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bjohnsobf

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by bjohnsobf » Wed Apr 12, 2017 12:58 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Alright, spouse and I some life and job changes in circumstance and am hoping someone might be able to help us navigate.

Me: biglaw --> now public interest, no loans left (aggressively paid them down), ~60k salary
Spouse: PSLF-eligible job making $40k the next few years, then bumps up to $90k (still PSLF-eligible). He's got about $75k left on his loans.

Complicating factors: we are in a high COL area and have a daycare-aged kid. Joint income is thus around $100k and with rent and daycare, we are trying to figure out how we can make his PSLF payments as low as possible while we make it work the next couple years. We filed jointly this year, and I've heard varying opinions on whether married filing separately would help/hurt/not affect our situation.

Alternatively, don't even know if it's proper to ask this so please ignore if that's the case, but are there companies/consultants (?) that will look at all your numbers for you and determine which plan/strategy is the best? With PAYE, REPAYE, IBR I am pretty lost...
I would defer to Johann who probably saved me a lot of money but I would say get spouse in PAYE file separately have him contribute as much as y'all can afford to 401k to get his adjusted gross income down. With a 40k salary minus up to 18k for 401k you would get a very low payment for him maybe even 0. But if he doesn't qualify for PAYE, I think REPAYE incorporates your income anyway. Either way pay yourself in 401k as much as you can during the PSLF years rather than paying the government.

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:09 pm

Would love to get some advice on my plans for loan repayment. I'm a 3L graduating next month.

Total debt at graduation: a little bit over 300k (this is combined T14 sticker and some graduate school loans that have been in forbearance
Salary: 160k (regional office of biglaw)
Status: I'm currently single but will be married by the time I start working in the fall--my fiancé is finishing up school in a year and she will make about 20k this upcoming year and she has zero debt. Her starting job after she graduates will pay about 60k
Repayment plan: From what I've seen on here PAYE seems to be my best option. I don't really want to live like a pauper for 10 years, and my fiancé and I want to start a family in a few years. I also like the idea of having my mandatory minimum payment at a reasonable level per month, with the option of paying off more if I can.

This is also morbid but I stand to get a decent amount of money from some older relatives--in which case I could add to my PAYE minimum monthly payments and pay off more if I wanted.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan or am I nuts to do this? Any advice is appreciated!

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:18 pm

bjohnsobf wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Alright, spouse and I some life and job changes in circumstance and am hoping someone might be able to help us navigate.

Me: biglaw --> now public interest, no loans left (aggressively paid them down), ~60k salary
Spouse: PSLF-eligible job making $40k the next few years, then bumps up to $90k (still PSLF-eligible). He's got about $75k left on his loans.

Complicating factors: we are in a high COL area and have a daycare-aged kid. Joint income is thus around $100k and with rent and daycare, we are trying to figure out how we can make his PSLF payments as low as possible while we make it work the next couple years. We filed jointly this year, and I've heard varying opinions on whether married filing separately would help/hurt/not affect our situation.

Alternatively, don't even know if it's proper to ask this so please ignore if that's the case, but are there companies/consultants (?) that will look at all your numbers for you and determine which plan/strategy is the best? With PAYE, REPAYE, IBR I am pretty lost...
I would defer to Johann who probably saved me a lot of money but I would say get spouse in PAYE file separately have him contribute as much as y'all can afford to 401k to get his adjusted gross income down. With a 40k salary minus up to 18k for 401k you would get a very low payment for him maybe even 0. But if he doesn't qualify for PAYE, I think REPAYE incorporates your income anyway. Either way pay yourself in 401k as much as you can during the PSLF years rather than paying the government.
OP here- Thanks. I've thought about that but I don't know if we could get by maxing out 401ks, feels like we need every penny though that's better than bigger loan payments. I'm guessing we are f'd for the next year too bc we filed jointly...

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Tiago Splitter

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Tiago Splitter » Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:26 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Would love to get some advice on my plans for loan repayment. I'm a 3L graduating next month.

Total debt at graduation: a little bit over 300k (this is combined T14 sticker and some graduate school loans that have been in forbearance
Salary: 160k (regional office of biglaw)
Status: I'm currently single but will be married by the time I start working in the fall--my fiancé is finishing up school in a year and she will make about 20k this upcoming year and she has zero debt. Her starting job after she graduates will pay about 60k
Repayment plan: From what I've seen on here PAYE seems to be my best option. I don't really want to live like a pauper for 10 years, and my fiancé and I want to start a family in a few years. I also like the idea of having my mandatory minimum payment at a reasonable level per month, with the option of paying off more if I can.

This is also morbid but I stand to get a decent amount of money from some older relatives--in which case I could add to my PAYE minimum monthly payments and pay off more if I wanted.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan or am I nuts to do this? Any advice is appreciated!
I don't think there is another way. Just go on PAYE, live well below your means and save as much as possible.

You and your wife should both try to max out 401k's to lower your AGI.

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:34 pm

Tiago Splitter wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Would love to get some advice on my plans for loan repayment. I'm a 3L graduating next month.

Total debt at graduation: a little bit over 300k (this is combined T14 sticker and some graduate school loans that have been in forbearance
Salary: 160k (regional office of biglaw)
Status: I'm currently single but will be married by the time I start working in the fall--my fiancé is finishing up school in a year and she will make about 20k this upcoming year and she has zero debt. Her starting job after she graduates will pay about 60k
Repayment plan: From what I've seen on here PAYE seems to be my best option. I don't really want to live like a pauper for 10 years, and my fiancé and I want to start a family in a few years. I also like the idea of having my mandatory minimum payment at a reasonable level per month, with the option of paying off more if I can.

This is also morbid but I stand to get a decent amount of money from some older relatives--in which case I could add to my PAYE minimum monthly payments and pay off more if I wanted.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan or am I nuts to do this? Any advice is appreciated!
I don't think there is another way. Just go on PAYE, live well below your means and save as much as possible.

You and your wife should both try to max out 401k's to lower your AGI.
OP here--thanks for the response! Yeah we plan to max out 401k's--does it make sense to file separately or jointly when I have so much debt?

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Tiago Splitter

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Tiago Splitter » Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:41 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Tiago Splitter wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Would love to get some advice on my plans for loan repayment. I'm a 3L graduating next month.

Total debt at graduation: a little bit over 300k (this is combined T14 sticker and some graduate school loans that have been in forbearance
Salary: 160k (regional office of biglaw)
Status: I'm currently single but will be married by the time I start working in the fall--my fiancé is finishing up school in a year and she will make about 20k this upcoming year and she has zero debt. Her starting job after she graduates will pay about 60k
Repayment plan: From what I've seen on here PAYE seems to be my best option. I don't really want to live like a pauper for 10 years, and my fiancé and I want to start a family in a few years. I also like the idea of having my mandatory minimum payment at a reasonable level per month, with the option of paying off more if I can.

This is also morbid but I stand to get a decent amount of money from some older relatives--in which case I could add to my PAYE minimum monthly payments and pay off more if I wanted.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan or am I nuts to do this? Any advice is appreciated!
I don't think there is another way. Just go on PAYE, live well below your means and save as much as possible.

You and your wife should both try to max out 401k's to lower your AGI.
OP here--thanks for the response! Yeah we plan to max out 401k's--does it make sense to file separately or jointly when I have so much debt?
Might be worth talking to an accountant. Separately will keep them from counting your wife's income but it could hurt you in other ways.

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:44 pm

Tiago Splitter wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Tiago Splitter wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Would love to get some advice on my plans for loan repayment. I'm a 3L graduating next month.

Total debt at graduation: a little bit over 300k (this is combined T14 sticker and some graduate school loans that have been in forbearance
Salary: 160k (regional office of biglaw)
Status: I'm currently single but will be married by the time I start working in the fall--my fiancé is finishing up school in a year and she will make about 20k this upcoming year and she has zero debt. Her starting job after she graduates will pay about 60k
Repayment plan: From what I've seen on here PAYE seems to be my best option. I don't really want to live like a pauper for 10 years, and my fiancé and I want to start a family in a few years. I also like the idea of having my mandatory minimum payment at a reasonable level per month, with the option of paying off more if I can.

This is also morbid but I stand to get a decent amount of money from some older relatives--in which case I could add to my PAYE minimum monthly payments and pay off more if I wanted.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan or am I nuts to do this? Any advice is appreciated!
I don't think there is another way. Just go on PAYE, live well below your means and save as much as possible.

You and your wife should both try to max out 401k's to lower your AGI.
OP here--thanks for the response! Yeah we plan to max out 401k's--does it make sense to file separately or jointly when I have so much debt?
Might be worth talking to an accountant. Separately will keep them from counting your wife's income but it could hurt you in other ways.
Fair enough. Thanks!

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Apr 12, 2017 2:31 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
bjohnsobf wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Alright, spouse and I some life and job changes in circumstance and am hoping someone might be able to help us navigate.

Me: biglaw --> now public interest, no loans left (aggressively paid them down), ~60k salary
Spouse: PSLF-eligible job making $40k the next few years, then bumps up to $90k (still PSLF-eligible). He's got about $75k left on his loans.

Complicating factors: we are in a high COL area and have a daycare-aged kid. Joint income is thus around $100k and with rent and daycare, we are trying to figure out how we can make his PSLF payments as low as possible while we make it work the next couple years. We filed jointly this year, and I've heard varying opinions on whether married filing separately would help/hurt/not affect our situation.

Alternatively, don't even know if it's proper to ask this so please ignore if that's the case, but are there companies/consultants (?) that will look at all your numbers for you and determine which plan/strategy is the best? With PAYE, REPAYE, IBR I am pretty lost...
I would defer to Johann who probably saved me a lot of money but I would say get spouse in PAYE file separately have him contribute as much as y'all can afford to 401k to get his adjusted gross income down. With a 40k salary minus up to 18k for 401k you would get a very low payment for him maybe even 0. But if he doesn't qualify for PAYE, I think REPAYE incorporates your income anyway. Either way pay yourself in 401k as much as you can during the PSLF years rather than paying the government.
OP here- Thanks. I've thought about that but I don't know if we could get by maxing out 401ks, feels like we need every penny though that's better than bigger loan payments. I'm guessing we are f'd for the next year too bc we filed jointly...
I know this is shady, but wondering if it's also not permitted. Does anyone know if you can max out 401k during the month where you are re-certifying due to an income change (to use those lower AGI paycheck stubs to establish new repayment amount), and then back off after re-certification and contribute less to your 401k?

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Tiago Splitter

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Tiago Splitter » Wed Apr 12, 2017 2:59 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
bjohnsobf wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Alright, spouse and I some life and job changes in circumstance and am hoping someone might be able to help us navigate.

Me: biglaw --> now public interest, no loans left (aggressively paid them down), ~60k salary
Spouse: PSLF-eligible job making $40k the next few years, then bumps up to $90k (still PSLF-eligible). He's got about $75k left on his loans.

Complicating factors: we are in a high COL area and have a daycare-aged kid. Joint income is thus around $100k and with rent and daycare, we are trying to figure out how we can make his PSLF payments as low as possible while we make it work the next couple years. We filed jointly this year, and I've heard varying opinions on whether married filing separately would help/hurt/not affect our situation.

Alternatively, don't even know if it's proper to ask this so please ignore if that's the case, but are there companies/consultants (?) that will look at all your numbers for you and determine which plan/strategy is the best? With PAYE, REPAYE, IBR I am pretty lost...
I would defer to Johann who probably saved me a lot of money but I would say get spouse in PAYE file separately have him contribute as much as y'all can afford to 401k to get his adjusted gross income down. With a 40k salary minus up to 18k for 401k you would get a very low payment for him maybe even 0. But if he doesn't qualify for PAYE, I think REPAYE incorporates your income anyway. Either way pay yourself in 401k as much as you can during the PSLF years rather than paying the government.
OP here- Thanks. I've thought about that but I don't know if we could get by maxing out 401ks, feels like we need every penny though that's better than bigger loan payments. I'm guessing we are f'd for the next year too bc we filed jointly...
I know this is shady, but wondering if it's also not permitted. Does anyone know if you can max out 401k during the month where you are re-certifying due to an income change (to use those lower AGI paycheck stubs to establish new repayment amount), and then back off after re-certification and contribute less to your 401k?
I always thought the AGI number was based on your prior year tax return, so I don't think your idea would work unless you can just show them pay stubs.

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Danger Zone

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Danger Zone » Wed Apr 12, 2017 3:23 pm

Tiago is right, unless you certify that you've had a substantial change in income since last year's tax filing.
Last edited by Danger Zone on Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Johann

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Johann » Wed Apr 12, 2017 10:00 pm

bjohnsobf wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Alright, spouse and I some life and job changes in circumstance and am hoping someone might be able to help us navigate.

Me: biglaw --> now public interest, no loans left (aggressively paid them down), ~60k salary
Spouse: PSLF-eligible job making $40k the next few years, then bumps up to $90k (still PSLF-eligible). He's got about $75k left on his loans.

Complicating factors: we are in a high COL area and have a daycare-aged kid. Joint income is thus around $100k and with rent and daycare, we are trying to figure out how we can make his PSLF payments as low as possible while we make it work the next couple years. We filed jointly this year, and I've heard varying opinions on whether married filing separately would help/hurt/not affect our situation.

Alternatively, don't even know if it's proper to ask this so please ignore if that's the case, but are there companies/consultants (?) that will look at all your numbers for you and determine which plan/strategy is the best? With PAYE, REPAYE, IBR I am pretty lost...
I would defer to Johann who probably saved me a lot of money but I would say get spouse in PAYE file separately have him contribute as much as y'all can afford to 401k to get his adjusted gross income down. With a 40k salary minus up to 18k for 401k you would get a very low payment for him maybe even 0. But if he doesn't qualify for PAYE, I think REPAYE incorporates your income anyway. Either way pay yourself in 401k as much as you can during the PSLF years rather than paying the government.
i agree with this. i havent run the exact numbers and might be missing something because there are several penalties to filing separately, but with that said:

since you have no debt, it's almost certainly better for him to file separately with that 40k salary. with a 5500 ira contribution or 401k contribution, he can get his AGI down to almost the poverty level and very very low payments. youd have to be comfortable living on your salary, but to the extent you can defer his salary (think of it as a joint retirement for you two) youre going to save a lot of money. note that on REPAYE, you have to file jointly, so he has to be PAYE eligible. PAYE is preferable to IBR because it is 10% of discretionary income rather than 15% of discretionary income (and has better interest capitalization rules). so that means PAYE is really your only option if eligible and you want to file separately.

some resources to make sure filing separately gives you better student loan treatment than what you lose in tax bonuses
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/201 ... .html?_r=0 this will show you your marriage penalty/bonus so to speak of the BENEFIT/DeTRIMENT to filing jointly

then you should compare that number to [(your household income combined - 1.5Xpoverty limit for 2 person household)/120] for monthly loan payment.

filing separately, you forfeit child tax credit ($4k), child care expense credit ($600-$1k), and student loan interest deduction ($2.5k) credit. rough math that means your payment under joint will be something like 100-7.5-24k(150% poverty)-(deffered income like 401k and IRA etc. that means your payment would be based on about 55k/120 without all that much work which is $450/month loan payment or $4,600/year. by filing separately youd be able to get your husband down to $0/month with some basic level deffering (IRA/401k). so question is if there are $4,600 of tax benefits on filing jointly and deducting $4k dependent and $2500 student loan interest. you could also maybe get really aggressive by maxing one your 401ks and get that 55k/120 to 45 (3,750 in annual loan payments) or even 40 which would

without knowing your exact returns and what your income/expense situatio is like (and thus your capability for deferring income), i think filing separately is the way to go and then PAYE for your husband because supposedly you have a tax penalty or at least no bonus for filing jointly with 1 kid.

happy to bounce some ideas further by pm if you want to give more specifics

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Johann

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Johann » Wed Apr 12, 2017 10:18 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
bjohnsobf wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Alright, spouse and I some life and job changes in circumstance and am hoping someone might be able to help us navigate.

Me: biglaw --> now public interest, no loans left (aggressively paid them down), ~60k salary
Spouse: PSLF-eligible job making $40k the next few years, then bumps up to $90k (still PSLF-eligible). He's got about $75k left on his loans.

Complicating factors: we are in a high COL area and have a daycare-aged kid. Joint income is thus around $100k and with rent and daycare, we are trying to figure out how we can make his PSLF payments as low as possible while we make it work the next couple years. We filed jointly this year, and I've heard varying opinions on whether married filing separately would help/hurt/not affect our situation.

Alternatively, don't even know if it's proper to ask this so please ignore if that's the case, but are there companies/consultants (?) that will look at all your numbers for you and determine which plan/strategy is the best? With PAYE, REPAYE, IBR I am pretty lost...
I would defer to Johann who probably saved me a lot of money but I would say get spouse in PAYE file separately have him contribute as much as y'all can afford to 401k to get his adjusted gross income down. With a 40k salary minus up to 18k for 401k you would get a very low payment for him maybe even 0. But if he doesn't qualify for PAYE, I think REPAYE incorporates your income anyway. Either way pay yourself in 401k as much as you can during the PSLF years rather than paying the government.
OP here- Thanks. I've thought about that but I don't know if we could get by maxing out 401ks, feels like we need every penny though that's better than bigger loan payments. I'm guessing we are f'd for the next year too bc we filed jointly...
so you can get 36 months of deferment (im not sure if you can use those back to back) but if your payments are going to be high right now and you want to minimize the blow, you can just ask for a 3 month forbearance and they will give it to you almost no questions asked (ive used a couple now in ~5 years). that would make the "error" 25% less damaging (and 50% ifyou asked for for a few more months . .. maybe 4 off, 4 pay, 4 off)

another thing to maybe consider (and i dont think this will work but maybe you can talk the loan servicer into it) is basing the payment on your husbands pay stubs rather than tax rturn. i know they will let you use pay stubs in some instances. this is the exact wording of when you can use alternative documentation rather than AGI "If the borrower's AGI is not available, or if the Secretary believes that the borrower's reported AGI does not reasonably reflect the borrower's current income, the borrower must provide other documentation to verify income."

so if you can write a compelling letter (use your lawyer skills here) as to how the AGII is not right (maybe it includes some biglaw income that doesnt exist anymore -- that would def be compelling)

just be aware that if you postpone some of these payments under forbearance, then youll probably have to make more in payments when your husband has a higher salary (but time value of money and also youll have more spending money with a larger salary so the larger payments might not be that much of a penalty)

so id first check if theres a way to get your husbands pay stubs to be the documentation based on an AGI being misleading. if that fails, id ask for a 4 month forbearance and say money is tight. pay for 4 months. then ask for another forbearance.

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Johann

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Johann » Wed Apr 12, 2017 10:19 pm

Tiago Splitter wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Would love to get some advice on my plans for loan repayment. I'm a 3L graduating next month.

Total debt at graduation: a little bit over 300k (this is combined T14 sticker and some graduate school loans that have been in forbearance
Salary: 160k (regional office of biglaw)
Status: I'm currently single but will be married by the time I start working in the fall--my fiancé is finishing up school in a year and she will make about 20k this upcoming year and she has zero debt. Her starting job after she graduates will pay about 60k
Repayment plan: From what I've seen on here PAYE seems to be my best option. I don't really want to live like a pauper for 10 years, and my fiancé and I want to start a family in a few years. I also like the idea of having my mandatory minimum payment at a reasonable level per month, with the option of paying off more if I can.

This is also morbid but I stand to get a decent amount of money from some older relatives--in which case I could add to my PAYE minimum monthly payments and pay off more if I wanted.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan or am I nuts to do this? Any advice is appreciated!
I don't think there is another way. Just go on PAYE, live well below your means and save as much as possible.

You and your wife should both try to max out 401k's to lower your AGI.

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ballouttacontrol

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by ballouttacontrol » Thu Apr 13, 2017 9:22 pm

when do i need to re-certify my REPAYE income? will they send me a letter or something?>

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A. Nony Mouse

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by A. Nony Mouse » Thu Apr 13, 2017 9:37 pm

It has to be done every 12 months, and most people start paying around November after graduation, so about then (but it will depend on when you started paying). And yes, they will send you a notice (you get a letter in your account mailbox).

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El Pollito

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by El Pollito » Fri Apr 14, 2017 2:39 am

fedloans is a criminal organization and failed to follow my very clear instructions on how to allocate my refi (THE FUCKING OBVIOUS WAY) and paid off like staffords before grad plus, and has failed to fix it after like 3 weeks and 5 calls, so I'm just refinancing the rest out of spite. also i plan to provoke my class action lawyer friend to sue them
Last edited by El Pollito on Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by beach_terror » Fri Apr 14, 2017 10:20 am

El Pollito wrote:fedloans is a criminal organization and failed to follow my very clear instructions on how to allocate my refi (THE FUCKING OBVIOUS WAY) and paid off like staffords before grad plus, and has failed to fix it after like 3 weeks and 5 calls, so I'm just refinancing the rest out of spite. also i plan to provoke my class action lawyer friend to sue them
Would be very surprised if there isn't an arbitration clause in the agreement somewhere. I paid off like 20k to my fedloans one time and they fucked up the allocation too, so I asked them to fix it. When they "fixed it," the system thought I was in default since it was applied as a credit toward future payments (instead of to principal) and they undid all of this without thinking of the consequences, so I got a bunch of "we tried to contact you for x months, you are in default and we are sending this to the CRAs and it'll impact your credit score" emails. I had to spend 5+ hours on the phone with different people trying to sort it out because nobody could understand what they did even after I explained to them how the system must work.

Refinanced with Sofi the day after it was sorted out. Fuck Fedloan. Fired up just thinking about that shitty fucking company.

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SmokeytheBear

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by SmokeytheBear » Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:07 pm

Just applied for a refinance with First Republic. The banker assigned to me said it would take up to two weeks to review my application. This seems awfully long to me (seeing as SoFi does it with the flick of a wrist). I know that First Republic has different goals than SoFi ("building our relationship with you" etc). I'm your basic biglaw mid-level associate making market, so I figured it would be straight forward.

What are peoples' experiences--how long does it usually take to get wrapped up once you have submitted all of the documentation?

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by otnemem » Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:24 pm

SmokeytheBear wrote:Just applied for a refinance with First Republic. The banker assigned to me said it would take up to two weeks to review my application. This seems awfully long to me (seeing as SoFi does it with the flick of a wrist). I know that First Republic has different goals than SoFi ("building our relationship with you" etc). I'm your basic biglaw mid-level associate making market, so I figured it would be straight forward.

What are peoples' experiences--how long does it usually take to get wrapped up once you have submitted all of the documentation?
I think it took 3 or 4 days to be approved, but a few weeks for everything to be set up.

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swampthang

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by swampthang » Fri Apr 14, 2017 6:20 pm

otnemem wrote:
SmokeytheBear wrote:Just applied for a refinance with First Republic. The banker assigned to me said it would take up to two weeks to review my application. This seems awfully long to me (seeing as SoFi does it with the flick of a wrist). I know that First Republic has different goals than SoFi ("building our relationship with you" etc). I'm your basic biglaw mid-level associate making market, so I figured it would be straight forward.

What are peoples' experiences--how long does it usually take to get wrapped up once you have submitted all of the documentation?
I think it took 3 or 4 days to be approved, but a few weeks for everything to be set up.
Sameish. Approval was just a few days, but then between new account, direct deposit, a week or two is right. Minor hassle for major savings.

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2017 6:38 pm

swampthang wrote:
otnemem wrote:
SmokeytheBear wrote:Just applied for a refinance with First Republic. The banker assigned to me said it would take up to two weeks to review my application. This seems awfully long to me (seeing as SoFi does it with the flick of a wrist). I know that First Republic has different goals than SoFi ("building our relationship with you" etc). I'm your basic biglaw mid-level associate making market, so I figured it would be straight forward.

What are peoples' experiences--how long does it usually take to get wrapped up once you have submitted all of the documentation?
I think it took 3 or 4 days to be approved, but a few weeks for everything to be set up.
Sameish. Approval was just a few days, but then between new account, direct deposit, a week or two is right. Minor hassle for major savings.
Yeah totally. I just did a spreadsheet on my savings, especially if I pay it off in less than four years. It's just bananas.

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swampthang

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by swampthang » Fri Apr 14, 2017 6:51 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
swampthang wrote:
otnemem wrote:
SmokeytheBear wrote:Just applied for a refinance with First Republic. The banker assigned to me said it would take up to two weeks to review my application. This seems awfully long to me (seeing as SoFi does it with the flick of a wrist). I know that First Republic has different goals than SoFi ("building our relationship with you" etc). I'm your basic biglaw mid-level associate making market, so I figured it would be straight forward.

What are peoples' experiences--how long does it usually take to get wrapped up once you have submitted all of the documentation?
I think it took 3 or 4 days to be approved, but a few weeks for everything to be set up.
Sameish. Approval was just a few days, but then between new account, direct deposit, a week or two is right. Minor hassle for major savings.
Yeah totally. I just did a spreadsheet on my savings, especially if I pay it off in less than four years. It's just bananas.
One of the ones linked in here shows the refi savings taking into account foregone interest on the $3,500 checking account, and I believe the 4-year early repayment bonus. Very helpful for calculating the whole picture. i know I was nervous about parking $3,500 for a bit, but if that money would otherwise be sitting in 1% savings account, you're definitely coming out ahead.

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Apr 15, 2017 11:26 am

Anonymous User wrote:Hey y'all. Trying to start figuring out the best approach to paying off loans as soon as the grace period ends.

Married, no kids (but ideally 5 years from now we want to start trying), high COL area, small emergency fund but no assets, leased car, both have debt due to grad programs. Any advice/info would be greatly appreciated.

Me: roughly 115k all grad loans, biglaw market paying
SO: roughly 100k (22 UG, 78 grad), will be teacher making about 60K (but wants to be stay-at-home for first few years when kids happen so filing separately to get PSLF probably won't work)
bump

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swampthang

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by swampthang » Mon Apr 17, 2017 1:19 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Hey y'all. Trying to start figuring out the best approach to paying off loans as soon as the grace period ends.

Married, no kids (but ideally 5 years from now we want to start trying), high COL area, small emergency fund but no assets, leased car, both have debt due to grad programs. Any advice/info would be greatly appreciated.

Me: roughly 115k all grad loans, biglaw market paying
SO: roughly 100k (22 UG, 78 grad), will be teacher making about 60K (but wants to be stay-at-home for first few years when kids happen so filing separately to get PSLF probably won't work)
bump
Refi, then first build an emergency fund of 3-6 months expenses (depending on your risk tolerance), then second, max out your 401(k), and third put your excess cash toward the best investment (whether that's paying down refi-ed loans or investing in the market depends on your goals and market views). Only reason I wouldn't refi is if I didn't think I'd last in biglaw and would switch into a significantly lower-paying job. I'll let those who know better weigh in on PAYE/IBR since that's a gap in my knowledge.

ETA: some refi lenders may require/prefer you to have liquidity first before refinancing (e.g., First Republic told me they like to see 10% of the debt in cash- retirement accounts don't count). Also, most refi lenders don't let you consolidated, but I believe First Republic does (which may be preferable in your situation since your wife might not qualify for 1RB on her own and would thus get stuck with a higher rate elsewhere).

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Re: Student loan payments: Actual numbers

Post by anonnymouse » Tue Apr 18, 2017 3:27 pm

swampthang wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
swampthang wrote:
otnemem wrote:
SmokeytheBear wrote:Just applied for a refinance with First Republic. The banker assigned to me said it would take up to two weeks to review my application. This seems awfully long to me (seeing as SoFi does it with the flick of a wrist). I know that First Republic has different goals than SoFi ("building our relationship with you" etc). I'm your basic biglaw mid-level associate making market, so I figured it would be straight forward.

What are peoples' experiences--how long does it usually take to get wrapped up once you have submitted all of the documentation?
I think it took 3 or 4 days to be approved, but a few weeks for everything to be set up.
Sameish. Approval was just a few days, but then between new account, direct deposit, a week or two is right. Minor hassle for major savings.
Yeah totally. I just did a spreadsheet on my savings, especially if I pay it off in less than four years. It's just bananas.
One of the ones linked in here shows the refi savings taking into account foregone interest on the $3,500 checking account, and I believe the 4-year early repayment bonus. Very helpful for calculating the whole picture. i know I was nervous about parking $3,500 for a bit, but if that money would otherwise be sitting in 1% savings account, you're definitely coming out ahead.
Yeah my effective rate over the life of my refi(s) if I pay off in month 47 is 1.7%. Foregone interest on $3500 is pretty meh in relation.

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