Paid off $75k in private loans in ~4y!! Details below. Student Loans

Paid off $75k in private loans in ~4y!! Details below.
October 1 in United states
I'm not sure if I got scammed today
Will my partner inherit my debt?
I have no idea what I should do
Finally Doing Something About My Debt
Should I consolidate/refinance my private student loans?
Citibank Lawsuit (2017): Any Experience with it?
PSA for PSLFers: Perkins Loans - BIG Savings
Questions about combining spouse student loan debt
Do I have to recertify my income driven repayment early with a pay increase?

Paid off $75k in private loans in ~4y!! Details below.

Posted: 07 May 2021 09:53 AM PDT

So relieved to be done with my private loan of about $75k!

Fortunately or unfortunately during the pandemic, they didn't halt payments...so I've been trying to kill it off ever since.

As a long time lurker (sans account), I've always loved the posts that provide deep dives into how loans are paid off, what sort of lifestyles people were living, and of course data to prove it.

So here it is...

How I got the loans...

I graduated in 2013 with a bachelors degree from an out of state public school.
In 2016, I graduated with a masters degree from an out of state public school (which I mostly got a full ride for).

How I paid off the loans

Here's a Google Chart of how I paid them off over time. (Will amend this post to embed the chart, just so that no one thinks that the link is phishing or worse, a rickroll. Edit: ok. embedding doesn't work here, sorry.)

Factors that went into making those payments...

Making a deal w/ the devil - selecting a low interest rate in exchange for high monthly payments

I started out of school doing consulting work initially, which earned around $70k a year. Living in a larger city in the US and in an apartment (alone) was costly and meant I had to budget EVERYTHING. Still, I refinanced my loans under Sallie Mae to Citizens Bank in December 2016. They gave me a super sweet low fixed rate (at the time) of 3.99%. But the drawback that no one talks about on this sub is that to get that low rate, I needed to pay back my loans within 5y, meaning I had to make payments of $1.4k approximately every month. I did the back of the napkin math and assumed that I'd be doing consulting for the next five years (I left the industry a year or so later. Oop.)

Living in Europe for 3y+ while working at a startup

I moved to Europe in 2018 to pursue a career in a different industry at a small start-up. This meant an initial very painful pay cut to making about ~$50k a year. Given that I decided to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world, I had to cut costs in order to make those monthly payments. I knew HAD to make and stick to a budget. It was tough at first, but what really helped was doing activities that didn't require payment (like going on hikes on the weekend, going to free museum nights...etc). What also helped was cutting back on going out to eat, to the club, to the bar..etc. I also moved in with my partner to help afford things and we divvied up monthly costs (living with people always helps keep costs down).

Getting a well paying job mid-2020

I transitioned to a job in my same field that paid me ~$90k around 2020. This job has also provided me with the ability to get rewards for things like referrals, which I've also been able to capitalize on.

Other things to note..

Living life is important.

While living in Europe, I've travelled to several countries (pre-pandemic). One way to keep costs down was to use low cost carriers like EasyJet, RyanAir..etc. Another way to keep costs down was by doing weekend trips. We jump on the plane on a Thursday or Friday evening and then come back home on Sunday. Only sometimes did I stay somewhere over a week, it was rare though. Airbnbs were the best bet. Although staying in hotels in certain cities was also super affordable.

Work at a job that you will enjoy or think you will mostly enjoy and learn from

One rule of thumb I've been following is to only take jobs I know that I'm going to enjoy AND learn AND develop my skills at. (And yes, that is an extreme privilege.) The industry I'm working in is also related to a hobby of mine. By doing this, I've been able to put in the hours for the job (the time and grind), without feeling like it's been eating away at my life.

You need a budget

You do. It really helped me figure out how I could afford to continue making these crazy payments over some years (like in 2019). Start with a shitty spreadsheet that you can only read and refine from there.

(Not financial advice) Investing on the side worked for me.

Sure, it's taken me longer than some people on this sub to pay off my loans, but don't forget to take advantage of investing opportunities (not financial advice). I weighed up the monthly interest rate payments of my student loan with the ROI I could be getting from other investment vehicles. DYOR though. And don't go all in on DOGE rn. Just don't.

Tried to keep this short but it became a wall of text. But hopefully it'll be useful for someone. Even when the going got tough, I loved reading people's detailed posts about how they were able to pay their loans off. It was so inspiring. So, I'm trying to pay it back to the sub.

TLDR; I managed to pay off my $75k private loans, with some budgeting and thriftiness. You can do it too!

submitted by /u/loan_on_me
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October 1 in United states

Posted: 07 May 2021 07:16 AM PDT

What's October 1 gonna look like? Is this a loose deadline for the administration to revamp existing programs? Because student loans along with expiring bans on evictions sounds like an economic collapse. How many people will default on their student loans? Would it even make sense to extend the payment/interest freeze? I'm really just wanting to see what the possible outcomes we're gonna be looking at. Clock is ticking.

submitted by /u/HollowPo1nt1906
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I'm not sure if I got scammed today

Posted: 07 May 2021 07:52 PM PDT

So I got an email today regarding student loan forgiveness and decided, why not? My dad was asking me to apply for student loans so I decided today was the day...

I hadn't really paid much attention to possible scams regarding student loans until now, for some reason I had the itch that this deal was too good to be true... I just now read into student loan scams and I fear for my money.

Basically, this business claimed they were a student loan forgiveness program. Set me up to do 5 Months of $206.95 then the other 12 months would be billed as $0... after that I would be billed 193.75 for 73 months to finish off my student loan... I'm a little worried because I had signed some papers electronically without a shred of doubt this wasn't a scam. I also let him sign into my FSA student aid account. And lastly I had given him the last four digits of my social and bank account information. This is their website: https://directaccountmanagement.com/

Please help, I don't know if I signed myself into something that will ruin my credit or the money in my account. If this is a scam, please help me get out of this ASAP!

TL;DR: Signed myself into possible student loan forgiveness scam at https://directaccountmanagement.com/

submitted by /u/nazteenaz
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Will my partner inherit my debt?

Posted: 07 May 2021 02:27 PM PDT

I have about $90K in federal and private loans, with my mother as my only co-signer but I plan to refinance the private ones solo.

My fiancé and I have agreed to always have separate finances and we both have our own independent incomes.

When we get married — how will my student loans impact my partner? Basically, if I were to die or lost my job, would my partner be held liable?

We've talked about getting a civil union instead of a legal marriage if my debt would impact them heavily.. but if there a workaround? Like filing taxes separately or something?

submitted by /u/translight12
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I have no idea what I should do

Posted: 07 May 2021 07:46 AM PDT

I have a few questions. To say the very least... I've been in college for three years and so far have only accumulated $6000 in federal student loan debt. I have needed a full-time job, but my grades have suffered... I feel like I've been working myself to exhaustion for no reason—Leading to my poor mental health and losing all of my scholarships.

I do know I want my degree in Biomedical Engineering with a concentration in Biomechanics more than anything. If I begin taking out private loans, who should I chose?

I am at my max. I just want to concentrate on my grades and potentially getting back a scholarship or two. I cannot get anymore Fed loans because according to my FASFA, parents have money! Haha between an abusive alcoholic father and a mom who always plays victim and treats herself to $25000+ per month of hair and nails and shopping... No they don't, so I came to Reddit to ask hopefully far more educated and well-structured individuals!

Thank you for any advice!

submitted by /u/afgrace
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Finally Doing Something About My Debt

Posted: 07 May 2021 04:18 AM PDT

I've been ignoring my loans for tooooooo long. But I'm finally making "decent enough" money to take them seriously. Need some advice.

Via Navient's site, I am currently at ~49000 in loans, spread across 13 direct loans. Credit likely in mid 600s.

Been reading through this sub and gather that consolidation is best for me. But I'm also worried about defaulting. And I have no idea what my "expiration" date is.

Any thoughts? Need more info? Thanks in advance.

submitted by /u/iaremoronphoto
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Should I consolidate/refinance my private student loans?

Posted: 07 May 2021 07:54 AM PDT

Got 3 student loans amounting to 120k from discover with help of a cosigner.

Range from 3.3x to 3.99%. All variable

Better to just leave it as it is or will consolidation help?

Thanks

submitted by /u/zdzfwweojo
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Citibank Lawsuit (2017): Any Experience with it?

Posted: 07 May 2021 11:02 AM PDT

I see that in 2017 Citibank was sued for "loan servicing failures." This is close to ancient history now, but does anyone know what came of this?

I had one of these loans issued around 2006, they started asking me for interest payments while I was still in school which was very odd but they claimed was as it should be. Eventually the damn thing went into default and then was sold off to a zillion different people (as I recall) and I actually lost track of it!

Does anyone know:

If people managed to sue to get loans discharged based on large case against Citibank?
where a loan orginally with citibank might even be now?

Thanks all!

submitted by /u/ritmoson
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PSA for PSLFers: Perkins Loans - BIG Savings

Posted: 07 May 2021 05:08 AM PDT

TLDR: Federal Perkins Loans? 0 payments, 5 years of service, 100% forgiven.

After a recent conversation with program directors from my law school I learned that way too many people don't know about this huge money saver if you have FEDERAL PERKINS LOANS. Summarizing the email I disseminated to my class mate's and school staff:

The Perkins Loan Forgiveness Program may be overlooked because it is often labelled as the "Perkins Loan Teacher Cancellation" and advertised as a program for teachers, however, it is far from being limited to only teachers. The program is actually open to an even broader group of employment types than the PSLF with a few potential exceptions (may not apply to clerks or court/judge staff attorneys).

This program is even better than the PSLF because: 1. It is shorter (5 years not 10); 2. It is based off years of service rather than number of payments; and 3. If used correctly can actually result in a cancellation of debt without the borrower having to make a single payment.

The program cancels a portion of the debt for every year of employment in a qualified position - with 100% cancellation after 5 years. Again, the cancellation of debt is contingent on qualified employment NOT qualified payments. Additionally, during each year of qualified employment, a borrower can apply for deferment based solely off of qualified employment. Essentially, a borrower can apply for a Public Service Deferment for 5 years, then after the fifth year, have the loan forgiven.

submitted by /u/cruncruncrun
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Questions about combining spouse student loan debt

Posted: 07 May 2021 03:44 AM PDT

Hello everyone and thank you for your time