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10 year loan forgiveness
I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the student loan forgiveness program where you can work a government job for 10 years and make the standard payments then they will pay the rest off. My husband is currently looking for a job where he would be qualified for this program. My question is: Do we make the minimum payments for 10 year and wait for the rest of it to be paid off, or do we work hard to try and pay it off as fast as we can. Also were talking about 85k.
Some concerns I would have with the program is: What if he doesn't end up staying there for 10 years and goes to a different job where the program would not still qualify and then we are left with all the interest that has been piled up. Could he switch to a different government job and still qualify?
Thanks for the advice! I'm really trying to focus on the student loan debt since that's the only debt we have now.
Re: 10 year loan forgiveness
Before doing anything, I would research the average turn-over in the field that you husband would go into and be prepared that something will happen that he doesn't qualify.
I would look at the numbers. I have a good amount of student loan debt and a have a government job..so I do "qualify" however it doesn't help me much in terms of forgiveness. Only certain payment plans qualify for loan forgiveness and those (at least for me) would pay my loans off in 10 years anyway.
There is information on the federal loan website to tell you which payment plans qualify (income based,income contingent and pay as you earn) and loan calculators for those payment plans. You can run the numbers and see if will be beneficial for you.
-My job is soft money and could be refunded in a few years
-You have to switch to FedLoan Servicing, which had horrible customer service reviews. I'm currently with Great Lakes, a nonprofit that I like.
-Based on my total, I don't stand to have that much forgiven anyway.
But, to answer one of your questions, yes he can switch jobs and still qualify. You need to make 120 payments while in qualifying employment, but they don't necessarily need to be consecutive. He could take two years off in a different job and then return-but if he didn't qualify for IBR/PAYE in that time his payments would increase.
thanks for the advice. My husband will be getting a job in higher education which is why we are fairly positive it will be a government job.
I never thought of the tax part of it before. I just want to be debt free already