365 days later I paid of $38,000 and 114k to go! Student Loans |
- 365 days later I paid of $38,000 and 114k to go!
- Autopay discount savings
- Federal Loan to Collections: What are my options? 30 days to Dispute?
- Navient representative suggested I switch from my original IDR plan to Revised Pay As You Earn. Should I?
- Perkins loan exit counseling?
- Affording university when I cant get student finance?
- Already paying an obscene amount of $$ to Navient and now they want $200 more a month
- Question about loan payment options
- Quick question about statute of limitations and what constitutes activity
- Please help me figure out the best repayment plan for my student loans.
- Disability = Student Loan Forgiveness! Has anyone tried this?
| 365 days later I paid of $38,000 and 114k to go! Posted: 07 Mar 2018 11:05 AM PST I considered not making a post until all of my loans were gone, but from reading this subreddit I can tell a lot of you are in the same place I was/am. Not to mention on the days I struggle with my situation I come here and find comfort that I am not alone. So I am hoping some of you read this and it helps you in one way or another. In one year I paid of 38k in student loans. I reduced my student loan burden from 152k to 114k. Starting balances
current balances
How I did it: Increase income In addition to my career, I picked up a second full-time job in March of 2017 My career: Gross 70k, Net 45k (after health insurance, taxes, 401k emp match) My second full-time job: Gross 34k, Net 26k (after taxes) The money from my career went into my student loans and I lived off of the money from my second job. In August I had an emergency and used $1500 from my career to cover it, otherwise every penny from my career went into my student loans which included minimums. I used the snowball method to pay off my loans. I only have one variable interest rate and that is loan "H" how I choose to live This means I lived on 26k last year. Whatever I needed or wanted came out of this pile of money. I made scarifies in some areas such as my living arrangement. I pay $300/month in a house with multiple people including the owner of the home. The owner isn't an easy person to live with and I can't really have guests or make a lot of noise, but I don't care. I am not home that often since I am out working most of the time. To me, this was an easy area to save money. I splurged in other areas. I bought a new modest vehicle, put 5k down and financed 15k for 1.9%. I have a car payment of $372/month. I even took a cheap (less than 2k) European vacation last year. I modified my budget to be a little more strict after my mini emergency $1500 in August even though I had enough money in my e-fund to cover it. At that point my e-fund was at 3k which I thought would be enough for a little emergency but I felt sick thinking about it dropping to $1500. After this incident I redirected some more discretionary money into my e-fund. I now contribute at minimum $200/month and a lot of times I double it. I will continue to contribute to my e-fund until it passes the 7k mark. After that, I will put the $200/month to some other item I want to save for (wedding, vacation etc). Of note, my living arrangement will change in 2018 and that will become more of a significant expense which means, I will not be taking another cool vacation this year and will probably have to adjust other areas of my budget. As you can see, I don't make the best financial choices, but I also don't make the worst. I set rules and boundaries up for myself and I play within those boundaries. I have found great success with this method. I am not a fan of directing every last penny of discretionary income into my loans (as you can see) but I used MOST of my discretionary income to do so. I am happy. Let me know if you want any other details or have questions. EDIT: for table trouble, fixed now. EDIT #2:A lot of people are asking what I do for my second job, I prefer not to say in a public forum, so if you're really curious PM me. Otherwise, if a second job is something you're considering doing, there are a lot of posts on reddit for this kind of thing, like here. I tried lionbridge but it was really boring. I kinda regret not sticking with it. Other options I've read after extensive reddit-ing 1) Uhaul has at home jobs 2) Amazon has at home customer service reps 3) Apple also has at home reps. I was interested in all of these options because they all paid fairly well and I could simplify things by being at home. Additionally, think about things that you're good at and can market. Do you have any skill that you can freelance for? Hope this helps [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 07 Mar 2018 10:50 PM PST Does anyone know how to calculate the savings based on an autopay discount? In refinancing a student loan, I was offered a rate of 5.875% on $54,000, with a .25% autopay discount. I took this to mean that my interest rate would be 5.625%, so long as I had autopay set up. In other words, the interest savings over the life of the loan would be $17,535.20 (at 5.875%) minus $16,727.06 (at 5.625%) = $808.14 in savings. However after speaking with a loan officer, my assumption was incorrect. Instead, they would take .25% of my monthly payment, which is ($596.13*.0025)=$1.49 and put that amount towards principle instead of towards interest. So my monthly payment would stay the same, but the amount payed to interest would be reduced. Anyway, how do I calculate total savings over the life of the loan? I can find plenty of calculators online that figure savings for making extra payments towards principle each month (which I intend to do), but not one that figures this sort of discount. Does anyone else think this is a misleading marketing scheme? Maybe the savings still adds up to be the same, but I haven't been able to figure that out yet. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Federal Loan to Collections: What are my options? 30 days to Dispute? Posted: 08 Mar 2018 12:05 AM PST This morning I opened a letter stating my federal student loan has been sent to collections. I'm at a loss right now and...just fuck. I was wondering about the 30 days they give me to dispute the claim; does anyone knows any details about it? Can I get my loan out of collections by disputing? Obviously, these are the words of a desperate person. I'm guessing the only reasonable thing I can do is set up that 9 repayment option. I'm not sure if I can afford a reasonable payment option though, and I definitely would not like to get sued. Its just I recently started going back to school for something I actually have a passion for, there is no way I'm willing to put my new study on hold. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 07 Mar 2018 02:45 PM PST I graduated in 2012, Navient is servicing several Direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans to the tune of a total balance of $36k. They told me that Revised Pay as You Earn is better for me because it has a 20 year limit instead of 25 and that the gov't will pay 50% of my unpaid interest throughout the duration. From where I stand it looks like I should be under Revised Pay as You Earn, but I am always suspicious. Can someone who knows the ins and outs tell me if I'll be making the right choice, or if I'm missing key information? Also want to add that I am a teacher and I am about to apply for PSLF. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 07 Mar 2018 04:39 PM PST I have a Perkins loan from freshman year from school 1. I transferred and never took out another Perkins loan, only Stafford loans. I got an email from my current school that I need exit counseling and it's makes you check a box that's separate if you had a Perkins loan. I can't remember if I did it at school 1 or not, and haven't gotten anything in the mail. Do I check that box for my current school if the loan wasn't for them? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affording university when I cant get student finance? Posted: 07 Mar 2018 03:55 PM PST So I really really messed up at university. I had many things happen to me (mugged, assaulted, death of close family member, abusive relationship) I tried to finish my degree through it all but I simply couldnt and basically wasted 2 years of student loans before dropping out. for the last year ive focussed on myself and gotten a lot healthier mentally but now im looking at finishing my degree as i want to get a job in art therapy which requires a degree + masters. Ive contacted student finance but it seems that due to me asking about it so late (1 year later approximately) its unlikely that ill be able to get funding for the 2 years required to finish a degree. I can only get 1 more year of funding. Im really lost and dont know what other options I have to finish a degree. And the thought of saving up tens on thousands of pounds seems impossible. Is there any other options for me. Im really lost and down about this as I feel like ive ruined my life. Thank you everyone in advance. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Already paying an obscene amount of $$ to Navient and now they want $200 more a month Posted: 07 Mar 2018 03:34 PM PST Is there any sort of lawyer i can speak to? How do they expect me to make $200 more. I have managed, just barely to pay on time every month and now they want to raise it. If they raise it, i won't be able to pay. If I stay where I am at I can keep making the payments... [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Question about loan payment options Posted: 07 Mar 2018 08:00 AM PST It is time. I'm graduating, I have a job, I was having a good day until I saw my loan statements. So, I recently defended my PhD and I am employed. Great job, me. Currently I made 87k with benefits, relatively young and in good health. That much I'm thankful for. At the moment I have ~10k in savings. I'm married, share bills. The bad part is now I seriously have to start thinking about my loans. I was in a bad place going through school, which didn't get better in grad school. As a result, I have a lot of loans to worry about. I did a bit of research on my end but there still seems to be a lot I don't completely understand. I understand the loans, the type, the amounts and rates, the concept of captialization. I also understand I have 6 months after I graduate to start paying (which would be the end of this year, I graduate in May) so I am in a very good position to pay those down. The problem is that I don't understand how best to tackle them and what I should prioritize so that I get these predatory pieces of shit out of my life as quickly as possible. In terms of loans, I currently have ~24k in interest on top of ~94k in principal. All of that is federal, no private. Half of the loans I have are unsub with the graduate 5-6% rate, with the remaining unsub loans much lower in both rate and principal amount. I recognize I have a higher paying job but still that seems like a daunting amount... I also have parent+ loans that I am paying on my parents behalf since the deferment period for those is different but those I plan on stretching until my parents die and the loans disappear (sorry dad...). What I want to ask about are three things. I looked at a few resources but some aspects of my problem weren't talked about in those resources:
The grad school loans are the worst, but I also have a lot of interest accumulated (mostly from my grad loans). What I'm doing now is planning payments on the interest on all my loans I have I don't have to worry about my loans capitalizing. Is this a good idea, or would it be a better idea to take care of my grad student loan principal amounts? Again, most of my undergrad loans have lower rates and principal amounts. Anyway, thanks for reading, advice? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Quick question about statute of limitations and what constitutes activity Posted: 07 Mar 2018 12:29 PM PST So I'm just getting started on the journey of cleaning up my mess, and I had a quick question that I couldn't find answered anywhere already. I've been doing some research and right now I just want to see if there's a way I can take a look at my accounts without tripping any wires or sending any signals that might reset the statute of limitations. My understanding is that you typically need to start paying, or promise to start paying for this to happen but I just wanted to be sure. It would just help me navigate this less stressfully if I can be sure any such first move constituting activity is intentional and done with purpose and understanding on my part. Thanks for reading, any input is highly appreciated [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Please help me figure out the best repayment plan for my student loans. Posted: 07 Mar 2018 11:33 AM PST I'm extremely overwhelmed by all this and have been trying to figure things out, but I'm not getting far. Ironically, I work with a financial aid agency and while they do train us about how loans work and repayment plans, I still feel confused as to how to best strategize my own loans. Currently my loans altogether are about 37,000. My grace period ended in January. I tried to apply for an Income-Based Repayment plan then (particularly Revised Pay As You Earn), but ended up switching back to Standard when I realized the interest rates and the like (which I'm still kind of unclear about, to be honest.) My main goal is to pay this back as much as possible. With living at home, I feel like the Standard Repayment plan would make the most sense as of now, but I also am not sure how affordable it will be in the long-run if I plan to go back to school or possibly move in the next years (along with other financial goals and the like.) I make about 25000 a year with my job (not including the deductions from state taxes and the like, which in the end looks like only 20,000). Please help me figure this all out, because I'm a relatively disorganized person and want to reasonably prioritize my loans, while also being able to potentially live my life and move forward with my future goals. I've also been hearing about this "avalanche vs snowball" method. Can someone please explain what that is or what that looks like, or what their "formal" terms are, because I'm not sure I'd be able to identify them from hearing the slang alone, lol. Please feel free to ask for any clarifications or send any resources my way because I just don't even know where to begin, and almost never post on Reddit to begin with. Thanks for reading and helping me, I'm a newbie with finances and I'm trying my best. Thanks [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability = Student Loan Forgiveness! Has anyone tried this? Posted: 06 Mar 2018 01:28 PM PST My husband's VA appeal was finally decided and he is now considered 100% disabled due to unemployability. We were notified that he is eligible for total student loan forgiveness based on his disability. I did some research on this and here's what I found: https://lowincomerelief.com/student-loan-forgiveness-disability/ I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this program. Specifically, I'm concerned about the tax liability that will result from forgiving ~$50,000 in student loans and I'm curious about exactly how the three-year monitoring period works. Has anybody used the disability forgiveness before? Any experience or insight you may have is greatly appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
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