Mecca-Benghazi posted:

I qualify for the 20k relief since I got Pell grants but I only have 3k left since I accelerated loan payoffs, alas!* I really didn't think he'd do it. Congrats to those who are gonna have a huge chunk of debt wiped out

* Biden if you're reading this and want to just give me 17k in cash I'm listening

Upgrade posted:

If you’ve voluntarily made payments since the pause (Feb 2020) you can request a refund for those payments

Mecca-Benghazi posted:

Called up my student loan servicer, Great Lakes, on hold for half an hour. I was armed with the amounts I wanted refunded (I paid ~1.1k since March 13, 2020, which is the cutoff), but when I got through, I said I wanted a refund of the money since the student loan deferrals started. The guy was like "sure, looks like it's these two payments, I was gonna ask if you wanted PSLF, but it's not worth it for this amount, and you want the refund for the 10k forgiveness?" (I didn't say a word about the forgiveness but I imagine they've been getting a lot of calls)

So easy peasy to get a refund for payments since the pandemic kicked off if you have the time to sit next to your phone for half an hour.

BonoMan posted:

According to this NYT article, FFEL loans are definitely not in the running for cancellation (which we had sort of assumed, but not directly known).

Gonna consolidate I guess.

edit: forgot link https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/...lled%20F.F.E.L.

Eric Cantonese posted:

Thanks! These are helpful links.

I still can't help but feel like that Wharton study I linked to was deceptively worded.

Framboise posted:

So I've got some questions.

I finally got into the FSA site and I suppose I did not have any Pell grants, which is really a bummer because I could have sworn I did. But FSA says I don't have any grants, so gently caress me I guess.

However:

1. Is this new PSLF concept where loans are forgiven after 10 years of repayment rather than 20 retroactive? I've been on the "work at a non-profit for 10 years and maybe we'll throw you a bone" plan for about 7 years, collectively, since 2013 when I graduated, but I think I started paying on some of my earlier loans before I even graduated... I think? It's hard to check because all the servicer sites are running at a snail's pace right now.

I started college in 2008 and graduated in 2013. I currently have just about 24k in debt.

After the 10k loan forgiveness, I'd be at 14k. If I knock down that balance to under 12k by sometime next year, would that all be forgiven?

Then again, I haven't paid on my FedLoan since around the time the pause started, so that kind of fucks things up a bit, I think. Not that I can figure it out, I'm having trouble accessing that information now that Nelnet has my loans.

I never stopped paying AES or Navient because I wanted to pay down the interest if at all possible.

2. How is the forgiveness allocated? Like I'd like to wipe out my Navient and AES loans first because gently caress Navient. And that's after getting a refund for every diligent payment I've made since the pause if I can.

Then push whatever's left into the higher interest loans from FedLoan/Nelnet.

Framboise posted:

dear god I don't want to work at this job for 3-4 more years.

Okay, so rephrasing that, if I apply for this IDR plan, is it retroactive in the sense that I've already been paying for nearly 10 years and I can, if I push myself, knock that number from 14k to 12k after the 10k forgiveness? And I wouldn't need to have been at a job I've been miserable at for around 7 years? (2013-2014, left and came back in 2016 and have been back ever since).

I just want this loving dark cloud to stop looming over my head.

Framboise posted:

I could swear I'm in the PSLF, but looking on FSA it looks like my repayment plan is PAYE? I don't understand this stuff, I could swear I signed up for PSLF.

As for AES/Navient, I don't know how to tell if they're govt issued or private issued. I don't think I've ever consolidated though...

yyyyeah this job has been doing tremendous harm to my mental health and I do not know how much longer I can handle it. I've been trying to get a new job but the ones I've been looking at haven't been nonprofits.

Does the PAYE plan count then? That's apparently what my FedLoan ones were under.

I'm not currently on a repayment plan with AES or Navient because they decided I make too much for it, I guess?

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.

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?

Angry_Ed posted:

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

Framboise posted:

gently caress.

They really did everything they could to make this whole system as arcane and incomprehensible as possible for an 18 year old to get suckered into under extreme pressure of future worthlessness. Surprise, I ended up there anyway, just with hefty debt as the cherry on top.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

About to hop on the phone with Mohela.

BonoMan posted:

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.

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.

edit: I think I misunderstood the question.

It's my understanding that under the PSLF waiver, the consolidation loan doesn't count as a "new loan" like it typically does, and the forgiveness is blanket according to the original age of the loan.

quote:

Borrowers with both graduate and undergraduate debt would pay “a weighted average rate.”

Borrowers with graduate student loans WILL be eligible for the new IDR plan.

If you have 50% undergraduate debt and 50% graduate debt, your IDR payment percentage would be 7.5%.
If you had 80% undergraduate debt, your IDR payment percentage would be 6%.
If you have 90% graduate debt, your payment percentage would be 9.5%.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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).

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%?

Tortilla Maker posted:

How does this affect federal loans refinanced through Navient/Earnest?

I’m unclear whether those are considered rebundled private loans?

Crazy Joe Wilson posted:

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)?

Anime Store Adventure posted:

I'm feeling like one of the most unlucky people right now. Would have probably had roughly exactly 10k in loans around 2020 had I not been desperately trying to pay them ahead.

Does anyone know the exact date that you can potentially get a refund for a payment? I made a final $2k payment on my loans Feb 6th 2020 with my whole tax return and some savings. That would be nice to get back, but it feels like I managed to thread the needle of "haha nope."

Anime Store Adventure posted:

Eric Cantonese posted:

Sorry to bug you guys about this, but could someone share the text of this Atlantic piece where Joseph Stiglitz supposedly shoots down the inflation arguments against student debt?

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/biden-student-debt-cancelation-stiglitz/671228/

I'm maxed out with free articles and have now hit the paywall.

quote:

Actually, Canceling Student Debt Will Cut Inflation
Biden’s targeted loan forgiveness will help, not harm, the economy.

By Joseph E. Stiglitz

We want to fight inflation and we want to keep the labor market strong. One of the most important ways to achieve both goals is to forgive a portion of student-loan debt. And yesterday, President Joe Biden announced that he was doing just that—canceling up to $10,000 in student debt for those making less than $125,000 and designating an additional $10,000 in loan forgiveness for Pell Grant recipients. Yet critics are attacking the measure, even at its modest level and with its targeted exclusions and benefits, as inflationary and unfair.

Whatever your view of student-debt cancellation, the inflation argument is a red herring and should not influence policy. Taking that logic to the extreme, canceling food stamps would do far more to reduce inflation—but that would be cruel and inhumane, and fortunately, no one has suggested doing so. A closer look at the student-debt-cancellation program suggests that the new student-loan policy may even reduce inflation; at most, its inflationary impact will be minuscule, and the long-term benefits to the economy are likely to be significant.

Although the broad estimates of the total amount of canceled debt can be big—some reach hundreds of billions of dollars—these figures derive only from budgeting practices for how credit programs like student loans are recorded. The government and budget analysts calculate a number that is known as “the present discounted value of foregone payments.” This corresponds to a current estimated value not of the lost payments this year, but of those in all future years. In other words, this calculation treats all of the losses from debt cancellation as though they occurred right now in a single year (adjusted for inflation)—a far cry from the reality. Such an accounting procedure can be an appropriate practice for thinking about the government’s long-run balance sheet, but it is a very poor guide for understanding what actually happens to people’s spending.

The inflation hawks compound this error by assuming that the indebted students will take their forgiven debt and go on a spending spree, a splurge of such magnitude that they would have to somehow find someone in the private sector willing to lend them the same amount at low interest rates to finance their extravagance. Economic theory says that these individuals will, at most, consider this an increase in their net wealth—I say “at most” because in many cases, these loans would never have been repaid at all. And economic theory also says that an increase in wealth is spent gradually over the course of a person’s life, not all in one year.

The actual amount of annual debt payments that would be reduced now, during this present inflationary episode, will probably run to tens of billions of dollars, not hundreds of billions. The lower number is likely because, again, many of those whose debt is being forgiven would not be making the payments anyway; many people with these debts simply don’t have the economic means to repay them.

The costs of cancellation are also far less than the value to be realized when student-debt payments resume after having been halted during the pandemic. Right now, because of the forbearance put into place in 2020, no payments are being made on government-owned student loans. This policy was essential to stabilize the economy during the pandemic. As part of a larger program of cancellation, the Biden administration would end forbearance; the resumption of payments in January is estimated to be worth more than $30 billion annually.

These numbers are modest relative to the size of our economy. Still, their net effect will be to reduce inflation.

Some of the critics demand that payments should simply resume without any cancellation. That would plunge a large number of student debtors back into immediate financial distress and further loan delinquency. According to analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, just before the pandemic, 11 percent of student debt was either in default or more than 90 days in arrears. Because of pandemic forbearance and other emergency measures, that default rate went to zero for most student debt—though researchers found that student loans excluded from forbearance continued to default, not surprisingly, at a high rate. According to the New York Fed’s survey, once payments resume, we will quickly return to that world: A large segment of people will be unable to service their payments and, in the Fed’s words, “lower-income, less educated, non-white, female and middle-aged borrowers will struggle more in making minimum payments and in remaining current.”

This level of distress is bad for the economy, both in the short run, as we strive for a robust recovery, and in the long run. Having little or no access to credit means that starting a family or a small business, moving, or otherwise building up lives is much harder for so many young people. A growing body of evidence backs up the common-sense conclusion that student-loan debt is linked to people delaying significant life events such as getting married and having children.

This has society-wide consequences. People’s well-being is obviously affected, and so is the economy. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that student debt is associated with weak new-business formation, in particular of new businesses with one to four employees. Given that the rapid increase in the number of small businesses—especially ones founded by Black and brown entrepreneurs—that we saw in 2021 may already be slowing down, we should be looking for ways to support that growth, not undercut it.

Studies of those student debtors who have had the good fortune to get their debt canceled by courts have found that the freedom from loan payments allows people to borrow anew and move around the country to take better jobs. Because continuing to build up our labor force and help people find jobs better matched to their skills is so important, a comprehensive student-loan debt-cancellation program will have a valuable economic upside.

Until recently, the U.S. led the world with high-quality and widely accessible college education. American prosperity and freedom have been tied to innovations such as the land-grant university, the GI Bill, and our world-class public universities. But because that education now comes at an ever-increasing price accompanied by an ever-increasing student debt for so many, our students fall behind before they even start their first jobs. The entire system of supporting and financing higher education needs an overhaul, but in the interim, we need to understand and address the immediate problem—and the Biden administration yesterday took a crucial first step by reducing the debt burden on many struggling American families.

Framboise posted:

If I request a refund for the payments I made to Navient and AES during the pause, will the balance I paid return to the account?

Also, is any of the 10k forgiveness or the refund I'd request going to be taxed? May as well brace myself for next year's taxes if so.

Kangxi posted:

In addition to the blanket relief, it looks like we're still seeing full forgiveness for scam schools and defunct for-profit schools.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/30/westwood-college-debt-cancellation/

The Midniter posted:

When is the "snapshot" taken of the amount of debt that will be forgiven?

As of a few days ago, my wife had a balance of ~$6500 remaining. We had continued paying during the payment pause because we could. We initiated the refund for payments made since March 2020, which will shoot her balance back up to ~$14k. My question is, will the $10k forgiveness hit that $14k number, dropping the balance to $4k? Or will it only apply to the $6500 she had outstanding when the announcement was made?

zimbomonkey posted:

From what I understand NC is going to tax it as well. gently caress me I guess

BonoMan posted:

We'll Christ that's where I moved to!

Womp womp

hattersmad posted:

For those who forgiveness applies to automatically, when are the balances expected to update? I can’t seem to find this anywhere.

Fozzy The Bear posted:

I have $4,000 left on my loan, its with Aidvantage, income less than $125k.

When does it go away? What do I need to do?

Fozzy The Bear posted:

They probably don't have my income on file. I signed up with my email a few weeks ago. Has anyone gotten an email from them?

Harold Fjord posted:

I have a bunch of PSLF eligible loans due to be forgiven. Do my loans that are private or parent co-signed and not psfl eligible get to be forgiven? Who gets to pick where my 10K goes?

quote:

“In October, the US Department of Education will launch a short online application for student debt relief. You won’t need to upload any supporting documents or use your FSA ID to submit your application,” the email said.

It continued, “Once you submit your application, we’ll review it, determine your eligibility for debt relief and work with your loan servicer(s) to process your relief. We’ll contact you if we need any additional information from you.”

Dr. VooDoo posted:

So ones with like Naviant don’t qualify, like they didn’t qualify for the pauses, but FFELP loans held by “DEPT OF ED/GREAT LAKES”, which are on pause cause of the COVID relief act, do still qualify since those are held by the DOE and serviced by Great Lakes? I’m hoping that’s the case cause I already got my 10K refund from greatlakes and had planned on taking out the remainder of my navient loan and credit card debt with it

Cause now I’m a little freaked out. I’m assuming I’m good since I qualified for the refunds for payments since March 2020 from those loans

Dr. VooDoo posted:

So my loans held by greatlakes now no longer qualify? They’re subject to the pause which according to the student aid website says that means they qualify: “All loans eligible for the student loan payment pause are also eligible for relief, including loans held by ED and guaranty agencies.”

Dr. VooDoo posted:

Okay, I almost had a stroke mine is listed as such:




The Navient one never qualified for the pause but the Dept of Ed/GreatLakes one was and that’s because it’s actually held by the DOE and greatlakes just does the servicing, which is why I was able to request the payments I made during the pause back