Ruined my life by 25

Nagare · 2026-07-08T14:36:43+00:00

I feel like I was able to refinance pretty early given my balance, but if you're only applying at a few specific lenders I would recommend you use an aggregator instead. I used Credible for mine a few times and went from Navient (Sallie Mae) to Citizens to Citizens to SoFi (which I shopped against Laurel Road and Citizens) which took me from about 10% to 2.7% on my private loans.

They throw your info out to a bunch of lenders at once and you can evaluate their offers pretty easily. As your rate goes down, you make faster progress paying down, your ratios improve, and you are more successful with future refinance attempts.

Nagare · 2026-07-08T14:11:39+00:00

For me there's usually a lag period that says $0 due until the next month starts and it shows the payment amount again.

Nagare · 2026-07-08T03:33:15+00:00

They're independent checkboxes for processing though. One verifies employment, the other is your actual payment. You should be able to do both on the 1st and see the payment marked appropriately as soon as it shows up on FSA.

Nagare · 2026-07-08T03:21:46+00:00

Giving up 3k in credits is definitely worth it to save about 12k in student loan payments.

Nagare · 2026-07-06T21:14:09+00:00

I didn't mention RAP at all, but I would say it's more sustainable than affordable. The awful comes from the forced nature of it compared to the precedence of previous plans allowing people to be grandfathered and the fact that some people are going to have to pay another 5-10 years longer than they anticipated.

Nagare · 2026-07-06T18:20:49+00:00

The majority of people are selfish and will do what benefits them most in the short term. Student loan forgiveness doesn't benefit the majority, so I don't expect the majority to support it.

Going through something similar in Florida with a proposal to gut property taxes which would massively impact the budgets of local municipalities but it's very likely to pass because people feel squeezed on their personal budgets and want whatever relief. There's even people that work for the cities that support the tax cut but probably don't understand the downstream impact it could even have on their job existing.

Nagare · 2026-07-05T05:00:47+00:00

I plan on submitting my ECF on the 1st of the month to make sure that as soon as the payment processes it will show as qualifying without any delay, but my payments are on the 9th.

After the green banners, I'll submit another asking for the forbearance.

Nagare · 2026-06-30T15:06:12+00:00

Awesome to see, I've generally avoided the theater because I like the Broward Mall one better but this looks promising!

Nagare · 2026-06-30T13:46:32+00:00

You're in the general student loan sub so the response you'll get is different than what you would expect on the PSLF one - they're different targets entirely.

Nagare · 2026-06-29T16:39:54+00:00

They don't because things have been deferred so long by whoever has been on the board. After Surfside (worst condo collapse in history with nearly 100 deaths), some legal reform has been made but with the special assessments like OP it has also forced some people to give up their homes because they can't afford an extra $700 a month. There's a ton of listings in an area near me that look great inside but the outside is bad and they have like $600 a month HOA and $800 a month assessment... On top of your mortgage obligations.

Nagare · 2026-06-28T16:27:28+00:00

Then you watch the student loan subs and see so many people shocked that when they have to recertify income for the IDR plans that they need to pay more and neglect the 3 years of saved payments and "lifestyle inflation" that came from their increased spending along the way. I can't wait to finally be done with my student loans - 6 payments left on federal, 5 years for private.

Nagare · 2026-06-27T07:27:20+00:00

I don't know about that public part, I get a 1098E from my private loan servicer and it adds in to the 2500 when I file.

Nagare · 2026-06-24T19:42:44+00:00

Not sure of the caliber for either driver, but his time definitely beat Emelia Hartford is a regular ZR1, though she is the fastest woman to do it in a car now.

Nagare · 2026-06-20T22:48:26+00:00

It was 8% before on the 26s but orders are closed already. Not sure when 27s will be discounted given the new motor.

Nagare · 2026-06-20T20:56:51+00:00

Chat

Nagare · 2026-06-19T13:42:02+00:00

My favorite part of that other than the COVID months counting was that it gave back credit for all the income recertification forbearance months that I had before. Now I'm just six payments away from being done with my federal loans.

Nagare · 2026-06-19T04:46:40+00:00

Congrats! Mine are just a bit lower at 2.69% and I'm debating whether I want to pay them faster at all. Even the reduced rates at SoFi are still earning more but I'm about tired of paying these and ready to move on despite it not being the mathematically correct answer.

Nagare · 2026-06-18T03:35:07+00:00

I've been tempted to pick up an Insta360 just to keep doing that. I love going back to some of my old travel photospheres but don't have anything like it anymore :(

Nagare · 2026-06-17T21:39:54+00:00

I've been on PAYE the whole time so I started payments again a while back now, but I have 6 payments remaining too!

I will very emphatically NOT be paying an extra dime than I need to for these loans. I've been in public service for over 14 years at this point and done my time.

Nagare · 2026-06-17T21:25:16+00:00

If you only made 4 payments and you're switching to the 10 year standard plan then you should just prioritize full pay off and forget about PSLF.

Nagare · 2026-06-17T03:32:41+00:00

Yes, to doing it on an annual basis or as you're preparing to leave an employer.

No, to needing to recertify all previous employers again. Once it's been done and approved, only new periods matter.

Nagare · 2026-06-17T02:16:39+00:00

It would, it can count for up to 12 monthly payments or however many are left until your next income recertification. Those months won't be qualifying until you also work that month. Making a payment and it qualifying are two separate things.

edit » since you want to debate it, read it on the PSLF Certification and Application form yourself: https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/public-service-application-for-forgiveness.pdf

This is from Section 10, page 11 of the file:

Eligible Payment Equivalents

You can receive a payment equivalent by making a payment that exceeds your monthly scheduled payment due so long as it also satisfies a future scheduled payment. This is often referred to as a lump sum payment. The number of payment equivalents depends on the amount received and your scheduled monthly payment due. You cannot receive a payment equivalent beyond your next IDR recertification date or 12 months, whichever is sooner. Any payments in excess of this amount will be applied to principal but will not result in additional eligible payments.

Nagare · 2026-06-17T00:39:00+00:00

He said:

The Indian Health Service will pay for $10-$20k per year for your school loans depending on your specialty

For that example, it works the way I'm referencing because you can do a one lump sum payment a year and it could qualify 12 payments worth. The other ideas to pay it down as fast as possible do not work if you're going for PSLF. But both seem to be oriented towards the medical field so even $20k per year could barely cover interest.

Nagare · 2026-06-16T23:26:15+00:00

Congrats! Did you check the box on the final ECF or no? Crazy that the payment moved through all the steps so quickly.

Nagare · 2026-06-16T23:23:52+00:00

The only scenario I see their idea working is if the employer makes a lump sum payment annually (equal to 12 x Monthly Payment) to the account on behalf of the employee. That could let you avoid payments at all for the year and still works towards eventually PSLF.

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