The Devry Student Loan Discharge Program
If you went to DeVry, youve got a very good chance at getting your loans discharged via the Borrowers Defense to Repayment Program, which lets you challenge the legal validity of your loans by claiming that DeVry defrauded you in order to convince you to enroll in their higher education programs.
And if ANY school deserves to have to pay back its students via Borrowers Defense to Repayment, its definitely DeVry, who has not just been accused of, but has admitted to doing all sorts of totally illegal and terribly immoral stuff.
What did DeVry do? How about completely lying about graduate rates, job placement rates, average incomes, and making the ridiculous claim that graduates of their schools were finding higher salaries than graduates from competitors?
Theres a whole laundry list of things DeVry did that constitute illegal marketing behavior, essentially by performing false advertising, and making false promises that constitute literal fraud, but I wont go into it all here.
If you want to find out how to get your DeVry loans discharged, and how you may be able to qualify for a refund on any money youve already paid DeVry, then visit my page on the DeVry Student Loan Forgiveness Program.
Should You File Taxes Separately From Your Spouse
One big question regarding a potential Biden student loan forgiveness initiative is whether there would be eligibility limitations based on a borrowers income. Biden and moderate Democrats have previously spoken publicly about concerns that mass student loan forgiveness would skew benefits towards higher income earners. For married borrowers, would spousal income come into play?
There is no way to know at this juncture, but we can look at a few programs for insight. For example, the Income-Based Repayment plan factors in spousal income when determining a borrowers student loan payment, but only when they file taxes jointly. If the borrower and spouse file taxes separately, spousal income is excluded. But that is not true for the Revised Pay As You Earn plan, which factors in spousal income regardless of tax filing status.
Borrowers considering filing taxes separately just in case should be aware that filing separately can sometimes have significant tax consequences, so it would be prudent to first consult with a qualified tax advisor before changing your filing status.
How To Use The Chart
This chart is made for one student loan. There are 100 spaces on this chart, so simply divide your goal amount by 100 to determine the value of each space. For instance, if your loan is $5,000, each space is worth $50. So, if you make a $150 payment, you get to color in three spaces! I love the childhood game style of this chart.
If you have multiple student loans, or other debts to keep track of, check out these other free charts to help track your progress. One reviewer, Stephanie, writes, My student loan payoff journey has been pretty long and its not over yet. So I love this chart for helping me track my smaller payoff goal for an individual year! It gives me the ability to stay motivated in the short-term, while using the Debtris chart for the long-term balance goal!
Have other debts? Keep this chart in a binder or on a bulletin board with your other charts to break up the bigger number into more manageable pieces. And, of course, to celebrate your wins along the way!
I like coloring my charts with fine-tip markers or Zebra Pen Midliners, but any old highlighters or markers from the junk drawer will work, too!
Recommended Reading: Usaa Credit Score Range
How To Pay Off Student Loans Quickly: 10 Steps For Success
14 Minute Read | September 28, 2021
If paying off your student loans feels way too far awayor even worse, totally impossiblehear me out. You can do this.
Lets set some expectations first. I dont have a special magic trick or life hack to help you get rid of it all in 30 days flat. Its not going to happen overnight, just like I didn’t grow overnight. It took a lot of patience to finally hit five foot, six inches.
But by following these 10 steps, you can get on a fast track to dumping your student loan debt for good. Im not going to lie to yallpaying off your student loans takes time, hard work and a whole lot of sacrifice, but its totally doable! Years ago, using these same steps, I was able to pay off my $36,000 in student loan debt in just 18 months! The faster you get rid of your loans, the sooner you can live life on your terms. So, lets make it happen!
Finally Your Get Rid Of Use Of National Scholar Aid And Qualifications For Financing Forgiveness Also A Default Reputation Is Put Into Your Own Credit Report For Every Of Ones Defaulted Loans The Standard Reputation Can Cause Your Credit Score To Decrease Further
Finally, your get rid of use of national scholar aid and qualifications for financing forgiveness. Also, a default reputation is put into your own credit report for every of one& #8217 s defaulted loans. The standard reputation can cause your credit score to decrease further.
The procedure is various when an exclusive education loan is distributed to choices.
You May Like: 650 Credit Score Interest Rate
Formulate A Debt Repayment Plan So That You Can Focus On Accumulating Some Extra Cash To Eliminate Your Debts
You can prepare a list of the debts in descending order of the interest rate. You can use your extra income to pay off the high-interest debts and make the minimum payment on your other debts on the list. Once you pay off the highest interest rate debt then focus on paying the second highest on the list. But, you should remember that you will not succeed in paying off the debts unless you follow a budget.
Cares Act Automatic Federal Student Loan Forbearance
If you have a student loan owned by the U.S. Department of Education, the government has granted you automatic forbearance on this loan under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The forbearance was set to expire on Jan. 31, 2021, under the previous administration, then it was extended under the Biden administration until Sept. 30, 2021.
The administration extended the forbearance period again on Aug. 6, 2021, allowing loans to stay in forbearance until Jan. 31, 2022.
Between March 13, 2020, and January 31, 2022, no interest will accrue, and you don’t need to make any payments. No late fees will apply if you stop paying during this period. You’ll know you have this benefit if you see a 0% interest rate when you log in to your student loan account. On March 30, 2021, the Department of Education extended this benefit to defaulted privately held loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program.
Under normal circumstances, you can’t make progress toward loan forgiveness during forbearance. But under the CARES Act, you can. You’ll receive credit toward income-driven repayment forgiveness or public service loan forgiveness for the payments you normally would have made during this period.
There may be tax obligations tied to any loan forgiveness.
Recommended Reading: Loaning Money To Your S-corp
Heres What You Can Do Now
Until the President signs an executive order or a bill, nothing is certain. Thats why experts say you should hope for the best, but plan for the worst when it comes to your student loan debt. Regardless of what happens with legislation on student loan forgiveness, heres how you can make the most out of the current situation.
The Repaye Student Loan Forgiveness Program
The REPAYE Student Loan Repayment Plan was introduced after people heavily protested President Obamas limitations included with the introduction of the Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan , which limited forgiveness to people who had taken their loans out on or after October 1st, 2007.
This obviously pissed off a ton of people, since there were literally millions of Americans already buried in student loan debt, looking for an effective solution, and blocked from using Obama Loan Forgiveness just because their loans had already existed before the introduction of his new reforms.
REPAYE works the same was as PAYE, setting your monthly student loan payments based on your annual income , and the opportunity to qualify for complete loan forgiveness after youve made 240 monthly payments .
For all the details on how REPAYE works, please visit my page on the REPAYE Federal Student Loan Repayment Plan.
Don’t Miss: Stilt Interest Rates
If Biden Forgives Student Loans Who Would Qualify
Given that the Biden administration is still conducting its legal review, there is simply no way to know with any certainty whether President Biden will forgive student loans, and if so, who would be eligible. Biden has not expressed public support for cancellation of $50,000 or more in student loan debt, as advocates and many progressive Democrats in Congress have called on him to do.
Biden could potentially include some form of eligibility criteria for mass student loan forgiveness, but it is too soon to know what that may look like. The administration could restrict eligibility to borrowers based on their incomes, their loan balances, or the type of school or educational program that they attended. Biden could also limit eligibility based on the type of loans that a borrower has. But such limitations could make implementing broad student loan forgiveness difficult logistically. And without knowing any details about what mass student loan forgiveness would look like, borrowers are in a difficult position while they wait.
Do Student Loans Go Away After 7 Years
Some people assume since you can include student loan debt in their bankruptcy after 7 years that student loans disappear after 7 years.
They dont.
The only way the 7-year rule plays into your favor is if you file bankruptcy and its been at least 7 years since you graduated. Otherwise, you must be enrolled in the RAP program to have any sort of relief from your payments.
Read Also: Specialized Loan Servicing Payoff Request Form
How Do You Receive Credit For Past Payments Under The New Rules
For a limited time, borrowers may get credit for past payments made on loans that would otherwise not qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
There are two requirements to receive additional qualifying payments: full-time employment and loan consolidation.
For instance, you must have worked full-time for a qualifying employer when prior payments were made, according to Federal Student Aid.
Some part-time workers may qualify under certain circumstances. Say you were employed in more than one qualifying part-time job at the same time. You would be considered full-time if you worked a combined average of at least 30 hours per week.
It may take several months for a borrower’s account information to reflect the new payment count, according to Federal Student Aid.
How Much Could Be Forgiven
At the moment, the main point of contention among student loan forgiveness proponents is over how much debt should be scrapped: $10,000 or $50,000?
If all federal student loan borrowers got $10,000 of their debt forgiven, the outstanding education debt in the country would fall to around $1.3 trillion, from $1.7 trillion, according to Kantrowitz. And roughly one-third of federal student loan borrowers, or 15 million people, would see their balances reset to zero.
Canceling $50,000 for all borrowers, on the other hand, would shrink the country’s outstanding student loan debt balance to $700 billion, from $1.7 trillion. Meanwhile, the debt for 80% of federal student loan borrowers, or 36 million people, would be gone entirely.
Even under that more generous plan, not everyone would be entirely happy. One-fifth of federal student loan borrowers owe more than $50,000, and around 7% of borrowers owe more than six-figures.
Also Check: Usaa Used Car Loan Rate
Healthcare Employee Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
Theres a bunch of benefits to working in the Healthcare field, from feeling good about saving lives to easily finding new employment positions no matter where you live, but one of the biggest benefits is that working in Healthcare qualifies you for some amazing Federal student loan forgiveness benefits.
In the past, most people have thought of the Healthcare forgiveness programs as being limited to Nurses and Doctors, but there are now all sorts of programs created to help virtually anyone in the industry wipe out their Federal debt, and Ive created pages to cover each of these programs in detail.
Ill cover all the Nursing programs below, but if youre working in a different role in the Healthcare industry, then youll want to look at my pages about the Perkins Loan Forgiveness Program for Nurses & Licensed Medical Technicians, The National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program , the National Health Service Corps Students to Service Loan Repayment Program , and of course the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which many medical personnel end up qualifying for as well.
Laurel Taylor: $10000 Would Be Great But Dont Count On It
Based on all the relief that student borrowers have been given in the last year, there will be some debt forgiveness, according to a former Google executive who founded a student loan repayment platform. The question is, how much?
I think the $10,000 in forgiveness is likely, but Im cautious about anything more than that, says Laurel Taylor, CEO and founder of FutureFuel.io.
Even forgiving just $10,000 in student debt would completely eliminate student loans for about 16 million people. It would make a huge difference, especially for those who are most likely to default, Taylor says.
But no borrower should depend on that possibility, Taylor cautions: it might not pass anytime soon, or at all. Biden is examining whether he has the executive authority, but the bottom line is that there is a lot of confusion. Thats what were seeing on our platform when our users are engaging with their student debt, says Taylor.
Also Check: Va Partial Entitlement Worksheet
Bankruptcy As An Option For Getting Out Of Student Loan Debt
Bankruptcy discharge is a much-debated method of getting out of your student loan debt, especially in 2020. The federal government defines it narrowly. You must file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and demonstrate that repaying any part of your loans would be a severe financial hardship on you and any dependents you have, like elderly family members or young children. You must present this evidence in court, and your creditors may be present to challenge your evidence. A judge will rule on whether you qualify. Courts determine whether you might suffer undue hardship with the Brunner test, which is used in all circuit courts except for the Eight and First Circuits. For most bankruptcy cases, the Brunner test applies, using these standards:
- The borrower has extenuating circumstances that create hardship.
- Those circumstances are likely to continue for the term of the loan repayment .
- The borrower has made good faith attempts to repay the loan, which may not be actual payments, but should include working with the lender on deferment, forbearance, or other options before struggling with default.
How Do I Check My Student Loan Balance
Use the National Student Loan Data System To find your current federal student loan balance, you can use the National Student Loan Data System , a database run by the Department of Education. When you enroll into a college or university, the school’s administration will send your loan information to the NSLDS.
Also Check: Capital One Auto Loan Minimum Credit Score
Private Student Loan Servicer Discharge Programs
Borrowers Defense Against Repayment doesnt just work against schools, but can also be used to attack the legal validity of your loans if your student loan servicing company has done something illegal or fraudulent against you as well!
And thats a big deal, and a huge opportunity, because recent years have seen some massive lawsuits and major accusations of illegal behavior against some of the countrys biggest student loan servicing companies, like Navient, FedLoan, and others.
Ways You Can Quit Paying Your Student Loans
Money, Home and Living Reporter, HuffPost
More than 40 million Americans have student loan debt. Of those borrowers, 5.6 million owe more than $50,000. That kind of crushing five-figure debt can take a real financial and mental toll.
If you fantasize about running off to a foreign country or faking your own death just so you wont have to pay back your student loans, know that theres a real way out.
Actually, there are eight ways, and theyre all perfectly legal.
Read Also: Usaa Pre Qualify Auto Loan
Student Loan Cancellation Programs
Perkins loan cancellation. Borrowers with federal Perkins loans can have up to 100% of their loans canceled if they work in a public service job for five years. In many cases, approved borrowers will see a percentage of their loans discharged incrementally for each year worked. The Perkins loan teacher benefit is for teachers who work full time in a low-income public school or who teach qualifying subjects, such as special education, math, science or a foreign language.
Procedure To Discharge Your Student Loan In Bankruptcy
If you want to try to discharge your student loan in bankruptcy, you must file an adversary proceeding to determine dischargeability with the bankruptcy court. But that’s not all. You’ll need to present evidence and prove to the court that payment of your loans will cause an undue hardship. It’s likely that you’ll need to retain an expert to testify about your ability to be gainfully employed in the future.
You May Like: Max Fha Loan Amount Texas 2020
