How to Identify a Student Loan Scam Student Loans |
- How to Identify a Student Loan Scam
- Borrowers Face Hazy Path as Program to Forgive Student Loans Stalls Under Betsy DeVos - NYT Article
- Advice for paying off my student loan debt
- Repayment - income based repayment - payment is due, income based repayment is in approval process, do I need to pay the giant payment?
- FedLoan Auto Payment
- FedLoan help - now in delinquency
- Graduating in May, need counseling on my loans
- Loan Consolidation Advice: 65k income. 11k in federal loans and 71k in private.
- Income-based or not, am I missing something?
- Does anyone here feel failed by their parents?
- Moving to a different state and different school, only taking 8 credits a semester
| How to Identify a Student Loan Scam Posted: 11 Nov 2018 06:33 AM PST It seems it's time to sticky another post about this based on recent sub activity. Here's the most important bit - you should never have to pay for help with your student loans. There isn't a person or entity on the planet that can get you a better deal, or access to a benefit or program, that you can't get yourself, for free, by working directly through your loan holder. The second most important bit is the old school - if it sounds too good to be true, it almost assuredly is. While it's not illegal to charge for student loan help, many of the companies that do also engage in what is absolutely fraudulent and deceptive behaviour. If you experience any of the following, we here at /r/studentloans encourage you to report it to your local attorney general's office and the Federal Trade Commission as well as the Department of Education. All of these entities are actively pursuing and taking enforcement actions against these companies. Warning signs/things to report: Company claims to "work with" or partner with the Department of Education on any of the student loan servicers Claims you can receive forgiveness, especially before knowing anything about your student loan balance and loan type Mentions "the Obama forgiveness program" - there's no such thing Creates a sense of urgency for you to sign up right away Asks for a power of attorney over your loan accounts Asks for any of your FSA or other passwords or PINS (never give those - to anyone) Many of these companies ask for a large up front enrollment fee - anywhere from six hundred to twelve hundred dollars and then a monthly fee of around 39 bucks. They often infer that the monthly fee is actually your student loan payment. For these fees they will consolidate your loans - which you can do easily - for free - at www.studentloans.gov and often put the loans in forbearance - so no payment is due but interest is still accruing - and take you thirty nine dollars every month to "monitor" the account - i.e. do nothing. I have personally worked with a borrower who had been in repayment for fifteen years when she was snagged by one of these companies. They had her sign a POA and used it to change all the contact info on the account to their own address and phone number. She paid a few thousand up front and the typical thirty nine bucks monthly - she thought that was her payment. After three years she gets a call from the feds - her loan was in default and double what it was when she started. They'd put it in forbearance until they couldn't anymore - then just let it go delinquent and default and disappeared with her money. The feds only found her through skip tracing. And there was nothing anyone could do for her Here's some additional reading on these companies https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2018/06/student-loan-debt-relief-scam-operators-agree-settle-ftc-charges https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/1028-student-loans https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/dont-trust-companies-student-debt/ [link] [comments]  |
| Borrowers Face Hazy Path as Program to Forgive Student Loans Stalls Under Betsy DeVos - NYT Article Posted: 11 Nov 2018 04:37 PM PST |
| Advice for paying off my student loan debt Posted: 11 Nov 2018 07:38 PM PST Hello to you all, I would really like your advice on tackling my student loans. Just got my first real job. I have neglected my loans for years, primarily out of ignorance. Now that i understand what is going on and how much I owe, I want to figure out a plan. I've been here reading others' posts so I will tell you my opinion but I would really appreciate if you guys could help improve my plan. PRIVATE LOANS, SALLIE MAE/Smart Option: Loan 1: $22,207.82 12.750% Loan 2: $19, 892.36 9.625% Loan 3: $13,348.13 9.375% Loan 4: $12,187.60 8.625% Loan 5: $9,871.50 9.625% Loan 6: $9,484.31 10.125% Loan 7: $3,146.01 10.625% TOTAL: $90,137.73 Total Monthly Interest Payment : $1,019.34 GREAT LAKES: Subsidized: Loan 8: $1,034.69 3.4% Loan 9: $2,987.96 3.4% Loan 10: $659.54 3.4% Loan 11: $5,920.36 3.86% Loan 12: $2.690.16 4.66% Loan 13: $2,839.81 4.29% Unsubsidized: Loan 14: $5,564.56 6.8% Loan 15: $3,121.34 6.8% Loan 16: $3,790.89 6.8% Loan 17: $3,015.73 6.8% Loan 18: $5,660.76 6.8% Loan 19: $2371.87 3.86% Loan 20: $3926.36 4.290% TOTAL $43,584.03 Total Monthly Interest Payment: $475.82 SCHOOL I owe my last school just under $3,000. I am going to chip away at this with any extra money I have at the end of the month. My private loans are my focus though, so here is what i am thinking. After expenses I will have about $1,500 for loan payments. This means I will barely have any to put against the principal. I will occasionally have a few extra hundred dollars but this will be random (bonus from work). MY PLAN: From what I understand, I should be paying off the highest interest rate loan first, (Loan 1), So when I have my bonus check or a good amount left over at the end of the month, I will put it entirely against loan 1. (I will also put some towards my school, so I can actually receive my degree). Also, I have read about IBR plans. I checked with Great Lake and i believe an IBR should be about $150.00 a month. Should I start an IBR plan? I don't fully understand it. Does interest accrue? Any advice is appreciated. If i failed to mention anything, it is because i am unaware of it so please put it out there. I also hope that this helps others in my situation. I feel so much better that I am now attempting to tackle my loans. Even though it is a lot of money, I feel good about this. If you are in my position, don't give up. we can do this together. I will keep you guys updated as well which I hope will help educate others and create a larger data pool for us to reference. Thank you all! Edit: Improved Layout. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Nov 2018 07:02 PM PST I don't know what to do and I am freaking out. I have been super busy and thought it was due next month so I didn't set it up until now, and it's due tomorrow and I don't have the money. What do I do? Do I make the payment? Do I call them? I'm having a panic attack and this is so stupid, I can't believe I did this. I set up the forms but I have to submit a paper application because I didn't get a job until after I graduated and I have to submit proof of my husband's income, and I don't want to become delinquent for my payments and we honestly cannot afford this, and I have Perkins loans on top of it that come due in March. I'm terrified and I so regret going to college. EDIT: I read "repayment date" for 11/12/2018 as meaning that was payment due date - it's actually looking to be 12/16/2018 for the date that I have to make a payment. I got the paperwork set up, have to print my husband's most recent paystub (I think?) and print a copy of my most recent paystub, and send whatever else they want from me. So it isn't due tomorrow. I'm just an idiot that doesn't understand the terminology. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Nov 2018 01:21 PM PST Just finished paying off 1 of my 2 Fedloan. Do I have to change my autopayment or will it update automatically? Will both payments apply to my remaining loan or will one keep going to the paid off loan and then refunded back when they realize the account is paid in full? [link] [comments]  |
| FedLoan help - now in delinquency Posted: 11 Nov 2018 06:05 PM PST My wife took out four separate FedLoans when she was at school. When we sold our house we paid them all off in full (about two years ago). We have the paid in full letters for all loans in hand and on her account online. About a year ago they sent her a bill and said her account was delinquent. After multiple frustrating phone calls with FedLoan telling us the account was paid and full and they weren't sure what was wrong, we had our attorney contact them. They then resent the paid in full letters and said their bad. About a month ago we received another letter from FedLoan again saying the account was delinquent. We contacted them again and they again said they would look into it and it showed paid in full. Today, our credit alert notified us of two reported delinquent accounts from FedLoan, dropping our score well over 100 points. Any thoughts on what to do next? [link] [comments]  |
| Graduating in May, need counseling on my loans Posted: 11 Nov 2018 05:56 PM PST Hey /r/StudentLoans, I'm graduating in May and I'm getting together all my loans to plan for repayment. I have four parent-plus loans under my mother's name which I'm going to take under my name, unless guided otherwise. I also have 4 subsidized loans and 4 unsubsidized loans in my name. My servicer for my PPL is Nelnet, as of now. My servicer for my sub/unsub is PHEAA. I'm thinking of consolidating my loans, but I don't really know the first thing about loans. My loans are as followed:
What should be my best course of action to start repaying next year? [link] [comments]  |
| Loan Consolidation Advice: 65k income. 11k in federal loans and 71k in private. Posted: 11 Nov 2018 03:04 PM PST I am reading a lot on loan consolidation but I can't figure out if its the best step for me. My private loans have a relatively high interest rate at 9.99% while my federal loans have a more moderate rate of 4.45%. My private loans are with Wells Fargo, and it seems they offer consolidation services. Should I try to consolidate everything under Well Fargo or will I just end up increasing my interest rates? Thanks for the help! [link] [comments]  |
| Income-based or not, am I missing something? Posted: 11 Nov 2018 11:57 AM PST I am coming up on graduating this December and am starting to budget and strategize the best way to repay loans. I have gone on ed.gov to learn about different repayment plans and used the calculator for my own loans. It seems as though the lowest monthly payments are for the extended fixed or graduated plans vs PAYE/REPAYE/IBR which are fixed percentages of income. Given that my strategy is to attack high interest rate loans, shouldn't I choose the plan with the lowest monthly payment to increase my 'flexible' repayment money? [link] [comments]  |
| Does anyone here feel failed by their parents? Posted: 10 Nov 2018 01:00 PM PST I know this is mainly a sub-reddit for advice on surviving a student loan mess, but Im curious, how many of you feel failed and let down by your parents. Both my parents were god awful, clueless, and irresponsible with money my entire life, they still are. They raised me to believe that financial suffering is "normal" and "how everyone lives". However, they were my guiders in the college process. I went to a stupid culinary school that ended up costing $40K a year and I left with about $135K in debt. Its one of the lowest paying fields out there, so I was in that much debt making $11-$12 with my "super important" degree. Mind you my parents take home about $110K after taxes and have their house almost paid off but still "can't help." I know now they just don't want to help. Had I been taught about finances and had someone looked out for me, I know I wouldn't be in this mess. I feel most of us are here because our parents failed us and didn't love us enough to protect us from the detrimental life of student loans. I feel like I was doomed from the start having parents who have no clue on money. At 16 I wouldn't have even known what it means to have that much debt. Im just really feeling down and venting, if you have mean things to say then do so. I applied to college at 16 and started at 17 and had no financial guidance and now have spent the past 5 years suffering wishing i never made that decision. Every day i wish I had known better and never ever went there I think what hurts the most is that my parents don't have an ounce of sympathy or remorse. I use to fight them on it because I wish for a minute they knew how it feels to be in your early 20's absolutely drowning in debt for something not even tangible. I've given up because I know they will never have empathy or understand what damage has been done. I would beg for them to see my side and help, but they refuse and always say "well this is what you wanted." and they leave it at that. As dave ramsey says, the student loan problem is from garbage parents who aren't looking out for their kids, and Im just another one to put into a statistic. [link] [comments]  |
| Moving to a different state and different school, only taking 8 credits a semester Posted: 10 Nov 2018 09:36 AM PST I'm transferring to a different university in a different state. I've been taking out federal unsubsidized student loans, and have one private loan with Sallie Mae. I have not graduated yet and will not until 2020. My issue is I will only be allowed to take 8 credits a term for the first year I am in this state to qualify for in state tuition after the first year. Just the terms they have for in state tuition. What will I need to do in order to make sure the loan companies know I am not graduated yet and so I won't need to pay on my loans during this first year in the new state? Edit: I will not be applying for more federal loans until after the first year of being in this state. I plan to pay for the 8 credit terms out of pocket. [link] [comments]  |
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