Lender not letting me defer

BoA may be legally within their rights to deny you a deferment and most likely on the loan note it stated when repayment would begin (alternative loans can write their own rules and do and there is no standardization). Somewhere on the note it may state "repayment begins __ months after leaving the program the loan was borrowed for" or something like that.
In order to understand all of this and work out a plan of what you should do, I think you will need to really understand what a deferment actually is. From a legal standpoint, you entered an agreement with a lender and signed a contract. The contract gave you rights and the lender rights as to who would be required to do what when. They loaned you the money and cannot ask for a payment while you were in the program-- according to the contract you both signed. They may like a payment, but you would not be legally required to make it: both your rights spelled out in the contract. The protection you were afforded during your enrollment is they also cannot call the entire balance due. Hopefully you understand what "deferment" is now since it's less about you not having a job and having to write a check and more of a "who does what when" kind of thing. In short: deferment means the loan is not legally in repayment. (I'll cover default towards the end so you get an entire picture.)
The terms of the loan may not allow it to be deferred (legally not considered in repayment since you left the program the original loan was intended for) but it may you may be allowed to receive a forbearance. A forbearance is basically a gentlemen's agreement between you and the lender that states "The loan is considered legally in repayment but you are allowing me to not have to write a check during a certain time period if I am doing "x" (like in school) and since you granted me the forbearance you will not report my payments as being late to the credit reporting companies for a defined period of time." A forbearance (loan considered legally in repayment) may have a higher rate of interest, I may make you pay the interest accruing etc. A lender is not legally required to grant you a forbearance but most will. There are some loans that in the prom note specified if a forbearance would be granted, under what circumstances and for how long over the total life of the loan. I've seen some with a "no exception" clause.
My best advice is to go back and read the loan note and understand it from a contract perspective: You can do this, if I do that. And yes, I realize it's all kind of gobbledy gook but read it like a contract: I can, you can and it should start making a bit more sense to you.
A word about default: understanding this as well will help you get it all a bit more. A default is a legal term in lending where the lender cannot do certain things to collect the debt (you have rights and responsibilities). Say for example the contract you signed spelled out how the loan would be paid back. They loaned you $10,000 at 10% and weregranted a 10 year repayment due monthly on the 15th of the month. You have the right to the 10 years provided the payments are received each month by the 15th day of the month. You lender cannot arbitrarily change the terms unless you make a late payment or miss a payments. Once that happens, you have basically broken the contract (breached it) and now the lender has the right to change the terms which you agreed to when you signed the note. The lender may have written they can call the entire balance of the loan due at once, add fees or penalties but this may only occur if you do something... What they have legally given themselves the right to do, you agreed to in the contract and if you breach the agreement, they have the right to do something-- it is always something the borrower does to have the terms changed of a loan (think car repo or house forclosure: you don't pay us for 3 months, we ask for the entire amount due-- under the original agreement we couldn't unless you missed 90 days of payments-- if you can't pay it on the spot, we get your car back). Considering the loan being kicked up a notch.
I encourage you to read it over and then call your lender. Most times students only know one word: deferment without understanding what it really means. You may be eligible to be granted a forbearance but make sure you have a clear understanding of the maximum length allowed under the loan note (it may not be unlimited and most alternative loans are limited since the bank needs to make money and ensure a revenue stream on their investment).
Once you have figured out what your rights really are (and responsibilites) then work out a plan as to what to do.
I'd be interested to hear what you decide (as I'm sure the others).
Best wishes.

Mr. Jess said:

Hello,

I am a first year med student who got an MPH before matriculating. I took out a Bank of America Education Maximizer loan for my MPH and I am now finding out that I can't defer payment on this loan because I am no longer in the program for which the loan was originally intended.

I have never heard of this before and I'm obviously very upset because I don't really have a budget to be paying back a student loan while I'm in med school.

I've considered reconsolidating, but a lot of lenders want you to either start paying back immediately, have an income, or have a cosigner. The third option is maybe remotely possible, but I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do.

Any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Jess

Click to expand...

You could take out a private med school loan, pay off your BOA loan with that (if you are approved for enough money that is).

chris03333 said:

You could take out a private med school loan, pay off your BOA loan with that (if you are approved for enough money that is).

Click to expand...

Why not take out a public med school loan to pay it off?

Private loans are what caused the OP problems in the first place!

CorpusERdoc said:

Why not take out a public med school loan to pay it off?

Private loans are what caused the OP problems in the first place!

Click to expand...

I just assumed that the loans for MPH would be too high to cover. Then again, I have no idea how much tuition for MPH is....