anyone working on PSLF?

[annoyedpsychiatrist]

You know I used to worry about it going away so much that for a while I never thought of it as a possibility but now I only have 4.5 years left of payments so it seems like a very real thing. Originally I was still paying towards my loans during the payment pause but now ive shifted towards investing that money in index funds or even putting some in my high yield checking which has a fairly good rate now of >3%. Im just curious, anyone else going for PSLF or recently finished 10 years of payments?

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[Alemo]

On a related note, has anyone submitted a PSLF form (signed by residency) after completion of residency, and if so, when did it get approved? I'm waiting for confirmation from the Dept of Edu that the form was received. My servicer is still AidVantage but I think it will switch to MOHELA.

I would love to know how MOHELA (or the Dept of Edu) knows that you made qualifying payments on a loan, as I understand the different servicer don't necessarily share records. But I did have a direct federal loan in a qualifying repayment plan that I started making payments into in residency.

 

[annoyedpsychiatrist]

yes i have, but if you're on PSLF you need to have been getting your loans through myfedloan which transitioned to mohela, other servicers arent part of the program. But yes i retroactively submitted the form from residency last year and it went through fine.

 

[annoyedpsychiatrist]

I gave up on the notion of PSLF when I left residency given the political climate prior to 2020 and just refinanced my loans to 2.5%. I finish paying them off in September 2025. It is a good feeling. It will have taken me about 10 years to pay off loans from 2 expensive private undergrad bachelor's, 2 Masters, and then med school. I was unable to afford payments due to my financial situation prior to graduating residency. I feel fortunate to be nearing pay off and to be able to max out my 401k equivalent, have built savings, live nicely, own a home, and am about to consider a Roth as well. I am also putting kids through college. I definitely invested more rather than pay off early since my student loan interest rates are so low after refinancing.

Nice. How much was your total loans?

 

[annoyedpsychiatrist]

Close to $300k

Thats a good chunk of change...I was 360k myself, but have brought it down to 315ish. The interest rate pause has been amazing, its the interest rate that makes them so ridiculous. Worst case scenario is once they restart i pay enough to keep them down and transition the money I would paid into index funds/etc and in 4.5 years if the **** hits the fan i can refinance like you did and be aggressive. What was interesting was that I saw that everytime someone wanted to get rid of PSLF, their plan was to prevent people from enrolling into it, but not block people already in the program which is nice.

My two pediatrician friends, I really feel for them being a pediatrician and paying back student loans seems quite hard.

 

[alina_s]

yes i have, but if you're on PSLF you need to have been getting your loans through myfedloan which transitioned to mohela, other servicers arent part of the program. But yes i retroactively submitted the form from residency last year and it went through fine.

I retroactively applied in May. My loan got bounced from navient to aidvantage to fedloans to mohela. Mohela’s customer service seemed more informed and responsive than the others, but still no verdict from them on which months (back to 2007) count. The pause was a nice. They seem more overwhelmed since the dispute about Biden’s loan forgiveness and responsiveness is worse now.

 

[annoyedpsychiatrist]

I retroactively applied in May. My loan got bounced from navient to aidvantage to fedloans to mohela. Mohela’s customer service seemed more informed and responsive than the others, but still no verdict from them on which months (back to 2007) count. The pause was a nice. They seem more overwhelmed since the dispute about Biden’s loan forgiveness and responsiveness is worse now.

Wow, youve been waiting 6months for a decision on whether or not your loans are forgiven? Thats nuts

 

[Merovinge]

You know I used to worry about it going away so much that for a while I never thought of it as a possibility but now I only have 4.5 years left of payments so it seems like a very real thing. Originally I was still paying towards my loans during the payment pause but now ive shifted towards investing that money in index funds or even putting some in my high yield checking which has a fairly good rate now of >3%. Im just curious, anyone else going for PSLF or recently finished 10 years of payments?

White Coat Investor has lots of folks who have achieved or are close to, even more so with the recent changes to expand the program. I had middle 200's and felt skeptical so I paid mine off in 3 years. I would recommend almost anyone go for PSFL these days as it seems like PSLF is expanding rather than contracting.

 

[annoyedpsychiatrist]

White Coat Investor has lots of folks who have achieved or are close to, even more so with the recent changes to expand the program. I had middle 200's and felt skeptical so I paid mine off in 3 years. I would recommend almost anyone go for PSFL these days as it seems like PSLF is expanding rather than contracting.

yeah those were my thoughts. With current political climate, if dems take office again I would be pretty shocked with them going against PSLF, would be widely unpopular among their voters.

 

[Merovinge]

yeah those were my thoughts. With current political climate, if dems take office again I would be pretty shocked with them going against PSLF, would be widely unpopular among their voters.

Even if tides turn towards Republicans, I would be very surprised if this went away for those already with loans and in the process given how many more people it would effect and concerns about the legality of it. Anything is possible, so investing the difference and having it available is now the best of both worlds. I think most people's views on this have changed a lot, I really though PSLF for MDs was a pipe dream 5 years ago and now I expect it to be a standard practice for any medical student to strongly consider.

 

[b52bomber]

I have 425k in loans. I have so far had 5.5 years of PSLF, with the past 3 years making no payments but still having them count. Student loan payments were paused until June 2023, so by the time they resume, I'll have had 6 years of PSLF under my belt, 2.5 paid at a resident's salary, 3.5 with no payments at all. 4 years of payments at an attending's salary to round out the ten years will probably be 100k or so, so if I can get them forgiven, that's a net 325k gain for me. Worth taking a gamble on, I think.

 

[annoyedpsychiatrist]

I have 425k in loans. I have so far had 5.5 years of PSLF, with the past 3 years making no payments but still having them count. Student loan payments were paused until June 2023, so by the time they resume, I'll have had 6 years of PSLF under my belt, 2.5 paid at a resident's salary, 3.5 with no payments at all. 4 years of payments at an attending's salary to round out the ten years will probably be 100k or so, so if I can get them forgiven, that's a net 325k gain for me. Worth taking a gamble on, I think.

so true. Worst case scenario is the money you would have paid towards loans, invest in in funds set for growth so the money will still be there. And you can always refinance if it comes to it. Im the same train of thought as you, but I was paying like 3-4k a month last year then I realized how stupid that was because in psychiatry alot of places qualify for PSLF

 

[uhmocksuhsillen]

I'm still in residency, finishing soon. I havent filed any paperwork or done anything for PSLF to this point. Am I screwed/will these years of residency not count?

 

[Alemo]

I'm still in residency, finishing soon. I havent filed any paperwork or done anything for PSLF to this point. Am I screwed/will these years of residency not count?

As I understand it, you really should fill out the form retroactively (so the employer says yes, this person was a resident at a 501c3 place etc etc).

On your end, you need to have been making payments into a direct unsubsidized Federal loan through a qualifying repayment plan.

 

[annoyedpsychiatrist]

I'm still in residency, finishing soon. I havent filed any paperwork or done anything for PSLF to this point. Am I screwed/will these years of residency not count?

im pretty sure you can still get those years covered. Youre supposed to recertify at least once a year but as long as its qualified payments i dont think theres an issue

 

[b52bomber]

I'm still in residency, finishing soon. I havent filed any paperwork or done anything for PSLF to this point. Am I screwed/will these years of residency not count?

Technically, AFAIK, you could file at the end of the ten years and if your records are in order, it should work.

However, you really should file regularly (I do it every six months) because ten years is a long time, employers may move, lose records, you may not remember, etc.

 

[nexus73]

I had experience of neglecting PSLF. I was consolidated with government 2 years into residency (took 2 years because I didn't know what I was doing). Then was at a non Fedloan servicer for 7 years before sending in first employment verification. Then immediately sent to Fedloan. Then I submitted annual employment verification and got forgiveness at 10 years. So it worked for me after ignoring the process for 7 years.

 

[annoyedpsychiatrist]

I had experience of neglecting PSLF. I was consolidated with government 2 years into residency (took 2 years because I didn't know what I was doing). Then was at a non Fedloan servicer for 7 years before sending in first employment verification. Then immediately sent to Fedloan. Then I submitted annual employment verification and got forgiveness at 10 years. So it worked for me after ignoring the process for 7 years.

nice how much did you have forgiven?

 

[ridethecliche]

I tried consolidating everything to my benefit while the waiver allowed for it, but I'm still not sure mohela has actually sorted through it all and it's extremely frustrating to try to navigate it. Just trying to muster up some tasks to do while listening to hold music when I finally call them.

 

[alina_s]

Wow, youve been waiting 6months for a decision on whether or not your loans are forgiven? Thats nuts

Yeah, nuts! They have counted some recent months and oddly, 12 months 2008-2009, but don’t even have 2007-2008 or 2009-2010 entered yet. No months are ineligible yet, though.