“Dear Steve,
I have about $18,000 in student loan debt. I recently was contacted by the Student Loan Education Center that said they were a third party company that was setting up consolidations for the US Dept of Education to consolidate my loans for a fee of $599.
They said I qualified for an income based plan and then got even more of a discount because I work in a high school.
In one of your videos I just watched, you said people can consolidate their loans themselves for free through the DOE. Can you tell me what forms I would need to fill out?
Meghan”
Dear Meghan,
I have grave doubts the company is working as an agent of the Department of Education. And while they said you can enroll in a reduced payment program, you should read this.
If you are working for a state, government, or non-profit school in certain fields then you may be eligible for loan forgiveness after 120 payments under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. After making 120 on-time payments, the balance of your loans would be forgiven. If you qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and feel you will hold that or a similar job for at least the next ten years, an income driven repayment program might make sense.
However, if you changed jobs and went to work for a non-qualifying employer before making your 120 payments, your loans would not be forgiven. Only you can project what the future will bring for you. Any qualified on-time payments you’ve made since October 1, 2007 already count towards your 120 mandatory payments.
For information and links to these reduced payment programs you can enroll in for free, click here.
If you want to pay someone to help you navigate through these programs and you understand many student loan assistance companies say in the fine print they are just filling in the forms for you, you can hire whoever you want to. Maybe that’s Student Loan Education Center. Only you can decide.
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
You are not alone. I'm here to help. There is no need to suffer in silence. We can get through this. Tomorrow can be better than today. Don't give up.
Do you have a question you'd like to ask me for free? Go ahead and click here.
- We Rise From the Dead Yet Again – Podcast - October 2, 2023
- Lexington Law Credit Repair Gets Hammered in Lawsuit Settlement. If You Sell Credit Repair – Wake Up! - August 28, 2023
- People That Got Scammed by Robocall Debt Relief Company Life Management Services of Orange County to Get Money Back - July 7, 2023
