REAL: ? about economic hardship and deferment

[Jamezuva]

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Hmm..somehow my first attempt exists AND doesn't exist 😱

I'll try again:

Ok, so I just got this email from some financial-related person who said that you must have a little over 100K in loans during residency to qualify for economic hardship. Is that true?? 😱

And...just to clarify my understanding, is economic hardship where your loans are frozen and don't collect any interest whereas plain deferment is where your loan don't enter repayment but interest accrues? If i'm in deferment and have subsidized and unsubsidized loans and I have consolidated, do the subsidized loans accrue interest during that time or is it just the unsub ones that do, like in med school?

 

[USAF MD '05]

Hmm..somehow my first attempt exists AND doesn't exist 😱

I'll try again:

Ok, so I just got this email from some financial-related person who said that you must have a little over 100K in loans during residency to qualify for economic hardship. Is that true?? 😱

And...just to clarify my understanding, is economic hardship where your loans are frozen and don't collect any interest whereas plain deferment is where your loan don't enter repayment but interest accrues? If i'm in deferment and have subsidized and unsubsidized loans and I have consolidated, do the subsidized loans accrue interest during that time or is it just the unsub ones that do, like in med school?

When you consolidate, and qualify for an economic hardship, your subsidized 8500 bucks, or whatever it is per year, will continue to have interest paid by the gov't. You unsubs will still accrue interest. If you do not qualify, you have a right to forbearance, in which there is no penalty, but interest will accrue on the entire amount. If you do not pay the interest as you go, it will go on the back end of the loan. Hope this helps!

 

[Winged Scapula]

Ok, so I just got this email from some financial-related person who said that you must have a little over 100K in loans during residency to qualify for economic hardship. Is that true?? 😱

It was true for me...I only took out $80K (my generous grandmother was responsible for the rest) and was ineligible for loan deferment and had to go through forbearance.

 

[Jamezuva]

ok...so how do u apply for econ hardship/forbearance ?

 

[Winged Scapula]

ok...so how do u apply for econ hardship/forbearance ?

I got the forms from my GME office and my lender sent them to me as well.

 

[Smurfette]

You'll have to send in a copy of a paystub with the appropriate form to your lender. It is based on both income and the total loan amount you have to pay off. You can do economic hardship for up to 3 years (most people don't qualify more than 1-2 years though). Not sure how long you can forbear for.

Interestingly, if you choose to do a fellowship, you can get a fellowship deferment and your loans are no longer in repayment for the balance of your fellowship. Too bad it's not automatic like this for residency too!