Yeah either the agency participates and you meet the qualifications or you don't. It isn't negotiable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you looked into the public interest loan repayment program?

I'm having a similar debate as you about whether to deplete my savings or keep my payments going although I am not a fed and have a lower rate. If my rate was higher I'd probably move to pay more of it off.

I know a family friend's son who is in law school now, planning to take out over $160k of federal loans, and then get a public service job to qualify for loan forgiveness.

There are a lot of potential pitfalls.

Also he is living veyr large in the city, since it doesn't make a difference to him whether his eventual debt is a few (tens of) thousand higher here or there.. not so good for the taxpayer I guess.

He may not make it to the forgiveness side. Within 6 years in the Fed he should be a 14 or 15.The repayment is almost as high as normal payoff. So he will get very close to paying it off.

Our agency offers it, with a few conditions:
1) they only give $10K total split over 3 yrs
2) you have to have all exceptional ratings and then be chosen - out of over 200 attys, only like 10 are chosen each year
3) you have to have been there for more than 1 yr and less than 6 yrs to qualify
4) you have to stay for 4 yrs or pay it all back
5) you have to pay taxes on it, so it only ends up being about $6-7K

Taxable as income... Not I come. iPad glitch.

Op, do you like your federal job? You are making a nice living and are probably making a mistake carrying a loan balance just in case you find a job one day that will pay it off. The program is an optional one for each agency/office within the agency. Furthermore, the forgiveness is taxable as I come, with cuts down probably 25 percent of it's value to you.

Note: public sector loan forgiveness amounts are excluded from income , but not the fed forgiveness one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you looked into the public interest loan repayment program?

I'm having a similar debate as you about whether to deplete my savings or keep my payments going although I am not a fed and have a lower rate. If my rate was higher I'd probably move to pay more of it off.

The "loan forgiveness" doesn't help me, essentially because my loan balance is considered low enough compared to my salary and there would be nothing to forgive after 10 years, if I made any type of payments that would 'qualify' me for that plan.

(Qualifying payments could be 10-year repayment plan, Income-based repayment which caps payments at 15% of income for those with very high student loan balances..)

The only people who will benefit from "Public Service Loan Forgiveness" will be those with very high federal student loan balances relative to income-- there has to be something left to "forgive" after the years of qualifying payments.

I'd look into the terms of that program very carefully - I don't think it will help too many people, plus the terms of the law could always change.

The PSLF program (combined with IBR) is AWESOME in my opinion. It brings my loan payment down from 2200 a month to $287. I have 8.5 years left and I will have zero loans. But yes, it helps for those of us that have high student loans relative to our income (i.e. pretty much anyone that went to law school and now works for the government ha ha). Anyway, practically everyone I know is taking use of the program so it is helping a lot of people.

I am not too worried about the law changing considering I entered into a contract and it is all well tracked and everything I have read on the program (and yes I have done lots of research) shows that I will not get screwed.

Anonymous wrote:Have you looked into the public interest loan repayment program?

I'm having a similar debate as you about whether to deplete my savings or keep my payments going although I am not a fed and have a lower rate. If my rate was higher I'd probably move to pay more of it off.

I know a family friend's son who is in law school now, planning to take out over $160k of federal loans, and then get a public service job to qualify for loan forgiveness.

There are a lot of potential pitfalls.

Also he is living veyr large in the city, since it doesn't make a difference to him whether his eventual debt is a few (tens of) thousand higher here or there.. not so good for the taxpayer I guess.

Anonymous wrote:Have you looked into the public interest loan repayment program?

I'm having a similar debate as you about whether to deplete my savings or keep my payments going although I am not a fed and have a lower rate. If my rate was higher I'd probably move to pay more of it off.

The "loan forgiveness" doesn't help me, essentially because my loan balance is considered low enough compared to my salary and there would be nothing to forgive after 10 years, if I made any type of payments that would 'qualify' me for that plan.

(Qualifying payments could be 10-year repayment plan, Income-based repayment which caps payments at 15% of income for those with very high student loan balances..)

The only people who will benefit from "Public Service Loan Forgiveness" will be those with very high federal student loan balances relative to income-- there has to be something left to "forgive" after the years of qualifying payments.

I'd look into the terms of that program very carefully - I don't think it will help too many people, plus the terms of the law could always change.

My agency offers this. It isn't negotiable, though - either you qualify or you don't.

Have you looked into the public interest loan repayment program?

I'm having a similar debate as you about whether to deplete my savings or keep my payments going although I am not a fed and have a lower rate. If my rate was higher I'd probably move to pay more of it off.

Given pay freezes and tight budgets, I think it will be hard to find an agency offering this benefit right now. My agency isn't and based on a recent conversation I had with someone at OPM it sounds like that is true for most agencies. I'd go with option B.

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?