Drowning
I’m one of those drowning in student loan debt from my masters degree and then my PhD. Up until a forbearance in 2020 due to the pandemic, I made payments on time consistently. According to the student.gov website, after 20-25 years my loans can be forgiven/discharged. It’s been that long and forgiveness has yet to happen. Now that the forbearance is over. my student loan payments are $1900/month which I cannot afford. I’ve tried calling and talking to someone. I’ve been told the student loan issue is being held up in the courts and I can’t do anything until a decision is made. All that is understandable however I’m not sure what to do about this $1900/month payment. Should I just pay what I can afford? I don’t know the consequences of not paying the full amount. I have excellent credit and don’t want it impacted by these loans. Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.
Join the conversation
Sign up to reply, follow discussions, and connect with the ChooseFI community.
Comments
Sorry to hear this. What is your PhD in? Is it in some marketable field that you could use to improve your economic situation by consulting or switching employers?
I mean, I do use my degree (it’s a PhD in organizational psychology) as I work with business executives and leaders. I make good money but just not $1900/month good. lol. i am self employed so my month the minth omcome fluctuates
The only other bill I have is my mortgage and the two are almost the same amount.
What is the lowest payment plan for you right now? IBR?
Yes. That’s surprisingly the lowest. But I think I’m going to call again and see what they can do.
You will find a way. “Economic hardship and I can only pay X dollars a month “
If you think you're a candidate for forgiveness, don't refinance with a private loan before exploring your forgiveness thoroughly. When you log into studentaid.gov, you should see a section on your dashboard that has the number of qualifying payments you have made towards forgiveness. If you are seeking forgiveness after 20 years, that would be 20*12 months = 240 qualifying payments.
You can start here for support: www.vin.com You download your student data file/NLDS from studentaid.gov and upload it to this site, and it provides you with different scenarios. You can access the incredibly supportive message board, if you become a member.
If it's still too confusing, it's definitely worth booking a consultation with one of the student loan expert financial planners out there before giving up on forgiveness or your other repayment options before refinancing with a private lender.
Have you talked to any banks about potentially consolidating and refinancing? Could make the payments more affordable. Additionally, depending on what your degree is in, you may be able to find work-related loan forgiveness programs that could be worth looking into. I'm sorry you're having to deal with that but you've clearly set yourself up for success if you can get these loans taken care of.
I haven’t talked to any banks yet. I would think their interest rates would be higher. But now I’ll do some research.