@rhinomite wrote:
I'm finally financially able to start mending my loan issues. I defaulted back in 2009 and have been unable to make payments/afraid to deal with this mess until now. I'm going to start with tackling my federal loans but I am more concerned about the 40K+ hole that I am in with my private loans. Does anyone have any hope or tips for me while I take on this nightmare?
What is the interest rate on your private loans vs your federal loans? Are you enrolled in IBR or PAYE for your federal loans? Depending on what your income is, you may not need to make any payments on the federal loans right now. And if you do, again, depending upon what your income is, it may be a reduced payment. Definitely look into that. If you're able to enroll in IBR or PAYE (and you should be able to enroll in one of them; with PAYE, your payments will be slightly less than with IBR, but there are a number of eligibility requirements for PAYE, whereas IBR, I think anyone with federal loans is eligible), in order to make a smaller payment every month, I'd definitely do that.
That would free up some money to make your payments on your private loans. What is your monthly payment? Is there a possibility of refinancing to a better interest rate?
