Student loan payments: get advice and actual numbers here Forum

[Dany]

Why can't FedLoan servicing email me instead of sending me paper letters?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Is it through myfedloan.org? They have a paperless option.

[Dany]

Is it through myfedloan.org? They have a paperless option.

Awesome, thank you! They sent me one email so I assumed it was automatically paperless, but then I got home for Christmas and had 3 paper letters so I didn't know what was going on.

In good news my consolidation is almost done!

[gk101]

Paid around 33k this year towards student loan debt after paying down 28k in 2013. Still have 5-6 more years to go at this rate before I am done with my loans

[bl1nds1ght]

Quick question about Fedloan Servicing and selecting individual loans to pay.

I am aware that I can apply my payment to a specific loan, but I'm not sure whether I still need to make the minimum payments on the others at the same time. Am I able to pay to a single loan as long as I pay above the total monthly minimum payment?

Say my total monthly payment is $500 spread across all the loans. If I hypothetically pay $750 to one of my loans in particular, do I still need to pay something to the others?

[gk101]

Quick question about Fedloan Servicing and selecting individual loans to pay.

I am aware that I can apply my payment to a specific loan, but I'm not sure whether I still need to make the minimum payments on the others at the same time. Am I able to pay to a single loan as long as I pay above the total monthly minimum payment?

Say my total monthly payment is $500 spread across all the loans. If I hypothetically pay $750 to one of my loans in particular, do I still need to pay something to the others?

yeah you do. You can't just make payments on specific loans without paying the interest and minimum required payments on all of the loans

[bl1nds1ght]

Quick question about Fedloan Servicing and selecting individual loans to pay.

I am aware that I can apply my payment to a specific loan, but I'm not sure whether I still need to make the minimum payments on the others at the same time. Am I able to pay to a single loan as long as I pay above the total monthly minimum payment?

Say my total monthly payment is $500 spread across all the loans. If I hypothetically pay $750 to one of my loans in particular, do I still need to pay something to the others?

yeah you do. You can't just make payments on specific loans without paying the interest and minimum required payments on all of the loans

Cool. That's what I figured, but I wanted to make sure.

Thank you for answering.

[Anonymous User]

2014 grad update:

Original Loan Amount (Disbursed): $176,632.00

Total Amount Paid: $22,500.00

Remaining Balance: $178,173.09

Happy New Year!

[A. Nony Mouse]

2014 grad update:

Original Loan Amount (Disbursed): $176,632.00

Total Amount Paid: $22,500.00

Remaining Balance: $178,173.09

Happy New Year!

Ugh. This is why I don't even look at my loan totals - I just make my monthly payments and ignore the rest. (Of course, I'm trying to ride that PSLF train, so paying less > paying more, but it's still depressing.)

[Anonymous User]

2012 grad w/ like 200K

paid a fuckton

refi w sofi within past 6 months (save about 500/mo on interest)

down to like 110K

still wish i had a time machine so i could dicktap the 2009-me

[prezidentv8]

Paid around 33k this year towards student loan debt after paying down 28k in 2013. Still have 5-6 more years to go at this rate before I am done with my loans

go go go go go!

[BeachedBrit]

Just graduated and am currently studying for the bar; I start biglaw in May. If possible, i'd like to refinance now using either SoFi or DRB, so that I can avoid 5 months of higher interest accruing. I have decent but not great credit, but no real income history (other than the most recent summer's biglaw salary: ~$30k gross). Will SoFi/DRB take in to account my accepted job offer/future salary in calculating the rate they offer me now or do I have to wait until I begin work? If they will consider that future salary, how do I indicate that to them?

[Anonymous User]

Quick question:

Current Fed Clerk, JS-11, "Rest of US" Locality Pay Bump. 200k+ loans.
I signed up for IBR (not eligible for PAYE). My first monthly payment was $503. Is that a little high?

[Anonymous User]

Quick question:

Current Fed Clerk, JS-11, "Rest of US" Locality Pay Bump. 200k+ loans.
I signed up for IBR (not eligible for PAYE). My first monthly payment was $503. Is that a little high?

No, that sounds about right (I was also "rest of US"). I'm assuming you used your paystub/current income as the income? Sometimes if you use your annual taxes, depending on what you did before you were clerking, the payment can be a little lower.

[Tiago Splitter]

Just graduated and am currently studying for the bar; I start biglaw in May. If possible, i'd like to refinance now using either SoFi or DRB, so that I can avoid 5 months of higher interest accruing. I have decent but not great credit, but no real income history (other than the most recent summer's biglaw salary: ~$30k gross). Will SoFi/DRB take in to account my accepted job offer/future salary in calculating the rate they offer me now or do I have to wait until I begin work? If they will consider that future salary, how do I indicate that to them?

I'm almost certain that all of these private refinancers require you to have passed the bar exam first.

[Anonymous User]

Just graduated and am currently studying for the bar; I start biglaw in May. If possible, i'd like to refinance now using either SoFi or DRB, so that I can avoid 5 months of higher interest accruing. I have decent but not great credit, but no real income history (other than the most recent summer's biglaw salary: ~$30k gross). Will SoFi/DRB take in to account my accepted job offer/future salary in calculating the rate they offer me now or do I have to wait until I begin work? If they will consider that future salary, how do I indicate that to them?

I refinanced with DRB in May of 3L based on a BIgLaw offer.

[XxSpyKEx]

Quick question:

Current Fed Clerk, JS-11, "Rest of US" Locality Pay Bump. 200k+ loans.
I signed up for IBR (not eligible for PAYE). My first monthly payment was $503. Is that a little high?

No, that sounds about right (I was also "rest of US"). I'm assuming you used your paystub/current income as the income? Sometimes if you use your annual taxes, depending on what you did before you were clerking, the payment can be a little lower.

To the first quoted anon:
Yeah, why didn't you just use your 2014 tax return? (Since you're at JS-11, I'm assuming you graduated in May of 2014 and only worked a few months in 2014. If that's true, then you could have dropped your payments substantially for this year since your AGI was really low in 2014.)

[Anonymous User]

Will graduate with probably $50K in debt, biglaw job lined up... is it worth it to refinance using sofI? or is it better to just pay it all of as soon as possible

[Old Gregg]

Will graduate with probably $50K in debt, biglaw job lined up... is it worth it to refinance using sofI? or is it better to just pay it all of as soon as possible

You came to the right thread, which-no sarcasm-is an accomplishment for any TLSer. Now exercise that little bit of extra effort to read it.

But seriously, bravo dude.

[xeoh85]

Graduated: 2010
Original Debt / APR: $175k / 7.8% average APR
Current Debt: $90k / 3.99% APR (5-year fixed, refinanced through SoFi)
Current Income: $300k+
Current Payments: $1950 /mo
Expected Payoff Date: Winter 2018

I clerked for 1 year while on a deferred plan, paying interest only (and actually less than interest for some loans) at a whopping average 7.8% APR. That sucked.

For my first 2 years in biglaw post-clerkship, I was paying about $2500 /mo, still at an average 7.8% APR. That still sucked.

For my 3rd year in biglaw, I refinanced with SoFi to a 5-year fixed, at 3.99% APR. This was one of the best decisions I ever made. It will save me nearly $40k over the remaining life of the loan, and I was able to lower my payments by over $500/mo while also shortening my payoff period. I wish I had done this sooner--i.e., immediately after my clerkship. For anyone who is able and feels secure enough in their employment situation to take this path, I would highly recommend it.

[hous]

2014 graduate
Amount disbursed: $50,500
Interest: 6.3
Current balance: $46,000

Applied with DRB and Sofi to refinance. Both still pending.

[iowaguy]

IBR

User outed for anon abuse.

[Flanker1067]

Graduated: 2013
Original Debt: 170K / 7.1% average APR
Current Debt: ~188K
Current Income: ~20K/yr
Current Payments: 0
Plan: IBR
Expected Payoff Date: 30 years?

Future finances are effed but it might actually be better to pay 0 and watch an imaginary number (paying is so far out of reach at the moment it's hard to consider it as a real thing) go up than to work your ass off and see little progress, as some in this thread are currently doing. Of course, when I read threads like this it reminds me that debt is real and then the stress comes.

[seespotrun]

Graduated: 2010
Original Debt / APR: $175k / 7.8% average APR
Current Debt: $90k / 3.99% APR (5-year fixed, refinanced through SoFi)
Current Income: $300k+
Current Payments: $1950 /mo
Expected Payoff Date: Winter 2018

I clerked for 1 year while on a deferred plan, paying interest only (and actually less than interest for some loans) at a whopping average 7.8% APR. That sucked.

For my first 2 years in biglaw post-clerkship, I was paying about $2500 /mo, still at an average 7.8% APR. That still sucked.

For my 3rd year in biglaw, I refinanced with SoFi to a 5-year fixed, at 3.99% APR. This was one of the best decisions I ever made. It will save me nearly $40k over the remaining life of the loan, and I was able to lower my payments by over $500/mo while also shortening my payoff period. I wish I had done this sooner--i.e., immediately after my clerkship. For anyone who is able and feels secure enough in their employment situation to take this path, I would highly recommend it.

xeoh siting.

All hail xeoh.

[Anonymous User]

Lots of of discussion on investing v. putting it all into loan repayments here. I LIKE IT. Cuz I really need some advice.
My numbers are as follows:
2014 grad
Mid/small market little law: $70k
Current loans: around $90k in fed loans at avg interest rate of 6.5% (some undergrad, some law)
Payment plan: IBR at around $600/mo (no dependents right now, but my partner didn't go to college and I will be supporting our family whenever we choose to have one)
Monthly expenses with current payment plan: <$2000
Already have an emergency fund and Roth IRA.

Even maxing out the Roth IRA I am left with about $2000 for either a) paying more than the IBR rate on my loans; b) putting into a housing fund (for a 5yr plan invested in a mutual fund that gets progressively less aggressive each year until 2020); c) doing a mixture of both.

I am tempted to just pay the minimum on those student loans because paying them down gives me no actual equity and I may want to switch to govt work and use that 10yr loan forgiveness program (but who even knows if the govt will make good on that). My financial advisor told me that with interest rates between 6.5-7% that not paying as much of my loan principal down as I can normally doesn't make sense, but the whole nature of student loans and the weird and changing politics of it and how my professional choices might affect that change the game.

Is anyone in a similar situation? My loans and living expenses are super low right now but they won't be when we decide to make babies so I just want to maximize this opportunity to build up some capital so that if something awful does happen (like I or my partner lose our jobs or get disabled or whatever), I will have some wiggle room and less stress.

What do people think will happen with public interest loan forgiveness? Do people who have been paying loans for awhile feel like they would rather have put that money into a home?