Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your friends are stupid. As Suze Orman says - debt isn’t a pet. You don’t keep it around for as long as possible. And this whole wiping of student loan debt has been a supposed big focus since 2008 - it’s not happening. Not when we have other priorities in this country.

It shouldn't happen. Many people took on this debt to have "the college experience" when there are many ways to reduce the load of paying for college--just something people didn't want to do. There's no reason you shouldn't pay it.

newsflash my college experience that I took loans for was when I was in my 40s and doing an MBA. Many my age and even undergrads of the last 25 years were gauged by inflated rates. I landed 0 income bump out of adding a Masters to boot.

Loan forgiveness for undergraduate degrees can be debated. But under no circumstances should loans taken out for graduate school ever be forgiven. Everyone who has them has a 4 years degree, and knew exactly what they were getting into. No sympathy.

So you wouldn't forgive grad school loans for military members? Teachers and public defenders - should only rich people take those jobs? What do you plan for people who only enrolled in grad school because of an existing forgiveness program that incentivized it, but turned out to be basically a government-run scam?

What a high horse you have.

Anyway, forgiveness isn't about sympathy, it's about making our economy work. Student debt (and medical debt) is crippling our economy. If you want people to buy things, keep your property values up, etc, we can either pay them way more or forgive the debt.

Anonymous wrote:I was talking with friends after the latest extension was announced and was surprised to find that a few of them have no intention of ever paying them off.

One said even before the pandemic pause, they made the minimum payment every other month and didn't care about interest accruing. I'm baffled at how this is a good strategy. They seem to think I was crazy for having continued making payments throughout the pandemic.

I’m never paying off my lane school loans. I’m also borrowing all of the money for my kids’ college. (Roughly $300,000). When they’re done, I am going to roll my loans and my Parent loans into a consolidation loan. Then I’m going to set it to an income sensitive payment. I figure I will owe the government around $200,000 when I die. The loans die when I do, though. And even if it didn’t, I can set my estate so everything passes outside of the estate, so there’s nothing to claim against in probate. My kids will owe nothing for college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your friend who doesn't even pay the monthly minimum is an idiot who is destroying their credit.

That said, it depends on what you mean by "pay them off" - plenty of people have good rates and pay as agreed and are not bothered by the debt. They may not think of making the agreed-upon payments as "paying them off" because people usually talk about that when they're trying to wipe out debt aggressively. It's only if you have high interest rates that you should prioritize paying them off early. I had some at high rates that I paid off ASAP, and I have one at 1.875% fixed that I see no reason to prepay.

The OP said the friend is paying the minimum.

Every *other* month. They're destroying their credit.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone holding federal loans is an idiot for paying now. Every extension is the last extension ever because the president is super serious this time. At least some chunk if not all will end up forgiven. The administration has backed themselves into a corner with the extensions and forgiveness is the only way out

Can’t they just keep extending until the next president has to deal with it? That’s for sure what Republicans would do.

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me who (what jobs) are eligible for loan forgiveness? I assume teachers, but does that also include all federal employees? Is this for federal loans only? Are Parent Plus loans are excluded?

Another dumb question: From what I understand, the repayment plan is based on the person’s salary who has the loan. Does your spouses salary affect your payment amount?

Work for a 503c or public entity. I think people working in ministry were recently included. For profit employers are excluded. So nurse at for profit hospital does not qualify. Accountant at not for profit hospital does qualify. Feds, state workers, and municipal workers all qualify. Teachers qualify as long as they are not working for a for-profit. All Direct Loans qualify. FFLE and Parent Plus loans can qualify if the person holding the loan does a direct loan consolidation.

If a married person wants to do a income-based repayment including only their own income, they must file as married filing separately.

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me who (what jobs) are eligible for loan forgiveness? I assume teachers, but does that also include all federal employees? Is this for federal loans only? Are Parent Plus loans are excluded?

Another dumb question: From what I understand, the repayment plan is based on the person’s salary who has the loan. Does your spouses salary affect your payment amount?

Parent Plus loans are in the parent’s name. In contrast, private loans like Sallie Mae are in the student’s name but co-signed by the parent. Both are icky. But anyway, the Parent would have to be the one working the public service job.

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me who (what jobs) are eligible for loan forgiveness? I assume teachers, but does that also include all federal employees? Is this for federal loans only? Are Parent Plus loans are excluded?

Another dumb question: From what I understand, the repayment plan is based on the person’s salary who has the loan. Does your spouses salary affect your payment amount?

All non-profit (501c3) jobs. All public service jobs.

Can someone explain to me who (what jobs) are eligible for loan forgiveness? I assume teachers, but does that also include all federal employees? Is this for federal loans only? Are Parent Plus loans are excluded?

Another dumb question: From what I understand, the repayment plan is based on the person’s salary who has the loan. Does your spouses salary affect your payment amount?

If I borrow money at 3% and inflation is 7%, I'm making money.

Anonymous wrote:I was talking with friends after the latest extension was announced and was surprised to find that a few of them have no intention of ever paying them off.

One said even before the pandemic pause, they made the minimum payment every other month and didn't care about interest accruing. I'm baffled at how this is a good strategy. They seem to think I was crazy for having continued making payments throughout the pandemic.

If they pay minimum, they should be able to pay them off one day. I don't believe your friends decided to use student loans to ruin their credit by 'making minimum payment every other month'. They might be making an extra minimum payment but paying it6 times a year instead of 12.
Their interest might be so low that they should be taking their time. I'm sure the interest rates are less than inflation and there's your answer why their
are not in a hurry to pay them off.
I baffled that your are baffled.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your friends are stupid. As Suze Orman says - debt isn’t a pet. You don’t keep it around for as long as possible. And this whole wiping of student loan debt has been a supposed big focus since 2008 - it’s not happening. Not when we have other priorities in this country.

It shouldn't happen. Many people took on this debt to have "the college experience" when there are many ways to reduce the load of paying for college--just something people didn't want to do. There's no reason you shouldn't pay it.

newsflash my college experience that I took loans for was when I was in my 40s and doing an MBA. Many my age and even undergrads of the last 25 years were gauged by inflated rates. I landed 0 income bump out of adding a Masters to boot.

This is a great example of why people should really research the payoff for higher education. Unless you’re a young 20something going into IB, MBAs are worthless. Especially when you’re 20 years into work experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your friends are stupid. As Suze Orman says - debt isn’t a pet. You don’t keep it around for as long as possible. And this whole wiping of student loan debt has been a supposed big focus since 2008 - it’s not happening. Not when we have other priorities in this country.

It shouldn't happen. Many people took on this debt to have "the college experience" when there are many ways to reduce the load of paying for college--just something people didn't want to do. There's no reason you shouldn't pay it.

newsflash my college experience that I took loans for was when I was in my 40s and doing an MBA. Many my age and even undergrads of the last 25 years were gauged by inflated rates. I landed 0 income bump out of adding a Masters to boot.

Loan forgiveness for undergraduate degrees can be debated. But under no circumstances should loans taken out for graduate school ever be forgiven. Everyone who has them has a 4 years degree, and knew exactly what they were getting into. No sympathy.

They will extend it through the election and start repayment shortly thereafter.

Anonymous wrote:Your friend who doesn't even pay the monthly minimum is an idiot who is destroying their credit.

That said, it depends on what you mean by "pay them off" - plenty of people have good rates and pay as agreed and are not bothered by the debt. They may not think of making the agreed-upon payments as "paying them off" because people usually talk about that when they're trying to wipe out debt aggressively. It's only if you have high interest rates that you should prioritize paying them off early. I had some at high rates that I paid off ASAP, and I have one at 1.875% fixed that I see no reason to prepay.

The OP said the friend is paying the minimum.

doubt I will pay mine off or at least have no immediate plans to make payments when required. Credit already tanked I don't have any incentive to pay. Paid the minimum for 4 years balance is unchanged. This is a huge issue many will not pay when the moratorium is ended. A longer term solution should be explored.