Emergency Forbearance
The COVID crisis effects on student loans continues. This pandemic has highlighted a complete lack of communication between the Department of Education and the loan servicers. You may have noticed that your federal student loans were automatically placed into forbearance last week. My loans are held with FedLoan and they automatically placed my account into an emergency forbearance in 2017...
0% Interest
The last two weeks have brought many changes to student loans. I have delayed publishing any information regarding these changes because the details of a policy was yet to be defined. COVID-19 has interrupted our lives and the dental profession has many unanswered questions regarding how we will move forward during and after this crisis. Many readers are aware that student loans held by the...Another Orthodontist with 1 Million Dollars in Student Loans
Deciding to become an orthodontist is an expensive commitment. We have already learned about Mike Meru (the first orthodontist to be highlighted for his outrageous student loan burden by the Wall Street Journal). Some interesting conclusions have been drawn from Mike’s student loans and Business Insider does a good job of explaining why dentists, doctors, and lawyers are no longer that...Public Service Loan Forgiveness Works
Audio is embded into this post that may not be displayed in our emails. Click on the title to view the webpage. A lot of questions surround the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program since 99% of first-time applicants were denied forgiveness in late 2017 and early 2018. Since then, the program has been temporarily expanded and still has problems. You can learn more on NPR...
How to Calculate Your Payments Under PAYE and REPAYE – Plus a New Course
Many students will be matriculating from dental schools and residencies over the next 2 months, and student loans will be on their minds. Developing a strategy to repay (or at least manage) your loans early is extremely important. If you want to calculated what your monthly payment will be under PAYE or REPAYE, follow the steps outlined in the post.
The Rule of 72
The Rule of 72 is a simple way to estimate how long a particular investment or debt will take to double given a fixed annual rate of return. Some students try to apply this rule to their student loans, but it is not applicable because direct loan interest does not compound. For example, if an
The Media and Student Loans
There is a video embedded into this post that may not display correctly if you are reading this via email. If you would like to see the post as it was intended, please visit the blog using a browser. The Patriot Act, a popular show on Netflix, recently highlighted the student loan industry. Unfortunately, there
Should You Switch to REPAYE?
I have received several questions from readers regarding a switch from either IBR or PAYE to REPAYE. While there are benefits to REPAYE, it does not always make financial sense to switch from one plan to another, and deciding to make a switch requires an analysis of your own personal situation. Most dentists who I