Deferment/forbearance of loans. Married

[bla_3x]

When I graduate in 2007 i will have upward of 200K in loans. my wife is a nurse and makes about 40K. I was told that there is no way that you can qualify for defermnet with a spouse that basically brings home anything. Are ther any stipulations to going on forbearance during residency??
Our "plan" was to live during res. as we are now...of of one salary and put the entirity of the other into savings (whatever type that can be dipped into for a house etc.).

Also, can you consolidate you loans after school...and then go into forbearance or defer? Thanks!

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[tlew12778]

As long as you don't consolidate your loans with your wife's loans (assuming she has any) then the loans are YOURS and YOURS alone. She cannot be held responsible for them.

So, based on that logic, I doubt they can or will look at her income when it comes to determining whether you qualify or not for deferment or forebearance.

You can consolidate then defer or forebear.

The best thing to do is to look into consolidation now (while consolidation loans are still based on a fixed interest rate that is relatively low) then ask about the joint income issue when it comes to applying for forebearance or deferment.

 

[bla_3x]

The best thing to do is to look into consolidation now (while consolidation loans are still based on a fixed interest rate that is relatively low) then ask about the joint income issue when it comes to applying for forebearance or deferment.

Don't I have to wait until I graduate to consolidate?

 

[bla_3x]

Wouldn't it be better to take the entirety of the other salary and put it into paying off the loan?

That was an option, but we thought that we could save 30K+ per year and really have a awsome savings to use for a house etc. So that when I get out of whatever residency I do, we can get a house and have a really small monthly mortgage payment, pay the loans at a consolidated rate (God I hope the rate doesn't go up too much) and live like that.

 

[tlew12778]

Oops sorry I missed that part when you said you graduate in 2007. Yes, in general you need to wait until graduation to consolidate. There are a few loans out there that will allow you to consolidate while you're in school but that's rare. You can look it up on finaid.com probably.

As for paying the loans off with the other salary, why would anyone do that now that interest rates are so low?

 

[TommyGunn04]

I was told that there is no way that you can qualify for defermnet with a spouse that basically brings home anything.

This just isn't true based on things I've read. I can't seem to find it right now, but there's a great online deferrment calculator that tells you whether or not you'll qualify for the "hardship deferrment" during residency. It's calculated entirely independent from spousal income. If I remember correctly, to qualify you simply need to demonstrate that your monthly loan payments would exceed a certain percentage of your income (just YOUR income; not including spouses). I think the percentage was 20% or so, but don't quote me on that.

Does anyone have the link to that calculator???

 

[TommyGunn04]

Does anyone have the link to that calculator???

Ah ha! I found one. I clicked through the AAMC MEDLOANS page to get to this, so I imagine it's legit.

http://www.salliemae.com/aamc/

You can basically estimate your pre-tax monthly income as around $3300 ($40k/yr divided by 12 months)