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I have a bunch of private loans with Sallie Mae that are in a variable rate that is at 2.75% right now. I also have some federal loans which are at a fixed rate of 6.625%. I want to lower this rate of my federal loans. Sallie Mae says that I cannot do this, since it is a fixed rate. When interest rates go down, should I not be able to refinance?
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Nov 3, 2011 15:52
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FogHelmut posted:I have a bunch of private loans with Sallie Mae that are in a variable rate that is at 2.75% right now. I also have some federal loans which are at a fixed rate of 6.625%. I want to lower this rate of my federal loans. Sallie Mae says that I cannot do this, since it is a fixed rate. When interest rates go down, should I not be able to refinance? When interest rates go down to where? Bank borrowing rates can't go much lower, and the federal student loans are fixed in terms of disbursement dates (http://www.finaid.org/loans/scripts/interest.cgi) so a refinance would be a private loan (I'm actually doing this, paid off my student loans which were going to be a 6.X% with a 4% loan, which is private and dischargeable). You need substantial collateral to get a loan lower than the student loan rates though, unless you want to make a short term end run around a credit card check at ~2-3% up front but that's unlikely to net you much anyway.
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Nov 3, 2011 16:03
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baquerd posted:When interest rates go down to where? Bank borrowing rates can't go much lower, and the federal student loans are fixed in terms of disbursement dates (http://www.finaid.org/loans/scripts/interest.cgi) so a refinance would be a private loan (I'm actually doing this, paid off my student loans which were going to be a 6.X% with a 4% loan, which is private and dischargeable). You need substantial collateral to get a loan lower than the student loan rates though, unless you want to make a short term end run around a credit card check at ~2-3% up front but that's unlikely to net you much anyway. That's what I mean, interest rates are down from when I graduated in 2007. What is "substantial" collateral? I have about $22,000 in federal loans.
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Nov 3, 2011 16:09
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Wiggy Marie posted:That's correct, you will automatically show as accepting the Pell. The amount scheduled for the semester should be deducted from the amount you have due. The bursar's office is the one you would need to call and ask about amounts due after aid. Just in case anyone has the same issue: The Pell Grant is automatically deducted from the tuition. If you have a specific due date for your tuition, it is waved until the grant goes through. At that point, the student is billed by the school, and a new due date is set. 
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Nov 3, 2011 16:33
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FogHelmut posted:I have a bunch of private loans with Sallie Mae that are in a variable rate that is at 2.75% right now. I also have some federal loans which are at a fixed rate of 6.625%. I want to lower this rate of my federal loans. Sallie Mae says that I cannot do this, since it is a fixed rate. When interest rates go down, should I not be able to refinance? The only way to bring federal loan rates down is to consolidate them with other low-interest rate federal loans. The interest rates on student loans are fixed by the fed and do not fluctuate annually anymore. They used to, but they were fixed a few years ago. If you consolidate your loans and you have no lower rate, it will actually INCREASE your interest rate because it is a weighted average plus a small percent of the total.
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Nov 3, 2011 16:42
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FogHelmut posted:That's what I mean, interest rates are down from when I graduated in 2007. What is "substantial" collateral? I have about $22,000 in federal loans. Right, the federal government basically hosed students hard locking in a 6-8% rate just as real borrowing rates were about to crash. As far as collateral, if you or someone who trusts you completely owns a house, HELOC rates will be ~3-4%. Otherwise, talk to a credit union about loan options if you have alternative collateral but you're looking to fully secure the lender against default to get the best rate.
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Nov 3, 2011 16:54
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I'm transferring from my state university to another in state university. Will my non-subsidized stafford loans have to be paid back if I transfer or do I still get to keep the money for at least 10 years?
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Nov 7, 2011 06:08
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Kneel Before Zog posted:I'm transferring from my state university to another in state university. Will my non-subsidized stafford loans have to be paid back if I transfer or do I still get to keep the money for at least 10 years? Where are you getting this 10 year number from? Your unsubsidized stafford loans will accrue interest even while in school, but as long as you are at least a half time student at an accredited school you will not need to repay them. 6 months after you graduate or your status falls below half time you will need to start making payments.
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Nov 7, 2011 16:00
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What happens if I pay my fall 2011 tuition, and then apply for FAFSA during the middle of the semester and accept the aid for this fall that is already paid for and next spring? I accepted the unsubsidized and subsidized with a dispersal date of 3 months ago listed for this product fall 2011 semester. Do they just cut me a check for the whole fall 2011 accepted amount? This is grad school and I am fully independent of that matters.
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Nov 7, 2011 18:38
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Effexxor posted:The big problem with the new website is that they just launched it without doing ANY testing. When you launch a website that's been thoroughly tested to deal with 5 million borrowers and decide that 20 million borrowers will be fine with it, it's a problem. And it's one that's going to take a long time to fix since they didn't do anything to prevent errors from happening. Also, you should be able to press a blue button with a triangle in it next to your groups to be able to access your different groups. Their website is totally hosed up and its aggravating. I signed in a day before my due date to find that my automated payment was not set up any longer. So I set it up, and since it told me it may take one to two billing cycles to get going, I went ahead and did a manual payment just in case. Of course, looking at my checking account the next day, there were two payments made and I paid double what I owed for the month. Their phone support is non-existant during all this and they are getting so many calls they just have a "we are aware of problems, call back later" message on their support line. They don't even let you leave a voice mail. 
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Nov 7, 2011 20:35
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Kneel Before Zog posted:I'm transferring from my state university to another in state university. Will my non-subsidized stafford loans have to be paid back if I transfer or do I still get to keep the money for at least 10 years? Baquerd is correct, as long as you're still in school at least half time you don't have to repay them till you're out of school. Sirotan posted:Their website is totally hosed up and its aggravating. I signed in a day before my due date to find that my automated payment was not set up any longer. So I set it up, and since it told me it may take one to two billing cycles to get going, I went ahead and did a manual payment just in case. Of course, looking at my checking account the next day, there were two payments made and I paid double what I owed for the month. Yeah, it's really bad. ACS, aka Direct Loans, has a long history of screwing things up royally, which is why they no longer service Total and Permanent Disability claims and why they lost their government contract in the first place. They're pretty much the epitome of all that is wrong with bureaucracy, and this is coming from someone who likes big government and bureaucracy quite a bit. We're getting some of their calls for some random reason and I feel terrible telling these people who were so hopeful about actually getting a hold of someone that there's nothing I can do for them. Oh, and a helpful hint about their call center, if you hang on the line for 10 minutes, someone HAS to take your call. So keep that in mind the next time you call in.
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Nov 8, 2011 00:45
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Effexxor posted:Baquerd is correct, as long as you're still in school at least half time you don't have to repay them till you're out of school. I was under the impression that Direct Loans actually IS the Department of Education. Why are my federal loans still with them if they lost their contract? They're not one of the four servicers. Is it is just that they WILL lose my loans haven't yet?
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Nov 8, 2011 04:59
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Has anyone had problems with IBR adjustments not being applied after the change from dl.ed.gov to myedaccount.com? I graduated in May and enrolled in IBR over the summer, reducing my monthly payment from around $600 to around $125, according to the old site. I took a look at the new site tonight since my grace period is supposed to end today, and when I looked at the auto-debit option it shows my first payment as being the original amount, not the IBR amount. Has anyone else had this happen? I'm hoping it is just an error that'll be taken care of when my first statement actually posts, but considering how the new site is a total piece of poo poo, I doubt it.
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Nov 8, 2011 06:17
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Carlton Banks posted:Has anyone had problems with IBR adjustments not being applied after the change from dl.ed.gov to myedaccount.com? I'd call them. It's most likely a system error that temporarily kicked you off of IBR. I think it's pretty easily fixable, though, once you point it out to them.
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Nov 8, 2011 16:27
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Namirsolo posted:I'd call them. It's most likely a system error that temporarily kicked you off of IBR. I think it's pretty easily fixable, though, once you point it out to them. Oh yeah, I'm planning on calling. Just hoping it won't be a big pain. Like if they lost the records of me enrolling in IBR causing me to have to start over again. We will see!
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Nov 8, 2011 16:56
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I'm a first time college student attending a community college for about $4k a semester, working towards an associate's. After Stafford loans, I have about $2k remaining a semester I would take loans for ($8k total for four semester for tuition). I live on my own and commute to school. I'm absolutely new to this process, but, how much should I apply for a loan for and through what bank/provider? Sorry if these are broad questions, I'm very new to all of this and am not quite sure what I am doing.
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Nov 8, 2011 18:53
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Namirsolo posted:I was under the impression that Direct Loans actually IS the Department of Education. Why are my federal loans still with them if they lost their contract? They're not one of the four servicers. Is it is just that they WILL lose my loans haven't yet? Direct Loans is essentially the Department of Education, ACS is the name of the group who handles a lot of their loans. The thing with ACS is that they were so incompetant that the federal government did take the contract from them. However, given the fact that they service 20 million student loans, the Department of Education couldn't just shut them down. They basically gave the contract to Nelnet instead, and the bulk of loans that Nelnet gets are from ACS, as the Dept of Ed is slowly weaning ACS of borrowers. In the mean time, ACS is desperately trying to shape up to get the contract back by completely overhaulling their website and even the systems that they process on in hopes that they can take on new loans and not watch their current loans to handed out to the other companies. I doubt ACS can be simply shut down given their amount of borrowers and the fact that it would put at least 5000 call center reps out of jobs, but where it can, the Dept of Ed is trying to downsize. Doctor Claw posted:I'm a first time college student attending a community college for about $4k a semester, working towards an associate's. After Stafford loans, I have about $2k remaining a semester I would take loans for ($8k total for four semester for tuition). I live on my own and commute to school. I'm absolutely new to this process, but, how much should I apply for a loan for and through what bank/provider? Sorry if these are broad questions, I'm very new to all of this and am not quite sure what I am doing. No prob, students loans are clear as mud! First off, the Department of Education is the only entity able to disburse federally subsidized student loans so you are going to need to fill out your FAFSA, if you haven't already. If the money you can get from that isn't enough, you can talk to your financial aid officer about the various private loans that the school will accept, but I'd suggest going the federally subsidized route whenever possible.
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Nov 8, 2011 22:01
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quote:No prob, students loans are clear as mud! First off, the Department of Education is the only entity able to disburse federally subsidized student loans so you are going to need to fill out your FAFSA, if you haven't already. If the money you can get from that isn't enough, you can talk to your financial aid officer about the various private loans that the school will accept, but I'd suggest going the federally subsidized route whenever possible. I did do the FAFSA and don't qualify because apparently my mom makes too much, which is hilarious to me but I digress. So, my school will point me in the direction of a private loan? I met the Financial Aid people at my school and all they recommended was my parents take out a Parent Plus school loan for me.
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Nov 8, 2011 23:44
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I'm sending out applications as a transfer student (I went to school in 2009 but had to drop out when my folks didn't pay.) I'm kind of testing the waters, putting some applications out and seeing what kind of financial packages come back. My goal is to target schools that have very high gifting profiles, versus loans. Ivy league schools are a reach for me, but they aren't entirely unrealistic. Cornell has a %100 gifting profile after EFC is considered. Is there a website where financial aid packages are available in a spreadhseet or something? I have a chart that I got from a financial aid seminar I went to, but it only has a dozen or so schools on it as an example. The lecturer said this information was all publicly available, but I'm not sure where to look.
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Nov 9, 2011 02:32
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I got a credit report alert that said my Direct Loan was now closed, with a zero balance. Too bad I can't somehow leverage that. In reality, I have at least 5 years of payments left.
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Nov 9, 2011 12:28
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How do I find what interest rate I'm paying on each of my loans? The nslds website tells me the principle and what I've paid, and on some of the websites for my loans I can't find what the interest they're charging.
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Nov 10, 2011 19:25
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How often does myfedloan turn down IBR applications? I don't have a job (if I did, I wouldn't bloody need IBR) so I just sent them a copy of my bank statement showing all my money going to McDonalds and the local grocery store, and a signed letter saying that I don't have a job to bring in income. Am I going to get a denied form coming in soon?
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Nov 12, 2011 00:52
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CraigK posted:How often does myfedloan turn down IBR applications? I don't have a job (if I did, I wouldn't bloody need IBR) so I just sent them a copy of my bank statement showing all my money going to McDonalds and the local grocery store, and a signed letter saying that I don't have a job to bring in income. Am I going to get a denied form coming in soon? As long as you filled out the application and signed the Alternative Documentation of Income form that was attached to it, you should be fine.
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Nov 12, 2011 01:52
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Namirsolo posted:As long as you filled out the application and signed the Alternative Documentation of Income form that was attached to it, you should be fine. Okay, cool. That's exactly what I did. Next step: finding a job.
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Nov 12, 2011 02:21
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First student loan payment of a whole bunch that I don't have the money for is sent out today. Guess I'm just going to go on income-based repayment. Don't see any alternative. Does going into forbearance shoot your credit scores to hell?
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Nov 14, 2011 08:47
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CraigK posted:First student loan payment of a whole bunch that I don't have the money for is sent out today. Forbearance doesn't effect credit scores, but if you're gonna do ibr, I'd suggest sending in your supporting documents asap, as that sucker takes at least 30 days to process.
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Nov 14, 2011 16:54
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So next semester I am being kicked out of the house I am currently living in and I am looking to rent a place. So I am looking to take out a private student loan. I am not eligible for FAFSA until next year when I become a dependent. I however do not no one thing about private loans or how to receive them. What are decent lenders and what is the likelihood of me getting around $4,000/semester to help me out? Sorry if this has been covered already.
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Nov 14, 2011 20:30
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Effexxor posted:Forbearance doesn't effect credit scores, but if you're gonna do ibr, I'd suggest sending in your supporting documents asap, as that sucker takes at least 30 days to process. Okay. I sent the alternative documentation of income in on the 7th, but my payments are due on the 4th. I'll take a one-month forebearance just to make sure that it goes through.
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Nov 14, 2011 21:29
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CraigK posted:Okay. I sent the alternative documentation of income in on the 7th, but my payments are due on the 4th. I'll take a one-month forebearance just to make sure that it goes through. Good! It's a very sensible thing to do. You might want to consider doing another month to make sure that they're able to start it on time, they'll remove the forbearance anyway to start the IBR on time and you'll be sure to be set to start with the low payments. Keep an eye on it though, IBR can be tricky when it comes to processing it.
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Nov 15, 2011 23:00
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When calculating the AGI for IBR payments, does it reduce the AGI by the amount you are paying per month on private loans? Edit: also/alternatively do they consider private loan payments as part of the % of disposable income cap? Roger_Mudd fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Nov 16, 2011 |
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Nov 16, 2011 02:37
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Mohela denied my IBR request because I didn't provide any pay stubs despite the fact that I completed the alternative documentation of income telling them that I DON'T HAVE A loving JOB. Obviously, sending them in a copy of my bank statement, the Alternative Documentation of Income, and a signed letter saying "hey I don't have a goddamn job, here's my bank statement, the $1700 is extra student loan payments I've been living off of for the past six months" did jackshit. What now? CraigK fucked around with this message at 15:27 on Nov 16, 2011 |
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Nov 16, 2011 14:51
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CraigK posted:Mohela denied my IBR request because I didn't provide any pay stubs despite the fact that I completed the alternative documentation of income telling them that I DON'T HAVE A loving JOB. You probably should call them. That sounds like whoever processed the form didn't do it right.
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Nov 16, 2011 16:25
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Namirsolo posted:You probably should call them. That sounds like whoever processed the form didn't do it right. I just got off the line with them a minute ago. Apparently I checked off something I shouldn't, which invalidated the rest of the form including the bank statement and such. It was my fault.
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Nov 16, 2011 17:03
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Roger_Mudd posted:When calculating the AGI for IBR payments, does it reduce the AGI by the amount you are paying per month on private loans? That would be a no.
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Nov 16, 2011 18:32
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I graduated last Spring with roughly 20k in Stafford loans and 50k in Plus loans under my parent's name. The first 3yrs were FFEL and the last year was direct, but all were federal. Anyway, I'm wondering if/how I should consolidate them. It'd be nice to have one loan to pay, because as of now I have to sign into MyGreatLakes, and SallieMae under both my account and my dad's account to make a total of 4 payments every time. And I don't get any interest rate reductions. I'm trying to knock them out within 10yrs at most, so I'm not interested in any kind of IBR. Given that, what's my best option? The direct site mentions some new consolidation plan starting in January. Should I wait for this new plan? Also I'm confused how the Plus loans will work. Ideally I want ONE loan, even though the Plus loans are technically in my Dad's name. Hopefully I don't need 2 separate consolidations.
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Nov 16, 2011 20:40
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jromano posted:I graduated last Spring with roughly 20k in Stafford loans and 50k in Plus loans under my parent's name. The first 3yrs were FFEL and the last year was direct, but all were federal. You can't consolidate your dad's loans along with yours, unfortunately they do have to stay in his name and he'll be the one responsible for them till they're paid in full. I'd suggest setting up an auto debit for his payments, especially since it's technically to be illegal on his account, and if you ever get locked out, they won't be able to help unless your dad requests help. As for consolidation, keep in mind that you'd lose a lot of flexibility. If you want to methodically pick off the higher interest rate loans off first, you'll lose that ability. However, sometimes loans do need to be consolidated to extend them, so that is definitely something to consider.
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Nov 16, 2011 22:48
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jromano posted:I graduated last Spring with roughly 20k in Stafford loans and 50k in Plus loans under my parent's name. The first 3yrs were FFEL and the last year was direct, but all were federal. This new consolidation might be helpful to you. It gives a .25% interest rate reduction on your loans, and you are still eligible for the additional .25% that is offered for direct debit. Applying for a regular consolidation will actually make you unable to apply for the new one. Here's some more information. http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/specialconsolidation.jsp Namirsolo fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Nov 17, 2011 |
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Nov 17, 2011 04:00
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I think I am getting screwed over with my student loan payments. I am paying around $160/month and around $73 of that is being taken out for interest. Apparently interest accrues every 10 days or something, according to the direct loan website. Is this normal? Anything I can do? This is what I got from the site: http://i.imgur.com/Zvplf.jpg
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Nov 17, 2011 17:55
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maverick99 posted:I think I am getting screwed over with my student loan payments. I am paying around $160/month and around $73 of that is being taken out for interest. Apparently interest accrues every 10 days or something, according to the direct loan website. Is this normal? Anything I can do? Make larger payments.
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Nov 17, 2011 17:59
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modig posted:Make larger payments. So if I made lets say, a $500 payment, would only $70 be applied to interest?
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Nov 17, 2011 18:03
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