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Electric Crayon posted:How long does it take to get accepted into the IBR program anyway? I submitted an application with paystub and tax info at the end of August, got a reply from Direct Loans stating my payments under IBR would be $0 (weird) in the middle of September, and yet the website states that I have a bill for $1,000 due at the end of the month. What gives? Yeah, they can do an administrative forbearance to bring your account current until the IBR is applied. The $0 payments mean that you are under the poverty so you'll still get statements, they'll just say that you owe $0. Also, with $0 payments, you can pay whatever you want so definitely put something towards your loans.
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Oct 17, 2011 21:05
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Just a head's up for anyone with a loan or has had a loan with Nelnet, their Kwikpay system went haywire and billed everyone who's ever been set up with them a monthly payment. To give you all an idea of how huge this is, my only loan with them was paid in full over a year ago. Still, it does remind me to delete bank info for the other loan companies I've paid off. The customer service rep said this happened to everyone and was an error on their part. Two ways to get a refund; either fax/mail them a copy of your bank statement with the unauthorized debit circled or dispute it with your bank. She said they can't send anything official out saying it's their bad, just that they will confirm it's unauthorized when your bank asks them. I have no idea how true that is so I just took a screen cap of the chat log.
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Oct 18, 2011 00:09
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My fiancée has a bunch of loans with direct loans. She finished her masters in the spring, and is currently getting a PhD. She just got a letter today that her loans are going into repayment starting the end of November. She called, and she has to fill out a form and the school has to fill it out, but the form could take a month to process, but she's only got 45 days. Assuming the forms don't get filed in time, what else can she do? E: and because the website is hosed, she can't get a copy of the form online, she has to have it mailed to her. FISHMANPET fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Oct 18, 2011 |
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Oct 18, 2011 01:25
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Zantie posted:Just a head's up for anyone with a loan or has had a loan with Nelnet, their Kwikpay system went haywire and billed everyone who's ever been set up with them a monthly payment. To give you all an idea of how huge this is, my only loan with them was paid in full over a year ago. Still, it does remind me to delete bank info for the other loan companies I've paid off. Oh man I saw this today and freaked out. My loans went into deferment last month since I'm back in school, and now that I'm unemployed its even more important that I DON'T make any unnecessary payments. The rep I chatted with online said there was no way to reverse the charge though. I will try calling my bank to dispute the charge, and report back with my results, thanks a lot for the heads up!
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Oct 18, 2011 01:36
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Just got on the new federal loans website, and on some of my loans under the benefits there are things listed which I have no idea what they mean. Their descriptions say: DL REBATE NEGATIVE PR FOR LTP and DL ACTIVE DUTY HDS 100% IR I googled them, some people were guessing the second one had something to do with the military, but I'm not and never have been involved in any form of military service, and neither has any of my immediate family. I've also got the 0.25% Kwikpay (electronic debit) bonus listed on there so I know neither of those benefits are related to that. Anyone know what these might be?
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Oct 18, 2011 06:23
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The first one is the first X payments on time benefit. I'm guessing Direct Loans Rebate (Principal Negation) For no Late Payments. When I got my loan, they gave a rebate, in the form of a reduction in the principal. If I made the first X payments (I think it was 12) on time, I kept the rebate. If one of them was late, they would add the rebate back in. Could they make it more cryptic? Yes, yes they could.
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Oct 18, 2011 22:52
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Zantie posted:Just a head's up for anyone with a loan or has had a loan with Nelnet, their Kwikpay system went haywire and billed everyone who's ever been set up with them a monthly payment. To give you all an idea of how huge this is, my only loan with them was paid in full over a year ago. Still, it does remind me to delete bank info for the other loan companies I've paid off. I've heard about this. Apparently they'll be sending out refunds today. FISHMANPET posted:My fiancée has a bunch of loans with direct loans. She finished her masters in the spring, and is currently getting a PhD. She just got a letter today that her loans are going into repayment starting the end of November. She called, and she has to fill out a form and the school has to fill it out, but the form could take a month to process, but she's only got 45 days. If she's in school at least half time there is nothing to worry about. Negative credit reporting, late fees, even default can be reversed if the student was in school at least half time. She'll be fine. teknicolor posted:Oh man I saw this today and freaked out. My loans went into deferment last month since I'm back in school, and now that I'm unemployed its even more important that I DON'T make any unnecessary payments. The rep I chatted with online said there was no way to reverse the charge though. I will try calling my bank to dispute the charge, and report back with my results, thanks a lot for the heads up! Apparently it's only happening for people who's loans were paid if full by the borrower or by consolidation. If you don't have any loans that aren't paid in full, you don't have to worry about it. The Agent posted:Just got on the new federal loans website, and on some of my loans under the benefits there are things listed which I have no idea what they mean. Their descriptions say: The first is a principal reduction that you'll get then your loans are sent to their servicer and the second is for troops that are in combat duty, they get all of their interest paid by the government when deployed.
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Oct 19, 2011 19:00
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I just talked to my bank, and they said if I disputed it with them (rather than Nelnet), there would be some Indemnity something or other, where if they said it was valid they could sue my rear end. I guess I'll just leave well enough alone. :/
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Oct 19, 2011 20:32
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Effexxor posted:If she's in school at least half time there is nothing to worry about. Negative credit reporting, late fees, even default can be reversed if the student was in school at least half time. She'll be fine. What does she have to do to make sure it gets reverse, if it comes to that? The women she got on the phone was kind of a bitch, and basically ended up yelling at my fiancee for not knowing how to fill out this form. Would a sane customer rep know how to deal with her situation, or does she need to do something special/escalate? What she's worried most is the interest capitalizing. By the time she graduates she'll be able to pay it off before it capitalizes, but if it goes into repayment right now she won't have the money to pay off the interest (or even make payments period). Can capitalization be reverse?
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Oct 19, 2011 21:22
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FISHMANPET posted:What does she have to do to make sure it gets reverse, if it comes to that? The women she got on the phone was kind of a bitch, and basically ended up yelling at my fiancee for not knowing how to fill out this form. A sane customer representative will know how to deal. For the credit dispute she'd just have to send her credit report and a letter and enrollment verification form showing that she was in school at the time, she just has to request that the late fees be removed if there are any but generally that happens automatically and as for capitalization, it will be reversed if it does capitalized and if it doesn't, she can request it and they will need to do it. Also, have her check with her school to see if they are registered with the National Student Clearinghouse. If they are, she doesn't have to do a thing because they will report automatically. If not, she just has to have the school send an Enrollment Verification form to the servicer's enrollment processing office. Sorry to hear that she had such a bad experience, in the future if someone gets bitchy with her, she can remind them that it is federal law that, if someone is in school at least half time, they are entitled to an in school deferment.
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Oct 19, 2011 21:51
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Effexxor posted:A sane customer representative will know how to deal. For the credit dispute she'd just have to send her credit report and a letter and enrollment verification form showing that she was in school at the time, she just has to request that the late fees be removed if there are any but generally that happens automatically and as for capitalization, it will be reversed if it does capitalized and if it doesn't, she can request it and they will need to do it. Your username is the drug she just got put on yesterday  We're not sure why they don't know she's in school, when she made the switch from undergrad to masters she didn't have to do anything. A friend of ours found the form online and she filled it out and got the school to fill out out and send it off, so hopefully we'll be fine, but I'll let her know that it can all be reversed.
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Oct 19, 2011 23:18
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FISHMANPET posted:Your username is the drug she just got put on yesterday We were supposed to talk about this in this thread. It is fate. But yeah, she'll be fine. It happens all the time with student loans.
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Oct 19, 2011 23:49
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teknicolor posted:I just talked to my bank, and they said if I disputed it with them (rather than Nelnet), there would be some Indemnity something or other, where if they said it was valid they could sue my rear end. I guess I'll just leave well enough alone. :/ I want to make sure I understand your situation: You had a payment withdrawn while you weren't in repayment, and were told by the Nelnet representative *and* your bank that it couldn't be disputed? If that's correct, well, that's bullshit. You need to call the servicing agency immediately. Ask to speak to a supervisor if the rep gives you the same story. Go as high as needed to get it fixed. They withdrew funds when they shouldn't have, and there's no reason they shouldn't be able to refund that money. If that's incorrect, sorry for the misunderstanding!
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Oct 20, 2011 02:56
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They're refunding the money, and paying back for any overdrafts. It's fine.
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Oct 20, 2011 03:33
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Wiggy Marie posted:I want to make sure I understand your situation: You had a payment withdrawn while you weren't in repayment, and were told by the Nelnet representative *and* your bank that it couldn't be disputed? My loans are in deferment, but this was supposed to be the first month I didn't make a payment. I signed into my Nelnet account a few weeks ago when I got the deferment email to make sure I had kwikpay turned off, and I thought I did. When I checked my account on the 17th and contacted Nelnet, the representative I talked to said I had kwikpay turned ON, which withdrew the money despite deferment (as it is supposed to if you have it turned on). The problem is did I have it turned off like I thought I did or not? I can't really say with 100% certainty so I'm just not going to bother. Money paid toward my student loans is money well enough spent, and it shouldn't happen next month.
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Oct 20, 2011 04:58
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teknicolor posted:My loans are in deferment, but this was supposed to be the first month I didn't make a payment. I signed into my Nelnet account a few weeks ago when I got the deferment email to make sure I had kwikpay turned off, and I thought I did. When I checked my account on the 17th and contacted Nelnet, the representative I talked to said I had kwikpay turned ON, which withdrew the money despite deferment (as it is supposed to if you have it turned on). The problem is did I have it turned off like I thought I did or not? I can't really say with 100% certainty so I'm just not going to bother. Money paid toward my student loans is money well enough spent, and it shouldn't happen next month. Plus their auto debit system is really hard to stop. As in you need to tell them 5 business days before your payment to hopefully keep it from not pulling. At a certain point there is nothing they can do. And, if you read the fine print agreement of any loan, you'll see that those terms are in there.
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Oct 20, 2011 05:52
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Effexxor posted:They're refunding the money, and paying back for any overdrafts. It's fine. Are they mailing you a check or doing it electronically, and do you still have to send them a copy of your bank statement? I was going to file the unauthorized withdrawal form at my bank tomorrow but if they're just going to reverse the charge without any paperwork on my end that'd be loads easier. Edit: Nevermind. I got a check from the Dept of Ed. in the mail today 
Zantie fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Oct 27, 2011 |
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Oct 20, 2011 07:49
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Effexxor posted:Plus their auto debit system is really hard to stop. As in you need to tell them 5 business days before your payment to hopefully keep it from not pulling. At a certain point there is nothing they can do. And, if you read the fine print agreement of any loan, you'll see that those terms are in there. This still in no way obligates a borrower to roll over and take a payment that was withdrawn when it shouldn't have been. My company can fix this sort of thing, and I imagine all other companies can too. If someone in deferment has a payment withdrawn, that constitutes a payment that was withdrawn when it shouldn't have been and is something that the company should fix. Also! You're a HUGE help in this thread and give great advice, but please be careful about reminding people about reading their terms; that is something you say in a call when someone has annoyed you, but it's not really applicable for the context of this thread. We're here to help guide people, not tell them to read the rules for themselves. You and I know what the terms say; we're here to translate for everyone else.
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Oct 20, 2011 18:05
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Can I do this (and is it the best way?) I have two main government loans an unsubsidized $23,700 at a 6.8% interest rate and $6,649 subsidized at a 6.0% interest rate. Can I just consolidate the unsubsidized and leave the subsidized out of it? It would reduce my monthly payment by $100 and my interest rate to 6.625%
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Oct 25, 2011 00:12
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cheese eats mouse posted:Can I do this (and is it the best way?) Shouldn't be a problem. Basically, Direct loans will consolidate the loans you put into your application, and if the subsidized one isn't in your consolidation application, you'll be fine.
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Oct 25, 2011 15:57
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So does Obama's new plan that changes IBR terms to 20 years (down from 25) and a 10% cap on discretionary income (down from 15%) apply only to new applicants, or will people currently on IBR also get the reduction? Because if it's only for new applicants, then 
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Oct 27, 2011 02:17
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I'm pretty sure (a little pathetic that even we don't know to much about it) that at least the 10% cap will go into effect for people on ibr will go into effect the next time that the person sends in their 1040 to reapply after it's been put into action. As for the 20 vs 25, I'm not sure. Either way, this is a quick fix on something that needs a big overhaul. Lowering tuition, or at least capping it, and having schools available that aren't the terrible, expensive for profit schools is really the only way to fix the fact that most students are insanely, massively in debt without a well paying job to get them out of it. Sorry that I'm getting onto a soapbox, and I don't mean to be scaring anyone, but a big thing to consider before getting onto the IBR is that the next administration can throw this out the window. It's way too subject to change, and if all of the people that rely on the ibr get their only way to pay their loans off taken away... I'll probably cry. And drink a lot that day. Edit: Also, another big change, that no one really understands or knows about, is the introduction of the Special Direct Consolidation loans. http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/specialconsolidation.jsp The big thing that I can see that is a positive about this is the .25 interest rate reduction, which is a first for the federal government actually offering an interest rate reduction besides signing up for an auto debit system. This could be helpful for people who have some FFELP loans that are at a low interest rate that want to keep them seperate from their FDLP loans, but the fact that they won't change the loan term is a bit confusing. Also, this could make FFELP loans, if the borrower even qualifies, able to have their loans become Direct loans, which makes them eligible for the Public Servant Loan Forgiveness program, which I wonder if they might be going for given the fact that they'll make previous IBR payments be counted towards the 120 needed for the Public Servant Loan Forgiveness program. I'll update when I have more information, but frankly, I'm a little bewildered as to why they've made the consolidation process even more complicated. Effexxor fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Oct 27, 2011 |
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Oct 27, 2011 16:32
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I honestly think government does need to do more to keep tuition costs under control. One idea I've heard is to limit the amount of federal student aid in the same way that they limit how much you can get under the GI bill. The basic cap is the total cost of attendance at the most expensive public university in the state that you reside in. If you want to attend a school that costs more, you're on your own for the difference. Also if they take away IBR for existing borrowers there will be a huge string of defaults, and probably protests in the streets once the garnishments start. Now, I can easily see a Republican administration removing it for new borrowers, which would suck.
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Oct 27, 2011 16:50
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Effexxor posted:Sorry that I'm getting onto a soapbox, and I don't mean to be scaring anyone, but a big thing to consider before getting onto the IBR is that the next administration can throw this out the window. It's way too subject to change, and if all of the people that rely on the ibr get their only way to pay their loans off taken away... I'll probably cry. And drink a lot that day. Without looking into the specifics of the IBR agreement, I'm pretty sure this would be unconstitutional. They may end the program for new debtors but they can't retroactively cancel a contract.
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Oct 27, 2011 19:27
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Konstantin posted:I honestly think government does need to do more to keep tuition costs under control. One idea I've heard is to limit the amount of federal student aid in the same way that they limit how much you can get under the GI bill. The basic cap is the total cost of attendance at the most expensive public university in the state that you reside in. If you want to attend a school that costs more, you're on your own for the difference. It's seriously out of hand. I mean, getting an online degree at Devry for 50k? How is anyone going to be able to get a well paying job with such a worthless degree and still be able to pay it back? Along with that, there needs to be much more education on how student loans work and what the terms are (which is why I always stress reading the fine print so that you know exactly what you're going to be in for), and a much more realistic approach to what is affordable and what is not. I understand that education is important and that good schools can be worth it, but when student loan debt is bigger than credit card debt, there's a problem. And yeah, the reason that defaults aren't any more catastrophic right now is probably due to the IBR. On the other hand, it's going to be an insane amount of debt for the federal government once those people reach 20 years, which frankly doesn't seem sustainable at all right now.
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Oct 27, 2011 19:31
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Effexxor posted:And yeah, the reason that defaults aren't any more catastrophic right now is probably due to the IBR. On the other hand, it's going to be an insane amount of debt for the federal government once those people reach 20 years, which frankly doesn't seem sustainable at all right now. I think it should be cost neutral, Here's my back of the envelope analysis: 3 classes of people: 1) people that never pay a dime under IBR for all 25 years (I can't imagine this class being too large) 2) people that don't pay for a few years, after they find employment they pay their 15% into the system (I'd guess they pay back their principle plus some) 3) people that don't pay for a few years, after they find employment they pay back all of their loans plus the extra interest they built up over the first few years. These folks will help cover class 1. There might be some cost to the IBR system but I don't think it will be insane. Edit: Nothing personal, I just don't think it's all doom and gloom. The larger the problem, the more they have to address it.
Roger_Mudd fucked around with this message at 19:50 on Oct 27, 2011 |
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Oct 27, 2011 19:41
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Does anybody know anything about the new student loan paying portal, myedaccount.com. My loans end their grace period in early November, so I'm figuring out how to pay them. I have 4 loans, loans 1-3 have like 2% interest, and loan 4 has like 7% interest. Naturally I'd like to pay loan 4 off first. The website has some ability to allocate loan payment built in, but only to different loan groups. All of my loans are group A, so I can't pay one before another at the moment. I tried called tech support and talked to a fairly useless person, who seemed to know less about the website than me. She eventually told me that you can't allocate within a group, and she couldn't tell me how the money would be applied within the group. She did request a letter (10-14 days) to be sent to me that would explain how the money within a group would be allocated. I also made a $10 payment that should go through soon, so I can see how that is allocated. At this point my best guess is that their grouping system just doesn't work. One tooltip about groups said that they are supposed to group loans by origin and interest rate, to make them easier to manage. I think the by interest rate part either doesn't work, or just hasn't worked in my case. So I think I'll try calling tech support again, and ask them to change how my loans are grouped. Any extra info or corrections to how I think it works would be great.
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Oct 28, 2011 02:14
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I just set Kwikpay to pay an extra $15 per month, bringing my payment to an even $200, and saves me $500 in interest and 11 months of payments.
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Oct 28, 2011 04:27
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From what I've seen, money gets allocated proportionately based on balances.
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Oct 28, 2011 22:23
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Guy Axlerod posted:From what I've seen, money gets allocated proportionately based on balances. You have to call customer service after your payment to correctly allocate your payment. Weird how they're running the government for profit like they are.
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Oct 29, 2011 15:09
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Guy Axlerod posted:From what I've seen, money gets allocated proportionately based on balances. Thanks, thats what I guessed. I called back, and after 20 minutes of talking to a rep, and some meaningless babble where she tried to tell me the high interest loan would be paid off first, but actually had not idea how the money would be distributed, she told me they would regroup the loans in 7-10 days. Once they are regrouped I should be able to allocate it correctly online. I wish I had a recording, some of the things she said made so little sense I can't even remember them.
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Oct 29, 2011 15:59
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baquerd posted:You have to call customer service after your payment to correctly allocate your payment. Weird how they're running the government for profit like they are. Odd that they never mentioned this as a possibility in either of my customer service calls. I would have just done that since I intend to pay off my high interest loan in one payment.
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Oct 29, 2011 16:00
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The new website's just all sorts of hosed. It's currently showing me as past due for last month...funny that, my bank statement confirms the payment I made that was ~$100 more than what I'm required to send in monthly. At least I have a couple of weeks before my next payment is "due," but I don't really want to overpay excessively. And my lack of payment history is worrying, in terms of proving that a) I pay my poo poo on time and b) I'm going to have something to show to the IRS in terms of interest payments for my taxes. Thank god I never set up autopay, from what I can tell it's been a random crapshoot whether or not it's still working for people.
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Oct 30, 2011 07:42
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The $10 payment I made disappeared from the website as a pending payment for a while. Then it went through and reappeared. The money was allocated to each loan based on it's proportion of the balance, despite customer service's incoherent babbling to the contrary. Hopefully your $100 payment magically reappears soon.
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Oct 30, 2011 16:35
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baquerd posted:You have to call customer service after your payment to correctly allocate your payment. Weird how they're running the government for profit like they are. I want to make sure I am clear on this. My wife and I currently only pay the monthly interest on her loans (in forbearance) online via the Sallie Mae website. The only online option does appear to be to pay against the entire loan group (all of her loans are in one billing group), which allocates the funds to each loan. I am fine with this when we're just covering the interest + fees, but we're hoping to start making additional principal payments soon. Is calling in really the only way to allocate those principal payments to the highest interest rate loan(s)? That seems incredibly asinine in this day and age of electronic payments, and will be inconvenient to do once or twice a month. I feel like there must be another way, but I certainly can't find it on the website, and your statement seems to confirm.
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Oct 30, 2011 17:31
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If you want to be extra safe, switch to writing paper checks, and write a brief note with each payment detailing exactly how you want the payment allocated, attaching it to the check. It's a lot of trouble, but it's the best way if you don't trust them.
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Oct 30, 2011 21:29
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Konstantin posted:If you want to be extra safe, switch to writing paper checks, and write a brief note with each payment detailing exactly how you want the payment allocated, attaching it to the check. It's a lot of trouble, but it's the best way if you don't trust them. If they don't regroup my loans, I'll probably go with this plan.
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Oct 31, 2011 03:15
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So I was awarded a pell grant and according to the financial aid office, I don't have to do anything for it to be accepted? They'll just take payment directly from that? I've never gotten aid before and I am really lost in this process. My payment is due by the Friday you registered so I need to make sure it will go through because the grant didn't cover the full price of tuition so I'm gonna have to pay the rest by Friday. Do you guys have any experience with this? I am so lost.
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Nov 2, 2011 02:29
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modig posted:Does anybody know anything about the new student loan paying portal, myedaccount.com. My loans end their grace period in early November, so I'm figuring out how to pay them. I have 4 loans, loans 1-3 have like 2% interest, and loan 4 has like 7% interest. Naturally I'd like to pay loan 4 off first. The website has some ability to allocate loan payment built in, but only to different loan groups. All of my loans are group A, so I can't pay one before another at the moment. 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.
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Nov 2, 2011 18:47
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Moniker posted:So I was awarded a pell grant and according to the financial aid office, I don't have to do anything for it to be accepted? They'll just take payment directly from that? I've never gotten aid before and I am really lost in this process. 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.
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Nov 3, 2011 01:31
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