Reply to Federal agency student loan repayment program?

Forum Index » Off-Topic

Reply to "Federal agency student loan repayment program?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I don't get student loan repayment benefits in my current federal job, but I know this is a benefit of many federal jobs/agencies.

I've been putting less money towards repaying my student loan than I could be, since I've figured it may be a "benefit" or something to negotiate for on my next federal job.

Some background on the loan:
-Right now 2/3 of my payment goes to principal and 1/3 goes to interest
-The payment represents just under 5% of my pay.  Considering that I graduated four yrs ago from law school, it isn't that bad, and could be a lot worse I know.  But, it bugs me and I'd sleep easier with it paid off and totally put behind me.
-The loan balance is the size of a mid-size car, and the payment is the size of a car payment- I take (reimburseable) Metro to work so it evens out I guess.

With all the talk of federal pay freezes, would you keep doing what I'm doing?

(a) If I continue making the minimum monthly payments, the loan will be done with in just under 10 yrs.  I'd pay some interest, but not more than I could stand- probably the worst of my student debt is over with.  The interest rate of the loan is 5.25%, and the interest is tax deductible for me with my income.

(b) Or would you put some savings/ small inheritance money towards the loan plus make bigger monthly payments to get it paid much sooner, figuring that I probably can't get a better return rate, and can then save/invest from that point on?  This is what I'd prefer to do if I didn't think there were a chance that I may get a federal student loan repayment program in my next job... but I'm not sure I'd get that benefit anymore, with the crackdown on federal pay and benefits in Congress right now.  And, there isn't much federal hiring going on right now.

(c) Or- would you refinance the loan with the Department of Education, stretching out the payment term and lowering the payment, figuring that inflation will take care of it?

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics