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Thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching! -k

Glad you enjoyed my nerdy humor! Thanks for watching!! -k

Oh no!! Sorry to hear this, with how much changes all the time in student loans 🤞 they extend this program. Keep an eye on the news or this channel to stay up to date. Good luck and thanks for watching! -k

@@themoneylibrarian You definitely got my sub, I never watch the news.

Hi! Yes, the news changes so fast with student loans it can give you whiplash. I’ve been traveling the past couple weeks when the court case came though. Will do a video on the updates once I get my head around them. Thanks for watching! -k

Hi! There’s been some lag, do what’s best for you! Thanks for watching! -k

Hi! You can see your loan details at studentaid.gov If it still says FFEL then you probably want to consolidate to turn it into a Direct Consolidation Loan before the end of the month otherwise you’ll lose your payment history and restart the forgiveness clock😩. Definitely call your servicer as they can give you personalized help. Thanks for watching! -k

Hi! Sorry to hear this!! With the IDR recount you should be getting closer to forgiveness - def call your servicer and see what you can do to speed this up! Good luck and thanks for watching!! -k

@@themoneylibrarian Thank you for your response and advice.

Thanks for watching! -k

Hi! Yes, you can make bigger payments, just be sure to mark them as going to the principal as the default is to apply all extra payments to the next months payment. I strongly recommend you watch my updated video as this one is old and doesn’t include the SAVE plan which is often your cheapest monthly payment: Which student loan repayment plan is right for you - EXPLAINED! th-cam.com/video/SfuPciHkT1k/w-d-xo.html Good luck and thanks for watching! -k

Hi! I go into the reasons you may want to consolidate in the vid, you may want to call your loan servicer to chat about your particular situation to see if it would be advantageous for you. Thanks for watching! -k

@@themoneylibrarian Thank you!

Hi! It depends on your situation, some people will need to consolidate in order to be considered a part of the IDR recount and get forgiveness - why I always say to call the loan servicers to ask about your particular situation! Thanks for watching! -k

Hi! If your loans have different amounts of time in repayment you may want to consolidate so the new loan has the longest payment history and is that much closer to forgiveness. Contact your loan servicer as they can tell you all the ins and outs. Thanks for watching! -k

Hi! The website doesn't take the Art Institute ruling into account when calculating forgiveness; only the math of your payments so that forgiveness won't show up there. Here is a link with other links that goes into the details of this ruling that may help you: studentaid.gov/announcements-events/borrower-defense-update If your loans are a part of this settlement, they should go into administrative forbearance, meaning you owe $0 a month. You may want to call the Department of Education to confirm all your loans are a part of this settlement and you may be able to get them put into forbearance while on the phone if so. If all your loans are not a part of this settlement, you may want to consolidate them before June 30th so they can get forgiven via IDR forgiveness since you've had them for so long - ask the Dept of Ed if consolidating loans that are part of the settlement with loans that aren't a part of the settlement if that will keep them from being forgiven via the Art Institute lawsuit. You can talk with your loan servicer for any other help with consolidation. YOU GOT THIS!!! Thanks for watching! -k

Hi! Whether or not you should consolidate can be genuinely confusing!! It isn’t for everyone, I lay out the reasons why you may want to consolidate in the vid, if you still aren’t sure I recommend you call your loan servicer and speak with them. Thanks for watching! -k

Hi! I recommend looking up your employer on the pslf site to see if they qualify: studentaid.gov/pslf/employer-search If your loans are eligible for PSLF then it may benefit you to consolidate the undergrad and grad loans if they have different pslf-qualifying repayment periods. For example if you have 60 months of qualifying repayments for your undergrad and 12 qualifying for grad then by consolidating your new loan would have 60 qualifying payments, thereby eliminating 4 years of payments from your grad school loans. I recommend you call your servicer or the dept of education and ask them about your situation before making any moves. As for your $0 payment, that gets updated yearly based on income and family size so it may change every year. Thanks for watching! -k

Ha! I'm cheering your adulting on, even if you're maybe not so pleased with this effect! It's possible your credit score can take a temporary hit. It should bounce back in time. If you need to raise it, I made a video with some great ways to juice the system so you can increase your score: th-cam.com/video/bkgVuuO8Flc/w-d-xo.html Thanks for watching! -k

Thank you so much!! I’ll check it out now!!

Hi! Are you referring to the fact that after 7 years of non-payment they drop from your credit report even though you still owe the money? This is certainly one strategy for dealing with student loans but not an ideal one since you still owe the money 😬 . As always, personal finance is personal and people will need to do what's best for them, thanks for making this important point! -k

Hi! Thank you for your kind words, so glad to hear this video reached you and you appreciate the mathematical breakdown of paying off debt. I wholeheartedly agree that the snowball method can be very powerful and sometimes it is in a person's best interest to get rid of small debts before working on an emergency fund so they can free up the cash flows. As always, personal finance is personal and people will need to do what's best for them in their own situation. And I LOVE an "unplanned expenses" line in the budget, this is a great idea for people who like to plan for every dollar but need the flexibility this line item would give. Thanks for watching! -k

Hi! This is my understanding as well - when you consolidate you also select a repayment plan at the same time. Thanks for sharing your experience and thanks for watching! -k

Hi! Yes, if you combine the loans the recount will apply to the new loan but be careful - it’ll abide by the rules of grad loans, the most notable being IDR forgiveness in 25 - not 20 years. Like I mention in the vid, know why you want to consolidate your student loans before consolidating them - and definitely call your student loan servicer or the dept of education before consolidating so you know the benefits and drawbacks before hand. Thanks for watching! -k

Hi! That’s great!!!! Thanks for the update! -k

Thanks!

Hi! I would think so but recommend you use the help tool here to look up your employer: studentaid.gov/pslf/ Thanks for watching! -k

Hi! Only if the FFEL loans are still in repayment can you consolidate them all - but if they’ve been forgiven, there is no FFEL loan to include with your Direct loans. 😢 I don’t want you to think of yourself as “screwed” - you took the best option available with the information available. I suggest you call the Dept of Ed and talk to them as they’ll be able to look at your account and might be able to help you. Good luck and thanks for watching! -k

Hi @soh1975! I'm so sorry to hear what a burden these student loans have been for you <3 The government should be covering the interest currently accruing while you're paying $0 on the SAVE plan but there's been some hiccups in the rollout and some people are reporting the payments haven't gone through, unfortunately, it sounds like you're in this group. If your loans are 40 years old, they should be forgiven on SAVE very soon but I don't know how the Fresh Start program factors into this - I'd call the Dept of Ed what they can tell you about your timeframe for SAVE forgiveness. (with your COPD they have an online chat option you can find here: studentaid.gov/help-center/contact ) As for your credit report, I recommend taking a look at your credit reports at annualcreditreport.com to make sure everything there is correct, your student loans are showing up as being paid, and to check that there isn't something else wrong on it that's dropping your score. If you do find mistakes, you can work on getting them corrected and this will hopefully increase your score. Lastly, the only thing I can think of to help with your homeowners insurance is to get quotes from other agencies and see if they can offer you a better deal. I hope this helps, my heart goes out to you and my fingers are crossed your loans are forgiven soon! Thanks for watching and let me know how it goes! -k

Hi! I think there’s been some issues with the rollout. Unfortunately I’ve heard a few people mention this one - I’d call your loan servicer and ask them what’s going on. Take good notes! Chances are, they’re just waiting on the payment. Once their payments come through regularly, you can try this method of overpaying before the next billing cycle. Thanks for watching and good luck! -k

Thanks!!😊

Thanks for watching!

Hi! Thanks - always doing what I can to help people make better, more informed, money decisions! Thanks for watching!! -k

Hi! If you do consolidate, everyone's payment count drops to "0" initially, but this gets updated within a few months - don't worry about that but definitely take screenshots and get documentation of your payment history before you consolidate on the very off chance something gets lost in the transition. PSLF, unlike a lot of the other student loan forgiveness that's been in the news recently, is federal law, passed by Congress in 2007 and would require an act of Congress to stop it. It is highly, highly unlikely it's going anywhere anytime soon (which isn't to say that isn't possible, it's just extremely unlikely) so I wouldn't worry about that. If you have one loan with three years of payments before getting forgiven via PSLF and other loans with many more years before forgiveness, this consolidation would make all the loans get forgiven in three years. I recommend calling the Dept of Ed to double check this is what will happen and they can also talk you through all your repayment options (for PSLF you'll need to be on one of the IDR plans. if you do want to get PSLF, it's wisest to go with the one with the lowest monthly payment - see my vid here for more: th-cam.com/video/gGX7WOwjMjo/w-d-xo.html ) Hope this helps and thanks for watching! -k

Hi! That's a great question; I've heard conflicting stories. Some say it's a weighted average, some say the entire new loan takes on grad school rules. I recommend you call the Dept of Ed and ask them - and would love to know what they say as others will want to hear. Thanks for watching and good luck! -k

Hi! There may be benefits but it'll depend on your whole student loan situation. I'd call the Dept of Ed and ask them to look at your file and see what benefits (and drawbacks) there could be by consolidating. Thanks for watching! -k

Thanks for watching!

Yay libraries and librarians! Glad the vids have been helpful! It could still apply even if you haven't had applied to have time in repayment PSLF-qualified (that is, you've never sent in the PSLF form). If you called the Dept of Ed then they probably were able to help you out for your situation. For anyone else reading, here's a common situation where the consolidation could take time off your loans with PSLF - - you have been working in a pslf-qualifying job for a few years and paying back student loans, then you go back to school for a year, take out more loans, and after go back to a pslf-qualifying job. By consolidating the original loans which have years of repayments (say they have 3 more years to go before they get forgiven) with the new loans with far fewer repayments (9 years until PSLF forgiveness) - and all these periods meet the PSLF qualifications, see my vid here for more: th-cam.com/video/XrJ0D_uIn-I/w-d-xo.html - now the new, consolidated loan will only have 3 years until it's forgiven through PSLF! note: this may not work as well for 20/25 year *IDR forgiveness* as consolidating undergrad (forgiven in 20) and grad loans (forgiven in 25) will now have to have 25 years in repayment for forgiveness. Thanks for watching and please share so others don't miss out on this important deadline! -k

Hi! Contact the dept of Education - their number is in the description. Since they have access to your acct info they’ll be able to give you the best direction. Thanks for watching! -k

Hi! On SAVE this is possible so they want you to know that. This said, they gov covers the interest your payment may not (like if you have $100 in interest a month but your payment is $25 they’ll cover the $75) so your balance can’t balloon - at worst it’ll stay the same. You’ll have to weigh how beneficial the lower monthly payment is compared to the lowered impact on your student loan balance and do what’s right for you. You can always call the Dept of Education and have them explain your options! Good luck and thanks for watching! -k

@@themoneylibrarian You're awesome, Thanks!

Wow - you're right, I just went to their website and couldn't find the IDR recount page easily. I had to do a search and found this page: studentaid.gov/announcements-events/idr-account-adjustment Thanks! -k

@@themoneylibrarian Hello! Thanks for your respone :). Great you found a link. I only found mention of the June 30th deadline when I went to the search bar and typed "one time adjustment." Consequently, I saw the article that was easily accessible in April on the main pages that formerly mentioned the April 30th deadline. studentaid.gov/announcements-events/idr-account-adjustment Oh I just saw that it's the same one you found. :)

🤣 Great minds think alike!

@@themoneylibrarian Hello! I just wrote a long post after speaking with the personnel at the dept of edu. It didn't make it to post mode. I don't know what happened. So, I'll try again tomorrow, because it's almost 1:00AM in France. So far, things are on pause until July 1st. They shall pick back up and start reviewing again after that date. :)

Hi! So glad I was able to help - congrats on the successful student loan consolidation!!! Thanks for watching! -k

Hi!! Hope you like it - it’s an update to an earlier vid about the student loan consolidation deadline as they changed it from April 30th to June 30th and I wanted to have something out there for the new due date. Thanks for watching!! -k

Hi @meandmycolors - yes, it's the same thing, they changed the deadline and my old video kept saying "April 30th" so I wanted to put out another video with the correct timeframe. Thanks for watching! -k

Hi @Wistundra - If you consolidate these loans they'll take the longer of the repayment history and apply it to the new loan. The IDR recount will update the number of payments that count towards forgiveness - some forbearances will count, some won't. There's a great FAQ at the end of this page that should help you understand how many payments will count and which won't: studentaid.gov/announcements-events/idr-account-adjustment With the IBR plan you get forgiveness for the remaining balance after 20 years if you're a new borrower on or after July 1, 2014 and 25 years if you're not a new borrower on or after July 1, 2014. If you haven't checked out your options for repayment in a while, I'd log on to studentaid.gov and see what the other plans offer you as far as monthly payment and when they'd be forgiven. With all the updates you may be better off on one of the other income driven repayment plans. Good luck and thanks for watching! -k

@@themoneylibrarian Thanx ! that page answered a lot of questions !! ☺

Hi @jcwdesigns82 - Thank you for your kind words! That's a great idea, I'll put it on my (ever increasing) video list! Sorry to hear you went to a school that ended up being so predatory they had to have a federal ruling against them - but super glad the government is making it up to the students!! According to this press release you shouldn't have to do anything to get your loans forgiven via this ruling (www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/biden-harris-administration-approves-61-billion-group-student-loan-discharge-317000-borrowers-who-attended-art-institutes) I'd contact the Dept of Ed to ask about your timeframe issue - and take good notes in case what they say ends up not being what happens. I'd also ask about consolidating - as long as you're within the June 30th deadline I don't *think* this will cause any issues with the Borrower Defense group discharge of loans but you never know. Good luck and thanks for watching! -k

@@themoneylibrarian Thanks for the reply and adding it to the list. Agreed, it's unfortunate that I fell for their practices, but I've luckily been in my field for almost 20 years, so it's not a totally bad ending. I'll be thankful to be rid of the baggage though, if and when it comes through. Thanks again for all you do!

Glad you’ve had such a successful career!! 😀 Good luck with Borrower Defense🍀, let me know how it goes! -k

Hi @pattiboilore7898 - sort of. (yeah, I wish I had a better answer for you, too!) Parent Plus loans would need to be consolidated TWICE to get the "stink" of the PPL of it so it's eligible for SAVE. Unfortunately that takes, at best, four months, so chances are you'd lose your payment history. This is called the Double Consolidation Loophole. It is going away in July of 2025. Here's my vid on it if you'd like to know more - it could drastically drop your monthly payment: th-cam.com/video/zSyV-aIH2Gs/w-d-xo.html Thanks for watching! -k

Hi @lindaparish9000 - UGH! I'm so sorry to hear this, it sounds hugely frustrating! Based on my comment sections and what I hear, it isn't uncommon for student loan servicers to give bad advice, you may have better luck calling back and getting a different person to help. Wish I had some magical knowledge for your situation!!! Good luck and thanks for watching! -k

Hi! You have to work more than 30 hours a week at a qualifying organization for the time to qualify for PSLF. Any time you aren't working at a qualifying org won't count towards the needed 120 months of qualifying payment periods for PSLF. My two cents: I'd send in a PSLF application (they're on pause this month, so in July) so you get the time you were at the org approved now. You never know what will happen in life and you may end up at another place in a few years that counts for PSLF and you don't want to lose this time you've accrued. By putting in the PSLF application now, you save yourself big headaches down the road. Imagine having to go back to an employer you haven't worked for since 2019 and asking them to sign some paperwork? Good luck in the new job and thanks for watching! -k

Hi! According to this website (studentaid.gov/announcements-events/streamlining-loan-web-experience) You will have to wait until July to get your payment count update via studentaid.gov I know this is a hassle now but it should prove to be a FAR better system than what they had been doing - and July is only a few weeks away 😯. Thanks for watching! -k

Hi @rampage.laysha5642 - This seems odd but each plan works differently and it estimates future payments. Between those two factors it's easy for the forgiven amount to change. You may need to choose one based on WHEN the amount would be forgiven. Good luck and thanks for watching! -k

Hi @cheyennemata7064 - congrats on the new job; thanks for watching! -k