In most marriages, couples share their finances. Each spouse contributes their income to the family coffers, while each spouse treats the other’s debt as a shared obligation. Because of this shared effort to pay off debt, cosigning a spouse’s refinanced or consolidated student loan sounds like a no-brainer. Cosigning a …
Help! My Student Loan Payment Went Up Because I Got Married!
It doesn’t seem fair. Married borrowers are often expected to pay more on their federal student loans than a borrower with the same income who happens to be single. Income-driven repayment plans are one of the great perks about federal loans because they help ensure that student loan borrowers can …
IBR and PAYE Strategy in Community Property States
On their own, income-driven repayment plans like Income-Based Repayment (IBR) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) can be complicated. When borrowers get married, the repayment strategy and calculations get even more complicated. The married borrowers who live in community property states face the most complication. Couples who live in community …
Couples who owe Nearly a Million: High Income but Large Debt
The Situation: Husband and Wife both have great jobs. Unfortunately for the couple, both spouses also have massive student debt. Many doctors, lawyers, optometrists, dentists, and veterinarians, had to borrow a great deal of money for the required education. In some marriages, this debt is doubled. These high earning couples …
Waiting on Getting Married to Chase Public Service Loan Forgiveness
The dirty little secret of student loan debt is that there can be a very real penalty to getting married. Student loan forgiveness programs, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness, require a borrower to enroll in an Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan. The benefit of an IDR plan, is that borrowers …
Student Loans and Marriage: Everything You Need to Know
Like it or not, student loans can have a huge impact on a marriage Student loans affect a couple’s ability to pay for a wedding, have kids, and retire Couples with student debt need to plan tax strategy carefully The Marriage Penalty for student loan borrowers is a real problem …
Student Loan Plan: When You Can’t Afford Your Federal Loans
In this edition of the student loan plan, we take a look at Mindy’s federal student loan issues. The monthly bill is more than her family can afford. She doesn’t know how she is going to pay for daily expenses like food, rent, and utilities. The lenders want her to put $1,000 …
Telling Your Significant Other About Your Student Loans
Revealing to a loved one that you have tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt is a massive hurdle in any relationship. On the one hand, you haven’t done anything wrong. It’s not like you cheated or ran up debt gambling. However, it is still a life-altering debt. …