PleaseBlitz Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 I spoke with Forehead via PM, but just for everyone else's benefit, I am very happy that I refinanced my debt with SoFi. My rate has risen slightly, to 3.65%, but it is still under what a fixed rate loan would have been last year (roughly 5%). I am in the process of getting my tax info together, so I know that in 2015, when I was paying on the original loans through the Department of Education and serviced by FedLoan Servicing (who are ****ing evil), I paid over $35,000 IN INTEREST. In 2016, I paid about $6,500. My payment did not change, so effectively I paid an extra $30,000 towards the principal. I will have this thing paid off in about half the time, and it is going to end up saving me well over $100,000. I could not be happier with having refinanced. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 So this has become a thing. https://www.pymnts.com/loans/2017/unpaid-student-loan-debt-could-result-in-lost-jobs/ Quote Student loans have an unexpected consequence if they go unpaid: Borrowers who default on their payments can lose their state-issued professional licenses. That’s according to a news report in CNBC that found that in 19 states, government agencies can take away student loan borrowers’ licenses if they default on their debt. What’s more, in South Dakota, a borrower’s driver’s license can be suspended, which makes it close to impossible for them to get to work. The moves on the part of states are due to increasing debt levels among student loan borrowers. As a result, they are taking more drastic steps to collect the money, including revoking state professional licenses. The report noted that the actions have impacted firefighters, nurses, teachers, lawyers, massage therapists, barbers, psychologists and real estate brokers. CNBC said it was hard to determine how many people lost their licenses, but public records reviewed by The New York Times named at least 8,700 cases in which occurred. This makes sense, if someone is having trouble paying their student loan, the solution is to make them lose their job. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjfootballer Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 End of year student loan update. I refinanced my loan almost exactly 2 years ago into a 10 year variable rate loan at 3.105%. The fixed rate would have been 5%. My rate has since gone up to 4.215, so I am still on the right side of 5%, but getting close to going over. I just put nearly all of my after-tax Christmas bonus towards the loan. Enough to buy a brand new Mercedes. Once that clears, During these last 2 years I will have paid my principal down $110,000, to about $120,000. So if i remain dilgent, I’ll have it paid off in a little over 4 years, rather than 5 as originally planned. The rate will probably exceed 5% at some point this year, but overall going with the variable rate is going to look like the right move. By 2020 I may have a positive net worth. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popeman38 Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 1 hour ago, PleaseBlitz said: End of year student loan update. I refinanced my loan almost exactly 2 years ago into a 10 year variable rate loan at 3.105%. The fixed rate would have been 5%. My rate has since gone up to 4.215, so I am still on the right side of 5%, but getting close to going over. I just put nearly all of my after-tax Christmas bonus towards the loan. Enough to buy a brand new Mercedes. Once that clears, During these last 2 years I will have paid my principal down $110,000, to about $120,000. So if i remain dilgent, I’ll have it paid off in a little over 4 years, rather than 5 as originally planned. The rate will probably exceed 5% at some point this year, but overall going with the variable rate is going to look like the right move. By 2020 I may have a positive net worth. Jeebus, where did you go to school? $330k in student loan debt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Springfield Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Lawyer school 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Genius Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 8 minutes ago, Popeman38 said: Jeebus, where did you go to school? $330k in student loan debt? I think he's said that the bulk of it is law school. And I think it's 230k not 330k. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popeman38 Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 1 minute ago, The Evil Genius said: I think he's said that the bulk of it is law school. And I think it's 230k not 330k. My bad. I was reading quick and did bad math... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hersh Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 13 minutes ago, Popeman38 said: My bad. I was reading quick and did bad math... See what happens when you turn 40. Can't read anymore 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshile Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Good God 230k for law school and undergrad? Maybe I didn't want to be a lawyer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popeman38 Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Just now, Hersh said: See what happens when you turn 40. Can't read anymore Or do math (that ain't an age thing...) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 39 minutes ago, Popeman38 said: Jeebus, where did you go to school? $330k in student loan debt? 30 minutes ago, The Evil Genius said: I think he's said that the bulk of it is law school. And I think it's 230k not 330k. Yes, 230k that I refinanced 2 years ago. Started at $240k, but I paid off $10k before I refianced. 12 minutes ago, tshile said: Good God 230k for law school and undergrad? Maybe I didn't want to be a lawyer Just law school. Undergrad I got out of with only $40k in debt, thanks to a combination of scholarships, bartending, and my grandparents starting a college fund for me when I was born that was a good size when I got to 18. That is not entirely paid off, but Im keeping it b/c the payment is less than $100/mo, the rate is like1% and its good for my credit score. I went to American, which is private and very expensive. I also had to take out extra loans to, you know, have shelter and eat and stuff. https://www.wcl.american.edu/school/admissions/finaid/fulltime-jd/coa/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshile Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Why did you decide to go there? Sorry, not real familiar on law schools, costs, benefits etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Genius Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 ..and that's nothing really compared to kids coming out of med school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 1 minute ago, tshile said: Why did you decide to go there? Sorry, not real familiar on law schools, costs, benefits etc. I am tied to DC because my wife’s job is here. I didnt get into Georgetown or GW, American is the highest ranked of the other DC schools. Also, most of the legal profession is in NYC and DC, so internship and job prospects are much better in those places. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forehead Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 My update, I went the fixed rate (4.625) and have been perfectly fine with it. We've been rapidly paying off my MBA. The new news is we liked SoFi a lot and my wife just finished her masters degree, so we went ahead and re-financed with them. This wound up being a much tougher process than when we refinanced mine. Started with them dangling a fixed rate of 3.75 at us for a 7 year, since we make pretty good money and have good credit scores. Then the issues started. We have a townhouse we still own and rent it out. They wanted confirmation of the rental income. (note, at the time of my re-fi, we didn't have this) No big deal, I thought. Big ****ing deal, it turns out. Over the course of the next month, and 10+ phone calls, we provided the following: 1. A copy of the lease agreement 2. Our last two years of tax returns, showing that we claimed the rental income. 3. Those same two tax returns, unsigned copies, that didn't have a watermark. We have a tax guy, he comes to our house, inputs all our tax information into his computer, files everything electronically. Later, he sends us full paper copies of everything in nice binders for our records, and a sheet we sign and return to him for his records. This sheet has a "Do not File" watermark because, as he said, he doesn't want his customers getting confused and sending anything to the IRS. Well, no matter how we tried to explain this, SoFi absolutely refused to accept our rental income unless we could provide a signed, filed, paper copy of our tax returns. We had signed, un-filed copies, as well as the really nice binders of the files returns, that aren't signed. Our tax guy, who has been in the business for 30 years, and was completely baffled. "How the **** does a company in the finance business not understand e-filing?" were his exact words? And as he put it, he sure as hell wasn't going to suggest that anyone sign and backdate the un-filed copies. In the end, we wound up having to drop that portion of our application, and our rate went up to 4.75. Still lower than what we would have been paying through Navient, but pretty frustrating for a company we've had really good experiences with otherwise. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadySkinsFan Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Sounds like bait and switch on the rate, and they would have found anything to increase the rate. Sorry for your experience. With an unfriendly in charge of the CFPB, there's nowhere to report this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 (edited) Worse is that is is extremely easy for a lender to request tax transcripts direct from the IRS. Edited December 26, 2017 by PleaseBlitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshile Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Yeah they just give you a release form to sign. I just signed one a few weeks ago. It's like one paragraph. Says - give me their tax records. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 So it looks like I am refinancing again. SoFi has been great, but I found that if I refinance through Citizens Bank, I can get my 10 year 4.445% variable rate down to 3.6% and fixed if I go to a 5 year loan. I pay way more than the minimum every month anyways, so the increase in minimum payment does not affect me. Plus they will give me 1% of my transfer balance back as a refund (up to $1000), which for me is the $1000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 (edited) This is a bad sign if you have student loans. https://www.npr.org/2018/08/27/642199524/student-loan-watchdog-quits-blames-trump-administration Quote The federal official in charge of protecting student borrowers from predatory lending practices has stepped down. In a scathing resignation letter, Seth Frotman, who until now was the student loan ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, says current leadership "has turned its back on young people and their financial futures." The letter was addressed to Mick Mulvaney, the bureau's acting director. In the letter, obtained by NPR, Frotman accuses Mulvaney and the Trump administration of undermining the CFPB and its ability to protect student borrowers. "Unfortunately, under your leadership, the Bureau has abandoned the very consumers it is tasked by Congress with protecting," it read. "Instead, you have used the Bureau to serve the wishes of the most powerful financial companies in America." The letter raises serious questions about the federal government's willingness to oversee the $1.5 trillion student loan industry and to protect student borrowers. His entire letter, which is a big F You to Mulvaney and others, is here: https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=4784891-Frotman-Letter Edited August 27, 2018 by PleaseBlitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Genius Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 So you're telling me that the administration whose leader scammed millions of dollars from people for Trump U wants to make it easier for other predatory lenders? Shocked I say. Shocked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 I'll be honest, I kind of figured Trump would take the approach of "well if I can't run this scam, nobody can." It's petty and on-brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Genius Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 5 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said: I'll be honest, I kind of figured Trump would take the approach of "well if I can't run this scam, nobody can." It's petty and on-brand. Who says he isn't making $s off of it though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 We're number one! https://www.lendingtree.com/student/places-with-the-most-student-debt/ Quote Washington, D.C., ranks first among metros with the highest median student loan balances where almost 10% of loan holders owe more than $100,0000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now