| Posted By |
Message |
|
|
Student loan refinancing
I owe A LOT in student loans. Right now I'm on the "graduated" payment plan and while the payment is super affordable, I feel like the amount I owe is never going down.
I have heard of a few people going the route where they look at your total household income to figure the payment, but even if you still owe, they will wipe the amount clean in 10 years if you pay consistently.
Is this accurate?
And does it make the amount you owe go up a lot? (I know it's income based so not sure if this can even be answered accurately---probably combined DH and I make just under 6 figures a year).
We can't afford to put a ton of money towards student loans though so I don't want to do this if it's gonna make me student-loan poor.
TIA!!
ETA: DH is also self-employed so his income can fluctuate and we have good and bad months if he is waiting to be paid out. This is another reason I am nervous about this.
Message edited 12/28/2013 10:47:28 AM.
|
Posted 12/28/13 10:45 AM  |
| |
|
Long Island Weddings
Long Island's Largest Bridal Resource |
peanutbutter2
Carpe diem!
Member since 11/10 5287 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
I know I'm not answering your question 100%, but I would keep an eye on those income based plans.
When I looked at what income based would be for me, it was around 20% (yearly) of what I made in a year...which seemed ludicrous to me.
|
| Posted 12/28/13 10:55 AM |
| |
|
Jenn79
One more?
Member since 2/12 2410 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
I owe 50k. I'm on a plan where we had to file our taxes "married, but seperate" we are not sure how it's going to be with our return this year, BUT because I'm a sahm I will be paying $6 a month. If/when I start working my payments will go up, but it can't be more than a certain percentage of my income, and bc we filed seperate, they don't include dh's salary. Otherwise my payments were close to 600 a month with being a sahm and using dh's salary! Crazy bc we don't have that extra money every month, this is freaking Long Island!! Anyway, after 25 years the balance is forgiven. It sounds like a long time, but I don't even think about when I pay $6 ya know. It's a little more piece of mind. Before this, I cried almost every time a bill came! (I went to school for teaching, and have had no luck)
|
| Posted 12/28/13 10:56 AM |
| |
|
LSP2005
Bunny kisses are so cute!
Member since 5/05 19453 total posts
Name:
L
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
Different types of repayment plans
The 10 year plan is for public service types of jobs. Follow the links to see if you can qualify. There are a lot of hoops to jump through, but if you can qualify there are some great options. also - I am not sure that someone who was previously on IBR can qualify for the 10 year and then wipe out the debt. You would need to speak to a lender to make sure in your specific situation you could qualify. I would also speak with your HR manager to see if they offer any solutions for you too.
Message edited 12/28/2013 11:04:11 AM.
|
| Posted 12/28/13 10:58 AM |
| |
|
|
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
I think the dumbest mistake I made in life was going to a private school for social work!!!
I am also going to talk to my SIL at tax time who is our accountant and see what she would recommend.
I'm nervous because this is LI too and I feel like we are paying to just breathe the air here!
|
| Posted 12/28/13 10:59 AM |
| |
|
Jenn79
One more?
Member since 2/12 2410 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
Posted by MorningCuppaCoffee
I think the dumbest mistake I made in life was going to a private school for social work!!!
I am also going to talk to my SIL at tax time who is our accountant and see what she would recommend.
I'm nervous because this is LI too and I feel like we are paying to just breathe the air here!
Yup the dumbest mistake I made was to continue schooling and getting my masters in teaching at a private school! I wish someone could have told me it was a bad idea!!
|
| Posted 12/28/13 11:06 AM |
| |
|
Maybe-Baybe
My Sunshine
Member since 7/12 3415 total posts
Name:
My only Sunshine
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
Posted by Jenn79
I owe 50k. I'm on a plan where we had to file our taxes "married, but seperate" we are not sure how it's going to be with our return this year, BUT because I'm a sahm I will be paying $6 a month. If/when I start working my payments will go up, but it can't be more than a certain percentage of my income, and bc we filed seperate, they don't include dh's salary. Otherwise my payments were close to 600 a month with being a sahm and using dh's salary! Crazy bc we don't have that extra money every month, this is freaking Long Island!! Anyway, after 25 years the balance is forgiven. It sounds like a long time, but I don't even think about when I pay $6 ya know. It's a little more piece of mind. Before this, I cried almost every time a bill came! (I went to school for teaching, and have had no luck)
$6 a month?? That's incredible. I have to start filing my taxes that way. I pay about $300 a month for loans right now. That would be a huge relief.
|
| Posted 12/28/13 12:45 PM |
| |
|
Jenn79
One more?
Member since 2/12 2410 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
Posted by Maybe-Baybe
Posted by Jenn79
I owe 50k. I'm on a plan where we had to file our taxes "married, but seperate" we are not sure how it's going to be with our return this year, BUT because I'm a sahm I will be paying $6 a month. If/when I start working my payments will go up, but it can't be more than a certain percentage of my income, and bc we filed seperate, they don't include dh's salary. Otherwise my payments were close to 600 a month with being a sahm and using dh's salary! Crazy bc we don't have that extra money every month, this is freaking Long Island!! Anyway, after 25 years the balance is forgiven. It sounds like a long time, but I don't even think about when I pay $6 ya know. It's a little more piece of mind. Before this, I cried almost every time a bill came! (I went to school for teaching, and have had no luck)
$6 a month?? That's incredible. I have to start filing my taxes that way. I pay about $300 a month for loans right now. That would be a huge relief.
Yes because I'm unemployed right now, but from what I heard it won't go up too much to be unbearable payments when I do have a job in the future.
|
| Posted 12/28/13 2:50 PM |
| |
|
MsSissy
xoxoxo
Member since 3/07 39159 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
Posted by Jenn79
Posted by Maybe-Baybe
Posted by Jenn79
I owe 50k. I'm on a plan where we had to file our taxes "married, but seperate" we are not sure how it's going to be with our return this year, BUT because I'm a sahm I will be paying $6 a month. If/when I start working my payments will go up, but it can't be more than a certain percentage of my income, and bc we filed seperate, they don't include dh's salary. Otherwise my payments were close to 600 a month with being a sahm and using dh's salary! Crazy bc we don't have that extra money every month, this is freaking Long Island!! Anyway, after 25 years the balance is forgiven. It sounds like a long time, but I don't even think about when I pay $6 ya know. It's a little more piece of mind. Before this, I cried almost every time a bill came! (I went to school for teaching, and have had no luck)
$6 a month?? That's incredible. I have to start filing my taxes that way. I pay about $300 a month for loans right now. That would be a huge relief.
Yes because I'm unemployed right now, but from what I heard it won't go up too much to be unbearable payments when I do have a job in the future.
I should have my daughter look into this.
Do you know if this can be done in other states?
|
| Posted 12/28/13 2:53 PM |
| |
|
lvb626
LIF Adolescent
Member since 12/11 705 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
Posted by Jenn79
I owe 50k. I'm on a plan where we had to file our taxes "married, but seperate" we are not sure how it's going to be with our return this year, BUT because I'm a sahm I will be paying $6 a month. If/when I start working my payments will go up, but it can't be more than a certain percentage of my income, and bc we filed seperate, they don't include dh's salary. Otherwise my payments were close to 600 a month with being a sahm and using dh's salary! Crazy bc we don't have that extra money every month, this is freaking Long Island!! Anyway, after 25 years the balance is forgiven. It sounds like a long time, but I don't even think about when I pay $6 ya know. It's a little more piece of mind. Before this, I cried almost every time a bill came! (I went to school for teaching, and have had no luck)
I'd love some more info on this. I owe about $65k and am a SAHM and my payments are almost $800 a month. It's insane! What bank are your loans through? Are they private or federal?
|
| Posted 12/28/13 6:58 PM |
| |
|
Jenn79
One more?
Member since 2/12 2410 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
Posted by lvb626
Posted by Jenn79
I owe 50k. I'm on a plan where we had to file our taxes "married, but seperate" we are not sure how it's going to be with our return this year, BUT because I'm a sahm I will be paying $6 a month. If/when I start working my payments will go up, but it can't be more than a certain percentage of my income, and bc we filed seperate, they don't include dh's salary. Otherwise my payments were close to 600 a month with being a sahm and using dh's salary! Crazy bc we don't have that extra money every month, this is freaking Long Island!! Anyway, after 25 years the balance is forgiven. It sounds like a long time, but I don't even think about when I pay $6 ya know. It's a little more piece of mind. Before this, I cried almost every time a bill came! (I went to school for teaching, and have had no luck)
I'd love some more info on this. I owe about $65k and am a SAHM and my payments are almost $800 a month. It's insane! What bank are your loans through? Are they private or federal?
I have all federal loans. You can not do this for private. I had a bunch of loans through different places like sallie Mae etc. so I used a company called direct consolidation loans. They do all the leg work for you and consolidate them. I now have all my loans through sallie Mae. Now I can sign on my one account and apply for the income based repayment plan. It's a federal program, so it's for any state. Dh and I will be filing separate, but married this year which will hurt our return a bit, but I'm not sure by how much exactly. Plus it's better for us to pay way less and lose some tax money. If you happened to have already consolidated and have federal loans, call them and see what you need to do to join the program. Otherwise this is the company I used to help me consolidate and start this plan:
Direct consolidation loans
|
| Posted 12/28/13 8:43 PM |
| |
|
luvmotherhood
california dreamin'
Member since 2/13 1443 total posts
Name:
love my family!
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
Posted by MorningCuppaCoffee
I think the dumbest mistake I made in life was going to a private school for social work!!!
I am also going to talk to my SIL at tax time who is our accountant and see what she would recommend.
I'm nervous because this is LI too and I feel like we are paying to just breathe the air here!
i can relate 100%.
poor life choices on that one.
i have about 80K.
my payment just went up, and i negotiated it down for another 2 years but then it will go back up to over 500 a month again.
i can't pay that much!
social workers don't get PAID that much to begin with!
it sucks.
but i really think there's just nothing we can do.
|
| Posted 12/28/13 8:50 PM |
| |
|
PrincessP
Big sister!!!!!!!!!!
Member since 12/05 17450 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
Posted by Jenn79
I owe 50k. I'm on a plan where we had to file our taxes "married, but seperate" we are not sure how it's going to be with our return this year, BUT because I'm a sahm I will be paying $6 a month. If/when I start working my payments will go up, but it can't be more than a certain percentage of my income, and bc we filed seperate, they don't include dh's salary. Otherwise my payments were close to 600 a month with being a sahm and using dh's salary! Crazy bc we don't have that extra money every month, this is freaking Long Island!! Anyway, after 25 years the balance is forgiven. It sounds like a long time, but I don't even think about when I pay $6 ya know. It's a little more piece of mind. Before this, I cried almost every time a bill came! (I went to school for teaching, and have had no luck)
what I'd you mean, after 25 yrs the loan is forgiven? Thanks!
|
| Posted 12/29/13 2:44 AM |
| |
|
lvb626
LIF Adolescent
Member since 12/11 705 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
Posted by Jenn79
Posted by lvb626
Posted by Jenn79
I owe 50k. I'm on a plan where we had to file our taxes "married, but seperate" we are not sure how it's going to be with our return this year, BUT because I'm a sahm I will be paying $6 a month. If/when I start working my payments will go up, but it can't be more than a certain percentage of my income, and bc we filed seperate, they don't include dh's salary. Otherwise my payments were close to 600 a month with being a sahm and using dh's salary! Crazy bc we don't have that extra money every month, this is freaking Long Island!! Anyway, after 25 years the balance is forgiven. It sounds like a long time, but I don't even think about when I pay $6 ya know. It's a little more piece of mind. Before this, I cried almost every time a bill came! (I went to school for teaching, and have had no luck)
I'd love some more info on this. I owe about $65k and am a SAHM and my payments are almost $800 a month. It's insane! What bank are your loans through? Are they private or federal?
I have all federal loans. You can not do this for private. I had a bunch of loans through different places like sallie Mae etc. so I used a company called direct consolidation loans. They do all the leg work for you and consolidate them. I now have all my loans through sallie Mae. Now I can sign on my one account and apply for the income based repayment plan. It's a federal program, so it's for any state. Dh and I will be filing separate, but married this year which will hurt our return a bit, but I'm not sure by how much exactly. Plus it's better for us to pay way less and lose some tax money. If you happened to have already consolidated and have federal loans, call them and see what you need to do to join the program. Otherwise this is the company I used to help me consolidate and start this plan:
Direct consolidation loans
Thanks for the info, I will look into them. Were there any fees associated with the program?
|
| Posted 12/29/13 6:38 AM |
| |
|
dani731
Blessed!!!
Member since 1/08 3355 total posts
Name:
D
|
Re: Student loan refinancing
Posted by lvb626
Posted by Jenn79
Posted by lvb626
Posted by Jenn79
I owe 50k. I'm on a plan where we had to file our taxes "married, but seperate" we are not sure how it's going to be with our return this year, BUT because I'm a sahm I will be paying $6 a month. If/when I start working my payments will go up, but it can't be more than a certain percentage of my income, and bc we filed seperate, they don't include dh's salary. Otherwise my payments were close to 600 a month with being a sahm and using dh's salary! Crazy bc we don't have that extra money every month, this is freaking Long Island!! Anyway, after 25 years the balance is forgiven. It sounds like a long time, but I don't even think about when I pay $6 ya know. It's a little more piece of mind. Before this, I cried almost every time a bill came! (I went to school for teaching, and have had no luck)
I'd love some more info on this. I owe about $65k and am a SAHM and my payments are almost $800 a month. It's insane! What bank are your loans through? Are they private or federal?
I have all federal loans. You can not do this for private. I had a bunch of loans through different places like sallie Mae etc. so I used a company called direct consolidation loans. They do all the leg work for you and consolidate them. I now have all my loans through sallie Mae. Now I can sign on my one account and apply for the income based repayment plan. It's a federal program, so it's for any state. Dh and I will be filing separate, but married this year which will hurt our return a bit, but I'm not sure by how much exactly. Plus it's better for us to pay way less and lose some tax money. If you happened to have already consolidated and have federal loans, call them and see what you need to do to join the program. Otherwise this is the company I used to help me consolidate and start this plan:
Direct consolidation loans
Thanks for the info, I will look into them. Were there any fees associated with the program?
This is not a company, this is the federal student loan consolidation program. The only way you can consolidate federal loans is directly with the government. Private banks are no longer consolidating federal student loans. I did this about 2 yrs ago and and my loans are serviced by Nelnet now.
|
| Posted 12/29/13 2:39 PM |
| |
|
