Just cancel student debt already

[heygrey]

seeyalater52 , who did you chose for the loan servicer? Does it matter at all since we aren't eligible for PSLF?

[gretchenindisguise]

Aug 25, 2022 10:31:22 GMT -5 heygrey said:

seeyalater52 , who did you chose for the loan servicer? Does it matter at all since we aren't eligible for PSLF?

It won't matter if you're not pslf eligible. I would avoid Mohela since they are swamped as the new pslf servicer. Is great lakes a choice? I've heard decent things about them as a servicer in general.

[seeyalater52]

Aug 25, 2022 10:31:22 GMT -5 heygrey said:

seeyalater52 , who did you chose for the loan servicer? Does it matter at all since we aren't eligible for PSLF?

I’m not sure it really matters as long as you choose one of the direct servicers and not the private fee-based ones. I didn’t complete the application myself so I’m not sure what it looks like in practice. We went with aidadvantage as they’re nonprofit and we have friends serviced by them who have had reasonable experiences.

Here is where I pray we didn’t somehow fuck it up.

[okla]

Aug 25, 2022 10:40:13 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Aug 25, 2022 10:31:22 GMT -5 heygrey said:

seeyalater52 , who did you chose for the loan servicer? Does it matter at all since we aren't eligible for PSLF?

It won't matter if you're not pslf eligible. I would avoid Mohela since they are swamped as the new pslf servicer. Is great lakes a choice? I've heard decent things about them as a servicer in general.

Great Lakes was my servicer for years before I had to switch to FedLoan for PSLF and I never had any issues with them, always helpful if I had to contact, easy to use website, etc.

[heygrey]

Aug 25, 2022 10:41:26 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Aug 25, 2022 10:31:22 GMT -5 heygrey said:

seeyalater52 , who did you chose for the loan servicer? Does it matter at all since we aren't eligible for PSLF?

I’m not sure it really matters as long as you choose one of the direct servicers and not the private fee-based ones. I didn’t complete the application myself so I’m not sure what it looks like in practice. We went with aidadvantage as they’re nonprofit and we have friends serviced by them who have had reasonable experiences.

Here is where I pray we didn’t somehow fuck it up.

Same. 

[heygrey]

Done!

I have payment due to Navient for September 1st for these loans. I wonder if they will transfer fast enough to not need to pay? Probably not.

[klingklang77]

This is so confusing. I am very late to the game and I was pretty much told I do not qualify for the PSLF program because my public service is in a foreign country.

I have federal loans, but they have bounced around. They started at HSBC, then went to EdFinancial, and are now in AES. I just called AES and they said they are waiting to hear if federal commercial loans will be included and they will hear in a few weeks.

I paid off about 2/3 of the loans, but then ran into financial problems, so I put them on IBR and didn’t have to pay because my income was so low. But I keep watching the interest go up. I’m at 14K now.

This is all so confusing.

[gretchenindisguise]

Aug 25, 2022 11:45:08 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Done!

I have payment due to Navient for September 1st for these loans. I wonder if they will transfer fast enough to not need to pay? Probably not.

Probably not

[suzyp]

Aug 25, 2022 9:25:35 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Aug 25, 2022 9:21:36 GMT -5 suzyp said:

This is so infuriating to me.  I fall/fell into this bucket.  I only had federal loans, but for some reason that had nothing to do with my actions, I was not eligible for the pause or the 0% interest.  I had no control over what my small bank did in 1998 when they sold them to Sallie Mae who then sold them to Navient.  It honestly baffles me.  I was lucky enough to payoff my loans during the pandemic, but I still do not understand why my old loans are these special snowflakes, federal, but not federal, loans.

I’m really angry about it. They have really not made it clear to the average FFEL loan holder that there was a benefit to consolidation if you otherwise didn’t need to consolidate for PSLF. It is such a bait and switch to take out a federal loan and then have it become treated like a private loan for no reason whatsoever and then have that well known issue continue to surface again and again whenever the federal government makes new decisions about structuring SL policy. I consider myself above average intelligence and while it crossed my mind that maybe we should be consolidating we always weighed the pros and cons and saw it would be neutral/no benefit. Now we have to wait and see whether we are boxed out from a huge cancelation due to something we couldn’t control.

That said I’m hoping they clarify and that borrowers at least get through Oct to consolidate to match with the waiver period.

100% agree with you. I am very student loan savvy and made some knowingly bad choices because I had to (like forebearance of almost a year on $120K of debt really makes that interest rise), but I always knew what I was doing. This issue first came to my attention in 2020 during the pandemic. On my loans 20+ year loans.

[heygrey]

Aug 25, 2022 12:26:59 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Aug 25, 2022 11:45:08 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Done!

I have payment due to Navient for September 1st for these loans. I wonder if they will transfer fast enough to not need to pay? Probably not.

Probably not

Fingers crossed for October then! It would be nice to take advantage of the remaining few months of payment pause. 

[gretchenindisguise]

Aug 25, 2022 11:48:50 GMT -5 klingklang77 said:

This is so confusing. I am very late to the game and I was pretty much told I do not qualify for the PSLF program because my public service is in a foreign country.

I have federal loans, but they have bounced around. They started at HSBC, then went to EdFinancial, and are now in AES. I just called AES and they said they are waiting to hear if federal commercial loans will be included and they will hear in a few weeks.

I paid off about 2/3 of the loans, but then ran into financial problems, so I put them on IBR and didn’t have to pay because my income was so low. But I keep watching the interest go up. I’m at 14K now.

This is all so confusing.

I'm willing to bet that your loans are also FFEL loans and if so, you can consolidate them to Direct Loans to take advantage of this forgiveness. 

If you log into studentaid.gov, you'll be able to know.

[klingklang77]

Aug 25, 2022 13:09:06 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Aug 25, 2022 11:48:50 GMT -5 klingklang77 said:

This is so confusing. I am very late to the game and I was pretty much told I do not qualify for the PSLF program because my public service is in a foreign country.

I have federal loans, but they have bounced around. They started at HSBC, then went to EdFinancial, and are now in AES. I just called AES and they said they are waiting to hear if federal commercial loans will be included and they will hear in a few weeks.

I paid off about 2/3 of the loans, but then ran into financial problems, so I put them on IBR and didn’t have to pay because my income was so low. But I keep watching the interest go up. I’m at 14K now.

This is all so confusing.

I'm willing to bet that your loans are also FFEL loans and if so, you can consolidate them to Direct Loans to take advantage of this forgiveness. 

If you log into studentaid.gov, you'll be able to know.

Thank you! I can’t get on student aid.gov right now. 

Forgive my lack of knowledge here, but what am I consolidating? They all go through AES. Is there still the deadline to consolidate by October 2021? I don’t want to make a mistake consolidating and then be told, no, sorry. AES had no idea either. The woman I talked to gave me another number to call. I’ll try that tomorrow. 

Can’t someone just wave a magic wand and do away with it? 

[Deleted]

My FSA Dashboard says I have no loans or grants. I surely do as I go to my documents and I have multiple documents on the terms for my direct sub and unsub loans. My loans have also been paused. I tried logging in just to see if I received a pell grant because I cannot recall if I did for my bachelors. I got my Associates and paid off the loans and three years later I went for my bachelors where I took out more loans. I know I received pell grants during my Associates and there's zero reason why I wouldn't have qualified for a pell grant during that time as well.

It doesn't show Pell grants or my old loans either (My provider was Great Lakes) and my new provider for my current loans is Nelnet.

ETA1: I called the number on the website and it only took 15 minutes to reach someone. They researched it for less than 10 minutes and I am now in a transfer queue for someone to "fix" my information (phone call says I've just been on here 30 minutes so not terrible). I took out loans in 2012-2013, 2016-2017, and 2018. I should have a few Pell grants tossed in there but do not have proof? I guess I could go review my bank statements? I searched my emails and found nothing.  

ETA2: It only took one hour on the phone. Due to a name change it caused issues and they fixed it. I also had several pell grants and so all my loans will be  forgiven. I cried a little on the phone when she told me I did receive grants. 


ALSO... is this forgiveness tax free? I'm not going to have to pay on the back end, right?

[gretchenindisguise]

Aug 25, 2022 13:38:53 GMT -5 klingklang77 said:

Aug 25, 2022 13:09:06 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

I'm willing to bet that your loans are also FFEL loans and if so, you can consolidate them to Direct Loans to take advantage of this forgiveness. 

If you log into studentaid.gov, you'll be able to know.

Thank you! I can’t get on student aid.gov right now. 

Forgive my lack of knowledge here, but what am I consolidating? They all go through AES. Is there still the deadline to consolidate by October 2021? I don’t want to make a mistake consolidating and then be told, no, sorry. AES had no idea either. The woman I talked to gave me another number to call. I’ll try that tomorrow. 

Can’t someone just wave a magic wand and do away with it? 

Yeah, the website is getting slammed right now. 

The deadline for this would be consolidating by Dec 31st, but I wouldn't wait that long.  You'll be consolidating from FFEL to Direct. Since it won't be pslf your servicer won't matter as much. I've heard good things about great lakes, but don't have any personal experience with them. 

[seeyalater52]

Aug 25, 2022 13:57:56 GMT -5 @lemonlover said:

My FSA Dashboard says I have no loans or grants. I surely do as I go to my documents and I have multiple documents on the terms for my direct sub and unsub loans. My loans have also been paused. I tried logging in just to see if I received a pell grant because I cannot recall if I did for my bachelors. I got my Associates and paid off the loans and three years later I went for my bachelors where I took out more loans. I know I received pell grants during my Associates and there's zero reason why I wouldn't have qualified for a pell grant during that time as well.

It doesn't show Pell grants or my old loans either (My provider was Great Lakes) and my new provider for my current loans is Nelnet.

ETA1: I called the number on the website and it only took 15 minutes to reach someone. They researched it for less than 10 minutes and I am now in a transfer queue for someone to "fix" my information (phone call says I've just been on here 30 minutes so not terrible). I took out loans in 2012-2013, 2016-2017, and 2018. I should have a few Pell grants tossed in there but do not have proof? I guess I could go review my bank statements? I searched my emails and found nothing.  

ETA2: It only took one hour on the phone. Due to a name change it caused issues and they fixed it. I also had several pell grants and so all my loans will be  forgiven. I cried a little on the phone when she told me I did receive grants. 


ALSO... is this forgiveness tax free? I'm not going to have to pay on the back end, right?

Congrats! Yes, it’s tax free.

[wanderingback]

Ok I finally got my butt together and logged in to my student loan account It's been awhile!
So my balance is $345,000, which is better than I thought! I thought it was closer to $375,000. This 0% interest for 2 years helped, who knew
The principal is $290,000 and the interest is $55,000.

I finally submitted 1 out of 4 employers for PSLF, waiting for the other 3 to sign off. So we'll see how many qualifying payments they say I eventually have. The last time in 2019 when I tried to submit an employer it got rejected, so I got deflated and gave up.
What a process....

[Susie]

Actually, I do have a question.  When they say forgiveness is available for incomes under $250k for MFJ, do they mean gross?  AGI?  something else?  

For both 2020 and 2021, our AGI is under $250k, but our gross is not.  I'm wondering if I might have a shot at any forgiveness since I do have federal loans?  I've been focused on H's situation for so long I didn't seriously consider my own circumstances.

Of my existing aggregate balance, about $19-20k is in federal loans serviced by Nelnet.

[seeyalater52]

Aug 25, 2022 16:27:06 GMT -5 Susie said:

Actually, I do have a question.  When they say forgiveness is available for incomes under $250k for MFJ, do they mean gross?  AGI?  something else?  

For both 2020 and 2021, our AGI is under $250k, but our gross is not.  I'm wondering if I might have a shot at any forgiveness since I do have federal loans?  I've been focused on H's situation for so long I didn't seriously consider my own circumstances.

Of my existing aggregate balance, about $19-20k is in federal loans serviced by Nelnet.

It’s based on AGI, and it sounds like either 2020 or 2021 tax years can qualify you. I’m hoping this helps and you do qualify!

[Susie]

Aug 25, 2022 16:40:30 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Aug 25, 2022 16:27:06 GMT -5 Susie said:

Actually, I do have a question.  When they say forgiveness is available for incomes under $250k for MFJ, do they mean gross?  AGI?  something else?  

For both 2020 and 2021, our AGI is under $250k, but our gross is not.  I'm wondering if I might have a shot at any forgiveness since I do have federal loans?  I've been focused on H's situation for so long I didn't seriously consider my own circumstances.

Of my existing aggregate balance, about $19-20k is in federal loans serviced by Nelnet.

It’s based on AGI, and it sounds like either 2020 or 2021 tax years can qualify you. I’m hoping this helps and you do qualify!

It sounds like I will!  omg.

How fucked up is this, that H and I borrowed similar amounts of money ($120k and $140k) in similar time frames (2003-06 and 2004-07), with basically the same loan products, for the same law degree at the same school.  15 years later he's still way under the individual $125k mark and has been in public service for almost his entire career.  I'm well over that threshold and have spent my whole career in private practice.  But together we're under the MFJ threshold, and I may end up eligible, and he is not, because of some totally chance decisions we made to manage the debt we had as responsibly as we could, years before we knew the impact of those decisions. 

I currently have $16,791 in a FFELP consolidation loan, and $ 3,505 in FFELP unsubsidized Stafford loan.  Looks like I have some action items.

[seeyalater52]

Aug 25, 2022 16:54:41 GMT -5 Susie said:

Aug 25, 2022 16:40:30 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

It’s based on AGI, and it sounds like either 2020 or 2021 tax years can qualify you. I’m hoping this helps and you do qualify!

It sounds like I will!  omg.

How fucked up is this, that H and I borrowed similar amounts of money ($120k and $140k) in similar time frames (2003-06 and 2004-07), with basically the same loan products, for the same law degree at the same school.  15 years later he's still way under the individual $125k mark and has been in public service for almost his entire career.  I'm well over that threshold and have spent my whole career in private practice.  But together we're under the MFJ threshold, and I may end up eligible, and he is not, because of some totally chance decisions we made to manage the debt we had as responsibly as we could, years before we knew the impact of those decisions. 

I currently have $16,791 in a FFELP consolidation loan, and $ 3,505 in FFELP unsubsidized Stafford loan.  Looks like I have some action items.

I should caveat the above - if your loans are FFELP you should take a look at the posts above and make sure you do any sort of direct consolidation if needed so that they are eligible. It’s kind of a weird grey area many of us are working through. It would be amazing if this worked out for you, you guys have dealt with SUCH a huge amount of SL debt.

ETA: not sure if the FFELP consolidation is already consolidated the way it needs to be or if it needs to/can be reconsolidated as a direct loan but make sure the US Gov is the loan holder so it ends up eligible.

[gretchenindisguise]

Aug 25, 2022 16:54:41 GMT -5 Susie said:

Aug 25, 2022 16:40:30 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

It’s based on AGI, and it sounds like either 2020 or 2021 tax years can qualify you. I’m hoping this helps and you do qualify!

It sounds like I will!  omg.

How fucked up is this, that H and I borrowed similar amounts of money ($120k and $140k) in similar time frames (2003-06 and 2004-07), with basically the same loan products, for the same law degree at the same school.  15 years later he's still way under the individual $125k mark and has been in public service for almost his entire career.  I'm well over that threshold and have spent my whole career in private practice.  But together we're under the MFJ threshold, and I may end up eligible, and he is not, because of some totally chance decisions we made to manage the debt we had as responsibly as we could, years before we knew the impact of those decisions. 

I currently have $16,791 in a FFELP consolidation loan, and $ 3,505 in FFELP unsubsidized Stafford loan.  Looks like I have some action items.

Awesome!

Consolidate the FFELP Consolidation into a Direct Consolidation and you'll qualify for the $10k in forgiveness! Since you have the additional FFEL unsub Stafford Loan by itself, you can decide to either combine it all together or or leave out the $3505 one. I would look into interest rates to make this determination for yourself.

And yes it seems counter intuitive that you can consolidate 1 (ffel) consolidation loan into another (direct) consolidation loan without adding another one in the mix, but you can. You do it on studentaid.gov (which is currently overun by people, so may be slow loading).

[allabtthat]

Aug 25, 2022 17:35:47 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Aug 25, 2022 16:54:41 GMT -5 Susie said:

It sounds like I will!  omg.

How fucked up is this, that H and I borrowed similar amounts of money ($120k and $140k) in similar time frames (2003-06 and 2004-07), with basically the same loan products, for the same law degree at the same school.  15 years later he's still way under the individual $125k mark and has been in public service for almost his entire career.  I'm well over that threshold and have spent my whole career in private practice.  But together we're under the MFJ threshold, and I may end up eligible, and he is not, because of some totally chance decisions we made to manage the debt we had as responsibly as we could, years before we knew the impact of those decisions. 

I currently have $16,791 in a FFELP consolidation loan, and $ 3,505 in FFELP unsubsidized Stafford loan.  Looks like I have some action items.

Awesome!

Consolidate the FFELP Consolidation into a Direct Consolidation and you'll qualify for the $10k in forgiveness! Since you have the additional FFEL unsub Stafford Loan by itself, you can decide to either combine it all together or or leave out the $3505 one. I would look into interest rates to make this determination for yourself.

And yes it seems counter intuitive that you can consolidate 1 (ffel) consolidation loan into another (direct) consolidation loan without adding another one in the mix, but you can. You do it on studentaid.gov (which is currently overun by people, so may be slow loading).

Thank you for explaining this. I have a small FFELP- consolidated loan and wondered if I could consolidate again. DH’s law school loans are all private (it seems) so we can’t get relief there, but mine will be wiped out if I can consolidate my consolidated FFELP to direct. It’s not much but it any little bit helps.

[Susie]

Aug 25, 2022 17:35:47 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Aug 25, 2022 16:54:41 GMT -5 Susie said:

It sounds like I will!  omg.

How fucked up is this, that H and I borrowed similar amounts of money ($120k and $140k) in similar time frames (2003-06 and 2004-07), with basically the same loan products, for the same law degree at the same school.  15 years later he's still way under the individual $125k mark and has been in public service for almost his entire career.  I'm well over that threshold and have spent my whole career in private practice.  But together we're under the MFJ threshold, and I may end up eligible, and he is not, because of some totally chance decisions we made to manage the debt we had as responsibly as we could, years before we knew the impact of those decisions. 

I currently have $16,791 in a FFELP consolidation loan, and $ 3,505 in FFELP unsubsidized Stafford loan.  Looks like I have some action items.

Awesome!

Consolidate the FFELP Consolidation into a Direct Consolidation and you'll qualify for the $10k in forgiveness! Since you have the additional FFEL unsub Stafford Loan by itself, you can decide to either combine it all together or or leave out the $3505 one. I would look into interest rates to make this determination for yourself.

And yes it seems counter intuitive that you can consolidate 1 (ffel) consolidation loan into another (direct) consolidation loan without adding another one in the mix, but you can. You do it on studentaid.gov (which is currently overun by people, so may be slow loading).

In 18 years since starting law school I feel like this is the first thing that has ever broken my way financially!  Thank you for your advice! 

It's kind of a tough call whether to roll the $3505 in.  The $3505 is at a variable rate, currently +0.565% compared to the fixed rate that I'm paying on the $16,791.  Rolling it in would dilute the forgiveness over the higher rate loan so it's not all on my lower rate loan.  I need to see though, what the rate would be on the remainder of the direct consolidation loan.  I also like keeping them in separate chunks so I can snowball them when possible.

[konapoppy]

I just wanted to make sure everyone saw this amazing thread from the WH calling out the republicans who had PPP loans forgiven:

[gretchenindisguise]

Aug 25, 2022 18:54:58 GMT -5 allabtthat said:

Aug 25, 2022 17:35:47 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Awesome!

Consolidate the FFELP Consolidation into a Direct Consolidation and you'll qualify for the $10k in forgiveness! Since you have the additional FFEL unsub Stafford Loan by itself, you can decide to either combine it all together or or leave out the $3505 one. I would look into interest rates to make this determination for yourself.

And yes it seems counter intuitive that you can consolidate 1 (ffel) consolidation loan into another (direct) consolidation loan without adding another one in the mix, but you can. You do it on studentaid.gov (which is currently overun by people, so may be slow loading).

Thank you for explaining this. I have a small FFELP- consolidated loan and wondered if I could consolidate again. DH’s law school loans are all private (it seems) so we can’t get relief there, but mine will be wiped out if I can consolidate my consolidated FFELP to direct. It’s not much but it any little bit helps.

Yay!! I’m so glad you’re able to benefit from this, even if just a little.

[gretchenindisguise]

Aug 25, 2022 19:44:40 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

I just wanted to make sure everyone saw this amazing thread from the WH calling out the republicans who had PPP loans forgiven:

And it’s a whole thread!! I love it.

[mysteriouswife]

I have loans from 2007-2010 and received pell grants. I had to take an additional loan in 2020 for a small amount ($1500) to get another degree. No pell grant with that one. In total I have $19k left. We fall under the $250k guideline and these are all federal loans. If I understand this correctly, all of it will be wiped? Or will it just be the $17,500? So confusing this early in the morning.

And a huge thank you for the ones helping us understand the ins and outs of this

[gretchenindisguise]

Aug 26, 2022 5:45:48 GMT -5 mysteriouswife said:

I have loans from 2007-2010 and received pell grants. I had to take an additional loan in 2020 for a small amount ($1500) to get another degree. No pell grant with that one. In total I have $19k left. We fall under the $250k guideline and these are all federal loans. If I understand this correctly, all of it will be wiped? Or will it just be the $17,500? So confusing this early in the morning.

And a huge thank you for the ones helping us understand the ins and outs of this

Based on what I've read, I believe it will all be wiped out. 

[mysteriouswife]

Aug 26, 2022 10:38:49 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Aug 26, 2022 5:45:48 GMT -5 mysteriouswife said:

I have loans from 2007-2010 and received pell grants. I had to take an additional loan in 2020 for a small amount ($1500) to get another degree. No pell grant with that one. In total I have $19k left. We fall under the $250k guideline and these are all federal loans. If I understand this correctly, all of it will be wiped? Or will it just be the $17,500? So confusing this early in the morning.

And a huge thank you for the ones helping us understand the ins and outs of this

Based on what I've read, I believe it will all be wiped out. 

This is the best news ever! Thanks

[gretchenindisguise]

Aug 26, 2022 10:48:48 GMT -5 mysteriouswife said:

Aug 26, 2022 10:38:49 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Based on what I've read, I believe it will all be wiped out. 

This is the best news ever! Thanks

I also confirmed my thinking with others. We all believe it will be wiped out completely.

ETA: And beautifully confirmed in NYT's FAQs that were just updated:


I have only graduate school debt, but I got a Pell Grant when I was an undergraduate. Am I eligible for the extra $10,000?

Yes.



I had a Pell Grant for only one year. Am I eligible for the extra $10,000?

Yes.



I qualified for only a partial Pell Grant. Am I eligible for the extra $10,000?

Yes.
Source: www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/business/biden-student-loan-forgiveness.html