Hi PF,
My husband's student loans have just come out of forbearance due to a rough year after graduation including sickness, unemployment/underemployment, etc. Good news is that things are looking much better now, but I want to make sure that we're doing everything possible to both keep out of pocket costs down (as we're still working on building our emergency fund back up) and do the right thing to get these paid off.
The loans as they are right now (all are Stafford Loans held with Great Lakes, FWIW) :
1) FFEL Subsidized - 4153.81 @ 5.350% 2) FFEL Unsubsidized - 9464.47 @ 6.550% 3) FFEL Subsidized - 1161.33 @ 5.350% 4) Direct Subsidized Stafford $5,190.48 4.250% 5) Direct Unsubsidized Stafford $8,903.13 6.550% 6) Direct Subsidized Stafford $1,153.44 4.250% 7) Direct Unsubsidized Stafford $1,441.33 6.550% 8) Direct Subsidized Stafford $6,166.03 3.150% 9) Direct Unsubsidized Stafford $9,913.82 6.550% 10) Direct Subsidized Stafford $6,166.03 3.150% 11) Direct Unsubsidized Stafford $9,690.10 6.550%
Total : $63,407
Currently he's making an autopayment of $569 per month based on IBR/Pay as you Earn, but I see that there are other options (Level, Graduated, Extended Level, Extended Graduated), I don't know if any of those are better or worse.
For other context, if it helps : Current household income is approx $130K (him $80k me $50k, both are high performers with good chance of EOY bonuses).
We're not planning on making any major purchases anytime soon, but we are planning to start a family in the next 2 years or so (planning vs reality of course being two separate things!), part of my anxiety about his loans is the possibility of us living on just his paycheck.
We also have about $7k in credit card debt @ 16.24% - this is our main priority right now and we have a plan to pay it down within next 6 months.
Would greatly, great appreciate any advise you can give! Reading this sub is what got us to have an emergency fund in the first place which frankly saved our butts last year :)
Submitted October 22, 2017 at 12:18PM by aquietseason http://ift.tt/2gtCGsY
