Chase select private loans

[Haole]

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I was told when applying that these can be deffered through residency but have since been told I will have to enter repayment after my 6 month grace is up. From their FAQ page online it states that


"Can I defer my repayment?


Yes. You can choose from the following Chase Select Private Student Loan repayment options when you apply:

• Defer principal and interest: Make no payments while continuously enrolled in school or in a health professions residency. Repayment of principal and interest then begins 180 days after graduation or when you are no longer enrolled in school for undergraduate, graduate, and graduate health professions loans. If the student begins a medical residency during the deferment period, then the customer can request that the deferment end date be extended nine months after the residency
• Interest only: Repay only your interest while continuously enrolled in school or in a health professions residency. Repayment of interest begins 15 to 45 days after the final loan disbursement. Repayment of principal begins six months after graduation or when you are no longer enrolled in school, or nine months after a health professions residency is completed.
• Immediate repayment of principal and interest: Repay principal and interest in a fixed monthly amount beginning 15 to 45 days after the final disbursement date.

Note: Interest continues to accrue during deferment and will be added to the principal amount of your loan upon entering repayment, which can increase the total cost of your loan."


It would seem to me that I should be allowed to defer my repayment through residency, but I am being told I cannot by chase reps on the phone. This is a very different story than the one I was told when I applied. I specifically asked these questions and was told I absolutely can and to check the FAQ page. I would not have signed on to these loans if I was told I could not defer. Even my financial aid people at my school told me I could defer these loans as far as they knew.

Has anyone else had any experience with this? Am I stuck in having to begin repayment? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks🙁

 

[peterish]

There's supposedly some new law in effect starting this year or last year... I don't have a concrete source, just things I remember from reading other threads. You should ask Chase for a specific reason for this.

 

[TMP-SMX]

Last year was the last year of deferment in residency.

 

[AMDFAO]

The only logical explanation I can come up with after reading the Chase post is that you selected immediate repayment but I don't think you would have. The contract you signed should tell you which one you selected so I'd dig that out of the file and start there. As far as I know, Chase may not let you flip flop from one option to the other. Or they are confusing your alternative loan with a federal loan.
If that's not the case, my advice would be to speak to someone in your FA Office and perhaps ask if they will contact someone at Chase and basically speak their language. As an FA person myself, the language in the contract is what I focus on and not what the rep told me and believe me, I've found a few things that I've said "that doesn't say that." It is the contract (prom note) you signed that is the legally binding piece or if the school has an agreement to allow their med kids to defer for residency if they ever worked out a deal with Chase.
Currently I have 3 dental post-docs who just keep going into repayment because they assumed they could defer through their specialty degree-- not quite the case. The part that gets me the angriest is the folks you want to be the experts (me) in all this totally dropped the ball during the negotiation stage with the lender. I'm sure it was discussed because of the lender and school but never in a written document so I spend a considerable amount of time with this lender advocating for my kids. A flippin' nightmare that never should have started. I even called the school to ask if their agreement with the lender had a clause but never got an answer nor were they at all concerned.
Anyway, the language seems to indicate that you are allowed 180 days after graduation that is considered as part of the deferment period before you enter repayment and I don't see the word "grace" anywhere (hopefully you're following my logic). If you are in a residency before the end of the deferment defined as 180 days after graduation or dropping out, it extends throughout the residency and then repayment begins 9 months out (again, I don't see "grace" mentioned in any of it). You go from deferment to repayment and not deferment to grace to repayment (like other loans, Stafford etc)
Did you make the Chase rep aware that you were discussing your alternative loan? If they were stuck in Stafford loan land, then her answer would be correct for that type of loan.
In short: find the loan note, call Chase and make sure they understand it is your Chase Select Loan and see what they say. If you still get the same answer, go see the FA person -- I can't say it enough: mornings are always better than afternoons-- explain what you have done and ask them to call with you sitting there. Post back and let me know how it went.

 

[Haole]

The only logical explanation I can come up with after reading the Chase post is that you selected immediate repayment but I don't think you would have. The contract you signed should tell you which one you selected so I'd dig that out of the file and start there. As far as I know, Chase may not let you flip flop from one option to the other. Or they are confusing your alternative loan with a federal loan.
If that's not the case, my advice would be to speak to someone in your FA Office and perhaps ask if they will contact someone at Chase and basically speak their language. As an FA person myself, the language in the contract is what I focus on and not what the rep told me and believe me, I've found a few things that I've said "that doesn't say that." It is the contract (prom note) you signed that is the legally binding piece or if the school has an agreement to allow their med kids to defer for residency if they ever worked out a deal with Chase.
Currently I have 3 dental post-docs who just keep going into repayment because they assumed they could defer through their specialty degree-- not quite the case. The part that gets me the angriest is the folks you want to be the experts (me) in all this totally dropped the ball during the negotiation stage with the lender. I'm sure it was discussed because of the lender and school but never in a written document so I spend a considerable amount of time with this lender advocating for my kids. A flippin' nightmare that never should have started. I even called the school to ask if their agreement with the lender had a clause but never got an answer nor were they at all concerned.
Anyway, the language seems to indicate that you are allowed 180 days after graduation that is considered as part of the deferment period before you enter repayment and I don't see the word "grace" anywhere (hopefully you're following my logic). If you are in a residency before the end of the deferment defined as 180 days after graduation or dropping out, it extends throughout the residency and then repayment begins 9 months out (again, I don't see "grace" mentioned in any of it). You go from deferment to repayment and not deferment to grace to repayment (like other loans, Stafford etc)
Did you make the Chase rep aware that you were discussing your alternative loan? If they were stuck in Stafford loan land, then her answer would be correct for that type of loan.
In short: find the loan note, call Chase and make sure they understand it is your Chase Select Loan and see what they say. If you still get the same answer, go see the FA person -- I can't say it enough: mornings are always better than afternoons-- explain what you have done and ask them to call with you sitting there. Post back and let me know how it went.

You are right, it was a deferment and not a "grace period". I ended up requesting a manager call and was able to speak with a manager. Without going through my file very thoroughly, she told me to fill out an "education related deferment for private loan" form. It didn't seem like the most appropriate form because there was no place to specify medical residency as the reason for deferment...and it asked for an OPE-ID, which my residency program didn't know what that was. I filled it out anyway and submitted it along with a letter from my PD. I haven't heard yet whether or not they will grant me deferment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Haole]

Last year was the last year of deferment in residency.

This is true for stafford loans.

 

[TMP-SMX]

This is true for stafford loans.

Which makes up the vast majority of our debt burden.

 

[Haole]

You are right, it was a deferment and not a "grace period". I ended up requesting a manager call and was able to speak with a manager. Without going through my file very thoroughly, she told me to fill out an "education related deferment for private loan" form. It didn't seem like the most appropriate form because there was no place to specify medical residency as the reason for deferment...and it asked for an OPE-ID, which my residency program didn't know what that was. I filled it out anyway and submitted it along with a letter from my PD. I haven't heard yet whether or not they will grant me deferment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I found out that my deferment was granted until Dec of 2013. I am so glad I requested a manager call. I had been told by at least 5 representatives and their respective "floor supervisors" that this absolutely would not be an option with my loan even though the website said otherwise. I spent hours on the phone in utter frustration trying to explain the situation in detail to no avail.

It took less than 3 minutes on the phone with a manager to get things straight and get the form I needed faxed to me. I faxed it back the same day and problem solved. Whew! 👍

I hope this information helps someone in the future who might find themselves in this situation.

 

[Rankik]

This is true for stafford loans.

Is there still an option to withhold on the payments? Forburenance or whatever it is called?

 

[TMP-SMX]

Is there still an option to withhold on the payments? Forburenance or whatever it is called?

Yes forbearance is still an option. An expensive one though.

 

[AMDFAO]

I agree the forms are confusing for private loans. Some lenders use the same form for both private and federal loans-- I think they are too lazy to write one. I'll never for the life of me understand how they expect any of you to ever figure it out. An OPE ID is a federal code assigned to all schools for deferment purposes for federal loans and hospitals aren't schools so they wouldn't have one.
As I have said before: it is important to any borrower to understand their rights as well as their responsibilities before they sign a legally binding contract. The call center folks are doing a J. O. B. and not embarking on a career in answering the phone. It's a transient industry with a lot of turnover and I would add that it's in the banks best interest that you send cash since they seem to be short of it 🙂
All that said, I'm glad you had the tenacity to ask again with a full understanding of your rights as outlined in the contract.

 

[notinkansas]

BE VERY CAREFUL WITH PRIVATE LOANS!!!

I had a bad experience with a private loan. I was supposed to be able to defer the first year of residency. They claimed I never sent in the paperwork. When I sent them a copy of the form, they said that it wasn't "proof" that I had submitted the paperwork.

The upshot was that they very quickly turned the loan over to a sleazy debt collecting law firm, who changed the interest rate to 9%, added fees, and accelerated the repayment schedule. I had to make payments that were much larger than what the original payments were, over a shorter period of time. At some significant financial hardship to me.

As posted on the forum started by medicinesux Suze Orman also states that private student loans are one of the worst kind of debt you can have, because they change the conditions at will.