Banfield Student Debt Relief Pilot Program

[pawtasticbananas]

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Has anyone taken advantage of this program and would care to share their experience or general experience currently working with Banfield? Thank you!

 

[Brittnicole]

Has anyone taken advantage of this program and would care to share their experience or general experience currently working with Banfield? Thank you!

I work for Banfield as a vet assistant right now, have been for four years. I enjoy working there as long as you have good staff (just like any other clinic). My vets have started using that program which they like because it helps pay towards their loans. Not too much, but anything helps

 

[DVMDream]

It is help, but it is a spit in the bucket for most vets. And the refinancing option is potential financial suicide for anyone with a high loan burden who might need the government supported income based repayment terms.

 

[Minnerbelle]

The program itself is kind of stupid, and not something that would make me join the company.

IF you did the summer programs that made you eligible for $2500-7500 in bonus, AND you liked that hospital, AND you are also getting one of their $40,000 sign on bonus AND they're offering a $100k salary with a month vacation (I've seen the latter three in my area), then sure, that additional $150/month is a cute little perk... kind of like having a nice coffee machine at work. You'll continue to like it there, or you have to survive 18 months not to lose that bonus (which is a looong time if you hate your job in this field). I know a few people who have been happy with their banfield jobs... and even they moved on after a year or two. But there's usually a reason when one employer has phenomenal perks/incentives compared to others, especially one that also owns many major veterinary corporate branches (VCA, Bluepearl) that aren't as generous.

The refinancing option is dumb so don't do it. You can get better rates elsewhere, and you lose all the protection that federal loans gives you. I think you can opt out of that. If not, that piddle of $150/month is so not worth it. It's a nice gesture on their part, but like seeing one additional vomiting puppy on an outpatient visit will give you the same amount of bonus... provided that you are meeting production on a monthly basis. I can also earn $900 per day of additional cash just by reliefing somewhere else. Just two relief shifts per year and you've made the same amount. Honestly, I would much rather them give me $1800 additional CE money.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

The refinancing option is dumb so don't do it. You can get better rates elsewhere, and you lose all the protection that federal loans gives you. I think you can opt out of that. If not, that piddle of $150/month is so not worth it. It's a nice gesture on their part, but like seeing one additional vomiting puppy on an outpatient visit will give you the same amount of bonus... provided that you are meeting production on a monthly basis. I can also earn $900 per day of additional cash just by reliefing somewhere else. Just two relief shifts per year and you've made the same amount. Honestly, I would much rather them give me $1800 additional CE money.

 

[RedLauren]

I used to be a vet assistant at Banfield about 6 years ago. They were willing to train me when I had little experience so I’m grateful for that, but in my opinion what they put their vets through is unethical. Twice a year they are reviewed based off of 2 numbers - their APC (Average Per Client, as in the average amount of money their clients pay per visit) and their average wellness plan enrollment - what percentage of new clients enroll in a wellness plan. That is it. Your entire veterinary career of how good of a doctor you are according to banfield are two numbers. The company is ran by big wigs who have little understanding of veterinary medicine and those who treat the job like a sales position do very well. But medicine is not sales. It’s medicine.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

I used to be a vet assistant at Banfield about 6 years ago. They were willing to train me when I had little experience so I’m grateful for that, but in my opinion what they put their vets through is unethical. Twice a year they are reviewed based off of 2 numbers - their APC (Average Per Client, as in the average amount of money their clients pay per visit) and their average wellness plan enrollment - what percentage of new clients enroll in a wellness plan. That is it. Your entire veterinary career of how good of a doctor you are according to banfield are two numbers. The company is ran by big wigs who have little understanding of veterinary medicine and those who treat the job like a sales position do very well. But medicine is not sales. It’s medicine.

I agree with you in theory, but in practice it gets a bit murky. Income for the clinic is the only way the clinic will stay afloat and prosper, and therefore they only way they can provide medicine for clients. You are right - it's medicine, not sales. But sales enable the clinic to practice medicine. I'm no fan of Banfield, but I understand why they have this emphasis.

What other kind of rubric could be used? How can you judge a person on quality of medicine? How many animals they "cure" or save? Client reviews? Sadly, I don't think there is a good answer.

 

[RedLauren]

I agree with you in theory, but in practice it gets a bit murky. Income for the clinic is the only way the clinic will stay afloat and prosper, and therefore they only way they can provide medicine for clients. You are right - it's medicine, not sales. But sales enable the clinic to practice medicine. I'm no fan of Banfield, but I understand why they have this emphasis.

What other kind of rubric could be used? How can you judge a person on quality of medicine? How many animals they "cure" or save? Client reviews? Sadly, I don't think there is a good answer.

I think you’re right. I think the best option would to just not be reviewed twice a year based on your sales numbers? The same was true for assistants to a lesser degree. Our wellness plan sign up numbers determined our yearly raise. <35%, 35-50%, and >50% resulted in either a 10 cent, 20 cent, or 30 cent raise. A maximum raise of 30 cents a year was just laughable to me.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

I think you’re right. I think the best option would to just not be reviewed twice a year based on your sales numbers? The same was true for assistants to a lesser degree. Our wellness plan sign up numbers determined our yearly raise. <35%, 35-50%, and >50% resulted in either a 10 cent, 20 cent, or 30 cent raise. A maximum raise of 30 cents a year was just laughable to me.

I think being reviewed on your sales is somewhat legit, because if you aren't making money for the clinic, that hurts the clinic. They have to take that into consideration when evaluating their associates. It sucks, but it's kind of the nature of the beast.

However, I agree that I think there should be more to it than that - I just wonder how it could be fairly evaluated?

 

[RedLauren]

I think being reviewed on your sales is somewhat legit, because if you aren't making money for the clinic, that hurts the clinic. They have to take that into consideration when evaluating their associates. It sucks, but it's kind of the nature of the beast.

However, I agree that I think there should be more to it than that - I just wonder how it could be fairly evaluated?

I do understand, and I think my I am a bit biased from having worked there. One thing I think should be taken into consideration is the socioeconomic demographics of the location you work in. Vets who served poorer communities didn’t get raises as high as the ones in the nicer parts of town because their APC was much lower. It was very difficult for anyone to get fired from Banfield and as a punishment tactic Banfield would send vets they didn’t like or who had lots of complaints to the poorest areas in our market. Often times these were foreign vets on a working visa who didn’t have the freedom to just quit and find another job.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

I do understand, and I think my I am a bit biased from having worked there. One thing I think should be taken into consideration is the socioeconomic demographics of the location you work in. Vets who served poorer communities didn’t get raises as high as the ones in the nicer parts of town because their APC was much lower. It was very difficult for anyone to get fired from Banfield and as a punishment tactic Banfield would send vets they didn’t like or who had lots of complaints to the poorest areas in our market. Often times these were foreign vets on a working visa who didn’t have the freedom to just quit and find another job.

Ahh that's something I didn't think of. Perhaps they could examine APC relative to overall clinic profit instead.

 

[DVMDream]

I think being reviewed on your sales is somewhat legit, because if you aren't making money for the clinic, that hurts the clinic. They have to take that into consideration when evaluating their associates. It sucks, but it's kind of the nature of the beast.

However, I agree that I think there should be more to it than that - I just wonder how it could be fairly evaluated?

The worst thing is the two numbers the APC and the wellness plan sign up are almost in a fight with each other. You lose money signing clients up on wellness plans, it makes your APC decrease. So they want you to have a good APC but also sign people up on this thing that lowers your APC... it is kind of laughable.

I honestly don't mind the APC measure. You can usually hit a good number with good medicine and prophylactic care. The hardest part is things that don't count. If a client refills HWP every year, that's probably your biggest ticket item for well visits, you don't get production on it because it is a "refill".

The rules get screwy. Another number they count is patients per day. .I hate this number, I can make just as much money seeing 10 patients in a day as I can seeing 20.

 

[Minnerbelle]

But why not just based on production/hrs scheduled?

I feel like if the end number is good, why does it matter how it gets there? Because the wellness plans screw doctors out of production and are set on the idea that many people will pay for the plan and not use all the services. So if you're not selling enough wellness plans enough, yhe company is missing out on those things. I see so many banfield clients who are super unhappy with their plans because they can never seem to fit in their sick patients.

The APC is legit in that it's a good measure of your efficiency, but really only in conjunction with the number of patients seen. So at the end of the day, your total production vs hours worked is just as good no?

 

[DVMDream]

But why not just based on production/hrs scheduled?

I feel like if the end number is good, why does it matter how it gets there? Because the wellness plans screw doctors out of production and are set on the idea that many people will pay for the plan and not use all the services. So if you're not selling enough wellness plans enough, yhe company is missing out on those things. I see so many banfield clients who are super unhappy with their plans because they can never seem to fit in their sick patients.

The APC is legit in that it's a good measure of your efficiency, but really only in conjunction with the number of patients seen. So at the end of the day, your total production vs hours worked is just as good no?

I guess that could work but do we ever record how many hours doctors work? I mean are we to record opening hours or actual hours in the building? Because I sure do quite a bit during lunch time or after we close. Do we include those hours or not? I don't think there is any one good way to figure it out.

They can't fit in sick patients because they book up the entire day at least a week in advance and have so many patients dropped off in the morning that the Dr's have to evaluate throughout the day that even "fitting in" something is impossible. If they would quit it with the drop offs, then they could fit in the work-ins of sick pets and probably make more money. I don't blame people for being upset with their plans because they is literally no way to get them in with the scheduling they have.

 

[cdo96]

They can't fit in sick patients because they book up the entire day at least a week in advance and have so many patients dropped off in the morning that the Dr's have to evaluate throughout the day that even "fitting in" something is impossible. If they would quit it with the drop offs, then they could fit in the work-ins of sick pets and probably make more money. I don't blame people for being upset with their plans because they is literally no way to get them in with the scheduling they have.

Fun fact: Banfield vets are not allowed/ able to order apomorphine because they don’t want to be seen as an emergency place. So you can’t have apomorphine for pre-surgery or for a very simple injestion incident. So they’re always having to refer everything to emergency.

Even cases where at another clinic they’d take their client in in a heartbeat for “simpler emergencies”, they have to refer to the ER.

Don’t get me wrong, Banfield does a great job promoting preventative care, but still.

 

[DVMDream]

Fun fact: Banfield vets are not allowed/ able to order apomorphine because they don’t want to be seen as an emergency place. So you can’t have apomorphine for pre-surgery or for a very simple injestion incident. So they’re always having to refer everything to emergency.

Even cases where at another clinic they’d take their client in in a heartbeat for “simpler emergencies”, they have to refer to the ER.

Don’t get me wrong, Banfield does a great job promoting preventative care, but still.

Actually, while frustrating, this doesn't bother me. I really do believe emergencies should be seen at emergency clinics. I mean, we don't go flying into our family doctor's in the middle of an anaphlactic reaction, expect them to quickly drop everything, assess, treat and monitor. No, we go to the ER. Why is it so different for our pets? Not to mention that the patient may get sent to the ER anyway, they might as well start there. Also why would you need apomorphine for pre-surgery? I am not going to make a pet vomit prior to surgery. That's bad news bears all over it.

It mucks up the day when emergencies appear at a GP practice and I have lost clients to addressing emergency cases.

Does it suck for the client? Yeah, but honestly, the GP's around here at least, aren't much cheaper than the ER.

I can count on 1 hand the number of times I have needed to use apomorphine in general practice and not because I was punting those cases but because they are really few and far between. Is it worth spending the $$ on something that is likely to expire sometimes before you ever open it?

 

[DVMDream]

The other day when I saw 14 patients in 4 hours, which doesn't seem like a lot, but once you add in that 1/2 of those got blood work, 1/2 of those 7 had elevated liver values. So now I have to call owners, talk about liver stuff (which this alone can take 20+ minutes per pet), plus call the owners for all the pets without blood work abnormalities but exam abnormalities and give recommendations on that, plus I have to write up every single record of these patients. Hold on! That is just dealing with patients seen, we also have blood work that was sent out that needs to be evaluated and owners called, plus prescription refills, plus call backs/follow ups. I was already ready to pull my hair out if an emergency had been added on, I would have thrown papers or something. When we are seeing 25-30 (or more) scheduled patients in a day, some with already complex problems (seizures, check eye, limping, swollen leg, skin, ears, chronic ears, hypochondriac client) plus the regular daily stuff of callbacks/rx refills/sent out labwork, an emergency really doesn't need to be added to the mix.

 

[cdo96]

Actually, while frustrating, this doesn't bother me. I really do believe emergencies should be seen at emergency clinics. I mean, we don't go flying into our family doctor's in the middle of an anaphlactic reaction, expect them to quickly drop everything, assess, treat and monitor. No, we go to the ER. Why is it so different for our pets? Not to mention that the patient may get sent to the ER anyway, they might as well start there. Also why would you need apomorphine for pre-surgery? I am not going to make a pet vomit prior to surgery. That's bad news bears all over it.

It mucks up the day when emergencies appear at a GP practice and I have lost clients to addressing emergency cases.

Does it suck for the client? Yeah, but honestly, the GP's around here at least, aren't much cheaper than the ER.

I can count on 1 hand the number of times I have needed to use apomorphine in general practice and not because I was punting those cases but because they are really few and far between. Is it worth spending the $$ on something that is likely to expire sometimes before you ever open it?

That does make sense...

 

[Minnerbelle]

Ggtfgfdtgsdgddfcdat and the

I guess that could work but do we ever record how many hours doctors work? I mean are we to record opening hours or actual hours in the building? Because I sure do quite a bit during lunch time or after we close. Do we include those hours or not? I don't think there is any one good way to figure it out.

They can't fit in sick patients because they book up the entire day at least a week in advance and have so many patients dropped off in the morning that the Dr's have to evaluate throughout the day that even "fitting in" something is impossible. If they would quit it with the drop offs, then they could fit in the work-ins of sick pets and probably make more money. I don't blame people for being upset with their plans because they is literally no way to get them in with the scheduling they have.

It would be for the hours scheduled to be seeing patients, and something like 8hrs per surgery day. The hours you would be "earning" production

 

[WildZoo]

Another number they count is patients per day. .I hate this number, I can make just as much money seeing 10 patients in a day as I can seeing 20.

This drove me insane. We had one day where we saw 14 patients instead of the goal 19, and got yelled at for not sending one of the assistants home. Well half of those 14 pets were very sick, we needed someone monitoring and doing treatments while someone else was seeing new rooms, couldn't exactly stay afloat with just one doctor and one assistant there. And those cases made more money than 19 wellness appointments would have.

I appreciate the experience I got but I don't think I could ever do corporate medicine again.

 

[dyachei]

This drove me insane. We had one day where we saw 14 patients instead of the goal 19, and got yelled at for not sending one of the assistants home. Well half of those 14 pets were very sick, we needed someone monitoring and doing treatments while someone else was seeing new rooms, couldn't exactly stay afloat with just one doctor and one assistant there. And those cases made more money than 19 wellness appointments would have.

I appreciate the experience I got but I don't think I could ever do corporate medicine again.

There's a reason I left.

 

[allieh8607]

I appreciate the experience I got but I don't think I could ever do corporate medicine again.

From what I've heard the Banfield model is drastically different from my current corporation's model ( a lesser known and smaller company). Having not ever worked or shadowed at a Banfield but hearing stories, I was terrified to accept a corporate job as my first but I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised with how great it is. Just something to think about- not all "corporate" veterinary jobs are one in the same 🙂

 

[pawtasticbananas]

Thank you everyone for your input! 🙂

 

[DVMDream]

From what I've heard the Banfield model is drastically different from my current corporation's model ( a lesser known and smaller company). Having not ever worked or shadowed at a Banfield but hearing stories, I was terrified to accept a corporate job as my first but I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised with how great it is. Just something to think about- not all "corporate" veterinary jobs are one in the same 🙂

If it rhymes with "MVA", I hated them.

 

[Coquette22]

But medicine is not sales. It’s medicine.

Nitpick, but for vet med, it's at least partially sales. I have to pitch my treatment plan, justify it to the client, and work with their budget. Yes, it's probably more noble a profession than trying to talk someone into buying a car, but it's not true to just say there's no aspect of sales to it. Heck, even my front desk staff have to continually try to explain why the client should buy our flea control over the stuff at Wal-Mart.

 

[allieh8607]

If it rhymes with "MVA", I hated them.

It does not 🙂

 

[CalliopeDVM]

It would be for the hours scheduled to be seeing patients, and something like 8hrs per surgery day. The hours you would be "earning" production

And that's the problem with production based pay, because seeing patients and doing surgeries is not all there is to being a vet, let alone a good vet.

And APC is a lousy metric to use for evaluation, because it's too dependent on uncontrollable variables. I'm not opposed to evaluating financial (production) numbers, but they're only part of the bigger picture which is why they shouldn't be used to evaluate worth (or decide on compensation).

 

[Minnerbelle]

And that's the problem with production based pay, because seeing patients and doing surgeries is not all there is to being a vet, let alone a good vet.

And APC is a lousy metric to use for evaluation, because it's too dependent on uncontrollable variables. I'm not opposed to evaluating financial (production) numbers, but they're only part of the bigger picture which is why they shouldn't be used to evaluate worth (or decide on compensation).

I dunno, I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I do think being a productive doctor is important because that is how you and your staff get paid. In order for your staff to earn living wages, you need to bring in the income to do that.

I never said that your entire worth should be tied to your production. And I never said that being productive = being a good doctor. I feel like I'm touching a raw nerve on this one, so you can continue to feel the way you do, but please don't put words in my mouth. I think to be a good associate veterinarian, you need to be a good doctor who ALSO has the ability to produce within the scope of that particular practice. Two very different things, but both important, and more often than not one leads to the other. If you're an associate getting censured for not being productive for things beyond your control (inappropriate pricing, staffing, etc...) then it's probably not a good fit rather than that you're a bad doctor. But that should be the same across the board for all the doctors in the same practice. If you're a poor producer compared to your peers, then either it's a bad fit (it's a hospital that applauds money grubbing practices), or you maybe don't deserve to get paid as much. No? You unfortunately can't get paid for being nice. If you carry more nonproductive responsibilities than your peers, you should be compensated differently.

 

[CalliopeDVM]

I do think being a productive doctor is important

So do I! Of course it's important.......all I said is that individual production numbers a lousy way to calculate pay.

You unfortunately can't get paid for being nice.

Yes you can, and you should, because "being nice" to clients and their pets (bedside manner) is an important part of client satisfaction and retention that may or may not filter back to your individual production. And "being nice" to staff is an important part of staff retention and morale, which improves overall clinic productivity and client satisfaction, even if it doesn't directly filter back to your individual production.

If you carry more nonproductive responsibilities than your peers, you should be compensated differently.

All associates have non-productive responsibilities that don't or may not result in higher individual production, but still are important to the patient and important to clinic health and wellbeing. If they're done well vs poorly (not more vs less of them) can make a big difference -- it might be thorough vs barely-useful records or helpful vs brusque client call backs, for instance.

There is so much team work in making for a financially and mentally healthy practice that I just don't see how using only individual production numbers to calculate compensation makes any good sense.

 

[Minnerbelle]

thorough vs barely-useful records or helpful vs brusque client call backs, for instance.

There is so much team work in making for a financially and mentally healthy practice that I just don't see how using only individual production numbers to calculate compensation makes any good sense.

So do I! Of course it's important.......all I said is that individual production numbers a lousy way to calculate pay.

Yes you can, and you should, because "being nice" to clients and their pets (bedside manner) is an important part of client satisfaction and retention that may or may not filter back to your individual production. And "being nice" to staff is an important part of staff retention and morale, which improves overall clinic productivity and client satisfaction, even if it doesn't directly filter back to your individual production.

All associates have non-productive responsibilities that don't or may not result in higher individual production, but still are important to the patient and important to clinic health and wellbeing. If they're done well vs poorly (not more vs less of them) can make a big difference -- it might be thorough vs barely-useful records or helpful vs brusque client call backs, for instance.

There is so much team work in making for a financially and mentally healthy practice that I just don't see how using only individual production

So do I! Of course it's important.......all I said is that individual production numbers a lousy way to calculate pay.

Yes you can, and you should, because "being nice" to clients and their pets (bedside manner) is an important part of client satisfaction and retention that may or may not filter back to your individual production. And "being nice" to staff is an important part of staff retention and morale, which improves overall clinic productivity and client satisfaction, even if it doesn't directly filter back to your individual production.

Obviously you need to be nice and likeable, this is a service industry afterall. I don't understand why you keep insinuating that being nice and productive is that difficult to achieve.

im just having a hard time reconciling how you imagine it would be better. And I say this as someone who is currently paid salary and content with my pay. I was also content with my pay when I was paid production. I will say, if my salary is ever significantly below my production, I would not stay. Which then makes me feel that I shouldn't necessarily be paid consistently more than I produce.

At the end of the day, there's only so much money that can be paid for doctor compensation. Let's say that with all benefits and such, we're looking at 25% of gross production. How to distribute that across the number of associates you have fairly? Honestly I've worked in two hospitals with doctors on production, and I felt like how much people ended up being paid worked out. I'm not sure that there was any one doctor who I would have taken pay away from to give to another.

Let's say you have five doctors where if evenly split, they would each earn $100k. And here's their synopsis:

Dr A - overall great doctor. Good medicine, clients love, staff loves, efficient but keeps work very much separate from life. Shift done, I gotta get outta here. Can't/won't pick up shifts. Whatever is left when shift is over sort of needs to be dumped on other doctors. Produces enough to earn $100k.

Dr B - I mean... depends on what you consider a great doctor. A Dr. Pol if you will. Very quickly in and out of exam rooms because PE is limited and diagnostics are rarely done. A shot of this/that and patient's sent home. Records are illegible. Clients love this guy (wise nice man who doesn't need fancy expensive things to make the patient better and cares), and fun for staff to work with. Not uncommon for the sick patients to come back 2-3 days later to see someone else or the ER because they're now super sick. Produces $60k.

Doctor C - by far the best producer. Super hard working. Sees by far the most number of patients and works them up by the books. Not the best communicator and there are clients who prefers not to see this doctor (noticeably more than other doctors). Very polite to the staff, who mostly enjoy working with this person. Is also very much helpful if anyone else needs a hand. Produces $145k.

Doctor D - has a following of excellent A clients but a big part of that is this doctor is essentially unable to see more than one patient an hour, while everyone else is scrambling around with the high volume at this busy practice. This doctor is liked by staff but also a bit of a diva and hogs the support staff even with the smallest case load. Also not helpful with all of the miscellaneous doctor tasks because super inefficient. Produces $80k.

Doctor E - this is the moody doctor that sometimes ticks off staff and clients. Is very responsible and takes the extra care to make sure things are taken care of (random doctor tasks, stays late for walk-ins), and likes things done the right way... which is great but also what sometimes causes friction with others. Thorough notes, good medicine, and likes surgeries. Often stays late squeezing in the add-on surgery. Produces $115,000

When you have this mixture of vets, how do you come up with an objective and fair way to distribute their pay? Especially for a corporate practice that has thousands of employees?

 

[VFStudentDebt]

Has anyone taken advantage of this program and would care to share their experience or general experience currently working with Banfield? Thank you!

I have not taken direct advantage of the program but I have consulted with dozens of associates who do take advantage of it. As others have said, the $150/mo is of very little benefit to the veterinary school sized debt loads we see these days. If your student debt exceeds your income by 1.5x or more, I would try to negotiate the value of the benefit as something else, like CE (previously mentioned), health insurance, or retirement contributions. The latter two also confer a tax benefit so the money goes even further. The student loan contribution is treated as taxable income and will actually increase your income-driven repayment amount as well.

However, if you are receiving a student loan contribution from your employer to your federal student loan servicer, make sure you're using autopay. In some cases, the employer contribution will reduce the amount you need to contribute to cover your minimum monthly payment. For example, if your minimum monthly payment for your student loan is $600/mo using PAYE and your employer is covering $150/mo of that, then try to get that $150/mo to post before your minimum is due and your autopay amount will be reduced to $450/mo. That will give you an extra $150/mo to put towards your student loan forgiveness savings plan.

Use the VIN Foundation Student Loan Repayment Simulator to see if you're likely to hit loan forgiveness by paying the minimum. Then start building your forgiveness savings plan.

The refinancing option is dumb so don't do it. You can get better rates elsewhere, and you lose all the protection that federal loans give you. I think you can opt out of that.

Absolutely. The biggest problem with the Banfield employer contribution program is that they outsourced it to a private student loan refinancing company. In the overwhelming number of veterinary cases, converting your federal student loans to a private loan is extremely detrimental. If your student debt exceeds your income, it almost never makes sense to pursue a private loan refinance of federal student loans. You will lose too many protections/insurance and you'll likely end up paying more. Don't be fooled by a lower interest rate. Under income-driven repayment, if you hit forgiveness, your "effective interest rate" is often much lower than anything a private loan company will offer you. Again, use the VIN Foundation Student Loan Repayment Simulator for your situation and see for yourself! 🙂