Residency and your loans ...

[mshheaddoc]

Did anyone have trouble getting student loans deferred? What type of deferment did you use? So my question is to those of you who used deferment: How did you do it? Did you only use your AGI for the previous year? Did you qualify on your employment income?

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[pjl]

When I had calculated it out I didnt qualify for deferment by 7 dollars a month, I should have lived it up more. There is a economic hardship deferment calculator form that you can fill out on the website, showing you the steps. The deferment form says it only goes for 36 months, so I guess after that you are stuck with forbearance. there is an internship/residency deferment form which may annoy you because the loans had to originate before 1993, when you were probably in middle or high school.

From what I could tell you can just sign up for the internship/residency forbearance no matter what, but I havent done that.

The website for direct loans ( https://www.dlssonline.com/borrower/BorrowerWelcomePage.jsp ) gives you what your payments will be each year with whatever plan if you log in, or you can use calculators instead if you want, but it is much more work. The graduated, 30 year plan payments may be possible depending on your situation.

If you are married put all investments or things that will earn you money during residency in your spouse's name, their income does not count against you for deferrment.

Whoa! changed the question huh...oh well

 

[mshheaddoc]

I found this calculator in another thread that calculates the hardship (which by their measures we qualify with the income). I am beginning to wonder if she included all of our debt when she told us that we didn't qualify.

I guess worse case scenario is that we go on income contingent plan that you go off your last years AGI which is $0. So we'd have to pay $50/mn or just do forbearance. But it really does suck that there are no provision for residents since technically for per hours worked, residents are about (or even below) minimum wage in some areas.

Luckily the private loans will be deferred no problem but its the federal loans we're running into issues with.

 

[Mumpu]

Unless you have very few loans, you should be able to qualify for forbearance on the basis of loan burden (I believe their threshold is something like 20% of AGI).

 

[iatrosB]

Luckily the private loans will be deferred no problem but its the federal loans we're running into issues with.

Really? Most private loans are not defered. Who did you go through?

 

[mshheaddoc]

Really? Most private loans are not defered. Who did you go through?

Nelnet. Its only deferred for the first 3 years of residency (then you get 6 mns grace period, then you can defer for an additional 12 months through economic hardship) so total of 4.5 years but at least it gets us that far through residency/fellowship.

 

[dpmd]

I am beginning to wonder if she included all of our debt when she told us that we didn't qualify.

I don't know if you worded it this way just because, or if they included your spouse in the calculations. For at least Nelnet (and possibly for other lenders), only your income is counted to qualify for the deferement. I'm not in residency yet, but I applied for a hardship deferment during my research fellowship. I had no trouble getting it (filled out the form and faxed it in-deferment showed on the online system just a few days later, still working on my perkins loans though). Had I included my spouses income, I probably wouldn't have qualified. On the other hand, I went to a private undergrad so I had a lot of stafford loans (I don't know if they include private loans or non school debt).

 

[mshheaddoc]

I don't know if you worded it this way just because, or if they included your spouse in the calculations.

They didn't use spousal income.

But I FINALLY got a hold of someone who knew what they were talking about this morning (after being on the phone with them for over 3 hrs total!) and I figured out the formula on how you have to qualify for student debt.

Pretty much what you need to do is take your gross monthly income and subtract your federal student loan payments (subsidized, unsubsidized, and perkins). Now with your student loan payments, if you have consolidated any of them, they will most likely be at an extended repayment of say 20-30 years (depending on your lender). What you need to do is change that repayment structure to what the payment would be if you paid it off in 10 years.

So if your new 10 year payment is $1500 and your monthly income is $3333, the way you figure out if you qualify if your payment equal or exceeds 20% of your gross income and if when you take your monthly income and subtract your payment it is less than $2509.83 then you will qualify for deferment.

The easy way to state this is just take your 10 year payment and add that to $2509.83 and that is the maximum income you can make to qualify for hardship deferment.

And also if you go onto fellowship, you would qualify for unlimited graduate fellowship deferment which just needs approval from your GME.

I hope this info helps someone.

 

[razorback58]

My Keybank, Teri and Health Express will be deferred through residency. I have a letter indicating when it will expire. My undergrad fed loans can qualify too.

I know they have deferred federal loans for residency in the past.

 

[mshheaddoc]

bump

 

[southerndoc]

When I had calculated it out I didnt qualify for deferment by 7 dollars a month, I should have lived it up more. There is a economic hardship deferment calculator form that you can fill out on the website, showing you the steps. The deferment form says it only goes for 36 months, so I guess after that you are stuck with forbearance. there is an internship/residency deferment form which may annoy you because the loans had to originate before 1993, when you were probably in middle or high school.

From what I could tell you can just sign up for the internship/residency forbearance no matter what, but I havent done that.

The website for direct loans ( https://www.dlssonline.com/borrower/BorrowerWelcomePage.jsp ) gives you what your payments will be each year with whatever plan if you log in, or you can use calculators instead if you want, but it is much more work. The graduated, 30 year plan payments may be possible depending on your situation.

If you are married put all investments or things that will earn you money during residency in your spouse's name, their income does not count against you for deferrment.

Whoa! changed the question huh...oh well

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't the calculations use adjusted gross income (AGI)?

If so, you may can up your 401(k)/403(b) contributions to qualify for this.

 

[NinerNiner999]

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't the calculations use adjusted gross income (AGI)?

If so, you may can up your 401(k)/403(b) contributions to qualify for this.

Correct - AGI is used, and you can use your previous year's tax return to qualify. There are very few people who should not qualify for all three years of hardship using this equation...

 

[Museless]

When I graduated (2005), the interest rate on federal loans was 2.77%. So I consolidated, which means I'm making payments on the consolidation loan - when you consolidate, you no longer have an option to defer, although there are other options like forbearance and an "economic hardship repayment plan". I use the latter, making my payment $150 a month. You do NOT have to count spousal income.

If you don't consolidate, you can defer your federal loans.

My private loans (Keybank) were super easy to defer. Sure, interest is accruing, and that sucks.

I kept my Perkins loan separate. I'm making payments on that ($116 quarterly). Perkins loans have a million and one reasons in the fine print that you could get a deferment or reduction, but most typical grads don't meet any of them.

 

[southerndoc]

Correct - AGI is used, and you can use your previous year's tax return to qualify. There are very few people who should not qualify for all three years of hardship using this equation...

Unfortunately the pay at Yale is too much. I couldn't qualify starting as a PGY-2. It really sucks considering the cost of living is so expensive here.

 

[southerndoc]

When I graduated (2005), the interest rate on federal loans was 2.77%. So I consolidated, which means I'm making payments on the consolidation loan - when you consolidate, you no longer have an option to defer, although there are other options like forbearance and an "economic hardship repayment plan". I use the latter, making my payment $150 a month. You do NOT have to count spousal income.

If you don't consolidate, you can defer your federal loans.

My private loans (Keybank) were super easy to defer. Sure, interest is accruing, and that sucks.

I kept my Perkins loan separate. I'm making payments on that ($116 quarterly). Perkins loans have a million and one reasons in the fine print that you could get a deferment or reduction, but most typical grads don't meet any of them.

That is simply not true. I qualified for economic hardship deferment on my consolidated loans as a PGY-1, but due to my income being above 220% of the poverty level, I no longer qualify and must now use forbearance.

When you consolidate, you figure your monthly payments on a 10-year repayment plan. Any loan consolidation company that tells you that you cannot get an economic hardship deferment because you consolidated is in violation of federal law.

 

[blanche]

When I graduated (2005), the interest rate on federal loans was 2.77%. So I consolidated, which means I'm making payments on the consolidation loan - when you consolidate, you no longer have an option to defer, although there are other options like forbearance and an "economic hardship repayment plan". I use the latter, making my payment $150 a month. You do NOT have to count spousal income.

If you don't consolidate, you can defer your federal loans.

not true. you absolutely CAN consolidate and then defer, and anyone who told you can't is wrong. "Economic hardship repayment plan" is in no way comparable to Economic Hardship Deferral, where you 1) get interest paid on subsidized loans and 2) can still pay that $150/mo if you so please

 

[kaos]

That is simply not true. I qualified for economic hardship deferment on my consolidated loans as a PGY-1, but due to my income being above 220% of the poverty level, I no longer qualify and must now use forbearance.

When you consolidate, you figure your monthly payments on a 10-year repayment plan. Any loan consolidation company that tells you that you cannot get an economic hardship deferment because you consolidated is in violation of federal law.

To do this, would one have to officially change their payment plan from a 30 year to a 10 year (letting the lender know this)?

 

[mshheaddoc]

To do this, would one have to officially change their payment plan from a 30 year to a 10 year (letting the lender know this)?

No, the lender should know that all payments regardless of their payment schedule are recalculated to a 10 yr payment then that payment is calculated and used to qualify in the formula I posted somewhere in the above scenario.

 

[chris03333]

And also if you go onto fellowship, you would qualify for unlimited graduate fellowship deferment which just needs approval from your GME.

I hope this info helps someone.

hmmm I tried that one and got denied...told that medical fellowships don't qualify.....🙁

 

[Blade28]

Hardship deferement here.