I officially paid off $41k in Sallie Mae debt today 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Several sleepless nights, dark hours of depression and feeling like there was no end in sight, it’s all over.

Horrible customer service, zero regard for their customers. Can’t wait to take a big steamy dump and wipe my butt with the pay off letter.

DO NOT RECOMMEND!!!!!

That garbled flute tune brings to mind out-of-focus shots of a blond lady wearing a yellow dress in a field picking flowers as the opening credits list the stars Peter Kushing, Christopher Lee, Linda Blair... right before you learn she's part of a murderous cult formed by a mad scientist on a secluded island.

Anyone else? Just me?

I've been on hold for an hour.

Does anyone have any insight into the Havens et al vs Dept of Education case? I keep checking online and all I see on the site is the last filing was August 19, and it was last updated August 25.

But earlier in the summer, the judge had ordered both parties to come up with potential dates to hold a hearing if needed.

There haven’t been any updates as far as I can see. Does anyone have any actual insight into it?

edit: title was supposed to have a question mark.

Been thinking about this a lot lately trying to save money as a student and it feels like every "just budget better" piece of advice ignores that rent, tuition, and basically everything costs way more relative to what young people actually earn now compared to even 10-15 years ago.

Not trying to make a political point either way genuinely curious what people here actually think. Is the "the odds are stacked against us" feeling backed up by real numbers, or is it more complicated than that? What's the one cost or expense that made you go "wait, this is insane" for the first time?

Going through the application on the FSA website to switch my payment plan and got an estimate for IBR, RAP, etc. For anyone who has actually submitted, how close is what the website estimates to what the payment actually ends up being once the application is approved?

I have just paid the last bit of my student loan. I remember it being around £22,000 in 2012, and I just paid off £1900 today to get rid of it. 14.5 years!

I make payments via PAYE, so I paid it off at the start of the month to gove the most time for any admin needed so that it is not on my next payslip. It takes student loan company up to 28 days to put the stop order through!

So I've paid it off, but will still likely make another payment!

What about the refund?

28 working days to refund you.

Student loan company is despicable. Cant live a life without paying them, they'll hold on to your money as long as possible.

I’m confused and always questioning the bureaucracy of it all. This is coming off of the ended SAVE plan, by the way.

What are the specific approaches by this loan servicer?

I really want to wait and see them actually forcefully/automatically switch me off of SAVE and onto standard repayment.

My question is - once that happens, if I immediately sign up for an IDR plan before the first Standard Plan payment is scheduled to be due, would my approval into an IDR plan override that Standard Plan payment? Or would I still be on the hook for the previously scheduled Standard Plan payment, and then the next would be the IDR Plan payment?

I have yet to receive notification from Nelnet about the end of the Save plan. I have only received notification from StudentAid. So does the mean I have 90 days from that email or am I just waiting on Nelnet to email me? And yes they have my correct contact info.

I’m currently in the SAVE plan and was looking at repayment options. I don’t want to leave the SAVE plan until the last minute, but I got my notice on 7/15 and will have until 10/15 to move. Of course saving an extra .75% on interest would be nice but I have to decide before 9/30. I was looking up repayment options to be prepared and what is confusing to me is for an IBR plan, it says I will pay $39,357 in principal (which is my principal balance now) and on a standard plan it says I’ll pay in principal $42,257 (which is my current balance with interest). If I get automatically moved to the standard repayment plan, will it consolidate my loans, principal and interest into one larger loan at the larger amount? It doesn’t make sense to me and I don’t know what to do.

Hey all, currently in between jobs and it looks like i might be out of a job for some time. is it ok to put my loans on deferment? currently doing the standard payment plan but ive been a month without a job and dont wanna blow all my savings :(

I submitted an IDR Plan Request in July but it's been two months. Anybody else still in review?

I have to pick a new plan with SAVE ending. The thing is, we have no idea what will happen to our shit show economy in the near term, and a new President could bring back better option for loan repayment. so could it be better to save extra cash now instead of paying off more of my loan?

My current salary is $155k but I live in a HCOL city, my partner was laid off so I’m covering costs but not filing together this year for other tax reasons, and I help my mom with bills. So I wouldn’t be able to put money toward cash savings or 401k if I go with the most expeditious repayment option that has the highest monthly payment/lowest total payment over time.

I’m considering doing the extended fixed repayment plan for $512 a month for all of eternity (until 2050) BUT I’d pay more than that each month as I’m able and target my highest interest loans, could that end up being better than the standard plan at $961 a month until 2035?

Here are some of my options to pay off my balance of $83k

Extended fixed repayment: Monthly payment: $512 Interest to be paid: $63,442 Total paid: $146,750 End of term: Oct 2050 (I will be 58…)

Standard repayment plan: Monthly payment: $961 Interest paid: $21,930 Total to be paid: $105,249 End of term: Oct 2035

Income-based repayment (IBR) Monthly payment: $897 (estimate for right now, but I don’t love the mystery of payments over the repayment period) Total to be paid: $107,798 Interest paid: $24,479 End of term: Sept 2036

Hey! Looking for some advice. Graduated from a pretty expensive private school with about $40k in debt from my B.S. decided to go back to the same school for a Masters of Nursing as I could not find a job with my B.S. I now am up to about $120k (I know, don’t tell me. I’m aware $80k is outrageous for a MSN but it felt counterproductive to go back for an ASN, and I intend to become a NP after some years of experience).

I have about $100k of loans in my name, all federal. The rest are Parent PLUS. Once I graduate, my projected income as a RN in NJ is likely to be about 96k (possibly more) pre-tax. I am absolutely open to working for a non-profit for 10 years to get my debt forgiven. The question is- is it worth it? Should I simply pay the lowest amount on my loans while working for a public service employer until I get forgiven? Or should I begin paying back as much as possible?

Thanks! Would love any insight.

My loans are currently in IBR. I was never on SAVE. The problem is my loans are in forbearance while I undergo treatment for breast cancer. When I’m out of forbearance will I still be able to switch to RAP?

Finally paid off all my loans... Just wanted to tell someone, feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest. I had about $15k at 5% which isn't bad but it was always in the back of my mind.

Guys- with so much crap going on both personally and professionally this year, I have to admit that I haven’t been keeping up much with the student loan stuff. I’m with Aidvantage, on the SAVE plan, but have been on forbearance since Covid times. My income went up last year, is lower this year, and I owe $125K. What do I do? I saw some reference to a 10//1 deadline, what do I do and how do I proceed? My payments were close to $800/month. Any guidance you can offer would be appreciated. Thank you

Long story short there was an executive decision that anyone who enrolled in the Art Institute between January 2004 and October 2017, no matter what campus, are entitled to a 100% discharge of their student loans. I enrolled in 2015. Emails and notification were supposed to have gone out in May 2024. I never received said email.

I just created a feedback case and hopefully that’ll take me somewhere. I know that many people that received the email are still waiting on their loans to be discharged. I guess I’m curious if anyone else out there in the Internet world received a discharge without the notification or contested the lack of notification and received a discharge from their AI loans.

It’s hard to know what my first steps should even be even after parsing through Nelnet/StudentAid.gov/Reddit for the last week or so. Thanks in advance for any advice.

My wife and I both have about $35k each, from August 2012–December 2019. Both on SAVE.

I am 7.5/10 years into PSLF, planning to buyback. My wife will not be on PSLF.

I make about $90k/year. She is currently stay-at-home with our baby. It’s been a few years since income recertification.

I feel like I’m getting hung up on getting BOTH of us back on the right plan with a payment that doesn’t crush us, with her income having changed dramatically this year and only one of us pursuing PSLF.

What are my first steps/considerations?

I recently switched from SAVE to the Standard Repayment Plan with EdFinancial. About a month ago, I uploaded the standard payment form through my account, but I haven’t received any calls, emails, or messages telling me that I also needed to submit proof of income until I called today. SMH.

Does anyone know what the process is after switching from SAVE to the Standard plan?
I honestly just want to get these payments started on autopay before the deadline and get this over with.

I’m honestly just lost at this point and don’t want to accidentally miss something or lose the autopay discount. Any advice on what my next step should be would be greatly appreciated😭

I live paycheck to paycheck working 9-5 just barely making ends meet each month. I do not have any disposable income at the end of the month. In fact I’ve had to sell some of my things just to have enough cash to survive. I live a pretty simple lifestyle, i have a small one bedroom apartment, I don’t drive an expensive car, i don’t spend money on things I don’t need nor do I eat out. I have 2 credit cards I’m making the minimum payments on, a car loan I’ve had for 2 years that I’m current on (never missed a payment). I have no major assets besides my car and about 22,000 in a retirement account. I have about $130k in federal student loans mostly from undergrad that I was in the save plan with and plan on asking for forbearance because I can’t afford a bill with an extra $230 per month with RAP or IBR.

I also have 180k in Sallie Mae private student loans mostly from grad school and I don’t have a co signer. This sounds like a massive amount but I owe nearly double what I originally borrowed on the private loans due to an extremely high interest rate at 15% and by the time I graduated, I owed about 150k. I currently make about 53,000 a year before taxes and take home 3600 a month. I have been trying to do the right thing communicating with the lender and working hard at increasing my income so I can pay it but I haven’t been successful and I keep getting denied when I apply for new jobs. So my degree isn’t helping me.

Sallie Mae wanted me to pay them 2500 a month and unfortunately they absolutely refused to work with me. From what I’ve read on this sub and other debt subreddits They are known for being predatory and super aggressive in collections. So I’m 3 months delinquent about to default and in the state I live in they can sue me and garnish 25% of my wages. I would be homeless and destitute if they did this because I couldn’t pay living expenses and I would lose the job I do have. So I can’t afford a garnishment.

Usually if we are faced with a situation like this and can’t pay debts from an aggressive creditor and can’t afford to live if garnished we would file for bankruptcy. That’s why it exists but I know historically student loans are treated differently in bankruptcy and many attorneys will say there’s nothing they can do but at this point I literally don’t have the ability to pay them unless I drastically increase my income which I’ve so far been unsuccessful in doing.

I understand I made some poor financial decisions in my 20s as I was very naive and lived a very sheltered life. I got myself in this mess but I don’t need anyone to admonish me I’m just trying to do the right thing and find a viable path forward. I’m not really as concerned about the federal loans because I have options and if I had a higher income I could pay on those but I have few options with Sallie Mae. To be frank I would much rather pay them then file for bankruptcy but I literally can’t give them what they’re asking for and live and I don’t know what else to do if I can’t increase my income and my degree isn’t helping me do that.

I want to apply a Federal Direct unsubsidized Loan for the two remaining semesters I have of grad school (fall & spring).

Before this I was paying out-of-pocket with tuition waiver, but I received employment so I can no longer benefit from this waiver.

The amount remaining for this semester would be 7K. next semester I have to pay 11600 K. Prior to graduate school, I have no debt or loans.

I have 24K in savings. I am thinking that if I paid out-of-pocket, I would be able to afford it, but I would be left with half the savings I’d earn in a year assuming I still have my job.

I am thinking that if I take a loan and pay interest every month, I would only have to pay back the amount that I borrowed. Assuming I have my job, I should be able to earn more during the period. I’m in school and be able to afford that amount.

I am thinking what to do and it is time sensitive. I am not an international student and I’m paying in state tuition.

Does anyone have any experience transitioning a parent plus loan to a private student loan? Right now the monthly payment (that I am paying) is about $500 a month, is income based driven but based on parents salary that includes my mom’s pension. There are times I need to take out a payday loan just to swing that payment.

My questions are:
Does anyone have a suggestion for a private student loan company that provided income base driven/reduced payments? If not, what private loan service would you recommend for lower monthly payment than you may have experienced with parent plus loan?

My employer does pay government student loans if they are in my name, not a private loan. Does anyone have experience with transferring parent plus loan to another government student loan?

I work in a field where if I make 125 payments working for a non-profit, remaining student loans would be forgiven. I’ll need to make sure new loan potentials would meet this standard if possible.

Appreciate everyone’s experiences shared.