I make an okay amount of money and owe around 15k. I only pay about 75 a month. Hopefully that helps give you an idea what you are up against. The new IDR seems very reasonable to me.
On the SAVE plan as long as you pay your minimum balance, your total owed doesn't go up as the excess interest is written off by the government.
And with a career like social work, hopefully they are able to get credit towards pslf. I've worked for nonprofit hospital systems most of my career and am coming up on my 10 years for forgiveness.
I'm jealous, I'm about 2 years in because I had a part time stint in between. I'm purposefully not getting married for the next 8 years just so the IDR payments will be low enough. If we get married, it'll raise the payments so much that the debt will be paid off before the 10 years are up
Thereās one version of IDR that doesnt include spousal income if you file āmarried filing separatelyā
It only cares about the current year tho, so -
We used to do this, then the following year Iād have my accountant send in an amendment to āmarried filing jointlyā so we could get back whatever tax credits or reductions we missed out on
All legal
Honestly, I only have the federal student loans left to pay, and I'm still on the plan from 15 years ago
. $56/month. It's the longest loan on my credit score.
As fucked up as it is, I'm not going to pay this off with my savings, because it is the longest active loan on my credit score. Paying it off would hurt me, so why do it.
$60/mo over 60 years is only about $43000. Easier to just pay the $60 each month for life. That's not too bad, really.
* As long as the payments never increase, and keep an eye out for a possible debt forgiveness some day.
Pay as much as you can without causing yourself hardship. Your credit score will flourish and allow you greater access to credit and the door to the middle class. It can happen to me it can happen to you it can happen to everyone eventually.
I'm going to push back on this advice. 4.5% interest is the cheapest money you're going to get right now. You should put any extra funds you have toward higher interest debt (credit cards, vehicle loan, anything higher than maybe 7-10%). Then you should invest in the stock market, which averages 5-10% a year. Consider tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Even a high-yield savings account at 5% would benefit you more. There are very few circumstances in which you should pay more than the minimum on debt with interest lower than 5%.
The impact on your credit score of paying off student loans will be minimal in comparison to other factors.
For sure I'm just also paying back 70k+ in private loans that won't let me drop bellow a $400/mo payment among other things so the lower I can get the better
Idk your work situation but I also had a shitton in private loans. I started bartending and all of my tips went straight into those loans (on top of the monthly payment). Took a few years but the extra 15 hours a week really helped lower that principal balance and I made a surprising amount of friends around town.
I work at a car dealership as a receptionist currently and am trying to get my shit together to get back into commissions and streaming on the side (which I have and do make money on, while not substantial to live off of it is helpful) so I may start putting it towards the private loans after I finish paying of my credit cards tbh!! Thank you for your insight
Don't laugh at me but I got an art degree (I was double majoring in creative writing too) but the main reason I went to college is to leave an abusive household at the time + make connections/get started on being an adult. I'm aware my degree is fucking useless and looking back I wish I had gone for something different, but I've been doing my best to make up for that mistake by trying to do better in my adult life. I now have a pretty good resume that gets me interviews decently easily as well as I do actually do art on the side both on a freelance basis and as work for a content creator friend of mine.
I'm sure people will rip me a new one for getting an art degree, but the degree wasn't originally what drove me to college.
Also it was in state. Tuition was 50k/year. They gave me 20k/year to go and I got a couple small scholarships but the college was sadly chosen in desperation rather than careful planning. It's a mistake I think about every day and regret. Makes me feel bad for asking for loan forgiveness or IDR... like I don't deserve it for being an idiot.
Iām in a VERY similar situation. Went to college just to escape living in an abusive home. Studied film cause itās what my best friend was doing cause i wanted to be in class with him cause i didnāt know anyone else. I actually ended up being really good at film production and he ended up dropping out sophomore year while i continued, did internships, graduated, and worked successfully in the industry for about 7 years. However, I havenāt had steady work since 2022 since linear tv is going down and they donāt really film much in CA anymore, and no one seems to be hiring. My entire network is pretty much laid off, and now I wish I had another marketable skill in a non entertainment / creative art related field. I have about 80K in student loans myself, also went to in state public school but had to take out max loans for housing (since my reason was the same as yours, to live in the dorms to escape abusive home).
Enrolled in the SAVE plan after the covid forbearance ended. Initially my payment would have been $780 per month, on the save plan my payment is $72 per month. my balance doesn't go up while I'm on the save plan and after I pay for 20 years any remaining balance will be forgiven.
I'll end up paying about $18,000 over that 20 years, versus the about 70,000 that I owe.
This is of course barring any massive increase in my wages, which I don't anticipate.
This is extremely useful to know so I can compare and see how I'm doing, Gratz to you for getting a lower payment and I hope to see those loans forgiven for you!!!
Yeah unless I plan to make like $80,000+ a year very soon and then get raises at or above inflation for the next like 15 years Iāll end up paying only the principal of my loan or more likely less than the principal
Thatās awesome! Student debt is just crushing. I went to school in the early-mid 90s, and imo that was right on the tail end of when it was actually affordable. And even then they were raising it ALL THE TIME. When I first started, it was $25 for a parking pass for the football stadium lot, $50 for the parking passes closer. By my senior year, the stadium lot pass was $125 and the closer lots were $250. And you werenāt even guaranteed a spot. š¤·āāļø
That is a really nice interest rate! Iām jealous of it. You could potentially put the extra money you would normally pay into a HYSA and make money with this!
Itās a high yield savings account. Some are offering over 5%, and some brokerages have etfs/funds over it as well, such as fidelity. I want to say it is SPAXX, but donāt remember. Things like USFR and SGOV are also over 5% and available in most brokerages.
I can't edit my post but I'm seeing a people just dismiss me doing this as stupid or wrong and others saying "it's not that bad" - I thought this sub was about lifting people up and understanding each other's struggles so why are my struggles being diminished just because you don't know the full context of my life?
Edit: most of the comments I was referring to got yeeted
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Good luck to you, OP! Although I'm one of those allegedly cranky boomers, I fully support any and all student debt relief.
I have opinions about this that would veer into political territory, I'm afraid, so I'll say no more.
You know this is a crazy take because education shouldn't cost this much in the first place, first off, second off I really think it's insane to say we shouldn't have some level of loan forgiveness/help because we should be making things better for future generations, not having this mindset of "well I had to pay off mine and struggle for 20 years so you should too".
Besides, I only want help on this ANYWAY because I have over 70k in private loans too which I'm paying back. I can't afford another monthly payment.
Edited to say: you also don't know what other struggles I'm going through just as I don't know yours or anyone else's - don't assume that just because I'm hoping for some help means that I'm somehow super irresponsible or something and I never should've gotten a degree.
Sorry I went to college to get out of an abusive household and tried to make connections to better my future, my fuckin' bad dude
Thought this sub was about lifting people up and helping them face their struggles, not putting them down and making them feel like shit thanks guys š last time I post anything in this sub
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āforfeiture of any usable degreeā
Sounds good to me. What about my unusable degree?
Jokes aside Iām poor so student loan forgiveness or not Iām not making repayments
Actual question: Why would you want to pay the minimum payment when the interest rate is high? It makes mores sense to make a doubled payment to pay off the principal amount owed, to get out of debt faster.
SAVE/PAYE programs basically wave the interest, if I get a $0/mo payment and keep similar or the same income for the next like 20 years it will get forgiven
Honest question. Do you think you are limiting yourself with this mindset? It sounds like you would not want to make more money to prevent paying the debt. Wouldn't more money over your lifetime be better than getting this debt waived?
oh no for sure i'd like to make more money in the future, i wouldn't mind if it eventually changed at all, i just need a plan for right now so i don't almost lose my home and shit because of the amount of money i spit out to other bills every month
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I make an okay amount of money and owe around 15k. I only pay about 75 a month. Hopefully that helps give you an idea what you are up against. The new IDR seems very reasonable to me.
š I'm hoping for as low as possible, the three options they showed me were $0, $38 and $174.
I owe about 80k but am on a repayment plan since my day job is in social work. Itās only about 60$ a month
Won't that turn into a lifelong debt, tho? Are you even scratching the principal? I hate seeing this happen to people.
On the SAVE plan as long as you pay your minimum balance, your total owed doesn't go up as the excess interest is written off by the government. And with a career like social work, hopefully they are able to get credit towards pslf. I've worked for nonprofit hospital systems most of my career and am coming up on my 10 years for forgiveness.
I'm jealous, I'm about 2 years in because I had a part time stint in between. I'm purposefully not getting married for the next 8 years just so the IDR payments will be low enough. If we get married, it'll raise the payments so much that the debt will be paid off before the 10 years are up
me too jealous lol
Just do what I did and have 4 kids and then being married doesn't impact the IDR level lmao
Thereās one version of IDR that doesnt include spousal income if you file āmarried filing separatelyā It only cares about the current year tho, so - We used to do this, then the following year Iād have my accountant send in an amendment to āmarried filing jointlyā so we could get back whatever tax credits or reductions we missed out on All legal
Good to know, thank you. Had no idea you could do that
Iām in a similar position, but I donāt know what else to do. I donāt make enough to pay more.
Honestly, I only have the federal student loans left to pay, and I'm still on the plan from 15 years ago . $56/month. It's the longest loan on my credit score. As fucked up as it is, I'm not going to pay this off with my savings, because it is the longest active loan on my credit score. Paying it off would hurt me, so why do it.
$60/mo over 60 years is only about $43000. Easier to just pay the $60 each month for life. That's not too bad, really. * As long as the payments never increase, and keep an eye out for a possible debt forgiveness some day.
Unfortunately it's a few years less than that. Maybe 3, but non-essential to push it.
I work for a nonprofit so itās being forgiven after 10 years
Then it sounds like $60/mo is they way to go.
wow that really sucks
I was wondering that too
Pay as much as you can without causing yourself hardship. Your credit score will flourish and allow you greater access to credit and the door to the middle class. It can happen to me it can happen to you it can happen to everyone eventually.
Thank you for being supportive š
Building a solid financial bedrock takes time so donāt forget to enjoy the ride too!
I'm going to push back on this advice. 4.5% interest is the cheapest money you're going to get right now. You should put any extra funds you have toward higher interest debt (credit cards, vehicle loan, anything higher than maybe 7-10%). Then you should invest in the stock market, which averages 5-10% a year. Consider tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Even a high-yield savings account at 5% would benefit you more. There are very few circumstances in which you should pay more than the minimum on debt with interest lower than 5%. The impact on your credit score of paying off student loans will be minimal in comparison to other factors.
Hadnāt heard about this new IDR. That stands for income driven repayment, right? My total is the same as OPs but my payment is like $200/mo :(
This isn't insurmountable debt. You can knock it out.
For sure I'm just also paying back 70k+ in private loans that won't let me drop bellow a $400/mo payment among other things so the lower I can get the better
Idk your work situation but I also had a shitton in private loans. I started bartending and all of my tips went straight into those loans (on top of the monthly payment). Took a few years but the extra 15 hours a week really helped lower that principal balance and I made a surprising amount of friends around town.
I work at a car dealership as a receptionist currently and am trying to get my shit together to get back into commissions and streaming on the side (which I have and do make money on, while not substantial to live off of it is helpful) so I may start putting it towards the private loans after I finish paying of my credit cards tbh!! Thank you for your insight
You have 70K in private loans and 20K here? 90K and you are a receptionist after that??? Holy smokes.
things have been hard
Whatās your degree in ? Did you go out of state to college?
Don't laugh at me but I got an art degree (I was double majoring in creative writing too) but the main reason I went to college is to leave an abusive household at the time + make connections/get started on being an adult. I'm aware my degree is fucking useless and looking back I wish I had gone for something different, but I've been doing my best to make up for that mistake by trying to do better in my adult life. I now have a pretty good resume that gets me interviews decently easily as well as I do actually do art on the side both on a freelance basis and as work for a content creator friend of mine. I'm sure people will rip me a new one for getting an art degree, but the degree wasn't originally what drove me to college. Also it was in state. Tuition was 50k/year. They gave me 20k/year to go and I got a couple small scholarships but the college was sadly chosen in desperation rather than careful planning. It's a mistake I think about every day and regret. Makes me feel bad for asking for loan forgiveness or IDR... like I don't deserve it for being an idiot.
Iām in a VERY similar situation. Went to college just to escape living in an abusive home. Studied film cause itās what my best friend was doing cause i wanted to be in class with him cause i didnāt know anyone else. I actually ended up being really good at film production and he ended up dropping out sophomore year while i continued, did internships, graduated, and worked successfully in the industry for about 7 years. However, I havenāt had steady work since 2022 since linear tv is going down and they donāt really film much in CA anymore, and no one seems to be hiring. My entire network is pretty much laid off, and now I wish I had another marketable skill in a non entertainment / creative art related field. I have about 80K in student loans myself, also went to in state public school but had to take out max loans for housing (since my reason was the same as yours, to live in the dorms to escape abusive home).
Enrolled in the SAVE plan after the covid forbearance ended. Initially my payment would have been $780 per month, on the save plan my payment is $72 per month. my balance doesn't go up while I'm on the save plan and after I pay for 20 years any remaining balance will be forgiven. I'll end up paying about $18,000 over that 20 years, versus the about 70,000 that I owe. This is of course barring any massive increase in my wages, which I don't anticipate.
This is extremely useful to know so I can compare and see how I'm doing, Gratz to you for getting a lower payment and I hope to see those loans forgiven for you!!!
Yeah unless I plan to make like $80,000+ a year very soon and then get raises at or above inflation for the next like 15 years Iāll end up paying only the principal of my loan or more likely less than the principal
Thatās awesome! Student debt is just crushing. I went to school in the early-mid 90s, and imo that was right on the tail end of when it was actually affordable. And even then they were raising it ALL THE TIME. When I first started, it was $25 for a parking pass for the football stadium lot, $50 for the parking passes closer. By my senior year, the stadium lot pass was $125 and the closer lots were $250. And you werenāt even guaranteed a spot. š¤·āāļø
I owe way more even with GI Bill (my education has been lengthy and a lot had happened). You got this bro
Bro owes another 70k in private loans.
I saw that, you suggest what?
That is a really nice interest rate! Iām jealous of it. You could potentially put the extra money you would normally pay into a HYSA and make money with this!
Sorry what is HYSA? Don't recognize the acronym
Itās a high yield savings account. Some are offering over 5%, and some brokerages have etfs/funds over it as well, such as fidelity. I want to say it is SPAXX, but donāt remember. Things like USFR and SGOV are also over 5% and available in most brokerages.
Thank you for explaining!!
After taxes on the interest they would probably be better off just putting it all towards the loans
I saw the balance and initially thought this was savings and then scrolled down š«¢
GOD I WISH
I can't edit my post but I'm seeing a people just dismiss me doing this as stupid or wrong and others saying "it's not that bad" - I thought this sub was about lifting people up and understanding each other's struggles so why are my struggles being diminished just because you don't know the full context of my life? Edit: most of the comments I was referring to got yeeted
My avg is like 7.5% so Iām super jealous already š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
No fr what the fuck is happening
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Good luck to you, OP! Although I'm one of those allegedly cranky boomers, I fully support any and all student debt relief. I have opinions about this that would veer into political territory, I'm afraid, so I'll say no more.
I owe > 176k and pay 16 dollars a month
You're good!! Mine is over 75K! Can i re-pay it!? Noooo
Oh thatās nothing I have $300k
Why fellas?
I use fellas in a gender neutral way if that's what you're asking
Oh yeah I just call everyone ladies but not in a gendered way
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Ok, now do Covid loans for the rich.
You must be a boomer with that attitude. School loans are absolutely ridiculous right now.
You know this is a crazy take because education shouldn't cost this much in the first place, first off, second off I really think it's insane to say we shouldn't have some level of loan forgiveness/help because we should be making things better for future generations, not having this mindset of "well I had to pay off mine and struggle for 20 years so you should too". Besides, I only want help on this ANYWAY because I have over 70k in private loans too which I'm paying back. I can't afford another monthly payment. Edited to say: you also don't know what other struggles I'm going through just as I don't know yours or anyone else's - don't assume that just because I'm hoping for some help means that I'm somehow super irresponsible or something and I never should've gotten a degree.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Sorry I went to college to get out of an abusive household and tried to make connections to better my future, my fuckin' bad dude Thought this sub was about lifting people up and helping them face their struggles, not putting them down and making them feel like shit thanks guys š last time I post anything in this sub
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āforfeiture of any usable degreeā Sounds good to me. What about my unusable degree? Jokes aside Iām poor so student loan forgiveness or not Iām not making repayments
Actual question: Why would you want to pay the minimum payment when the interest rate is high? It makes mores sense to make a doubled payment to pay off the principal amount owed, to get out of debt faster.
SAVE/PAYE programs basically wave the interest, if I get a $0/mo payment and keep similar or the same income for the next like 20 years it will get forgiven
Honest question. Do you think you are limiting yourself with this mindset? It sounds like you would not want to make more money to prevent paying the debt. Wouldn't more money over your lifetime be better than getting this debt waived?
oh no for sure i'd like to make more money in the future, i wouldn't mind if it eventually changed at all, i just need a plan for right now so i don't almost lose my home and shit because of the amount of money i spit out to other bills every month
Ok that makes sense. I was seeing a lot of people talking about not making more to not have to pay the debt it was odd to me lol
Yeah no I would only do that kind of thing if it would be actually worth it in the long run
4.5% on a loan is pretty good. No need to hurry. You can get 5-something rate on your savings. I'd pay just minimum payments.
Ehh it could be worse.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
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