Roth to be able to do trad IRA -> bd Roth?
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Mar 29, 2018 17:41
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Chu020 posted:FedLoan is your servicer if you're applying for PSLF. Though I've still not seen anything about anyone who's made 10 years of payments actually getting their loans forgiven yet, so we'll see. We're 5 years out from forgiveness too. There have been a few people posting in /r/studentloans that have successfully completed PSLF. This thread has a bunch of them: https://www.reddit.com/r/StudentLoans/comments/7akwvv/pslf_debt_forgiveness/  PSLF is real and will (probably, maybe, I loving hope so) happen. 38 more payments to go...
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Mar 29, 2018 18:00
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SiGmA_X posted:Or move the rollover into a 401/403. Can I move it to a 457? Don't have a 401 or 403 now
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Mar 29, 2018 18:48
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The Slack Lagoon posted:Can I move it to a 457? Don't have a 401 or 403 now
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Mar 29, 2018 19:36
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Sirotan posted:There have been a few people posting in /r/studentloans that have successfully completed PSLF. This thread has a bunch of them: https://www.reddit.com/r/StudentLoans/comments/7akwvv/pslf_debt_forgiveness/ Hell yeah! 52 more payments to go...
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Mar 29, 2018 20:36
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Sup I'm considering going to an Ivy League. I will know if I got in by May. I checked out the OP, did some homework and came across this for 104k. This covers the tuition for the place I might go: https://gs.columbia.edu/tuition-and-fees-chart Ideally I only have to take out a loan for a single semester and then pick up an ROTC scholarship that picks up the full ride. That and putting in for every scholarship I can will probably cut down on the actual loans I need+speed up the payment process. But worst comes to worse this is what I'm in for. How do I make sure I don't get screwed/make sure I actually get this money so I can make this ivy league thing happen? e: second question. For private loans do I have to get the ball rolling in advance of a semester or can I have more leeway. Like 1 semester I take a loan for that and if it turns out I need another one for next semester, can I just get another loan through the same provider? Or do I just wanna get one big one and then later go back to them and be like "hey I didn't need all that money take that poo poo back." Viva Miriya fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Apr 1, 2018 |
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Apr 1, 2018 03:26
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I'm not sure what GS is but Columbia, like all the ivys, has generous financial aid: https://cc-seas.financialaid.columbia.edu/how/aid/works Columbia isn't quite as good as some which are free under like 150k family income but it is free under 65k and there's usually some sort of sliding scale above that. I've always found it weird that people talk about an ivy education like it's expensive and will saddle you with loans. They're probably the most affordable schools out there, handily beating most state schools. What's GS? Does it not count in Columbia's typical ivy financial aid policy?
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Apr 1, 2018 05:38
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Amara posted:I'm not sure what GS is but Columbia, like all the ivys, has generous financial aid: GS is where they send the non traditional students. They take the same courses as the main campus so its not a major difference as far as I'm concerned. I'll sit down with their financial aid people as soon as I find out if I'm in. But yeah I assumed I'd be going into shitloads of debt for this. E: https://gs.columbia.edu/financing-your-education I skimmed that but looks like I'll be ok? Viva Miriya fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Apr 1, 2018 |
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Apr 1, 2018 15:00
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I hope people are still checking this thread! So, I'm a giant idiot.  I was going to finally start paying back a federal student loan I defaulted on years back when I was financially unstable and very irresponsible. This morning my HR department sent me a notice of a garnishment order for 15% after taxes, and yep, it's for that loan. After reviewing my budget, though... I'm actually fine with this? It's around the amount I would be throwing at this loan anyway. My budget remains the same because I just finished paying off a credit card for around the same amount every paycheck. We are okay.Is there any advantage to rehabilitating the loan at this point, getting in touch with the loan provider, or should I just let the garnishment do its thing? It'll be paid off in 6 months either way. I tried googling for info, but every article out there is "How To Stop A Wage Garnishment", which is not what I want to do unless a garnishment is detrimental in some other way that I can't see. Also, while we're on the subject, I guess - can I deduct any of this from my 2018 taxes come January?
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May 15, 2018 17:26
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DizzyBum posted:I hope people are still checking this thread! The benefit to rehabilitation is related to credit. Once it's rehabilitated it won't be reported as defaulted monthly anymore. So I would recommend going that route regardless. You'll need to contact the guarantor of the loan to get that rehabilitation going, and they usually have a requirement of X number of payments before it's rehabilitated (but that's a better conversation to have with them).
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May 15, 2018 17:42
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Wiggy Marie posted:The benefit to rehabilitation is related to credit. Once it's rehabilitated it won't be reported as defaulted monthly anymore. So I would recommend going that route regardless. You'll need to contact the guarantor of the loan to get that rehabilitation going, and they usually have a requirement of X number of payments before it's rehabilitated (but that's a better conversation to have with them). That's what I needed to hear. I'll get that handled, then. Thank you!
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May 15, 2018 17:44
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DizzyBum posted:That's what I needed to hear. I'll get that handled, then. Thank you! No problem! Hope it works out!
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May 15, 2018 17:45
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So I'm having a very depressing student loan day and could use... I dunno, not really a pep talk, more like some validation that my line of thinking is at least somewhat sound. I graduated in December of 2009 with a B.A. in history (and, like pretty much everyone with a humanities degree, I promptly went into a completely unrelated field). Long story short I was able to make my loan payments just fine until around late 2012, when I went through a period of unemployment that lasted for about a year and a half. During that time, family (my cosigners) extremely begrudgingly picked up my private loan payments (Wells Fargo), and most of my non-private loan payments (old federal loans that have since been moved to Sallie Mae, and then again over to Navient) just applied the interest to the principle during that time. I know, bad idea, but we're all dumb sometimes. Anyway since then I've had good employment and, barring occasionally being a couple days late here and there, have made all of my payments. My current picture is looking like this: Wells Fargo Four separate loans with two different cosigners (grandpa on one of them, grandma on other side of family for the other three) Total outstanding balance on all four comes to ~$32,000 Navient 10 separate formerly-federal subsidized/unsubsidized loans (5 of each type), interest rates ranging from 3% to 6.5% Total oustanding balance on all of these comes to $19,000 Right now between WF and Navient, my monthly payments (when I pay minimum, which is unfortunately always) total $1000 each month. This represents around 40% of my monthly take-home pay after taxes, and thus also represents 40% of my household budget each month. My Navient minimum payments went up $100 a month starting today, which is sorta what triggered my very depressing student loan day today. I logged into my portal on Navient to see if there's a reason why... and I noticed that today is the first day of a new payment schedule that changes every two years. So not an abnormal increase, I just didn't have it on my radar. Anyway, on the very same page, Navient gives me "Estimated Payoff Dates" for all of my loans. To my surprise (and happiness I guess??), it seems like all of my loans have a target payoff date by January 21st, 2022. My questions here: 1.) Are those estimated payoff dates accurate and realistic based on my monthly minimum payments, or is this some of your typical banker sleight-of-hand? 2.) If I make more than the minimum payments in a given month whenever I'm able, will this shorten the time to my final payment (since I'd be reducing the size of the principle), or would it maintain that payoff schedule and simply reduce my monthly minimums? 3.) Three of those 10 loans have principles below $1000 each (two subsidized, one unsubsidized). Should I target these for payment first, go with the default autopay split, or target the bigger loans first (my largest individual loan at Navient is a $4k subsidized, followed by a $3.5k subsidized)? 4.) Does anyone know if Wells Fargo has a similar area of their online portal that will give me my estimated payoff dates? I can't find it at all on their site. I should be getting a sizable tax return this year, and I'm wondering just how best to spend it to help reduce my monthly loan payment burden. I can either pay off a few of the smaller Navient Federal loans completely, or I can chuck it all into my biggest Wells Fargo loan, since those are the ones with the worst interest rates and monthly interest payments. I guess here the question is ultimately: which loan servicer is more evil and should therefore be targeted for payment first, Navient (with old federal sub/unsub loans) or Wells Fargo? Edit: here's what the "Estimated Payoff Dates" thing looks like on the Navient site for my largest individual loan, a federal subsidized one with a current balance of $4k:  
Drone fucked around with this message at 15:26 on May 21, 2018 |
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May 21, 2018 14:45
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Drone posted:So I'm having a very depressing student loan day and could use... I dunno, not really a pep talk, more like some validation that my line of thinking is at least somewhat sound. 2) You'll want to make sure the providers apply the overpayment to the principle. 3) I would pay off the loan with the highest interest rate first, not lowest balance. 4) No idea regarding WF's portal, but you could plug your figures into an amortization table and figure it out. 5) Why are you getting a sizable tax return from getting married?? Make sure to compute your tax situation and adjust for this year. Good luck!
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May 21, 2018 15:09
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Answered my own question on whether or not the Wells Fargo portal already has the estimated date of the final statement. At minimum payments, my two largest WF loans (each around 11k and at 8.25% and 8.74% interest respectively) will be paid off by September of 2025, while the two smaller WF loans (each around 4.5k) will be finished in January 2022 alongside my Navient stuff. So yeah, deal with the two big WF loans first. I can live with January 2022 if I can make that my overall goal. Any reduction beyond that would just be icing on the cake.
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May 21, 2018 15:16
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Drone posted:Answered my own question on whether or not the Wells Fargo portal already has the estimated date of the final statement. At minimum payments, my two largest WF loans (each around 11k and at 8.25% and 8.74% interest respectively) will be paid off by September of 2025, while the two smaller WF loans (each around 4.5k) will be finished in January 2022 alongside my Navient stuff. You could look into refinancing those private student loans - the interest rates are pretty high. I was in a similar situation to you, refinance the private loans, and dropped the interest rate by about 3.5%. if you have an okay credit score and/or a willing cosigner you could see a decent reduction in interest. Do not refinance federal loans to private loans though! Except for a very few edge cases federal loans should be kept as Federal. As far as the federal loans goes, if you DO want to pay off a smaller one as a kind of accomplishment goal, I would personally lean toward the unsubsidized one (you should focus on higher interest loans as the other poster suggested). If you wanted you could also do a direct consolidation of your federal loans - this combines them all into a single loan (kind of). The interest rate will be the same as before (rate is weighted by balance and rate of all loans). When I consolidated federal loans the subsidized and unsubsizidez we're consolidated separately, so you might have 2 consolidated loans (better than 10 I suppose). The direct consoidation is done directly through the DOE .gov website, do not use a third party to do a federal direct consolidation
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May 21, 2018 15:37
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Drone posted:I graduated in December of 2009 with a B.A. in history (and, like pretty much everyone with a humanities degree, I promptly went into a completely unrelated field). Long story short I was able to make my loan payments just fine until around late 2012, when I went through a period of unemployment that lasted for about a year and a half. During that time, family (my cosigners) extremely begrudgingly picked up my private loan payments (Wells Fargo), and most of my non-private loan payments (old federal loans that have since been moved to Sallie Mae, and then again over to Navient) just applied the interest to the principle during that time. I know, bad idea, but we're all dumb sometimes. Seems like other questions have been answered, so I'm going to quickly zero in here. Were these on an unemployment deferment during this time? If so, interest should only have accrued for your unsubsidized federal loans. If not, you might want to call to see about having that deferment applied in the past. This IS possible, and would save you some on principle since they would also reverse the interest applied to the principle. My only caveat is that while my company did this all the time, I'm not positive other federal loan servicers do, but this IS something you have a right to and should save you at least 6 months of subsidized interest if so. I would suggest looking into this before a Direct consolidation (which I also think could be a good idea).
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May 21, 2018 15:55
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My sisters and cousins and I all just received a lot of money from the sale of a recently deceased uncle's house. It's more than enough to pay my entire student loan balance, and I'd still have much left over. I don't think there's anything else pressing to spend it on. Is this a good idea, and is there anything else I should try or do before I make the payment? Navient services my loans.
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May 21, 2018 18:05
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Dr Christmas posted:My sisters and cousins and I all just received a lot of money from the sale of a recently deceased uncle's house. It's more than enough to pay my entire student loan balance, and I'd still have much left over. I don't think there's anything else pressing to spend it on. Is this a good idea, and is there anything else I should try or do before I make the payment? Navient services my loans. What is the interest rate? If it is the highest interest debt you have that is probably the best use
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May 21, 2018 18:24
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The Slack Lagoon posted:What is the interest rate? The highest interest rate is 6.8%, and I don't have any more higher interest debts. My dad suggested I call and ask if there's any way available for me to get interest forgiven (I did, they said no), and I want to make sure there isn't some other arcane financial thing I can or should do.
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May 21, 2018 19:01
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Dr Christmas posted:The highest interest rate is 6.8%, and I don't have any more higher interest debts.
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May 21, 2018 19:03
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The only thing I want to add is you are spending a lot on loans (40%) and it just went up and will again. If you use your refund to pay off 2 or 3 of the smaller loans those minimum payments would go away and it would allow you to possibly keep the same or lower your payments. Then you will have a bit more breathing room and can determine if the extra money you have is ready to put on the loans or something else pops up. Although the plan to chuck it at the WF will save you interest it seems (and those rates are rough).
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May 22, 2018 00:11
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Amara posted:I'm not sure what GS is but Columbia, like all the ivys, has generous financial aid: Oh thank god because I was terrified I'd be broke trying to figure out tuition. I just got accepted so I was coming back here for advice. Looks like I'm set though.
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Jun 7, 2018 14:06
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PSLF cert was processed. 2 years down 8 to go!
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Jun 7, 2018 14:17
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Amara posted:I'm not sure what GS is but Columbia, like all the ivys, has generous financial aid: Viva Miriya posted:GS is where they send the non traditional students. They take the same courses as the main campus so its not a major difference as far as I'm concerned. I'll sit down with their financial aid people as soon as I find out if I'm in. But yeah I assumed I'd be going into shitloads of debt for this. Viva Miriya posted:
I just met with the student veteran financial aid guy at Columbia GS. Columbia GS has a different pool of money than Columbia College, which is where the normal undergrads go. Good news is that with a Vocational Rehab benefit courtesy of the VA, I can probably get my entire tuition paid for while I get a Master's. The bad news is I don't currently have that set up. Federal Loans, Pell, and whatever scholarships I get from GS will cover a good chunk but I'll be coming out of pocket to make up the difference at least this semester until that kicks in. I got told to expect to pay 29k a semester for 15 credits. Minus the11k I expect to get from grants/internal financial aid/fed loans: that leaves me with18k to get before October to register on time for Spring 2019. TIME TO BECOME AN ESSAY WRITING MILL. I've identified the following scholarships that would probably work for me. SVA Scholarships whenever they are available. It looks like I missed the application period on them but I could probably email these guys and see what they have coming down the pipe next. SVA 12k Scholarship SVA 10k Scholarship Another SVA 10k Scholarship Another SVA 10k Scholarship Pat Tillman Scholarship VFW scholarship I'm not sure I qualify for because I have a general discharge, not a full honorable. Donaldson D. Frizzell Scholarship. Looks like up to 30k for non-contracted ROTC nerds. AFIO scholarships for people who are really into intelligence work. And then there's whatever random scholarships I can dig up on fastweb for a grand here and there. Is there anything else I could be missing out on? I think I covered a good chunk of stuff on my first pass. I'll look some more this weekend but if anyone knows off the top of their head some obvious big money scholarships I might have missed (besides Boren) let me know.
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Jun 9, 2018 05:27
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I'm on income based repayment for most of my loans, but have a private loan that is killing me. I've been putting money aside as a safety net because my job situation hasn't been very stable, but I feel like I would be okay to take that money and pay off the private loan. Is that a bad idea? Will the IRS suddenly question why I have this much money?
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Jun 12, 2018 18:03
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MY ABACUS! posted:I'm on income based repayment for most of my loans, but have a private loan that is killing me. Do you mean that money you have in savings put towards a student loan? As long as the income was declared and taxed through IRS doesn't care, and for IBR it depends on your previous tax year AGI, so it shouldn't matter for IBR. I did something similar with a mix of federal and private loans. Federal are on IBR and I put extra payment toward the private loans. It's not a terrible idea, considering the private loan probably had a higher interest rate
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Jun 12, 2018 18:11
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Yeah, that's what I mean. I'm just worried a large check might raise some red flags.
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Jun 12, 2018 18:19
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MY ABACUS! posted:Yeah, that's what I mean. I'm just worried a large check might raise some red flags. Nah, they don't care about something like that. If it's causing you a lot of trouble and you will still have an emergency fund ready once you've paid it off, I'd suggest paying it off. Otherwise maybe look at upping the payments, or even splitting them into a bi-monthly payment. Make sure you have an emergency fund first though, because you know that as soon as you use it up, you'll suddenly need that money!
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Jun 12, 2018 19:19
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MY ABACUS! posted:Yeah, that's what I mean. I'm just worried a large check might raise some red flags.
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Jun 12, 2018 19:31
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The blistering naivete of "the IRS being worried why someone has saved so much money" is awe inspiring. It's your money, it was earned, accounted for on your W2, taxed and now belongs to you. You can use it to buy a lambo, pay for a student loan or purchase shares of a corporation. You own it.
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Jun 12, 2018 20:12
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:The blistering naivete of "the IRS being worried why someone has saved so much money" is awe inspiring. I assume its because of SARs and people not understanding.
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Jun 12, 2018 20:14
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I've been a really bad person this last month and didn't stick to my repayment goals like I wanted to. Its so easy to fall off the wagon 
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Jun 13, 2018 17:23
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buglord posted:I've been a really bad person this last month and didn't stick to my repayment goals like I wanted to. Its so easy to fall off the wagon Don't beat yourself up! Just give yourself the month and pick up again next month. You got this!
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Jun 13, 2018 20:37
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There are so many weird myths around the IRS coming after you for things that are not taxable, I think it's about 80% libertarian "GUVMINT GONNA GIT YA!" horseshit that some baby boomer said and it just gets repeated on and on for years.
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Jun 17, 2018 18:38
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Started at 28k last september, 19.4k now  I'm not sure if I can meet my Feb 2019 0k goal, but if I can get to at least <10k before the year ends, I'll be happy as a clam. Though honestly, just seeing 20,XXX change to 19,XXX was a pretty big motivator. e: also ive paid back 3 of my 6 loans which total up to the 28k through Nelnet. They've sent me confirmation emails stating that a certain loan has been paid off, but its clear its just an autogenerated notification email. Once this is all done, should I request some signed letter or something stating that my business with Nelnet is done? I've heard stories which amount to "SERVICERS GONNA GIT YA" and I just want to put a clean seal on this once its all said and done. buglord fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Jun 20, 2018 |
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Jun 20, 2018 18:26
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buglord posted:Started at 28k last september, 19.4k now They should autogenerate a letter each time you pay off a loan. I'm sure they can send you something with a signature if you want it but it's not really necessary. We used to do this and the person who signed them was just a supervisor in customer service.
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Jun 20, 2018 20:53
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When I paid off a loan I called the servicer and they said a letter would be sent in 45 days to make sure no other payments came in
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Jun 21, 2018 20:13
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It felt really good to pay off and then receive the all-clear letter.
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Jun 27, 2018 15:01
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Apparently I should find a good financial advisor to plan out these college expenses. Anyone have any experience with this? Do I just walk into the bank and ask?
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Jun 27, 2018 16:08
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