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Reposting this from my thread in BFC:quote:I have two years worth of Federal Stafford Sub/Unsub loans (at 6.8%), worth about 80k or so. Interest is accruing on the unsubbed portion. I have some money from a much lower interest loan (at 2%) that I'd like to use to transfer some of the loan burden. I just called Discover and found out my loans had been sold to a company called Great Lakes. I called Great Lakes, inquiring whether I could make a payment and apply it towards the principal instead of the interest. The operator told me that's not possible, and any accrued interest must be paid off first. Does that sound right? If that's the case, does it still make sense to use the 2% loan money to pay off the accrued interest?
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Oct 23, 2010 15:10
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Along Utzie's question: I understand that under IBR, the interest on Sub-Stafford loans is subsidized for three years. Does the the subsidized part survive if I consolidate my loan?
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Mar 7, 2012 01:54
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How does the Alternate Declaration of Income form work? I'm going to be graduating soon and want to consolidate my loans under Special Direct Consolidation. I understand that in order to do IBR, I'll have to fill out a form that shows my income. Since I'll only be working for 6 months out of the year, my income for IBR purposes should be half of my actual pay rate. Do I just attach my offer letter to the ADOI form showing my start date?
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Apr 12, 2012 05:50
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blar posted:From my own experience, they will look at your documentation of income and base your loan payments on your gross income as if you will be making that full salary for the entire year. So if your full pay rate is $40,000 they most likely won't consider the fact that you will only actually make $20,000 - your payment will be ~$290. Try arguing with them to base your payments on the adjusted gross income listed on your 2011 tax returns. I have 0 income this year. Should I fill out a 1040EZ showing that for the hell of it? Will that make a difference?
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Apr 14, 2012 16:18
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Question for those that know about IBR: I started residency in June with an income that's about 53k/year. For IBR purposes I sent in a form with my annual income, however my actual income for 2012 will be about half of 53k since I'll only work for half the year. Is there any way for my payments to be based off of half the income? The impression I get from talking to the greatlakes people is no and that I'll have to wait until the next IBR form for 2013, at which point they'll base my payments off of my AGI for 2012 off of my tax returns which seems silly.
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Sep 11, 2012 15:57
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Tyro posted:Why did you do that instead of using last year's AGI? I am about to enter repayment with a $0 payment by doing that... Because I didn't earn any income during my 3rd/4th year of med school and had no tax return.
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Sep 20, 2012 05:11
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Double checking I have this right. I graduated med school back in June. At that time, I consolidated all of my med school loans under special direct loan consolidation and have been paying them under IBR. Unfortunately, one of my Perkins loans through a different servicer didn't get consolidated and is now coming due soon. Correct me if I'm wrong here: my options are to either. 1) Pay this loan off normally 2) Reconsolidate the loan under a new consolidation/eliminating my 6 months or so of "credit" towards IBR/PSLF. As far as I can tell, federal perkins loans are not eligible under IBR unless they're consolidated. Am I wrong here? Thanks a bunch!
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Feb 13, 2013 17:52
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Question about IBR. I re-certify for IBR in August each year. Next year my IBR payments are going to be about 1000/month, since my income for 2015 and 2016 is going to be about 100k. There's a chance that I may do a 1 year fellowship in a high COL area from July 2017 - 2018 and my salary would drop to about 80k/year. When it comes time to recertify in 2017, will they go off of my tax return for 2016 or could I ask them to base my payments off of an income stub for that upcoming year?
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Sep 2, 2015 17:21
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Tyro posted:You can use pay stubs, I think they require two. But they would have to be pay stubs you've already received. You can always rectify early as soon as you're a month into that job, if you want to. There's a separate box for "my circumstances have changed". A month or two isn't a huge deal, but it'd be nice to save a bit/get another cheap year towards PSLF if I can. I just wasn't sure if IBR frowns on decreases in income like that.
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Sep 2, 2015 19:40
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On the topic of PSLF, I started out on IBR and then switched to REPAYE. I've made about 5.5 years worth of payments and have 4.5 years left. My 2017 taxes have me filing single. My 2018 taxes will reflect me getting married and have two incomes. If my REPAYE payments end up significantly higher, can I switch back to IBR?
Residency Evil fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Mar 12, 2018 |
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Mar 12, 2018 18:51
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Mourne posted:I'm not sure if switching from IBR to REPAYE or vice versa will reset the clock on payments. It doesn't, as I understand/I've found written.
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Mar 12, 2018 19:19
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Ancillary Character posted:Would you be doing your taxes "Married, But Filing Separately" to benefit from IBR ignoring your spouse's income? Would you still have a Partial Financial Hardship with the income you'll be reporting for 2018? If you no longer have a PFH, you will not be able to switch back to IBR. I'm not sure which way would be better with regard to taxes. My understanding was that there was no income limit for IBR, and that payments were capped at the monthly payments for a standard 10 year repayment plan.
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Mar 12, 2018 23:51
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:It's bittersweet to note that my application for PSLF has been approved, and with it my servicing company will be switching from Great Lakes (with whom I've had a great, great relationship) to FedLoans or Navient (I actually can't remember which). Sup, PSLF buddy. How are you guys doing taxes in this situation? I have under 5 years left as well, with a "moderate" balance (150k, now up to 180k with interest) left to be forgiven. I'm under REPAYE, with payments at only $1k/month, but I think they're going to go up significantly when I re-apply this fall using 2017 tax information, and even more so when I apply in 2019 using our 2018 married income.
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Mar 26, 2018 14:42
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Yeah, I'm curious as well. My loans are on IBR, hers are not, but she's repaying them aggressively and they should be gone in 2 years.
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Mar 26, 2018 17:27
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So in my situation, if I'm doing IBR and she's not: I need to: 1. Run the taxes for married filing jointly 2. Run the taxes for married filing separately 3. Calculate my IBR payments for MFJ 4. Calculate my IBR payments for MFS 5. See if my IBR payments for MFJ are greater than the tax savings for MFJ than MFS. Does this sound right?
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Mar 26, 2018 18:38
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The Slack Lagoon posted:This is what we do. The most annoying piece is not being able to contribute to a Roth IRA, and not being able to take some deductions (student loan interest deduction) Why can't you contribute to a Roth?
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Mar 26, 2018 19:45
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I think you can still do a backdoor Roth, however.
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Mar 26, 2018 19:52
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Question about student loan repayment: 1. I submit a PSLF employer certification form every year. Mine came back this year and for some reason lists a few loans separately and as having only started making qualifying payments in 2016 (the rest started back in 2012). I'm going to try to clarify and fix this, but if this all works out, could I potentially do two rounds of PSLF? 2. My wife and I both have student loans. She didn't do IBR for her loans and we're going to pay hers off. We're still trying to live the dream with mine. Our combined income puts us over the 10 year repayment plan payments. I'm currently on REPAYE. Which plan should I switch to to minimize payments/maximize forgiveness? IBR?
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Oct 8, 2018 23:38
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Tyro posted:My understanding on #2 is you'll switch to IBR and your payment will be equal to what it would be under the 10 year repayment plan. Gotcha, that's what I seem to remember. For some reason the calculator for the "standard" 10 year plan gives me a repayment amount that's lower than my total due, which seems wrong, although hilarious if true.
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Oct 9, 2018 00:08
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Dik Hz posted:I don't want to get political or debate anything. But how PSLF is handled will likely swing widely between which party controls the executive branch. I see a lot of risk there. Plan accordingly, I guess? Definitely agree. I work for a 501c3 and have been sending in employment certification forms yearly, so I guess I'll hope for the best. 
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Oct 9, 2018 20:56
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For someone that knows, once you no longer demonstrate a financial hardship, the option to switch income contingent plans (specifically, to IBR) goes away, right?
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Oct 10, 2018 14:52
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:Yeah then your only options are different levels of time based repayment. Thought so. Thankfully I think I'm able to sneak myself in. 
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Oct 10, 2018 15:07
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Skull Knight posted:Thanks. In terms of the various repayment options, is there a quick primer / overview of the pros / cons of each one? Or is there a clear cut better option to try to go under? In general, the one that gives you the lowest monthly payment, however there are some situations where you'll want to switch. Unlike IBR, REPAYE, for example, has no cap on monthly payments, which may work against you if you're trying to get the maximum forgiven.
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Oct 16, 2018 16:32
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Huh, I got a message from myfedloans that they miscalculated my pslf payments... In my favor. 
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Apr 5, 2019 16:39
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If this ever goes through, we will feel doubly silly about aggressively paying off student loans, but hey.
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Jun 24, 2019 14:32
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Has PSLF/employment certification improved significantly? I've been hearing horror stories and my annual form was submitted/reviewed/approved within a few weeks.
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Aug 5, 2019 23:44
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spwrozek posted:Meaning you are done with your 10 years? That is where I hear all the issues are at. Actually getting the loans forgiven. No, I have 3 more to go. I was hearing issues with the employer certification forms taking months-a year to process earlier this year.
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Aug 5, 2019 23:51
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Can anyone help me out with some student loan math? Currently, I have 178k in student loans through myfedloans at 6.6%. Unfortunately, 54k of that was originally NOT eligible for forgiveness until it got reconsolidated. As a result, about 124k of my loans are eligible for forgiveness in 2023, while 54k are eligible only in 2027. My loans are at 6.6% right now, and our family income is such that I max out the IBR payment, which comes out to be $1850/month. I have 47 payments remaining for PSLF on the 124k. I have 92 payments remaining on PSLF for the 54k in loans. 47*1850 is 85k, so I'd have about 40k forgiven, after which I'd be on the hook for however much remains of that 54k loan, which would then get paid off, and would be accruing interest at 6.6% all this time. So really, I'm only looking at 40k in student loan forgiveness from this point on, best case. Should I: A) Do nothing now, refinance 54k loan later. B) Refinance the 54k in loans to a private lender now, since loan rates are super low. C) Refinance everything to a private lender and stop worrying about my chances of PSLF. D) ??? Residency Evil fucked around with this message at 16:28 on Sep 5, 2019 |
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Sep 5, 2019 16:21
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:B I think, right? I think so, but right now "forgiveness" is theoretically going to the current debt + accrued interest on 178k, whereas if I refinance/bring the 54k out of that, all of the payments will be going to the 124k portion, right? I'm just trying to figure out what works out best for me long term. Changing jobs, going to private practice, and laughing at myself for being so stupid.
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Sep 5, 2019 18:37
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:
75%, and uh, we don't have kids yet. Wiggy Marie posted:I always hesitate to recommend consolidating federal into private loans, especially on such high balances, but if you're certain you can pay the 54K off quickly, it can save you money. My best advice is to find an amortization calculator and play with all of the potential numbers to plan out savings you can anticipate. This is one that I've used before: https://www.amortization-calc.com Yeah, I hear you. It's tough for me to weigh the idea of: A. Trying to max out PSLF, knowing that it's essentially going to be "only" 40k and I have to pay 54k back at prevailing rates, with the uncertainty of actually getting PSLF in 3 years. B. Just saying "gently caress it," and refinance everything at 2.5%, letting it ride for as long as possible, and not being beholden to my current job if I get tired of it.
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Sep 5, 2019 19:27
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My wife has told me that if you really look inside your soul the satisfaction you get from helping the poorest and most vulnerable more than makes up for all of the money in the world.
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Ugh. Looks like I got my first IBR payment calculation denial email after re-certifying our income with myfedloans. I was thinking this might happen, as this is the first time after getting married/doing taxes/using that information for the IBR payment calculation. We no longer qualify as a partial financial hardship, however it’s my understanding that our payments should be capped at the standard 10 year repayment level. I’m going to give myfedloans a call, but has anyone dealt with this before? Any suggestions (other than go in to private practice)? I want to stay with IBR as the repayment plan rather than REPAYE.
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Nov 13, 2019 07:24
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:The only way you're going to qualify for a PFH is under REPAYE, and why don't you want to switch to it? All your previous qualifying payments still count? Chu020 posted:10% of discretionary income for RE is almost certainly more than the original 10-yr payment. That's the situation we found ourselves in, even with both our loans being taken into account, which won't be the case for him because he's refinanced his spouse's privately. Yeah it’s this. Last year was before we got married and with partial residency income from a few years back, but this year is the first one with “real” numbers. The original 10 year standard repayment plan is the cheapest with the best option for forgiveness. I just spent an hour talking to three separate reps who were all confused. The last one claimed I will switch over to the “IBR permanent standard” plan automatically. Is that the case? Residency Evil fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Nov 13, 2019 |
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Nov 13, 2019 19:45
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alnilam posted:
It's a student loan Christmas miracle!
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Dec 24, 2019 20:50
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thanks!
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whodatwhere posted:I have some questions on my current debt situation. 1. Yes, but I would double check that married filing separately makes sense for you guys. The tax system is set up to discourage MFS, and it's likely that the benefit of a slightly lower repayment will be outweighed by missing out on the tax incentives. 2. Yes, it gets recalculated at the annual recertification each year, and is based on the previous year's tax return. 3. There are several forgiveness programs. There's "regular" forgiveness as well as Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Make sure you read up on the requirements fo reach carefully. Essentially, PSLF requires that you: 1. Work for an eligible non-profit (likely a 501c3) 2. Are under an income based repayment plan 3. Make 120 payments under an income contingent plan "Regular" forgiveness (IBR forgiveness) requires that you: 1. Are under an income based repayment plan 2. Make 20 years of payments Each of the plans are different in how much their payments are each month. Importantly for you, REPAYE is NOT income capped, while IBR (and I believe PAYE) are. Also, you are only eligible for an income driven repayment plan if you have a partial financial hardship. The "game," if you can call it that, is best played when you're under REPAYE/the plan that gives you the lowest monthly repayment during your wife's residency. Then, in the year that you still have a PFH, switch to an income capped repayment plan while you're eligible to do so. THEN, when you/your wife are earning too much to qualify for a hardship, your payments are capped at the 10 year repayment max. This works best if your wife is working for a 501c3/non-profit and can get her loans forgiven at 10 years. Obviously, if you're on a 10 year repayment plan and you're paying the max, the loans are going to end up paid off in 20 years. If your wife ends up working for a private practice/non 501c3, it probably makes the most sense for you guys to refinance with a lender at the currently very favorable rates, pay the loans off, and bag the idea of forgiveness. My wife and I are in a similar position. She played the game "wrong" before we got married and didn't end up under an eligible plan, so we refinanced her loans and paid them off aggressively. I'm played the game "right" and made payments during residency, took a job at a 501c3, and am on track to get some (not all) of my loans forgiven. FWIW, even by playing the game "right" you're still likely going to end up coming out behind with respect to your earning potential by taking a 501c3 job, except for maybe some edge cases with extremely high student loan balances and relatively low paying specialties.
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Dec 29, 2019 21:45
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Chu020 posted:CFPB agrees, payments should be auto-suspended and those months still count toward loan forgiveness programs. This is different than if you look at the FAQ on the forbearance option on FedLoans, but that's based on the executive order from 2 weeks ago allowing anyone to go into forbearance. People have called FedLoans to try to confirm this, but mostly are getting responses of 'we're still figuring this out.' I'm still crossing my fingers, but really hoping it remains true. 
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Mar 31, 2020 12:50
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A question for the group. I have about 170k left in loans eligible for PSLF. 120k of that is eligible for forgiveness in April 2023, while 50k is eligible in 2026 (thanks consolidation). I'm currently in forbearance, but my monthly payments are regularly on IBR, although maxed out at the standard 10 year repayment plan, which works out to about 2k/month. Unless things change, I'll have about 30 qualifying payments left on the larger loan until I'm eligible for forgiveness, after which I'll have approximately 50k left in loans that are eligible for forgiveness in 2026. I'm actually unclear as to what happens then, and if my payment remains at 2k/month and gets completely applied to the 60k balance, or if it proportionally goes down and I may get something forgiven in 2026. Either way, I'm calculating about 60k or so in student loan forgiveness. We've already paid off my wife's med school loans and have no debt other than a mortgage at 3%. If I were to refinance my student loans, I'd choose a variable interest rate loan (currently 0.5% or so) and pay off the loans over 5 years. I have no concrete plans to change jobs (especially now). My question is what the group would do here: would you continue on the IBR/PSLF track, or refinance at historically low interest rates and lose the possibility of forgiveness? I guess I'm having a tough time the calculating the possibility of forgiveness (with all the caveats/problems people have experienced) versus historically low interest rates/the opportunity to not worry about a job qualifying for forgiveness.
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May 13, 2020 14:22
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Tyro posted:I'm fully on the PSLF train personally with about 5 more years to go before eligibility, and my balance is slightly higher than yours. But I'm a government employee and therefore less likely to run into issues of "lol jk your qualifying payments don't actually count" Yeah, I've always worked for academic 501c3s and have been dutifully filing the Employment Certification forms every year without issues, but who knows.
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May 13, 2020 14:44
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Kase Im Licht posted:Where are you seeing a .5% interest loan? That's what Sofi is currently offering for prime borrowers on variable interest rate loans. We previously refinanced my wife's student loans through them and qualified at their best rate, so I imagine we'd qualify for that rate again.
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May 13, 2020 15:04
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Kase Im Licht posted:If I go here I don't see anything close to .5%: https://www.sofi.com/refinance-student-loan/refinance-student-loan-rates/ Before we paid off my wife's loans on Sofi, they were at 1.5%, and that was a few months back. Rates have dropped since then and their top interest rate is at 0.5% currently. For whatever reason, they don't publish their best rates. Yeah, I'm not sure what happens in 2023 after forgiveness, as my payment is on the 10 year plan: does my payment remain 2k with the full amount going towards the 60k loan (in which case it would make sense to refinance then), or does my payment decrease to the current portion that's going to my 60k loan, at which point hey, maybe I can eventually get that forgiven too. And yeah, definitely not touching anything until the fall.
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May 13, 2020 15:50
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 05:33 |
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Dik Hz posted:Truly this tax-payer funded stimulus is helping those most at need. Thank you, I’m also glad the bailout isn’t all going to bankers this time.
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Jun 7, 2020 23:13
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