So what are you doing with your loans?

[rhiannon777]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I'm about to start residency and I was just wondering what everyone else is planning on doing with their loans...the last threads I found on this topic were from 2002, so the situation is really different now. Personally, I'm thinking of continuing my medical student lifestyle and trying to pay them off by the end of residency. I am concerned, though, that perhaps I would have been eligible for some loan repayment programs after residency and I would be wasting that opportunity. I know a lot of people who are putting them in deferment/forbearance for the whole of residency and just paying off the interest. Just curious what everyone else is doing....

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Have you checked out the financial aid forum here? I'd suspect you'd find more recent conversations there. Personally, I consolidated with the feds and am doing the income based repayment deal. Assuming things don't change, I could theoretically have all my loans forgiven after 10 years if I work for the government or a non-profit. Deferment is no longer an option for residents, but forbearance remains an option.

I'm amazed, though, that you could pay your loans off during residency. If that's possible, I'm assuming your loan burden is pretty small anyway, so likely, whatever you do won't make a huge difference.

 

[rhiannon777]

I was in-state at a public school, so I am in less-than-average debt...though the horror of that many zeros is still pretty significant! I'm fortunate that cost of living in my area is low, and I have a spouse who works, so I think I could pull it off.

 

[PMPMD]

. Just curious what everyone else is doing....

Forbearance... Just sitting back and watching them grow.

 

[Ronin2258]

I was fortunate that I had a lot less loans than my other classmates, thanks to some extenuating circumstances.

I paid them during my surgical years, and continued on in my research/general practice years. Now that I am going back into residency and getting a pay drop, I am seriously considering forbearance while I am in residency initially. Once I am stable from the move, paid down some other bills, I will consider starting to pay them back a bit.

 

[CanIMakeIt]

I'm paying the interest + very little principal on it every month - still comes to about 700 a month.

 

[nlax30]

I'm fairly certain I'm going to do IBR. Just had a graduation financial aid talk from an advisor who deals specifically with med students/residents/docs and made a pretty compelling case for IBR.

At this point my options are 1) just enter normal repayment for each loan which would be prob about half my salary. 2) forbearance and then watch close to another 30k plus get tacked on to my loans from accrued interest or 3) enter IBR, keep payments manageable during residency while still enjoying some subsidized benefits (free money) and also setting myself up for possible public service loan forgiveness after 10yrs, of which your years of residency may count towards those 10yrs depending on your program.

At least in the examples we went through it made since to go IBR, especially if you had a pretty high loan burden. If anything else it set you up to save a LOT if you ended up qualifying for the public service forgiveness deal.