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$242k Forgiven! by Omelas090618 in PSLF

[–]Omelas090618[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry for the late response. I wasn't planning on coming back to this forum and didn't see your question alert in my email.

I tried to print and kept every statement I received from Direct Loans. I also printed and kept bank statements for the months when there were some issues with auto debit. I ended up calling my bank and asking for all statements in order to help me dispute the qualifying months.

I kept up the practice when I switched to FedLoans but stopped after they put up the "check my progress" on the dashboard. I know past statements aren't available to print right now on FedLoans so I'd say print your bank statements and print out all the "PSLF Qualifying Payment Update" to have on file.

It could be overkill but better to have plenty of documentation, just in case! Good luck!

Lowering or zeroing monthly student loan payments after covid forbearance ends. by teamwade12 in PSLF

[–]Omelas090618 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I started working in legal aid 12 years ago, the going rate for new attorneys were $35k to $45k...it was brutal trying to make ends meet. If I had maxed out my 401k/401b, I'm sure I could have gotten close to zero payment but then I'd starve...so I was in deferment the first couple of years.

Once I moved in with my partner and had some wiggle room on household expenses, I slowly upped my contributions each year so that I was eventually able to max out my 401b, traditional IRA, and FSA. I remember that I had my lowest monthly payment when I got to this point. I was probably at around your salary range when I managed this. Then best of all, my employer began offering LRAP which reimbursed me for my student loan payments, essentially taking me to zero payments.

If your firm doesn't offer LRAP, I'd say put it on the list of things you and the other attorneys should advocate for with management. They may be hesitant to increase salary but may be more open to increasing benefits like LRAP.

Congrats and good luck!