Need Help Perkins Loan

[smmossey]

So I just received information from my undergad school that I owe an additional $4000 Perkins Loan to them. Surprisingly this never appeared on my statement so 3 months ago when i paid everything off in full I thought I was done with my loans.

Apparently, that was not the case. I called and was told basically that I must pay these off and cannot defer till I actually begin medical school. I start school August 1st and my loan is due February 28th.

I know $4000 may not seem like a great deal but if not able to find a job I would be living paycheck to paycheck if I paid this off in full currently. I am in the HPSP program because I wanted to avoid the confusion and issue of taking out more and more loans(not the only reason Im in HPSP but the #1 reason).

I also heard once you start working in medicine you can cancel the 'perkins' loan...seems like a no brainer to wait but I don't know the details. Also I'm not sure how being IRR in the military currently may help me if at all. Please any help would be extremely appreciated !

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[dpmd]

First you should make sure you actually took out this loan. I find it odd that you would forget all about a loan, but maybe I am just more on top of my finances than you. The perkins would be reported completely separately from your stafford/direct loans. Once that is done you have a few options:

Pay the minimum payment. Obviously they aren't going to ask for the entire amount at once. That would be crazy. The bill should have the payment amount, but I would guess it will be about $40. Can you swing $40 a month? If so you should do it. The cancellation programs are just for nurses/med tech not doctors so you will have to pay it all off (unless you get deployed to an area of hostility for 12 months, which is another way you could qualify for cancellation of 12.5% of the loan for each year you are in the combat zone-not the most generous terms).

Request a deferment for unemployment or economic hardship (will be a hard sell since you just paid off all your other loans)

Pay the whole thing and be broke (not a great plan if that will tap out the last of your money)

Pay something in between-minimum payment this month, a little more later if you get a job that pays well, pause while in deferment for school (you will likely still owe money on the loan when you start school), then pay it off when your grace period ends after graduation. You will end up accruing less interest than if you just do minimum (and less than if you just don't pay), but not put yourself in a dire financial situation.

Be happy you have such a small debt to pay off.

 

[smmossey]

Thank you for the advice. It isn't much but it just came at a stressful point. Plus learning you have 4k of loans that never appeared on your loan statement is shocking news.