student loan help/info needed

[2talltim]

Ok so my wife graduated 2 years ago, then went back for 2 quarters because of the job market. Then she finally found a job about 6 months ago so she did not keep going to school. So all her student loans were in forbarence until now and the bills have started to roll in, and WHAT A MESS! There are 10 seperate loan amounts with 8 different interest rates, through 4 different finacial instiutions, and 5 seperate payments, that total more than our morgage.

So basicly we/she needs to consolidate them and seems to be haveing trouble. She applied to 2 differnt places online and has gotten no where. So does anyone have any input or options we can try? Id like to get one payment down to about $325-$375 a month. Right now she has loans through AES, Fed loan, Sallie mae and I forget the fourth one right now and non of them will consolidate the others into them.

[TSB67]

I put mine on a 0%-for-a-year credit card way back when. Of course that was in the good ol' days of "predatory lending" when they would just dump $50k in my checking account with a phone call.

[obesityrules]

her best option would be to consolidate all her private loans and pay fed loans separate due to their already low interest rate. You just have to find a lender out there that is willing to consolidate at an interest rate lower than what she is already paying.

[namtugeoj]

her best option would be to consolidate all her private loans and pay fed loans separate due to their already low interest rate. You just have to find a lender out there that is willing to consolidate at an interest rate lower than what she is already paying.

This....

Also if you find a place that will take all of the loans then request IBR (income based repayment) I brought my payments from just under 1k to 200 a month. On the IBR after x amount of years the gov pays your loans off, or so they say. If they are all fed loans then you should be able to consolidate. If private, good luck and pay them off as quick as you can.

[madcat6183]

her best option would be to consolidate all her private loans and pay fed loans separate due to their already low interest rate. You just have to find a lender out there that is willing to consolidate at an interest rate lower than what she is already paying.

As stated twice, this. My Fiance' is a Dr. and she had 0.00 help from her family what so ever so imagine her loans, same boat as you, more than my mtg payment.

However, there wasn't a lower rate for her private loans available either, but some of that is becasue she didn't have much credit right out of college either. We've changed that, but after talking with our financial guy he advised to keep paying the mins and invest the rest of $$ into her IRA, 401K(Which she somehow missed the cutoff date to enroll AGAIN), and just worry about the SL's in the end.

She has her rainy day cash on hand in a savings, her checking, and then IRA, and SL's. The SL's are the least of our worries at any given point. There isn't any reason to pay more than the min on them, unless they have a higher rate than a CCD, or than you are earning on your investments, in our case, we are earning more on her IRA already than paying in interest.

[shittygsxr]

As stated twice, this. My Fiance' is a Dr. and she had 0.00 help from her family what so ever so imagine her loans, same boat as you, more than my mtg payment.

However, there wasn't a lower rate for her private loans available either, but some of that is becasue she didn't have much credit right out of college either. We've changed that, but after talking with our financial guy he advised to keep paying the mins and invest the rest of $$ into her IRA, 401K(Which she somehow missed the cutoff date to enroll AGAIN), and just worry about the SL's in the end.

She has her rainy day cash on hand in a savings, her checking, and then IRA, and SL's. The SL's are the least of our worries at any given point. There isn't any reason to pay more than the min on them, unless they have a higher rate than a CCD, or than you are earning on your investments, in our case, we are earning more on her IRA already than paying in interest.

congrats and lock it down !!!

[Disclaimer]

You didn't start your own business to pay for school? Did you try borrowing money from your or her parents to finance her higher education?

Hopefully you can get out of those gov't loans and get that interest rate dropped through private sector loan competition.

[madcat6183]

I didn't know her before Med School, so nope, but her parents/family didn't contribute at all, which sucks, but so is life. She makes plenty to pay them off early if we wanted to, but if we are making way more in investments than she is paying in Gov't finance charges then that wouldn't be smart.

If we were trying they would be paid off in 3 years, but it wouldn't be of any benefit, he highest rate is about 8%, and thats on a 5 year loan. Which to me is weird, but she has 5yr, 8yr, and 30 yr, loans, the 5yr and 8yr, are the higher 2 rates, the 30 is like 3% or 4% or something, and we are making that on her savings alone, not even looking at the IRA or when she starts her 401K.

Shi**y, wedding is Saturday(29th), locked it up

EDIT:For the record, I didn't have an SL debt due to parents investments and scholarships, and we are using the same guy and already winning.

[bowdog]

I do not have any info that you have not already recieved from this thread but one word of advice is DO NOT MISS PAYMENTS, most of the students loans i had for college reported every 30 days...in the long run it actually made my credit better but if you do not pay on time they can trash your credit.

[shittygsxr]

I didn't know her before Med School, so nope, but her parents/family didn't contribute at all, which sucks, but so is life. She makes plenty to pay them off early if we wanted to, but if we are making way more in investments than she is paying in Gov't finance charges then that wouldn't be smart.

If we were trying they would be paid off in 3 years, but it wouldn't be of any benefit, he highest rate is about 8%, and thats on a 5 year loan. Which to me is weird, but she has 5yr, 8yr, and 30 yr, loans, the 5yr and 8yr, are the higher 2 rates, the 30 is like 3% or 4% or something, and we are making that on her savings alone, not even looking at the IRA or when she starts her 401K.

Shi**y, wedding is Saturday(29th), locked it up

EDIT:For the record, I didn't have an SL debt due to parents investments and scholarships, and we are using the same guy and already winning.

Nice!!! I didnt bag a doctor but my old lady does anesthesia.

We are going to leave her loans as long as possible and keep on investing.

investment return > student loan interest

[mojocho]

All good advice above. i was in similar situation and felt very overwhelmed. But if you chip away at it you can do it. I'm student loan free now and I had over $60k out of college. if you CAN'T consolidate then do what I did in order:

1. pay at LEAST the min payment on each one. (don't hurt your credit)

2. on the highest interest loan, pay as much extra as you can until paid off...OR

3...if you have a loan under $1k-$2k, pay as much as you can each month to pay off then go back to #2.

4. as each is paid off, put that amount on the next loan.

By the last one you'll be making large payments.

So for example, for simplicity sake your 4 loans with Min pay of $50. So that would be a min of $200/month. Let's say can scrap an extra $50.

Loan 1 pay $50

Loan 2 pay $50

Loan 3 pay $50

Loan 4 pay $100

Then when loan 4 is paid off:

Loan 1 pay $50

Loan 2 pay $50

Loan 3 pay $150

fast forward...Loan 1 pay $250...

Once this is all done, then you feel like you got a raise. THis is what i did. I didn't consolidate because the rates on my loans were less than any new loan without any collateral; which i didn't have at the time. At first it didn't seem like I was getting anywhere. Then when the first one was paid off it felt good (which is why i suggest attacking the lowest balance one first for a quick "win").

Good luck and keep at it. Remember a lot of people try to take the easy way out and file bankruptcy, but federal loans are not forgiven. Glad you are making an effort to honor your debts!

[jester3681]

I have my loans paid off at this point, but those folks I know who still have substantial loans outstanding have had similar trouble refinancing and consolidating their student loans. Unfortunately, it's another aspect of the financial collapse of the past few years - money that was once plentiful for educational loans has dried up, making it next to impossible to refinance them. Sorry this isn't really helpful, but just know you're not the only ones in this boat. Hopefully the boat will turn soon and money will be more readily available.

[madcat6183]

Nice!!! I didnt bag a doctor but my old lady does anesthesia.

We are going to leave her loans as long as possible and keep on investing.

investment return > student loan interest

Man I always did like your style, great minds think alike! That profession has some serious $$ in it for sure. I mean I am sure neither you nor I do poorly, but still very helpful lol.

And yeah, I remember in one of the investment thread you and I had basically the same outlook, and same thoughts on the $$ going to pay off debts or investing, and they were pretty much spot on.

[2talltim]

Ok she got some info today about one of the consolidation loans she applied for. I quess one of her loans is considered a personal loan so it can't be included. So they told her to resubmit the app. With out it and it should be approved. So we will see

[madcat6183]

Also, I have heard local CU's are the way to go for this kinda stuff.

[2talltim]

Also, I have heard local CU's are the way to go for this kinda stuff.

good info, never thought of that

[shittygsxr]

Probably the best credit union out there is PenFed . I am not sure about this particular situation but in most instances they are hard to beat

.

[madcat6183]

Yeah I am considering looking into refinancing with the local CU, I can't qualify for the HARP currently due to LPMI, and also may look to cut to a 20year term, I have 24 left, but want to truly look at what would be best in paying it down the quickest to get out of it.

Sorry off topic, but yes, CU's are legit, and IIRC you are from Richland County area, I know Empire is awesome, I had my first car loan, and my parents have some investments directly through them, like rainy day, quick cash if they wanted it.

[redkow97]

I've been down this road, and it's difficult to consolidate student loans that are not of the same type.

In my case, that meant 4 payments to 3 different entities for a while.

subsidized loans cannot be consolidated with unsubsidized loans.

Grad Plus loans cannot be consolidated with anything that isn't also a grad plus loan, etc.

I don't know why, but that's how it is... Beyond just scheduling automatic online payments to avoid missing one, I like your idea of talking to the CU or a bank and basically consolidating yourself.

The draw-back there will be that you can't defer payments ever again once they stop being student loans. You also can't get the income-adjusted payment status (which may be a good thing, because your minimum payment is sometimes less than the interest accrued, and some people are dumb enough to let their balance GROW rather than sucking it up and paying).

Just be sure to explore the implications of whatever you're doing outside the traditional student loan repayment avenues.

[madcat6183]

The draw-back there will be that you can't defer payments ever again once they stop being student loans. You also can't get the income-adjusted payment status (which may be a good thing, because your minimum payment is sometimes less than the interest accrued, and some people are dumb enough to let their balance GROW rather than sucking it up and paying).

.

Isnt it amazing people do this? Like paying the bare min on a CCD balance, which usually equates to 30-35yrs to pay off whatever the balance is at a super high rate. Yes, that's basically how they figure that, 1-3% of the balance, and it will take 30+ years to pay a CCD with min. payments off.

[magley64]

You didn't start your own business to pay for school? Did you try borrowing money from your or her parents to finance her higher education?

Hopefully you can get out of those gov't loans and get that interest rate dropped through private sector loan competition.

[2talltim]

Little update on this. After trying to work with fed loan, sally mae and others and getting no where my wife called these people that he friend told here about. Cant remember the name off the top of my head but they help set up student loans and help people to consolodate current ones. She worked out a 15 year plan for what we wanted to pay. Here is the kicker, today we get the loan papers in the mail and it will be through Fed Loan, what the fuck? Fed loan said they could not help us directly, why does the syatem have to be so dificult? Oh well its all good now I guess.

[2talltim]

If anyone else wants to look it up I just ask the wife she said it was the "william d ford program" through loans direct

[madcat6183]

Glad to hear man, and yes, we are dealing with this too. Just dumb little things, like Amanda couldn't set one of her loans up online for autopay because the system they use would not send her the confirmation email. So after all that work she had to send another check. She then called and turned out the thing was set up even though she never got the confirmation email to confirm...... Double payment whamo.

Or then she found out on another she got a discount for setting up autopay, WTF they never told her that before.

[madcat6183]

If anyone else wants to look it up I just ask the wife she said it was the "william d ford program" through loans direct

You may not want to post this and I understand but what rate were they able to consolidate to? 15 yr term you said but was it a middle of the ground rate or something lower than evertyhing was? Also again feel free to PM me, but did they run wifes credit to do the program, and if so, can you give me a range of her credit, 750+, 700-749, 650-699, etc.

Feel free to PM me.