Paying Off A Chase Student Loan With Grad Plus Loan Money?

[LovelyGirl98]

I have a Chase Student Loan that was obtained to pay for my undergraduate education (worst decision of my life but as a child I didn't know any better).
Anyway... between 4 yrs of undergrad and 1 yr of pharmacy school I have roughly 58,000 in federal loans and a 27,000 chase student loan with about 8,700 in accrued interests.

I was offered like 10,000 worth of grad plus loan money for pharm school but I turned it down. So if I was offered that same amount of money again for my P2, P3, and P4 yrs.... would it be worth it to start using that money to pay down chase principle balance?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Trakker]

what is the interest rate for your chase student loan and what is the interest rate for grad plus loan?

 

[LovelyGirl98]

what is the interest rate for your chase student loan and what is the interest rate for grad plus loan?

Interest rate for the Chase Student is variable... but I'd say the average is 5.5%.

The interest rate for grad plus loans is fixed at 7.8 or 7.9%. But I figure by the time I have to start paying them back I will be employed so the high interest rate won't really have a whole lot of time to accrue and kill me.

 

[Trakker]

grad plus loans is not subsidized and interest rate accrues while you are still in school?

 

[LovelyGirl98]

grad plus loans is not subsidized and interest rate accrues while you are still in school?

Yes interest starts accruing after the loan is disbursed.

 

[Trakker]

Since interest rate for chase student loan < grad plus loan, it makes sense not get the grad plus loan. Interest rate is expected to be low until 2013-2014 so your chase student loan interest rate is not going to increase much within the next year.

 

[LovelyGirl98]

Since interest rate for chase student loan < grad plus loan, it makes sense not get the grad plus loan. Interest rate is expected to be low until 2013-2014 so your chase student loan interest rate is not going to increase much within the next year.

But what about the ease of having all federal loans??? My major reason for wanting to rid myself of the Chase loan is the fact that it is private.

 

[pharm4312]

I am in the same boat actually, down to the private loan coming from chase. I have 20,000 in private loans at 5.2%, and am going to pay them all off P4 year with the gradPlus loans I can borrow up to the cost of attendance. I calculated that to cost around $3,000 with the interest difference over 10 years, but with the unstable job market and the burden of private loans vs. relatively stress-free income based repayment, I think it will be worth it. Be interested to hear more opinions on this.

 

[PharmDstudent]

I would pay off the Chase loan. Variable private student loan interest rates may go up if the economy turns around. Mine have gone down during this economy, but they could go up again if the country rebounds/improves.

 

[LovelyGirl98]

I am in the same boat actually, down to the private loan coming from chase. I have 20,000 in private loans at 5.2%, and am going to pay them all off P4 year with the gradPlus loans I can borrow up to the cost of attendance. I calculated that to cost around $3,000 with the interest difference over 10 years, but with the unstable job market and the burden of private loans vs. relatively stress-free income based repayment, I think it will be worth it. Be interested to hear more opinions on this.

I would pay off the Chase loan. Variable private student loan interest rates may go up if the economy turns around. Mine have gone down during this economy, but they could go up again if the country rebounds/improves.

Thanks for the advice guys. Hmm... that P4 yr payoff plan sounds nice... BUT... we have seen the regard, or lack thereof, that the gov has for federal funding of grad school education. So who's to say that that money will be there once 2014-2015 school year rolls around?

 

[LovelyGirl98]

I'm also interested in hearing some more input from other as well.

 

[psychoandy]

Please do NOT take out a higher interest student loan in order to pay off a lower interest rate student loan. That is all sorts of silly. It is debatable how high interest rates rise in the future, but in the next 5 years I cannot fathom interest rates rising to a point where it exceeds 8%. What is your private student loan interest rate based off of? Prime? Is it LIBOR? There is nothing inherently wrong with having a private loan as long as the interest rate is low. If you are literally inconvenienced by having both a private and government loan servicing, i have no words for you.

If you qualify/foresee yourself doing IBR, then it MIGHT be in your best interest to get plus loans, but YMMV and IBR is not a guaranteed thing.

edit: couldn't you just wait til the last 2 years of school? if interest rates rise, then take PLUS money and pay off Chase. if interest rates are still low, keep Chase. simple as that.

finally you don't need to type in bold, we are all capable of reading standard text

 

[PharmDstudent]

Please do NOT take out a higher interest student loan in order to pay off a lower interest rate student loan. That is all sorts of silly. It is debatable how high interest rates rise in the future, but in the next 5 years I cannot fathom interest rates rising to a point where it exceeds 8%. What is your private student loan interest rate based off of? Prime? Is it LIBOR? There is nothing inherently wrong with having a private loan as long as the interest rate is low. If you are literally inconvenienced by having both a private and government loan servicing, i have no words for you.

If you qualify/foresee yourself doing IBR, then it MIGHT be in your best interest to get plus loans, but YMMV and IBR is not a guaranteed thing.

edit: couldn't you just wait til the last 2 years of school? if interest rates rise, then take PLUS money and pay off Chase. if interest rates are still low, keep Chase. simple as that.

finally you don't need to type in bold, we are all capable of reading standard text

If she is only approved for $10,000 in GradPlus loans a year, then how will she be able to pay it off in the last 2 years? The total now for her loan is $35,700!

 

[Deja]

I'm just offered the Graduate PLUS Loan as an option this year (about to be a p4 =/) I was like sweet, then I read a little about it and it seems like it's the worst one out there between sub/unsub and student health prof. loan... am i right? if so, i'm going to decline and just take out sub/unsub and health prof.