Loan Question.

[sunset02451]

I am a first year intern and have applied to Fed Loans to have all loans consolidated. Finished paperwork in mid-October. I think I will qualify for PSLF and work at a non-profit hospital residency. We are waiting as instructed until the process is completed to send in the verifying information.
My question is since I started residency in July 2013 and now I am nearly 6 months in, will I be able to use those months toward the 10 year forgiveness or do I just lose them. I understand that since my income last year I will not be delinquent on any monies at this point.
Thanks in advance and I hop this thread is ok in this forum.

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[dpmd]

I am pretty sure you just lose it as only payments made since you start ibr count

 

[rkaz]

Forgive my ignorance (as I'm an MS4 and haven't gone through this yet), but is it possible to do both the loan consolidation and the PSLF? I read somewhere that you could only do one or the other, but I have no idea in what context that was written.

 

[dpmd]

If you consolidate with the Direct loan servicer then you can do IBR and if you qualify for PSLF and it is still around in 10 yrs, then you should be good to go.

 

[Bacchus]

If you consolidate with the Direct loan servicer then you can do IBR and if you qualify for PSLF and it is still around in 10 yrs, then you should be good to go.

Yup.

FedLoan or whatever handles this. I unfortunately couldn't get a clear cut answer with from them today when I asked if my terms for my current consolidation would carry over (mostly my reduced interest rate for doing auto debit).

 

[maesunlight]

I think you actually can claim the past 6 months. When you have the people at your GME office fill out the paperwork they will indicate that your employment started in July.

 

[dpmd]

I think you actually can claim the past 6 months. When you have the people at your GME office fill out the paperwork they will indicate that your employment started in July.

Yeah but his payments didn't.

 

[sunset02451]

Yeah but his payments didn't.

I

 

[sunset02451]

I can see it both ways but I guess when the applicant does all they can and Fed Loans does not give any information or reply then there should be any leeway. Also I started the paperwork process in June 2013 well before the residency started July 2013.
The fact that no payments have been made should not be an issue since there was no income in 2012 and a $00 tax return included in the packet to Fed Loans.

I appreciate all the response and look forward to any more insight. Once I get this all settled I hope to get back to the forum and post how it all went down.

Sunset

 

[RangerBob]

I can see it both ways but I guess when the applicant does all they can and Fed Loans does not give any information or reply then there should be any leeway. Also I started the paperwork process in June 2013 well before the residency started July 2013.
The fact that no payments have been made should not be an issue since there was no income in 2012 and a $00 tax return included in the packet to Fed Loans.

I appreciate all the response and look forward to any more insight. Once I get this all settled I hope to get back to the forum and post how it all went down.

Sunset

Unfortunately you don't get credit because you weren't in repayment. If you had started IBR right after graduation and your calculated payments were $0 (unlikely these days, as now we have to certify whether our current income reflects your 2012 tax return), then you'd get credit. However, you're also consolidating all your loans, which means that even if you could have gotten credit for those past few months, you'd lose it, because you now have a new loan with new terms, etc. The forgiveness period would start over, so your 10 years towards PSLF would start with your first PSLF-eligible payment on your consolidation loan.

 

[Bacchus]

Unfortunately you don't get credit because you weren't in repayment. If you had started IBR right after graduation and your calculated payments were $0 (unlikely these days, as now we have to certify whether our current income reflects your 2012 tax return), then you'd get credit. However, you're also consolidating all your loans, which means that even if you could have gotten credit for those past few months, you'd lose it, because you now have a new loan with new terms, etc. The forgiveness period would start over, so your 10 years towards PSLF would start with your first PSLF-eligible payment on your consolidation loan.

Agreed. I applied for consolidation starting mid July and finally made my first payment at the end of October. I then began the PSLF application. gotta make sure all the ducks are in line.

 

[sunset02451]

Agreed. I applied for consolidation starting mid July and finally made my first payment at the end of October. I then began the PSLF application. gotta make sure all the ducks are in line.

 

[sunset02451]

Agreed. I did start the process in June ( after May graduation). Also agree all ducks must be in a row. Since I have not gotten anything from FedLoans I guess they are still lining them up. They did indicate they had everything they need from me but still no complete consolidation . Still not sure about the statement of about certifying that present income and its relationship to present income. Certainly not saying that is incorrect but not heard that before.

Still waiting.

Thanks to all,

Sunset

 

[RangerBob]

Still not sure about the statement of about certifying that present income and its relationship to present income. Certainly not saying that is incorrect but not heard that before.

Still waiting.

Thanks to all,

Sunset

When you apply for IBR there's a question that asks if your 2012 AGI accurately reflects your current situation. If you applied for IBR at the same time you consolidated and before you start residency, then you'd be able to say yes. If you haven't yet applied, then you should be saying no and submitting proof of your current income. I'm sure lots of people are just saying yes to get $0 payments for the first year, but if you're counting on PSLF (which I'm hoping for, but personally not counting on), then it'd probably be better to play by the rules.