fbpx
:::: MENU ::::

Nooooo!!!!!!!!

by

That was my immediate thought when I opened my email inbox to discover THIS message waiting for me inside.

Screen Shot 2015-05-09 at 7.17.53 AM

So there’s that. ACS (with whom I’ve never ever had a single issue) has sold my loans to Navient (with whom I’ve had multiple and ongoing issues). So that’s good.

I’ve got a couple months until the transition is complete, but I’m really contemplating what to do regarding my loans.

I’m still set on my current plan: focusing predominantly on my car loan, while also paying aggressively on my balance-transfer student loan. But, ugh! My passionate hatred for my student loan company makes me wish I could just write a check, pay them all off, and never deal with them again.

My Income Based Repayment (IBR) renewal is on the horizon as well, and once I submit our 2014 tax information I’m anticipating that my monthly payments will be going up a bit. I’m really not sure by how much (side note: one good thing is that they take into consideration income AND expenses…although our income went up in 2014 compared to 2013, so did our childcare expenses. We were paying $600/month when I initially applied for IBR, but we currently pay nearly double that, so hopefully that will help offset the increased income a bit in determining our monthly payment obligations).

Random question (I’m sure I could call and ask but thought I’d throw it out here)… for anyone else who has done IBR payments, when you renew does your payment immediately change or does it not change until the end of the year? I ask because I don’t have to renew until August, but I’m getting emails to renew now. Just wondered if I went ahead and renewed now if my payment would immediately change or if the change wouldn’t go into effect until August.


14 Comments

  • Reply Jessica |

    Any time I’ve submitted my IBR renewals, they’ve become effective immediately. In fact- when I submitted my last renewal through SallieMae (before they became Navient), they e-mailed me to renew my IBR paperwork (about 3 months out)- I submitted new IBR paperwork. They processed and raised my payment immediately, but only made it effective for three months (until the original expiration date)….so then I had to submit MORE renewal paperwork closer to the expiration. Honestly, I had so many problems with Navient/SallieMae that I ended up consolidating just to not have to deal with them. I consolidated with Great Lakes (I think ACS is also an option for federal consolidation loans- and you can choose your servicer). I have heard of people having problems with Great Lakes as well, but I’ve never had that issue. Of course, I don’t think that will stop them from potentially selling to Navient in the future, but in the interim, it has made it a much more seamless process for me.

    Good luck!

    • Reply Ashley |

      Wow! What a nightmare! Definitely makes me lean toward the “wait to renew” option.

  • Reply kathryn |

    I noticed you mentioned calling the Student Loan company to ask a question, so I wanted to suggest another alternative. Check on the website and see if they have a “chat now” function. I use it all the time when I have questions about my loans (serviced through Nelnet). The chat representatives are usually really quick to answer and it’s just so easy!

    • Reply Ashley |

      Thanks for the tip! This is a great alternative to sitting, waiting on hold, and all that crud that comes with actually calling the loan company!

  • Reply christa |

    My ACS loans were moved to Great Lakes, there were no problems. i just re-applied for the graduated loan payments.

  • Reply C@thesingledollar |

    So, that sucks, BUT I don’t think it has to change much now that you have your balance transfer plan on. You’re just going to do that for every loan, right? So, just attack each one in a row and in the meantime pay the minimum monthly to Navient.

    • Reply Ashley |

      It’s true. I guess I’ve thought in the back of my mind I’d like to try to pay more toward my unsubsidized loans (since they continue to accrue interest). I may actually be able to call and set up set payments each month (a set dollar amount, above the minimum) that will circumvent the whole having to call every month issue. Right now, though, I’m not going to do anything. Just keep up with the current plan and wait to renew IBR until August. Then I can go from there when I know what my new payments will be.

      • Reply Angie |

        I wrote on your older Navient post but I wasn’t sure if you saw it…

        Try the mobile version of the Navient site (or download the app). I stumbled upon it by accident and my consolidated loan has the option to pay a specific amount to whatever loan I choose. This is unlike the regular website that will only allow a total payment to be split across all the grouped loans.

  • Reply Sarah |

    Is the interest on the subsidized loans in IBR forgiven monthly, or not until the end of the 25 year payment period? Just wondering how it works when you start focusing on those loans. The majority of my loans are at navient and I will be applying for IBR in the next few weeks as well. Your progress and attitude have been so motivating for me!

    • Reply Ashley |

      Interest is forgiven monthly. You can actually see this with my ACS loans (because they are subsidized loans). You’ll notice if you look at my old debt updates that the amount due has stayed the exact same every single month. That’s because my payment is just going straight to interest, unpaid interest is forgiven, and the principal balance has stayed the same. The same is not true of my Navient loans because I have both subsidized AND unsubsidized loans with them (so the unsub keep accruing interest).

  • Reply Barbolarb |

    Ran across this article and thought it might be relevant to you:
    http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/05/06/sofi-review/
    I have no experience with the company discussed (SoFi) but lots of other readers had good things to say about it, and it may be worth investigating. If I hadn’t kicked my student loans to the curb already, I’d be checking it out.

    • Reply Ashley |

      Thanks for the link – I’ll have to check them out. In general I’ve been adverse to refinancing through a private company because many don’t offer the same assurances the federally-backed programs do (e.g., option for deferment or forbearance in worst case scenarios), but that doesn’t mean I’m fundamentally opposed to them across the board. I’ll have to learn more and think it over. Thanks for the tip!

  • Reply Shauna |

    Actually, while I’m not a fan of Navient yesterday I was able to call them and got all my loans “ungrouped” both the Dept of Education loans and the Federal loans. Unfortunately I noticed the number and the option to ungroup them after I sent my regular online payment to them, so the payment that I had already scheduled posted to only one of the 4 Fed loans I have. However it does look like I can now pay individual loans online separately in the future, which will be huge for trying to snowball things. It does still look like it’s going to advance the due date, but if I continue to pay each month I’m hoping it’s not an issue.

    • Reply Ashley |

      WHAT!?!/?!?! I almost fell out of my chair reading this! I had no idea you could call and ask for your loans to be ungrouped and they would just do it! WOW! Big virtual hug to you, friend, because this info can save me MANY MANY hours of phone calls, irritability, and so forth. I am SOOOOO doing this for my loans next month (I’ve already paid for this month). THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

So, what do you think ?