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From the WaPo article about this: “Although tens of thousands of people have applied for forgiveness to date, just over 16,000 have been successful.” What a joke.
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Oct 6, 2021 14:33
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My wife has nine years of payments into the PSLF progarm and while the I think the only effect of these changes for us is to get back one month of payments that was literally late by days, I have to say the whole DoE loans programs is unbelievably predatory. In fact, I'm pretty certain we're 4-6 months ahead of the official count and I have records of every payment submitted and paper bank statements showing each withdrawal for ten years, so I suppose it's soon time to count those all up and upload statements. Here's the part I never understood: She has 13 DoE loans, they all go through the same servicer and we get a single monthly statement. Of these, only nine are eligible for PSLF, while the other four are "PLUSGB" (?), Stafford, and Stafford unsubsidized. Despite being not eligible for PSLF we've never been able to consolidate those loans or direct payments specifically towards them. With interest rates between 6.8% and 8.5% we basically still owe the entire principal of those loans, and so will still have a big chunk of debt even after forgiveness. I assume these policy changes don't apply to those loan types, but what's the most sensible thing to do here? I assume continue to make payments (once they resume) and then once forgiveness comes through immediately consolidate and refinance them? Part of what makes this predatory is that we didn't learn these four loans were ineligible for PSLF (or maybe more accurately, that we couldn't do anything with them while we had other PSLF-eligible loans) for the first four years we made payments. It was only when her servicer changed from Great Lakes to FedLoans did we actually get a count of eligible payments to date and learn those were included but ineligible. If we had known that in 2012 we might've opted to consolidate/refinance them immediately and abandon PSLF, but since we didn't the back-of-the-envelope math I did in 2016 suggested we might break even, even after forgiveness. Of course, COVID/the CARES act changes that balance a bit in our favor, which is perhaps the only good thing I can say about all this.
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Oct 6, 2021 14:42
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ExcessBLarg! posted:My wife has nine years of payments into the PSLF progarm and while the I think the only effect of these changes for us is to get back one month of payments that was literally late by days, I have to say the whole DoE loans programs is unbelievably predatory. In fact, I'm pretty certain we're 4-6 months ahead of the official count and I have records of every payment submitted and paper bank statements showing each withdrawal for ten years, so I suppose it's soon time to count those all up and upload statements. Are the Stafford loans federal loans? They should qualify for PSLF, or at least should be able to be consolidated into Direct Loans, which should make them eligible for PSLF. I'll echo the predatoriness of the entire program though. It was only years later that I realized that through the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, private lenders gave out "Federal" Stafford loans, which although technically federal loans, weren't eligible for PSLF unless they were consolidated afterwards into direct loans. Only a few of my loans fell in to this category, but it meant that my years of making payments on these loans didn't count towards PSLF until I consolidated them. If these changes go through, that'd be fantastic, even though I switched jobs this summer to a non 501c3 job. Part of that calculus was that PSLF wouldn't save me a ton of money because of those additional years of ineligible payments. 
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Oct 6, 2021 15:22
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My partner just did an annual payment certification. 67/120 payments made.
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Oct 6, 2021 15:23
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Watching this PSLF revamp closely, as this will apply to me. I'm hopeful that this makes more borrowers eligible without too much red tape. The process to qualify is ridiculous. For ExcessBLarg! above: the PLUSGB your wife has should be GradPLUS loans.
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Oct 6, 2021 15:44
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Do any of these changes let me count payments made for the 8 months I worked for a Board of Elections as a 40 hours per week temp? That has been annoying.
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Oct 6, 2021 18:53
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Residency Evil posted:Are the Stafford loans federal loans? Actually now I remember--the reason we never consolidated them is because that would've restated then forgiveness clock on her Direct Loans and we were already 48 months into those when we were informed, and we decided that it was better to eat the loans that weren't eligible for PSLF instead of consolidating and starting over. So it sounds like once these policies are finalized we can consolidate into a single Direct loan and still have eligiblity for the monthly payments we've already put in? What would be really helpful is someone who can walk us through doing the right thing here because we just don't want to screw up. I thank the Internet for doing that as much as it can, but that shouldn't be necessary.
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Oct 7, 2021 00:32
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oh poo poo oh gently caress 
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Oct 7, 2021 14:17
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Woo. Go get a nice dinner.
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Oct 7, 2021 16:37
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Sirotan posted:oh poo poo oh gently caress Heck yeah! Congrats! Sirotan posted:Stolen from the megathread in /r/PSLF: https://old.reddit.com/r/PSLF/comments/q28msw/pslf_changes_megathread_post_all_questions_etc/ There has been some updates to that OP that's worth a re-read for those that might be wanting clarification or more details. Man, I'm still really happy this is happening. It's long overdue. Reading about what works and doesn't under the new/upcoming plan is making my eyes cross so I think I might stop reading about it till mine are forgiven since that should be imminent.
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Oct 7, 2021 17:30
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ExcessBLarg! posted:How do we tell? They show up on FedLoans adjacent to her other Direct Loans. Log in here: https://nslds.ed.gov/npas/index.htm If they show up here, they're federal loans. Private loans won't show up. Sirotan posted:oh poo poo oh gently caress Hell yeah! Congratulations!!!
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Oct 8, 2021 14:47
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Do 40 hour/wk temps get qualifying months like 30/hr part timers? That extra 8 months would be real nice on top of this extra 15k in consolidations. I'm less than 20 months now! 
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Nov 12, 2021 19:36
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Hello student loan thread. Mrs. spf3million is heading back to get her BS in nursing and we're considering taking out a loan to cover tuition. We could technically probably cover tuition out of pocket but it would eat into our e-fund and since we just bought our first house, we'd like to keep that e-find pretty healthy. Since I make too much to qualify for any subsidized loans, is our best bet to just shop online for a private student loan? Is it like shopping for a mortgage lender where it's all about the APR or are there other things to consider? Most of the results on simpletution.com are pretty comparable: sofi, ascent, earnest, and college ave are all just under 3%.
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Nov 15, 2021 14:41
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spf3million posted:Hello student loan thread. Mrs. spf3million is heading back to get her BS in nursing and we're considering taking out a loan to cover tuition. We could technically probably cover tuition out of pocket but it would eat into our e-fund and since we just bought our first house, we'd like to keep that e-find pretty healthy. Since I make too much to qualify for any subsidized loans, is our best bet to just shop online for a private student loan? Is it like shopping for a mortgage lender where it's all about the APR or are there other things to consider? Most of the results on simpletution.com are pretty comparable: sofi, ascent, earnest, and college ave are all just under 3%. Have you filled out a FAFSA and been explicitly told you don’t qualify for a subsidized loan? If so, yeah, compare it to the private options etc. If you haven’t though, Fill out the dang FAFSA, submit it to the school, and make them tell you they won’t/can’t give you a better offer first.
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Nov 15, 2021 17:12
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Oh yeah meant to mention that we finished up FAFSA last night. We'll certainly see what if anything that turns up but we're not expecting anything.
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Nov 15, 2021 17:18
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She'll likely be offered unsubsidized loans regardless, since those aren't need-based. I would strongly suggest taking federal loans over private loans, regardless of interest rate, because of the protections built in.
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Nov 16, 2021 17:02
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Interesting, what kind of protections?
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Nov 16, 2021 23:35
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Here are my current loan stats. I've worked my entire career at a 501, and was originally on some kind of IBR, but at some point I got it into my head "gee I should pay down my loans faster" and picked a higher amount than necessary and then just stuck with that amount and forgot about it for 7 years or something. I'm not sure how it ranks higher or lower than I would be on the various qualifying IBRs. My main question is: I understand that TEPSLF goes through like October 2022. If this thinks I won't be done until 2023, does that mean I need to change to a specific repayment plan now? I'm just hoping uncle joe wipes out $10k and I don't have to worry about it, but I don't know whether to anticipate that.
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Nov 17, 2021 03:27
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Are you certain TEPSLF expires in October 2022? I know this new initiative to re-review everyone that's been denied before does but haven't heard anything about TEPSLF expiring on a certain date. I thought TEPSLF will run till it no longer has money. I don't think any payment plan change will help you get your valid payment count faster. I paid more than the minimum on my graduated repayment plan and that really screwed up my payment counts for the longest time. Now I'm sitting at like 129 valid TEPSLF payments waiting for final approval.
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Nov 17, 2021 04:46
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spf3million posted:Interesting, what kind of protections? Forgiveness programs (such as Public Service yes, but also disability, death, payment plan based after 20 years, a few other things which private loans won't have). Most importantly, the many forbearance and deferment options for payments. Right now all federal loans have had payments paused with no interest accruing (on either sub or unsub loans) for months because of the pandemic, as an example. Private loans play by their own rules. I've always thought of them as similar to credit cards in terms of how they vary in payment, interest rate, and payment pausing options. That's not to say they're evil or people should feel bad for taking them out if you have no other options, but I would always choose federal first.
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Nov 19, 2021 18:33
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Aexo posted:Are you certain TEPSLF expires in October 2022? I know this new initiative to re-review everyone that's been denied before does but haven't heard anything about TEPSLF expiring on a certain date. I thought TEPSLF will run till it no longer has money. I haven't heard of it expiring either, but Congress is fickle. What I would say is that loans taken out while it is active should have the program listed in their promissory note, so definitely check into that Petey just to make sure (you can ask for a copy of your Master Promissory Note from your servicer if you don't have one), and you should be fine.
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Nov 19, 2021 18:35
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Wiggy Marie posted:I haven't heard of it expiring either, but Congress is fickle. What I would say is that loans taken out while it is active should have the program listed in their promissory note, so definitely check into that Petey just to make sure (you can ask for a copy of your Master Promissory Note from your servicer if you don't have one), and you should be fine. Here's where I got the date from: https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/pslf-limited-waiver quote:This change will apply to student loan borrowers with Direct Loans, those who have already consolidated into the Direct Loan Program, and those who consolidate into the Direct Loan Program by Oct. 31, 2022. So maybe this doesn't matter because I consolidated back in 2009. I just don't really know what my rate "should" be now because I just had it at this semi-arbitrary $200 a month or whatever for years and years (the reason I'm not paid off is because of interest that accrued while I was in a masters program and paused payments)
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Nov 19, 2021 19:18
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Wiggy Marie posted:Forgiveness programs (such as Public Service yes, but also disability, death, payment plan based after 20 years, a few other things which private loans won't have). Most importantly, the many forbearance and deferment options for payments. Right now all federal loans have had payments paused with no interest accruing (on either sub or unsub loans) for months because of the pandemic, as an example.
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Nov 20, 2021 02:00
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If I consolidate do I need to seek forgiveness by 2022 or just have completed a form to get qualifying payments checked off?
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Nov 20, 2021 18:10
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spf3million posted:Hello student loan thread. Mrs. spf3million is heading back to get her BS in nursing... Does she already hold a 4 year undergrad degree (BA or BS or something else)? In other words, is this a "second 4 year degree" or "second BSN program"? If she already holds a 4 year undergraduate degree, she may not be eligible for federal student aid; this is hugely problematic when I am working with students who are currently earning their BA or BS, but have decided they want to enter a "second degree" nursing program. EDIT - I'm with Wiggly Marie, HIGHLY endorse federal student loans over private ones. Much, much more consumer protection on the former than the latter.
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Nov 21, 2021 16:56
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Petey posted:Here's where I got the date from: https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/pslf-limited-waiver Ah ok! So based on the reading, this is for those who have student loans from before PSLF was a thing and want their qualifying payments to count now. Before, you'd be starting over entirely on the 120 qualifying payments, so people wouldn't include those loans in consolidations/didn't have the option to count those payments. Now they can, so long as they consolidate by Oct 2022. basicblack posted:Does she already hold a 4 year undergrad degree (BA or BS or something else)? In other words, is this a "second 4 year degree" or "second BSN program"? If she already holds a 4 year undergraduate degree, she may not be eligible for federal student aid; this is hugely problematic when I am working with students who are currently earning their BA or BS, but have decided they want to enter a "second degree" nursing program. Adding to this part, I was a non-traditional earning a second degree. Because I never took out federal loans the first time, I was able to take them out for degree #2. However, because I had all those hours from the previous degree, I'd have to contact financial aid to have a hold lifted every semester for having too many hours to qualify for financial aid - not a huge hassle, but something to be aware of if this is her situation. Wiggy Marie fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Nov 22, 2021 |
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Nov 22, 2021 19:01
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Wiggy Marie posted:Adding to this part, I was a non-traditional earning a second degree. Because I never took out federal loans the first time, I was able to take them out for degree #2. However, because I had all those hours from the previous degree, I'd have to contact financial aid to have a hold lifted every semester for having too many hours to qualify for financial aid - not a huge hassle, but something to be aware of if this is her situation. Thank you for this reminder; I need to remember to ask this when helping my advisees fill out their SAP appeal paperwork!
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Nov 24, 2021 03:22
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PSLF Waiver: If you consolidate Direct Loans, or Direct Consolidated Loans, into a new Direct Consolidated Loan, do you lose any existing qualifying payments for forgiveness? I posted earlier, but my wife has 5 Direct Loans, 4 Direct Consolidated Loans (consolidated under her former servicer before pursuing PSLF as soon as she got out of school), and 7 more FFEL/Graduate Plus/Perkins loans. The latter seven weren't previously eligible for PSLF and when we discovered this in 2016 we had already made four years of qualifying payments on the other loans, and FedLoans wouldn't allow us to consolidate just the non-qualifying loans at the time for reasons I still don't understand. Last week we submitted a consolidation application that rolls all 16 loans (Direct and non-Direct) into a single Direct Consolidated Loan. We wanted to do this now so that the new loan is active before forbearance ends at the end of January. The reason we rolled all the loans together is because, frankly, (i) it was the default option, and (ii) my understanding of the PSLF waiver is that it includes qualifying payments for any previous loan type (except Parent PLUS). This week we received a letter from FedLoans saying that if we consolidate the Diect/Direct Consolidated Loans that we will lose the existing eligible payments for PSLF. The letter was also ambiguous as to whether this was the case under the PSLF Waiver. I reread the PSLF Waiver changes and while they do make it clear that you have to consolidate FFEL/Perkins loans into a Direct Consolidated Loan, it doesn't address the situation where someone has mixed (Direct and non-Direct) loan types. It does say "Past payments under any plan count for non-consolidation loans through Sept 30, 2021" qualify for PSLF, but that wording now makes me think that the waiver may not apply if you roll Direct Consolidated Loans into a new Direct Consolidated Loan. I also called a PSLF counsellor listed as the "Student Loan Support Center" on studentaid.gov (which just redirects to FedLoan Servicing) and the consellor told us to call FedLoans and ask to remove the Direct (Consolidated) Loans from the consolidation application, but again it's not clear if the counselor's advice is consistent with the PSLF Waiver and she dodged my question about that. Edit: Was on hold with FedLoans for over 40 minutes and couldn't get through this morning, so right now the application remains as is. I also found this and this FAQ, both of state clearly:
Sorry if this post is rambling but I've been updating it over the past two hours as I've been trying to figure this all out. I guess we'll continue with the application as-is until we receive consolidation notice confirmation and see if any of this has firmed up. Again, I'll echo my earlier comment that this whole thing is horribly predatory and it's very unclear how to correctly navigate this process. ExcessBLarg! fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Nov 30, 2021 |
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Nov 30, 2021 16:58
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All this is why when I consolidated my loans I only included the ones that normally would not be forgiven and of the smallest of my various undergrad loans. That way if I gently caress this up I'm only out forgiveness on $2,000.
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Nov 30, 2021 18:01
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In retrospect perhaps we should've done that from the get-go, although I think consolidating everything is strictly better for us if this all works out due to a three month difference in repayment status across the loans (the non-consolidated ones had a grace period while the original consolidated ones did not) and the lower payments on the PAYE plan would save us some $4-5k total across the remaining months we have to pay.
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Nov 30, 2021 18:39
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Is it worth even giving a poo poo about the PSLF program if I will almost certainly have my loans paid off before 10 years? I’ve been in nonprofit for like 6 years, but only paid for about 2 years, and I still remain and will likely do so for at least 10 years.
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Dec 15, 2021 23:16
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Yorkshire Pudding posted:Is it worth even giving a poo poo about the PSLF program if I will almost certainly have my loans paid off before 10 years? I’ve been in nonprofit for like 6 years, but only paid for about 2 years, and I still remain and will likely do so for at least 10 years. Sounds like the answer is no, but you don't actually have to do anything to be in the 'program' while you're repaying your loans assuming you're in a repayment plan that qualifies.
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Dec 16, 2021 00:50
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Yorkshire Pudding posted:Is it worth even giving a poo poo about the PSLF program if I will almost certainly have my loans paid off before 10 years? But if you only have direct loans that were not "in repayment" status until two years ago then the waiver won't change your present situation.
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Dec 17, 2021 19:43
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I basically check every day if I have a zero balance and/or a letter saying the TEPSLF had been approved for me. I checked last night at like 2am and found a zero balance but no letter in the communications section. I check again this morning thinking it was probably just under maintenance last night at 2am but find it's the same. This really gets me hopeful. But I'm not calling this through till I have a letter saying it's all gone.
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Dec 21, 2021 16:21
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Where are you all checking? The dept. Of ed site, your loan servicer, or somewhere else?
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Dec 21, 2021 22:20
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When I started submitting employment verification forms myfedloan(dot)org took over servicing my loans and updated my valid number of payments count (months of calls to get an accurate count, in my case). I've finally had an accurate count since like September I think it was like 128 payments at that point. I've just been waiting for a final check and approval for forgiveness. Still a zero balance but still no letter saying my remaining balance was forgiven as of right now.
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Dec 22, 2021 00:39
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What effect do you all think that the end of the student loan pause will have on the economy at large? I’m guessing housing demand will go down and general spending and saving too. Maybe it will trigger a recession?
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Dec 22, 2021 00:54
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JackBandit posted:What effect do you all think that the end of the student loan pause will have on the economy at large? I’m guessing housing demand will go down and general spending and saving too. Maybe it will trigger a recession?
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Dec 22, 2021 14:23
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Dik Hz posted:No effect. People with student loan debt are generally higher earners and student loan payments are generally a very small portion of their monthly expenditures. But isn’t it widely accepted that student plan burden is causing this generation to buy houses less and start families later?
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Dec 22, 2021 14:25
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JackBandit posted:But isn’t it widely accepted that student plan burden is causing this generation to buy houses less and start families later? https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/704609 Here is an article on home ownership. I didn't read the whole thing but I would also point out that a lot of people didn't buy houses young so they could move around and change jobs easier. I am not sure student loans have as much to do with delaying having kids. Everyone seems to want to delay the kids these days for a variety of reasons. I am guessing there are papers out there that point to an impact though.
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Dec 22, 2021 15:57
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