topic Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased? in Student Loans

IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 02:47:24 GMT

We have 5 kids and 60k in income. Our IBR is set at 0. We want a usda mortgage loan, but can't get one with ibr at 0. Is there anyway to have it increased to a dollar amount?

Jessica

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

webhopper — Sat, 25 May 2013 12:05:08 GMT

Have you tried calling the student loan servicer? Is there any way that one of the kids can be claimed as a dependent by someone else for tax purposes?

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 13:29:21 GMT

I can't let anyone else claim a child on my taxes, but I don't think that taxes and ibr paperwork dependents work the same way.

If I could claim only 4 kids, that would raise my ibr payment enough to get a loan. Is that legal??

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 13:31:20 GMT

I did call the servicer. They had no idea now I could have it increased. I didn't ask specifically about leaving off a kid. I might do it without asking. If it is deemed illegal, it would still have worked in their favor by us paying more than we otherwise would have. I'm not cheating them in any way, but still don't need any problems, ya know?

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

webhopper — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:32:51 GMT

I don't believe I can advocate doing what you suggested... What about setting up a payment plan that is NOT income dependent?... Or simply ask the servicer if they can give you a minimum monthly payment of something like $15

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

webhopper — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:35:36 GMT

For example... A Graduated Repayment plan would have low monthly payments at first which would gradually increase over time.

Graduated Repayment Plan

Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans
all PLUS loans

Payments are lower at first and then increase, usually every two years.

Up to 10 years

You'll pay more for your loan over time than under the 10-year standard plan.

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:35:48 GMT

They said they can't give a payment higher than 0 unless my income warrants it. The next plan option puts out payments way too high! My husband and I each have what has now accrued to 130k! Min payment is $900 for each...so $1800 total a month! No way we can do that.

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:36:49 GMT

Usda loans won't let you use a graduated plan. It has to be a standard or an ibr with a payment higher than 0.

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

webhopper — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:37:01 GMT

Are either you or your husband working in the Public Service sector? Or teaching?

It would be beneficial to go into a career that would allow you to forgive the student loan debt after working in that career for the defined period of time.

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

webhopper — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:37:39 GMT

Have you tried looking at the option to do a FHA mortgage?

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:39:25 GMT

We have. Te problem with fha is that pmi is now for the life of the loan come June 1. It takes our payments up about $145 more a month.

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:40:07 GMT

No. My husband is a systems engineer and I homeschool 5 kids.

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

webhopper — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:46:48 GMT

Have you looked at a conventional mortgage with 3% down payment? MI stops being paid when LTV reaches 80%

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:47:27 GMT

My husband has taken a side business that, on next years taxes, will raise our income just enough to make ibr payments. We make just 2k too little to owe a payment right now. However, usda will lose its funding in the area we are buying this September. See my dilemma?

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

webhopper — Sat, 25 May 2013 15:02:01 GMT

This from the USDA Underwriting Guideline

www.rurdev.usda.gov/id/GUARPage/GRH_Underwriting.pdf

Deferred student loans are long term obligations with remaining repayment periods of
more than 6 months, and they must be included as part of the applicant’s recurring
monthly debt obligations. If the credit report does not reflect a monthly payment due
at the end of the deferment period, the lender may request a copy of the applicant’s
payment letter, or utilize the industry standard of estimating student loan payments as
1% of the loan balance. Example: A deferred student loan balance of $12,000
should have a corresponding monthly payment of $120 if no estimated payment is
verified by the lender.

Seems like you need to find a lender that will work with you...

Also, consider a consolidating and asking them to put you on an IBR plan that is based on a larger percentage of your income... etc, based on 25% instead of 10% or 17%

Your best bet would be to work with the student loan company to put you on a payment plan which has a monthly payment.... or give up on the idea of going with USDA. You may be able to get a home loan using a different program such as HomePath, or conventional with 3% down

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 15:01:37 GMT

We have. The interest rate is higher. But if we have to go that route, then I don't have to hurry about getting ibr to list payments because next tax season will make our income higher. We just were hoping to go usda.

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

webhopper — Sat, 25 May 2013 15:07:49 GMT

Making it Easier to Finance Your Home.

HomePath financing, available only on Fannie Mae-owned properties, offers great benefits — low down payment, no mortgage insurance, expanded seller contributions, and more. HomePath Mortgage is available for move-in ready properties for both owner occupants and investors — a limited number of HomePath lenders also now offer HomePath Mortgage for the LLC borrower. The HomePath Renovation Mortgage provides both the funds to purchase and to renovate in one loan. You also can use the financing of your choice from any lender, such as your local bank, credit union or other financial institution.

from the Fannie Mae website.

The bad thing about these are that you are limited to foreclosed properties, the good thing is that you have a "First Look" period where you can take a look at the property and make an offer in the first 15 days, after 15 day, investors can offer.

They also do rehab loans, so if the house needs some work, you can do a rehab loan which is then converted to a regular mortgage

USDA is a great program but it looks like the timing is all wacky for you guys and you may not be able to fit it in or make it work

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 15:08:50 GMT

This is from usda Income Based Repayment (IBR):
• IBR amounts are not fixed payments and may increase annually
• IBR payments of $0 are not eligible to be used in the debt ratio

I've never herd of homepath. I'll go look now!

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

Booner72 — Sat, 25 May 2013 16:33:29 GMT

Homepath Rocks - we bought a Homepath House.

Secondly, Have you done the yearly updated with your IBR yet? If you have, there are forms available to make changes. If you haven't the form is available online so submit your yearly statement because yes, family size can change, and we did because at first I only claimed 2 of us out of 4 because we did married filing separately and I was confused. I upped it to four and no questions asked. My son will be 18 in 3 years and there goes another change of family size.

Im so confused as to why you want a payment, though. I have IBR and the payment amount changed right away through the mortgage process, so I had them quickly credit report the new amount so It didn't cause problems at the last minute. Luckily it still fit within DTI no problem.

Just show a copy of the statement they send you that says Your Payment Amount This year is 0.00 and write a letter of explanation about it. That's what we did and had no problems at all because my payment is pretty low for the amount of $ I owe - LO's know about IBR these days and how it works.

Are you using Homepath financing? We didn't because even w/ PMI the payment was cheaper than Homepath, which back then did NOT require PMI but was about a percent higher.

Re: IBR set at 0....how can I get it increased?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 17:18:27 GMT

I need a payment because an ibr payment of 0 is not allowed.

I know family change can size at anytime, but I need to claim only 4 instead of 5. So taking one off might be a problem.