GL advisor (loan repayment)

[jrbrown2bsu]

I am in a considerable amount of debt, as I'm sure many on this thread can relate, due to student loans. I am now beginning my 3rd year of residency in IM and am fully realizing the extent of this debt. One of my concerns is whether or not I am doing all I can to maximize my repayment options. I was just wondering if anybody has any experience with this "GL advisor" group for assistance in managing student debt payback options and plans. They offer a personalized assessment and plan, which I wouldn't mind seeing laid out by professionals. However, the service is $450.00/year. Does anybody have any experience with them? Positive or negative?

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[ShyRem]

I just started with them this year. They have filled out all the forms for me, all I had to do was print them and sign and mail when indicated. That alone was totally worth $450 for me. The forms are total crap to wade through. They call you, and you have your advisor's phone number for any questions. So far I've been happy. We'll see what happens at tax time.

 

[The JockDoc]

I joined, and so far, i'd grade them a C.

Yes, they fill out your forms and give you a financial plan. That part's nice. However, one of the forms they filled out for me was the outdated version, had an incorrect address for me to mail it. I didn't notice it until now, when I'm just about to apply for IBR.

It is true that they assign you an advisor, and they provide reasonably useful advice in a professional manner. BUT, they take forever to get back to you. On average, an email will take maybe 3-5 business days to get a response from my advisor. And a phone call isn't much better. I usually have to keep calling until I get a response because leaving messages doesn't work.

It's frustrating when you have a question/concern about them sending you incorrect paperwork and your advisor is awol for a few days. My thoughts are that the advisors are working part time, and/or they are so overloaded with clients that it bogs down their response time.

So will I join again? Probably not after this year, as they would only be doing my taxes at that point.

 

[ShyRem]

Wow. I have been lucky so far - my advisor has gotten back to me within 24 hours.

The address for IBR is wrong? where did you find the new form/address? (guess I better check my forms before I mail them....)

 

[The JockDoc]

The form for the alternative documentation of income (omb 1845-0016) that i got was for ICR only, not IBR, and it is written as expired by 4/09 in the upper right corner. I googled the omb number and found a new form from the DOE with a different address in louisville instead of greenville. I'm still not sure what the right address to use is.

Yes, definitely double check what they give you, particularly since you don't want to mess it up when you first apply. What i think happens is they collect your info, plug it into a computer program, and spit out a good chunk of the paperwork. So there is a chance for errors if they aren't careful.

Maybe i should ask for a new advisor if yours can get back to you so soon. In any case, they have quality control issues.

 

[jleebo]

Anybody else have any comments this company? I am looking into their services as well and was wondering if it is worth the $450 per year. Any additional comments would be appreciated!

 

[kvl1027]

I just started with them this year. They have filled out all the forms for me, all I had to do was print them and sign and mail when indicated. That alone was totally worth $450 for me. The forms are total crap to wade through. They call you, and you have your advisor's phone number for any questions. So far I've been happy. We'll see what happens at tax time.

If you wouldn't mind, is it possible for you to tell me how much you owe and what type of monthly payment they were able to work out for you? I am thinking about signing up with them, but they seem to be very vague about what my actually monthly payment will be.

 

[Sandlot13]

I also would be interested to see what other people think about this service. I'm currently a 2nd year med student, but have seen their presentation twice and it seems like a solid approach from that standpoint. Really, they tell you the key to success by explaining the income based repayment and how to utilize the best way to maximize loan forgiveness; but how worth it is using them to work for you at $450.00 a year?

I hate paperwork, so it sounds like a decent deal to me, but hearing from some more people who have experienced first hand would be nice.

 

[blanche]

I am in a considerable amount of debt, as I'm sure many on this thread can relate, due to student loans. I am now beginning my 3rd year of residency in IM and am fully realizing the extent of this debt. One of my concerns is whether or not I am doing all I can to maximize my repayment options. I was just wondering if anybody has any experience with this "GL advisor" group for assistance in managing student debt payback options and plans. They offer a personalized assessment and plan, which I wouldn't mind seeing laid out by professionals. However, the service is $450.00/year. Does anybody have any experience with them? Positive or negative?

Things will become complicated as your career goes on in terms of financial planning and management, understanding tax-efficient investing, and building a smart and stable portfolio. At this point, loan options may actually more simple than you realize. I think this service is a bit of a scam, though if you don't have the time to sit down and really go through your options it may be worth your while.

I'll admit, in med school I was ignorant about the details and repayment options on my loans. I consolidated because that's what everyone else was doing (thank god, btw..) But later on, sitting down and actually crunching the numbers with online calculators, putting all my numbers in a spreadsheet and starting to pay closer attention to things was probably one of the best things for me (although painful and boring) Remember, you are smart--that's how you have gotten to this place. Most of the information you need to know is accessible online, and you know better than these 'advisors' what you want to do and how you feel about managing debt. There will be plenty of people who will be interested in charging you $$ to tell you what to do w/ your $$ throughout your career. After residency, a good CPA is definitely a good investment. Financial 'advisors'--+/-.

Again, I think the above only if you really can't spend the time.

 

[dsherida]

Here's how I would break it down.

They do a nice job of looking at your financial picture as a whole, but don't really recommend anything such as where to invest or how to save for retirement (at least they didn't with me). However, one obstacle I ran into is that they are based on the east coast and do most of the work over the phone which can be frustrating.

As far as student loans go, I felt that they oversold their services. It was sold to me as they will do all your forms and basically just have you sign them. However, I definitely haven't had this as the case. I end up filling in much of my forms and then ask them to look over them to verify they are correct. In addition, it can be difficult getting a hold of them and takes 1-3days for an email response. They do seem very attentive and try to get back to you though. This is the opposite of what they sold to us though.

Here is what I would say: if you are a very responsible person who likes to stay on top of and in control of your finances, this service isn't for you. If you can do your own taxes with turbotax or something, you really aren't benefitting much as that is also one of their big selling points. They get you set up for the public service loan forgiveness, but you could easily do this yourself and if you have questions can all Direct Loans and they are helpful.

However, if you want to try and save time (not really the case for me as I fill out most of my forms because GL doesn't seem to fill them in fully) with your loans and want them on somewhat autopilot, this service would be good.

I personally think saving $450 and doing it yourself makes sense unless you can't do your own taxes...then I think this is a good option, but you have to be patient and trust them to manage your finances. For a person like me who knows your finances incredibly well and stays on top of everything, I would not recommend them...take it with a grain of salt.

If you have financial questions, most financial advisors will sit down with you for free during residency.

 

[Chrismander]

does anyone else have experience with this company? How was it?

 

[dpmd]

Paying someone 450 bucks to tell you that you should go on income based repayment, use any extra money to pay down higher interest rate loans/credit cards first, and do your likely very simple taxes (earned income, and maybe some moonlighting) is a rip off. While hiring expert to do stuff is appropriate in a lot of circumstances, you wouldn't hire an electrician to change your light bulbs when they burn out, or a contractor if you want to hang a picture. Some things can be done well and quickly by a reasonably intelligent person with access to the internet.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Paying someone 450 bucks to tell you that you should go on income based repayment, use any extra money to pay down higher interest rate loans/credit cards first, and do your likely very simple taxes (earned income, and maybe some moonlighting) is a rip off. While hiring expert to do stuff is appropriate in a lot of circumstances, you wouldn't hire an electrician to change your light bulbs when they burn out, or a contractor if you want to hang a picture. Some things can be done well and quickly by a reasonably intelligent person with access to the internet.

Agree 100%. Having just finished the whole process for the IBR thing, it took maybe 2 to 3 hours of my time, and it was pretty easy to figure out what to do. I don't really see how paying someone else to do it for me would help. They gave a presentation to us during orientation and didn't really mention anything I didn't already know. I'm still confused as to what they'd offer that would be worth $450 bucks.

 

[Yob]

I think I am going to sign up with GL advisor. I'm pretty on top of things and have already spent a lot of time looking into what my repayment options are. But, when you're looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt (like I am), paying a few extra hundred to have someone make sure you don't screw it up sounds like a good plan to me.

Moreover, unless they're selling me snake oil (which they might be), I think I'll probably end up saving more by using them than by not.

For example, everyone who did IBR on their own, did you realize that you might be paying twice as much as you need to for the first 6 months? That's because the government operates on a calender year, not an academic year. So in 2011 for example, I'm only going to be working for 6 months, which means that my salary is only half of my annual salary. Thus for the first 6 months, my IBR payments should be calculated only on half of my salary, but most residents are paying IBR based on the full 12 months.

It's stuff like that that I would have never realized or known about, but because these guys live and breath this stuff they do know it.

So, I'm signing up. (Hopefully I won't have to get back on this thread in a few years telling you that it was an awful mistake...)

 

[dsherida]

only thing I would warn you is they don't do all the services they advertise. i basically would get blank forms emailed to me and then have to fill them out myself, which didn't save me any time, especially after I had to call "my advisor" to make sure I was filling them out correctly. they do have good advice at times, but i don't know if it is really worth $450/yr and you couldn't find it out just be doing more research on google.

That being said, it is a legit service if you think you need it. just don't go in thinking like I did that i would be getting forms filled out and sent to me for my review/signature.

 

[MedMan2005]

I worked with this group a few years ago for my consolidations and they were very helpful. I recently signed up for their advisory service, and so far, I haven’t really had any issues. Unlike the post above, the forms I received were filled out with my information and I received them in the mail…which I found to be really helpful. My advisor was changed on me after 2 months but I have spoken to my new advisor a couple of times so it seems to be working out well. Overall, I’ve been pretty pleased with the service.

 

[SassyCat]

The GL advisor people advertise that they can get your monthly payment low on IBR. For instance, on the AAMC medloan calculator, I think I will have $392 as a payment but they advertise they can get it down to $100.

Does anyone have any personal experience with this? I would like to do IBR, but I doubt I could handle $392 per month. I have $125,000 from med school debt plus 9000 left from my undergrad, so I was just curius what kind of payments people have and if the GL people can get it lower.

 

[albaniandoc]

For example, everyone who did IBR on their own, did you realize that you might be paying twice as much as you need to for the first 6 months? That's because the government operates on a calender year, not an academic year. So in 2011 for example, I'm only going to be working for 6 months, which means that my salary is only half of my annual salary. Thus for the first 6 months, my IBR payments should be calculated only on half of my salary, but most residents are paying IBR based on the full 12 months.

Honestly, did you need a financial adviser to tell you that?

 

[dsherida]

The GL advisor people advertise that they can get your monthly payment low on IBR. For instance, on the AAMC medloan calculator, I think I will have $392 as a payment but they advertise they can get it down to $100.

Does anyone have any personal experience with this? I would like to do IBR, but I doubt I could handle $392 per month. I have $125,000 from med school debt plus 9000 left from my undergrad, so I was just curius what kind of payments people have and if the GL people can get it lower.

Essentially I think they are referring to the fact that your first year in IBR, your income will only be half the year. Ie. for most residents ~$24k. Plug that in as your salary and your payment is ~$110/month. IBR is based off your adjusted gross income for the tax year...not the school based year. As an intern, you only work technically in 2010 from July--Dec. Make sense? Make sure you file your taxes this year. Then when you submit your IBR paperwork, don't send in paystubs, but an self certified income documentation where you list your yearly pay as only half the year. I believe if you send a paystub they will infer that you have worked there for a year and assume your AGI is ~$48k. Make sense?

 

[rgerwin]

Question, what happens if you consolidate right after school? Can you use your tax return from 2010?

 

[NYyanx28]

Question, what happens if you consolidate right after school? Can you use your tax return from 2010?

Bump, and thus have AGI of $0 and have an intern year IBR payment of $0. Anyone with experience with this?

IBR requires you to work for a non-profit, etc... so how do you get around that despite claiming $0 salary??

 

[dpmd]

IBR requires you to work for a non-profit

No it doesn't. That is just for the public service loan forgiveness part of it.

 

[NYyanx28]

No it doesn't. That is just for the public service loan forgiveness part of it.

Right, sorry. If I plan on doing IBR with the sole intention of PSLF, can you still put an AGI of 0, yet still say you work for the non-profit during these monthly payments?

 

[dpmd]

I wouldn't think so, you will be going on the record as having no job for those payments so they shouldn't qualify towards PSLF time.

 

[Repertoire]

I wouldn't think so, you will be going on the record as having no job for those payments so they shouldn't qualify towards PSLF time.

http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/PSLF_QAs_final_02 12 10.pdf

"Q20 If my monthly payment under IBR or ICR is zero, does each month during which my calculated payment is zero count towards the required 120 payments?

A20 Yes. Any month when your calculated payment under IBR or ICR is zero will count toward your required 120 monthly payments. (February 3, 2010)"

 

[dpmd]

Another important bit of info from that site.

What are the borrower eligibility requirements for loan forgiveness under the PSLF Program?

You must be employed full-time by a public service organization (see Q&A #26) when you made each of the required 120 monthly loan payments on your Direct Loan and at the time you apply for loan forgiveness, after making the last of those 120 payments. (February 3, 2010)

So those people who want to start paying before they actually start residency to get to the 10 yrs faster would not be making eligible payments until their contract start date (although it looks like my assumption about the $0 payment not qualifying was not correct)

 

[NYyanx28]

Another important bit of info from that site.

What are the borrower eligibility requirements for loan forgiveness under the PSLF Program?

You must be employed full-time by a public service organization (see Q&A #26) when you made each of the required 120 monthly loan payments on your Direct Loan and at the time you apply for loan forgiveness, after making the last of those 120 payments. (February 3, 2010)

So those people who want to start paying before they actually start residency to get to the 10 yrs faster would not be making eligible payments until their contract start date (although it looks like my assumption about the $0 payment not qualifying was not correct)

Right, I'm assuming most people try to get it set up well before internship though, so they can start the clock on July 1 without delays, other issues popping up. You may risk a payment or two before your first paycheck, but to ensure the clock starts right on July 1.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Right, I'm assuming most people try to get it set up well before internship though, so they can start the clock on July 1 without delays, other issues popping up. You may risk a payment or two before your first paycheck, but to ensure the clock starts right on July 1.

You won't start July 1st. You will start in December unless for some reason you have used up part of your grace period.

We asked at our exit interview about "skipping the grace period" for purposes of IBR and we were told we wouldn't be able to. But if someone has evidence to the contrary let me know.

EDIT: nevermind, just realized you were talking about consolidating your loans. If thats the case then you're right I think repayment starts within 60 days of consolidating. For people who already have loans with Direct Loans payment will not begin until December.

Bump, and thus have AGI of $0 and have an intern year IBR payment of $0. Anyone with experience with this?

IBR requires you to work for a non-profit, etc... so how do you get around that despite claiming $0 salary??

17,000 medical students graduate each year and start residency. The federal government is not stupid. They are not going to use your income during your 4th year of medical school for your AGI. When you try to switch your payment plan to IBR it asks if you are going to use your prior years AGI as representative of this year's income. Considering your income is significantly changing its not very honest to give them last year's AGI. Instead you will have to submit alternate paperwork for them to calculate your IBR payment (eg your first pay check). But no hurry - you have 6 months to get it taken care of.

 

[UserNameNeeded]

We asked at our exit interview about "skipping the grace period" for purposes of IBR and we were told we wouldn't be able to. But if someone has evidence to the contrary let me know.

EDIT: nevermind, just realized you were talking about consolidating your loans. If thats the case then you're right I think repayment starts within 60 days of consolidating.

Are you sure repayment starts within 60 days of consolidating? I was told you get a new 6 month grace period once you consolidate. Has that changed?

 

[dpmd]

Are you sure repayment starts within 60 days of consolidating? I was told you get a new 6 month grace period once you consolidate. Has that changed?

Who told you that. I don't think that was ever the case with consolidations.

 

[squareknot]

Are you sure repayment starts within 60 days of consolidating? I was told you get a new 6 month grace period once you consolidate. Has that changed?

You don't get a new grace period after consolidating.

 

[General12345]

Does anyone have any experience with them filling taxes for you. Did they really do it as they state they will?
thanks

 

[MedMan2005]

They did my taxes for me this year and I’d say it was a success. It took a little longer than I thought, but it seemed they did good job based on my refund. They also gave me the option to have them filed electronically, which I did and got my refund pretty quickly. It is also included in their fee, so I think overall - a good deal.

 

[The JockDoc]

So after my intial review and skepticism, I switched advisors within the company, and things have been smooth sailing since then. I've been impressed with the service and advice they've given me with my loans and tax filing. If they keep their current price, this service is a bargain right now.

 

[Igor4sugry]

I wouldn't waste money on financial advisers of any kind, including GL advisers.

The best way to get a handle on your finances and manage your dept is to educate yourself. No one cares about your money more than you. Paying a financial adviser guarantees you will be screwed year after year. Its with student loans now, but later it will be with stocks/bonds/mutual funds.

-I'm still in med school, but have realized how bad physicians are at personal finance. You can start educating yourself by reading a finance blog written by an ER doc (http://whitecoatinvestor.com/).
-Get a lot more information by reading Boggle Heads Forums & Wiki
http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/index.php
-Guide for residents written by ophto resident:http://www.amazon.com/Personal-Fina...3932/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1330805910&sr=8-2

At this point there is not much you can do about your loans.
Sign up for IBR, or some type of extended payment/deferment plan with your lender.

Once you have attending salary figure out a payment plan such that you repay your loans maximally in 10 year.

 

[The JockDoc]

I wouldn't waste money on financial advisers of any kind, including GL advisers.

The best way to get a handle on your finances and manage your dept is to educate yourself. No one cares about your money more than you. Paying a financial adviser guarantees you will be screwed year after year. Its with student loans now, but later it will be with stocks/bonds/mutual funds.

-I'm still in med school, but have realized how bad physicians are at personal finance. You can start educating yourself by reading a finance blog written by an ER doc (http://whitecoatinvestor.com/).
-Get a lot more information by reading Boggle Heads Forums & Wiki
http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/index.php
-Guide for residents written by ophto resident:http://www.amazon.com/Personal-Fina...3932/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1330805910&sr=8-2

At this point there is not much you can do about your loans.
Sign up for IBR, or some type of extended payment/deferment plan with your lender.

Once you have attending salary figure out a payment plan such that you repay your loans maximally in 10 year.

I would agree with your position if we were faced with a standard repayment plan for loans. However, none of the sources that you post are relevant to the IBR repayment plan that you advocate yourself. Those who may be financially savvy and posting on bogleheads give good advice, but are also mostly unaware of how student loans with IBR are run. It has been extremely helpful to have help from an organization that has experience with IBR. From an investment perspective, I'll say that I am better off financially having spent a relatively nominal piece of money on these guys than if I did not.

This is not to say that I am intentionally ignorant of basic financial management and investing concepts in favor of leaving it all up to advisors like you seem to suggest. I keep up to date with sources including what you posted, and I think it's dangerous to not know where your money is going and why.

 

[dpmd]

I It has been extremely helpful to have help from an organization that has experience with IBR.

IBR is so new that no one really has "experience with it". And paying someone money to help you apply for a loan repayment plan doesn't change the outcome if you apply correctly (it isn't like there is some super secret way they have of doing stuff). The same can be said with regard to going to an accountant for simple tax returns. The time it takes to figure things out for yourself isn't much if you have a good foundation of knowledge. If you don't, or are one of those people who had trouble filling out the FAFSA (or other similar things) then I guess help is needed

 

[The JockDoc]

IBR is so new that no one really has "experience with it". And paying someone money to help you apply for a loan repayment plan doesn't change the outcome if you apply correctly (it isn't like there is some super secret way they have of doing stuff). The same can be said with regard to going to an accountant for simple tax returns. The time it takes to figure things out for yourself isn't much if you have a good foundation of knowledge. If you don't, or are one of those people who had trouble filling out the FAFSA (or other similar things) then I guess help is needed

I was just posting a review update. If I felt the company wasn't holding up their end, I would have reflected that, as I did earlier.

I'm done with this thread.

 

[Igor4sugry]

I am in a considerable amount of debt, as I'm sure many on this thread can relate, due to student loans. I am now beginning my 3rd year of residency in IM and am fully realizing the extent of this debt. One of my concerns is whether or not I am doing all I can to maximize my repayment options. I was just wondering if anybody has any experience with this "GL advisor" group for assistance in managing student debt payback options and plans. They offer a personalized assessment and plan, which I wouldn't mind seeing laid out by professionals. However, the service is $450.00/year. Does anybody have any experience with them? Positive or negative?

Are all of your loans of government (stafford type)?
Or do you have some difficult loan situation?
I don't know if it is worth paying $450 for someone to fill out an application that 100s of residents fill out on their own with no help.
Why pay someone for something that can be done on your own.

 

[DrBender79]

IBR is so new that no one really has "experience with it". And paying someone money to help you apply for a loan repayment plan doesn't change the outcome if you apply correctly (it isn't like there is some super secret way they have of doing stuff). The same can be said with regard to going to an accountant for simple tax returns. The time it takes to figure things out for yourself isn't much if you have a good foundation of knowledge. If you don't, or are one of those people who had trouble filling out the FAFSA (or other similar things) then I guess help is needed

I think they do more than just simply fill out forms.
I hired GLA after graduating from medical school, and I have been more than satisfied with the return on my investment. I have a ton of loans (>$320k) from going to undergrad twice, some grad school, and then med school. The first thing they did was apply for forbearances and then consolidations in a specific order to minimize interest. Then my loan adviser figured out a way for me to enroll in IBR with a $0 monthly payment for my first year, with those months counting towards the 120 monthly payment requirement. That was definitely worth my $450.

 

[Igor4sugry]

Then my loan adviser figured out a way for me to enroll in IBR with a $0 monthly payment for my first year, with those months counting towards the 120 monthly payment requirement. That was definitely worth my $450.

When a student applies for IBR and has very little or close to zero adjusted gross income then their IBR payment is zero.

All IBR payments, even if zero, count towards 120.

There is no magic that these people did, if you applied yourself you would have had the same result but saved $450.00

 

[DrBender79]

Hey, if you are good at financial stuff and can do it yourself, that's great. For me it was definitely worth the money to make sure everything was done right and in the right order. I see other residents who tried to apply themselves and do it all on their own, and they ended up having to pay more, or consolidated the wrong loans or got forbearance on the wrong loans, etc.. Bottom line is I didn't trust myself to get it all right. Especially after what happened when I tried to do my own taxes LOL

 

[dantt]

I recently received an initial assessment from them but was skeptical at first because an analyst on the phone mentioned I might want to do forbearance. After having a proper conference call the next week and asking for the calculator spreadsheet, I was much more impressed with their sophistication. They weighed different repayment strategies taking into account multiple direct and indirect loans (with their borrower borrower benefits) alongside institutional loans in a personal scenario involving a combination of for profit and not for profit residencies and expected starting salary and salary growth after residency. For every month and year, they had detailed analysis of how much I would be paying back in principal, in interest, interest subsidy savings, and tax savings.

 

[dantt]

Out of curiosity, why did the analyst mention you'd benefit from forebearance? Deferment does make sense for subsidized loans since the government pays the interest instead of you. I'm trying to decide if I want to defer them myself and just make IBR payments on my unsub'd loans.

The guy I was initially talking to didn't have the spreadsheet in front of him...the guy I talked to the week later said IBR instead of forbearance. Since my first year was at a for profit anyway, one thing that had to be taken into consideration was the first year of IBR payments would not go towards PSLF. So I am weighing interest capitalization for forbearance vs. a year of IBR payments that's negatively amortizing anyway which wouldn't be going towards PSLF. Maybe you guys know how to do all these numbers but I'm in way over my head.

 

[dantt]

Out of curiosity, why did the analyst mention you'd benefit from forebearance? Deferment does make sense for subsidized loans since the government pays the interest instead of you. I'm trying to decide if I want to defer them myself and just make IBR payments on my unsub'd loans.

Take into consideration that you can get .25% off if you consolidate under the new special program. I don't know how to run those numbers...taking the .25% interest rate reduction vs. deferring a portion of the loans and paying a different portion (can you even do that in a consolidated loan??).

 

[dantt]

So if you have 6.8% and 1.7% loans, you cannot pay off the higher itnerest loans individually if you consolidate. This has a much bigger impact than the puny 0.25% reduction.

That's obvious. However my loans are all 6.8%. You also can not do PSLF if you don't consolidate the FELP loans.

 

[famdoc2015]

For those who signed up for GL advisor...how long did it take to get the paperwork and plan of action? I had an initial consultation with my advisor about 2 weeks ago, but I still haven't heard back or received any paperwork to fill out yet! Thanks.

 

[Bobbity]

GL Advisor is horrible!! Let me explain. Myself, along with several fellow interns signed up for their services, which started out OK. However, when tax season rolled around they messed up EVERYONE'S taxes. Mine were filed the day they were due and they forgot to file several fellow interns. They have no communication. It is June and I am still trying to get my taxes fixed with them. Horrible company. Would be surprised if they don't drop off the radar after this tax season. Mediocre at best! Seriously considering contacting my medical school and telling them what a sham this company is so they don't sucker more students in. Oh, and to answer your question famdoc2015, don't hold your breath. Anything this company does takes time and I think it really depends on who you get as an advisor. Some advisors are good and some are terrible.

 

[Bobbity]

This company is horrible! Let me explain. Many of my fellow med students, including me, signed up for their services. They did the loan stuff mediocre at best. They are difficult to get a hold of and really don't know you from a hole in the ground. Well, tax season rolled around and they offered their services for the tax return. They absolutely butchered my tax return along with my fellow interns (I filed they day they were due, and it is full of mistakes). They still haven't corrected it and the tax people are impossible to get a hold of. Find another company. These guys use a lot of fancy loan language to lure you in then your just one of the masses.

 

[danzman]

It's definitely obvious to me. What's also "obvious" is (1) doing consolidation for the purpose of PSLF is foolish, (2) hardly anyone who is consolidating for that purpose actually does PSLF after residency for a variety of valid reasons, and (3) even if you are dead set on PSLF, from a strictly financial standpoint it will not be in your favor. The only valid reason for doing PSLF is if you genuinely want to work in public service because it's "obvious" that there is much more financial incentive to pursue other job opportunities following graduation. It's also "obvious" that, assuming an average loan burden, you will pay off half or more of it within the 10 year PSLF window (or 120 payments) since payments will increase substantially on an attending salary.

I don't think this is really accurate. My understanding is that most hospitals count towards the PSLF (80%), and that your residency/fellowship also counts towards the 120 payments, and that you only have to work 30hr per week at said hospital. For someone like myself (high loan debt, going into EM with a 4yr residency) this seems like the "only" logical approach. If I did the standard repayment plan my monthly payments would be north of 2K, and on a salary of 45K this is not sustainable as a resident. By consolidating, you lump everything in with the government (which most everything for a recent grad will be with them anyway) and allow it to be up for PSLF. If a person was going into a strongly outpt field like PRS or Derm I can see why it would be a wash (as eventually your income would be high enough that IBR doesn't make sense) but for everyone else it seems like a reasonable thing.