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Right now I work in biglaw. Going to be a federal clerk in DC next year.

I have only federal loans, but a lot of them. I haven't refinanced because of the various COVID grace periods that zero out any interest.

If I wait to refi until I'm clerking and the COVID grace perod ends, will it affect my ability to get loans at all and/or the interest rate I get?

If it matters, I can get my spouse who also is a lawyer in biglaw to co-sign.

AlexFergusonLS wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 2:10 pm

Right now I work in biglaw. Going to be a federal clerk in DC next year.

I have only federal loans, but a lot of them. I haven't refinanced because of the various COVID grace periods that zero out any interest.

If I wait to refi until I'm clerking and the COVID grace perod ends, will it affect my ability to get loans at all and/or the interest rate I get?

If it matters, I can get my spouse who also is a lawyer in biglaw to co-sign.

Personally, I would re-finance now. (Maybe leave a bit in federal to take advantage of loan forgiveness, on the off chance there's no income cap.) First, rates are quite low--unclear how quickly they'll go up, but they're unlikely to go down. Second, based on my experience at least, you will not get as favorable terms with a lower income. Third, be very careful about adding you wife as a co-signer. Even assuming a happy marriage, you could die, and she could be liable for the whole shebang without the benefit of your income. (Federal loans are discharged at death. There's nothing requiring the same for private loans, so you' have to check the terms.)

Others will probably disagree. Of note, if you could end up staying in government post-clerkship, you might want to preserve you PSLF eligibility. Also, you can refinance as many times as you wish, so if you end up with a higher rate because of a lower income, you could solve that problem by rejoining biglaw and refinancing again. (This is less helpful if rates shoot up dramatically within the next year but that seems unlikely.)