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I was doing some basic math last night to try to figure out what's most advantageous for me - most of which hinges on whether the new IDR plan will retroactively count prior payments. I've been paying on my loans since early 2013, the whole time in a IDR/IBR plan. I made about 7 years' worth of payments between ~Feb 2013 and March 2020 when the pause started. So, assuming those are retroactive, I could get on the new IDR plan to cap my payments at 5% discretionary income and then only have to make 13 years' worth of payments before I'd qualify for forgiveness. Alternately, after the $10K and reamortization of my loan total, I could afford my monthly payment at the base 10 year payoff rate, but it would still be significantly more expensive than the 5% IDR plan, and paid off in 10 years versus forgiven in 13. So, if I'm doing my math correclty, I don't think I have any real incentive to not go for the new IDR plan, unless I just really want to strike that loan balance completely off my books ASAP (FWIW, my credit score is still excellent even with my current balance so... not feeling a ton of pressure to pay it off ASAP). Of course, this all gets more complicated if enrolling on the new IDR plan resets the clock and doesn't retroactively count past payments. I also need to see if I fall under the more generous PSLF interpretation before the waiver expires. I work at a not-for-profit hospital in a non-clinical role. I always assumed I didn't qualify prior to the Biden admin's waiver but their PR communications keep calling out 'forgiveness for nurses', so I'm not sure if my employer does or doesn't qualify at this point.
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Aug 25, 2022 11:55
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I'm trying to figure out if I am eligible. I paid off my loans in full with a $8900 payment in November 2020. My AGI in 2021 was below $250k (married filing jointly). All my loans were federal and I got Pell grants. My loan servicer was EdFinancial. It seems from this thread that I may be able to get that final payment back, but I'm unclear on how. Do I call EdFinancial? Just be patient and wait for DOE to get their new site up?
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Aug 25, 2022 12:22
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So happy for everyone here and everyone throughout the country who will benefit from this. This will mean wiping out the debt of millions of people, and making the lives of millions more a bit more comfortable. It’s so strange when the government does something good for regular people. I felt the same way during COVID when the government almost eliminated poverty by sending out literal checks. Or when states increased unemployment payments. This is a drop in the bucket for the government, but it’s a drop that will help millions of people. So many regular, working class folk will wake up over the coming months to see that their debt has been wiped out or significantly reduced without even having lifted a finger on their end. Good things are possible!
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Aug 25, 2022 12:49
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Sub Par posted:I'm trying to figure out if I am eligible. I paid off my loans in full with a $8900 payment in November 2020. My AGI in 2021 was below $250k (married filing jointly). All my loans were federal and I got Pell grants. My loan servicer was EdFinancial. Call your loan servicer and ask for a refund of any payments made since March 2020. They have to refund you. Since you're eligible for $20k in forgiveness, ask for every payment during that period back (unless you somehow paid more than $20k during the pause). Afterwards, your new balance will be credited against forgiveness. Congrats on the $8,900+ in cash. Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 12:57 on Aug 25, 2022 |
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Aug 25, 2022 12:55
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When calculating discretionary spending do we lump both spouses incomes together? Or does my wife’s discretionary spending get calculated separate from mine? We just got married last month, and probably would gonna file separately anyways.
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Aug 25, 2022 13:22
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Call your loan servicer and ask for a refund of any payments made since March 2020. They have to refund you. Since you're eligible for $20k in forgiveness, ask for every payment during that period back (unless you somehow paid more than $20k during the pause). I'm still unsure if this applies to my FFELP loan. From what I've read it's kind of unclear. Even if I don't get anything from this (sadly my remaining loans are private), I'm glad that so many people who have it worse off than me will be getting help
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Aug 25, 2022 13:28
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Angry_Ed posted:I'm still unsure if this applies to my FFELP loan. From what I've read it's kind of unclear. A quick and easy way to know is: Did your FFELP loan qualify for the payment pause? If yes, then it 100% does qualify for forgiveness. If no, then there is still a tiny chance, but most likely it does not.
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Aug 25, 2022 13:44
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Framboise posted:gently caress. It sucks that you don't like your current job, but you're actually in a pretty good position. The 3 easiest options are: 1) If PAYE/IBR payments count retroactively to the new IDR, then you can just switch to the IDR payment plan, go work where ever you want, and you'll go from $24k in student loans to $0 in 3 years. 2) If PAYE/IBR payments don't count retroactively to the new IDR, then you are already 70% of the way through PSLF. So, you can find another job that qualifies for PSLF or just stick out your current job for 3 more years and you'll go from $24k in student debt to $0 in 3 years. #3 is probably the worst option financially overall (depending on your income), but: 3) Take the $10k in forgiveness, you're debt is down to $14k. Go take whatever job you want. Switch to the IDR and, if your income is fairly low (less than ~$45k), then you'll just pay a relatively small amount (~$30 or $40 or $0 if your income is less than ~$33k) each month for 10 years and either get it all forgiven after 10 or eventually pay the last 14k off with no interest over the next 10 years. I'd really strongly consider finding another PSLF eligible job or sucking it up at the current one for 3 years. But, if the #1 situation happens and the PAYE/IBR payments do retroactively count, then you're golden and can just do whatever.
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Aug 25, 2022 13:56
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Bread Set Jettison posted:When calculating discretionary spending do we lump both spouses incomes together? Or does my wife’s discretionary spending get calculated separate from mine? We just got married last month, and probably would gonna file separately anyways. Combined if you are married filing jointly. Individually if you are single or married filing separately.
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Aug 25, 2022 13:57
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:A quick and easy way to know is: Did your FFELP loan qualify for the payment pause? If yes, then it 100% does qualify for forgiveness. If no, then there is still a tiny chance, but most likely it does not. Does anyone know if consolidating an FFELP loan from Navient into federal loans allows payment pause retroactively? I'm guessing no, but hoping yes, because I just got around to applying for consolidation.
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Aug 25, 2022 15:28
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Xombie posted:Does anyone know if consolidating an FFELP loan from Navient into federal loans allows payment pause retroactively? I'm guessing no, but hoping yes, because I just got around to applying for consolidation. I think it likely would be eligible for the pause through January 1st, but if you didn't get it consolidated until after July 1st, 2022, then you wouldn't be eligible for forgiveness.
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Aug 25, 2022 15:29
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IMO the PSLF process is horribly documented and a little confusing. I have yet to find any single source of information that says things like “do this, then this.” Seems like maybe all the processes (application and loan consolidation) can be done in parallel? That’s what I’m doing now, and hope it doesn’t gently caress my chances up. My story is I consolidated my loans in 2007 and it turns out after the fact it’s the “wrong kind of loan” to qualify for PSLF, so I’ve applied for re-consolidation through MOHELA. DoE says the application was sent to MOHELA (I did t last month) but as yet MOHELA’s site has no record of me whatsoever. I’m guessing I just gotta trust the wheels are turning.
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Aug 25, 2022 15:32
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I have about $45k left on my loans split almost evenly between undergrad and grad school loans. Since march 2020, I've paid about 3 grand on undergrad loans, then when i heard there might be forgiveness, i started paying on my graduate loans only, figuring they wouldnt be forgiven. Im also a pell grant recipent, which i think means that im about to have almost all my undergrad loans forgiven. Is it worth calling my provider and asking for a refund on the post-March 2020 undergrad payments, then reapplying that money to my graduate loans? Or is that unnecessary, since (i think?) the 20k pell forgiveness covers grad and undergrad loans? Eason the Fifth fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Aug 25, 2022 |
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Aug 25, 2022 15:46
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:I think it likely would be eligible for the pause through January 1st, but if you didn't get it consolidated until after July 1st, 2022, then you wouldn't be eligible for forgiveness. Is there anything to document this yet? Because I'm trying to consolidate right now. I know if you got the loan after July 1st it doesn't count. But surely that doesn't take into account consolidation? My loans are from 20 years ago. About to hop on the phone with Mohela.
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Aug 25, 2022 15:48
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Eason the Fifth posted:I have about $45k left on my loans split evenly between undergrad and grad school loans. Since march 2020, I've paid about 3 grand on undergrad loans, then when i heard there might be forgiveness, i started paying on my graduate loans only, figuring they wouldnt be forgiven. Im also a pell grant recipent, which i think means that im about to have all my undergrad loans forgiven. If they are actually split evenly and you're about to get $20k forgiven, then it might be slightly mathematically better to get the refund and apply it to the grad loans, but honestly, it isn't going to make a huge difference. If you are able to get them both on the IDR payment plan by January 1st (not clear when the new IDR payment plan is going to be available, but they said before the pause ends), then it won't really make any difference at all.
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Aug 25, 2022 15:51
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BonoMan posted:Is there anything to document this yet? Because I'm trying to consolidate right now. I know if you got the loan after July 1st it doesn't count. But surely that doesn't take into account consolidation? My loans are from 20 years ago. Which part? I am 99% sure that if you get a consolidation loan, that it is considered "a new loan" and if you got it after July 2022, then it won't be eligible for forgiveness. If you consolidate, you usually lose your timely payment incentives or interest rate reductions you may have had on the original loans because it is considered "a new loan," so I would assume it works similarly here. If Mohela is able to confirm otherwise, then please let us know and share in the thread. I'm assuming they work the same as they usually do, but there may be an exception for this that wasn't on the fact sheet. Thanks!
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Aug 25, 2022 16:00
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:If they are actually split evenly and you're about to get $20k forgiven, then it might be slightly mathematically better to get the refund and apply it to the grad loans, but honestly, it isn't going to make a huge difference. Great, thank you.
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Aug 25, 2022 16:02
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Which part? I am 99% sure that if you get a consolidation loan, that it is considered "a new loan" and if you got it after July 2022, then it won't be eligible for forgiveness. Will do. There phone system isn't really working at the moment lol. To be expected. But my thought process is that you can still get into the new PSLF rules if you consolidate your FFEL loan to Direct before October 31st. So I'm hoping there is some sort of similar action for this. Because that would be really lovely to say "too late!" on the day of announcement and not give folks a chance. Especially since there is a "your FFEL loan ~*~*~*~*maaayyyyy*~*~*~*~ qualify" feature.
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Aug 25, 2022 16:03
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The Cubelodyte posted:DoE says the application was sent to MOHELA (I did t last month) but as yet MOHELA’s site has no record of me whatsoever. I’m guessing I just gotta trust the wheels are turning. Mohela took over PSLF servicing literally this month, so it’s not too surprising that things are backlogged. My loans were transferred to them, and when I log in, it just tells me that I won’t have valid info until 9/3. I had also screwed up by not consolidating my loans immediately, and the first set of PSLF changes directly affected me. I actually have 120 payments completed, but there’s a 3-year period that hasn’t been reviewed yet. Really hoping that gets done soon.
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Aug 25, 2022 16:28
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Which part? I am 99% sure that if you get a consolidation loan, that it is considered "a new loan" and if you got it after July 2022, then it won't be eligible for forgiveness. This is usually true and will be in the future, but the PSLF waiver allows consolidation until Oct 31 without losing earned payments towards PSLF. edit: I think I misunderstood the question. It's my understanding that under the PSLF waiver, consolidation created this year doesn't count as a "new loan" like it typically does, and the forgiveness is blanket according to the original age of the loan. I can't imagine them bothering with baiting and switching the forgiveness after doing the the PSLF waiver to encourage consolidation. It would be more difficult and worse optics for them to do that than just provide the forgiveness. Xombie fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Aug 25, 2022 |
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Aug 25, 2022 16:34
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BonoMan posted:Will do. There phone system isn't really working at the moment lol. To be expected. That's not a totally unreasonable assumption to make and they might be doing that. But, they haven't mentioned one way or the other and most of the information is in summaries because they haven't put out the deep dive full description beyond the fact sheet. But, until otherwise, I would assume that they would continue to work the same way. If the loan servicer lets you know differently, then please post and let us know because that would be great and good info to make available. Xombie posted:This is usually true and will be in the future, but the PSLF waiver allows consolidation until Oct 31 without losing earned payments towards PSLF. Yeah, we were talking about whether consolidation after the July 2022 cutoff qualifies you for the $10k/$20k forgiveness if the original loans were from before July 2022, but you didn't consolidate until after.
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Aug 25, 2022 16:52
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Some small updates from new info released today: They had previously said that the 5% discretionary income cap was only for people with undergrad loans, but they clarified that if you have both grad and undergrad, then you can still get lower than the current 10% cap: quote:Borrowers with both graduate and undergraduate debt would pay “a weighted average rate.” https://www.ed.gov/news/press-relea...ition-repayment https://www.studentloanplanner.com/joe-biden-student-loan-plan/ Also, related to the questions from BonoMan: The SF Chronicle says that you may be able to consolidate your FFEL loan into a federal direct loan after July 2022 and still qualify for forgiveness. Not super clear what the exact scenarios are where you can, but that is a quote from a analyst who spoke with the DOE. So, it is definitely possible, at least in some specific instances. quote:However, borrowers may be able to consolidate a commercially held FFEL loan into a federal direct loan and possibly qualify for cancellation, Thompson said. They should contact their servicer. https://www.sfchronicle.com/us-world/article/Do-you-qualify-for-student-loan-forgiveness-What-17396344.php Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Aug 25, 2022 |
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Aug 25, 2022 17:16
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:
Can't read that article but I did just get off the phone with Mohela. The rep said "basically we have the same info you have at this point and don't know a clear answer. BUT I imagine you'll be good for forgiveness if I had to guess and if NOT there will be clear guidance on consolidation coming from the DOE in the coming days/weeks/months." Also he assumed that most forgiveness wouldn't happen before the end of the year. His general feeling though was "I can't imagine they'd leave you guys out in the cold since they gave specific guidance regarding FFELP and PSLF as well." So... it's back to who knows!
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Aug 25, 2022 17:30
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does PSFL apply if the loans have been doing wage garnishments or is that not a recognized payment. a friend of mine is convinced he'll get nothing from it but he's done a decade of public service and literally couldn't afford the loan payment so he let it go to wage garnishment since it was lower than the loan payment. oh and the loan total kept growing since he couldn't afford to pay more than the monthly interest. if nothing else hopefully the amount he owes goes down with the new income caps, and ideally the total amount owed doesn't keep growing anymore.
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Aug 25, 2022 17:45
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Had DOE loans that I refinanced with a private lender in 2020 to drastically reduce the interest rate. Just checked and don't qualify :/
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Aug 25, 2022 18:33
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Relentlessboredomm posted:does PSFL apply if the loans have been doing wage garnishments or is that not a recognized payment. a friend of mine is convinced he'll get nothing from it but he's done a decade of public service and literally couldn't afford the loan payment so he let it go to wage garnishment since it was lower than the loan payment. oh and the loan total kept growing since he couldn't afford to pay more than the monthly interest. I don't know if garnishments count as qualified PSLF payments (I would guess not). But, your friend is automatically back in good standing and out of default on his loan once the payments start back up. So, make sure he knows that and checks out income based repayment to make sure he doesn't default again. Also, it's a little late now, but wage garnishment is usually ~15% of your paycheck. If he signed up for IBR, then it would have been 10%. It wouldn't have done anything about the interest (but, the new IDR payment plan and changes will wipe out any interest not covered by his payment). Also, each month of the pause counts towards PSLF. So, he's got almost 3 years baked into his PSLF count from that. I would get him to look at how many PSLF payments he has completed. It's not fun to hear, but he kind of screwed himself by letting it go to default. Not only would the payment have been lower if he signed up for IBR, but if he has 10 years worked at a PSLF job, then it would have all been forgiven at this point.
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Aug 25, 2022 18:44
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It’ll be interesting to see how all this plays out for consolidated loans. I logged into the FSA site and I can see all the loans I had that got consolidated, but not their original amounts, only the amount of the consolidated loan. I’m sure they have the record but I can’t see what my mix of undergrad/grad debt is anymore.
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Aug 25, 2022 18:49
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Here's something I wasn't aware of. When doing IBR, *even if your income doesn't qualify you for a payment reduction*, your payments still count towards forgiveness. I was a little confused and in 2019 when I reapplied I got a letter stating I wasn't available for reduction because of my income. So I stopped reapplying for IBR because... what's the point? Well when I was on the phone today he was like "no we're going to resign you up today... even if you aren't getting the reduction, being enrolled makes those payments still count towards forgiveness." And because of the new rules all of my past payments from 2019 to now will still count against that forgiveness even though I haven't been enrolled. So... yay? Now it's all moot because my loans are on the 25 year forgiveness plan (they old loans) and I'll have them paid off at my current rate before 2030. But still nice to know!
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Aug 25, 2022 18:52
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Is there a link to find out if your loans qualify and if so can we put this in the OP? I have both private and public loans and I am not sure which is which with all the servicers.
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Aug 25, 2022 19:30
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Jaxyon posted:Is there a link to find out if your loans qualify and if so can we put this in the OP? I have both private and public loans and I am not sure which is which with all the servicers. The easiest way to do that is through the official https://www.studentaid.gov site (which will have access to your loan info as well). This will just download a txt file with tons of your loan information, but the most important info should be at the top few lines where it tells the loan type. I'll edit it into the OP
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Aug 25, 2022 19:35
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Two dumb questions, not important enough to call my servicer over ATM but figured I’d ask here amongst knowledgeable people: 1. What exactly is the difference between IDR and IBR? Are they just interchangeable terms or are there specific differences? 2. As mentioned above I’d been doing IBR since early 2013, and I’m pretty sure my payments were being calculated at the old 15% discretionary cap (although to be honest I’m not completely sure - I originally applied, and the servicer just returned a monthly payment rate and I ran with it). The news yesterday kept referencing the existing 10% cap, so would I have needed to specifically reapply for the 10% plan to have my payments capped at that rate instead of 15%? I’m guessing that will be the case for the new 5% plan as well. If anyone has any info, I’d appreciate it. (And yes I’m planning to talk to my servicer soon once the traffic has died down).
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Aug 25, 2022 19:40
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Space Racist posted:Two dumb questions, not important enough to call my servicer over ATM but figured I’d ask here amongst knowledgeable people: 1) IDR is just a generic name for any payment plan that is based on your income. There are several specific IDR plans (like PAYE, REPAYE, or IBR). The new Biden IDR plan doesn't have a name, so it's just being called IDR. IBR is one of the specific IDR plans. IBR and PAYE are both income-driven, but have different factors that determine how long/what your monthly payment is. 2) The existing IBR cap is 10% or 15%. It depends on what age your loan is. I would guess that if you are paying 15% it is because of the age of your loan. If you have PSLF or some kind of forgiveness plan, then it is best to go as low as possible (currently 10%) because you'll get it all forgiven eventually. But, you might not want to pay the minimum because depending on your loan amount/income, you might just be building interest up by taking the lowest payments. The new IDR plan eliminates both of those problems and will make taking the lowest payment the best idea all the time. Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Aug 25, 2022 |
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Aug 25, 2022 19:45
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Thanks!
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Aug 25, 2022 19:51
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Some small updates from new info released today: This seems really good, but I'm not sure about how its worded. I have -only- graduate loans, zero undergrad. Am I stuck at 10%?
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Aug 25, 2022 23:04
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How are u posted:This seems really good, but I'm not sure about how its worded. I have -only- graduate loans, zero undergrad. Am I stuck at 10%? Yep. You still get the increased 225% FPL exempt income threshold and all that jazz, though.
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Aug 25, 2022 23:06
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quote:To address these concerns and follow through on Congress’ original vision for income-driven repayment, the Department of Education is proposing a rule to do the following: OK, someone help me parse this. Most of my debt is from graduate school. And it's significant. So, it looks like I would not qualify for the drop from 10% to 5%. That's fine. But what I'm wondering, is it possible I qualify for the remaining things on this list? The biggest thing for me would be covering the unpaid interest. I'm current on IBR but my payments don't cover the interest. I'm like 7 years in on IBR, which is a 25 year pay off instead of 20... if I'd be eligible for the new program it would be worth switching and "losing" two years worth of credit for payments and getting the interest covered. Edit: Oh looks like this was covered just a few minutes ago. Cool. I'll be very interested in this.
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Aug 26, 2022 03:27
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Been doing some more investigating the past couple days. Here's some hopefully helpful info I've obtained: DoE has a PSLF Help Tool at https://studentaid.gov/pslf/employer-search/search-tool - this allows you to check your employer's EIN to see if they are eligible. [According to the tool, my employers from Dec. 2013 onward *are* eligible. Hot drat!] However, FFEL loans (even federally-held ones from what I gather) aren't eligible for PSLF. You have to consolidate them into a Direct consolidation loan before 10/31/22. Two of my existing loans are FFEL from 2009 (just before the switchover to full-direct) so I'll probably be consolidating these ASAP and pursuing PSLF. For IDR, I've found Ben White's blog to be a good resource, particularly this page about IBR vs PAYE: https://www.benwhite.com/finance/switching-from-ibr-to-paye/ His blog is tailored toward medical students, but still relevant to other borrowers. In particular this was interesting: quote:However, to switch from IBR to PAYE, this annoying thing happens: Obviously we're still TBD on more details from the Biden IDR plan, but I'll be curious if these same limitations apply. The other huge TBD is if existing IDR payments will count toward the 20 year forgiveness on the new IDR plan, or if the clock 'resets' when you switch plans.
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Aug 26, 2022 12:31
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How does this affect federal loans refinanced through Navient/Earnest? I’m unclear whether those are considered rebundled private loans?
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Aug 26, 2022 13:54
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Tortilla Maker posted:How does this affect federal loans refinanced through Navient/Earnest? You can refinance student loans through Naviant that are still federal loans, but Earnest is I believe exclusively private loans. I'd check to see what type of loan you have to make sure. If it was a private refinance of public direct loans, then you likely would not be eligible for forgiveness.
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Aug 26, 2022 14:06
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Will the loan forgiveness be automatically applied to the amounts one still owes on their loans, as in there's no application process to get it to happen? My loans were federal and have been traded between several different loan servicers. Also, I recieved 1 Pell Grant for a small amount back during the Great Recession. Most of my loans were not Pell Grants. Would I only get the 10,000 forgiveness plus enough to cover the Pell Grant portion, or does 1 small Pell Grant qualify you for the entire 20,000 (Or whatever you have left)?
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Aug 26, 2022 14:58
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