Today, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) proposed regulations to reduce the cost of federal student loan payments, especially for low and middle-income borrowers. The regulations fulfill the commitment President Biden laid out in August when he announced his Administration’s plan to provide student debt relief for approximately 40 million borrowers and make the student loan …
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published information in the Federal Register today that shows how screwed up student loan programs are. The data and facts released are enough to make you give up hope the student loan programs can ever be fixed. Indeed not fixed with one-time forgiveness. I will do my best to summarize …
Question: Dear Steve, Owe approx $150k on an original loan of approx $58k. Been paying steadily while trying to raise a family for years now. Did an IBR, making approx the same monies and they almost doubled my new payments starting this month. I don’t feel I can comfortably make these newly adjusted payments. What …
A recent opinion written by United States Chief Bankruptcy Judge Somers is a fascinating read. The bankruptcy judge excoriates the student loan position the government has held that student loans should not be discharged in bankruptcy. Of course, even that position goes against previous Department of Education advice that some federal student loans should be …
A couple of weeks ago Rodger asked me how many people have actually completed an Income-Based Repayment plan. I didn’t know the answer so I went and asked the Department of Education and surprisingly they got back to me relatively quickly. Don’t Be Shocked As of January 27, 2020, there have been 19 people that …
Last month, Adam Looney of the Brookings Institution released a paper that is chock full of ideas for fixing the federal student-loan program. Looney began his paper with a withering condemnation of the program in its present form, which he accurately described as an outrage. I am quoting his critique verbatim, just putting his words …
Question: Dear Steve, I am paying the minimal payment for the REPAYE payment plan to the federal government. My yearly pay is merely 12 K per year. My debt is 100 K with all of the interest added. If my student debt should be erased in 27 years, how will that impact my taxes when …
Question: Dear Steve, I left school at the age of 13 and decided to get a GED when I was 35. So that I could become a pharmacist. Yep I was nuts. Still am. This was a little over a decade ago. A BS in Neuroscience, a BS in Biochemistry, and FINALLY a PharmD (doctor …
For individuals struggling to repay their federal student loans and think the only repayment options are a Graduated Repayment Plan, Extended Repayment Plan, Revised Pay As You Earn, REPAYE, Pay As You Earn, PAYE, Income Based Repayment Plan, IBR, Income Contingent Repayment Plan, ICR, or Income Sensitive Repayment Plan. For Direct Loans there is also …
By the end of his first term in office, President Obama knew the federal student loan program was out of control. Default rates were up and millions of student borrowers had put their loans into forbearance or deferment because they were unable to make their monthly payments. Then in 2013, early in Obama’s second term, …