refinance or PSLF

[245399]

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I'm trying to determine out how much I will pay over the ten years of IBR (the old type, 15% AGI) until PSLF forgives the remainder to see if sticking with that program is worth it or if I should refinance as a resident and aggressively start repaying ASAP.

I'm having a hard time figuring it out, especially since my income changes so drastically every year or two.

Does anyone have a calculator or formula they can suggest?

Thank you!

 

[Igor4sugry]

1. Fist you need to confirm how many payments you have left of the 120 required payments. You need to do this by submitting the PSLF Employment Verification Form (https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/sites/default/files/public-service-employment-certification-form.pdf)
--if you do this for the first time they will shift your loans to FedLoans servicer and eventually send you a verification letter (this can take months)

2. There is no simple calculator.
You need to do it year by year (during residency). I suggest using a spreadsheet. Plug in your expected AGI for each year of residency into the IBR Calculator (https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/mobile/repayment/repaymentEstimator.action) I found it pretty accurate.
This will give you cost per month each year of residency.

It is somewhat simpler when you are an attending. You can just plug in your attending salary into the calculator and see what your monthly payments will be.
But that is not accurate since your monthly payments will be lower during the first 2 years as an attending (first year out you use AGI from last year of residency; 2nd year out your AGI will be lower since you had resident salary for part of the year). So in 3rd year out you will be submitting an AGI that is full attending salary.
Another caveat is that you may have a job that provides money towards student loans and that will make your out of pocket monthly loan payment less as well.

 

[Igor4sugry]

I'm trying to determine out how much I will pay over the ten years of IBR (the old type, 15% AGI) until PSLF forgives the remainder to see if sticking with that program is worth it or if I should refinance as a resident and aggressively start repaying ASAP.

I'm having a hard time figuring it out, especially since my income changes so drastically every year or two.

Does anyone have a calculator or formula they can suggest?

Thank you!

Also, what is your loan balance? At large enough balances (usually $200k+) its a no-brainer since one cannot afford a regular repayment plan on such a loan balance while making a resident salary. If you can afford to make payments I would refinance with DRB and pay it off.