For those playing reindeer games with their SLs (paying ahead)

[calyx]

I've been absent a bit lately, but hi!

As some know, I'm 'playing reindeer games' with my SLs - seeing if I can get any breakpoints with paydown percentages and what not.   I'm also tracking my pay-ahead status with the NSLDS student loan file.   Since I consolidated in 2018 and have no interest in getting a mortgage - ever, I figured I'd pay it down to ~100-200, throw the next due date on a calendar somewhere and ride out my loan for years to come.

For those that hope to use SLs to keep an open installment line on your CR but pay minimal interest LIKE ME (like one does with SSLs) - check your files.   It appears the deferment from the CARES act has reset the next due date (like recertifying your IDR/IBR/ICR...etc)

I went from sometime into the long distance future to... 10/20 as my next 'due' date.
And after contacting my servicer - removing the deferment won't give me my original due date back, just restart my clock.

[thornback]

This is horrible.  I was only paid out 6 months in advance but intended on pushing that much, much further.  So much for that since now I'm back to square one as well.  I'd be highly irritated if I were in your shoes. 

Maybe they'll fix it when the forbearance ends if it affects enough people - doubtful but you never know 

[calyx]

"highly irritated" is a very good descriptor.

Of course, the first CSR was confused.   Great!  I paid ahead, now I owe less, so paying off early shouldn't be a problem right? /sigh
Explaining FICO reindeer games to some frontline CSR person is not what I had in mind, so they let me talk to someone else and they seemed to think it won't go back after September, that the due date "reset."

I did not expect any payments made during this period to push the payment out, but hadn't realized I'd lose my pay-ahead date from before CARES (and I'll check in October to be sure).   So, I'll just keep stockpiling my payments and push a big one after the deferral ends and see where that leaves me.

I'll bet that there aren't enough people who care about their next technical due date to even make a blip in someone's thought train.  My guess is that the system is programmed to automagically re-set the due dates after any certification/deferment/forebearance effects and not worth their effort to fix (though now I know to call ahead, though I'm not sure I could have stopped the initial deferral).   

At least we have 0% APR to comfort us?

[thornback]

---

@calyx wrote:

I'll bet that there aren't enough people who care about their next technical due date to even make a blip in someone's thought train.  

---

We may be surprised as to how many people care about their next due date... and not for FICO-related reasons.  Granted, this is anecdotal, but I have a small group of friends that all happen to work for the same company (I don't work for this company though...) and they have used bonus pay to make larger dents in their student loan balances and push out their dates, allowing them to pay whatever (lower) amounts they want per month to cover interest while increasing the amount of monthly discrentionary income they retain.  Their bonus payouts are quarterly - so they've been able to repeat the cycle and push the payment due date even further.   I'm sure my buddies aren't the only ones doing something similar so having every borrower's extended due dates suddenly become immediately due may receive some negative feedback (we can dream...).     

And I'll be calling in October as well to see if this can be rectified.   I do enjoy the 0% APR though -- the entirety of payments going directly to principal has had a significant effect on the level of satisfaction I get from making a payment... 

[calyx]

Yeah, and I think the people most harmed are going to be those that don't have the autopay set up and get dinged for a late/no payment (when they thought it was pushed out).  I did note (when all of this started) that my next autopayment from the servicer (which I do for the interest reduction bonus) was set for October, which makes sense.  I'm not sure what niggled in my brain to check my nslds file, but I'm glad I did.

[Revelate]

Yuck.

I can remember how annoyed I was when DCU reset my due date to 3 months ahead... but if everything were good with my own reindeer games and my date got reset as a result of forbearance, I would be righteously angry.

Another reason to not request it if not needed I guess.

[thornback]

---

@Revelate wrote:

Another reason to not request it if not needed I guess.

---

Yeah but.. the Cares Act forbearance is automatic (at least those serviced by Nelnet were automatically adjusted). You can request to opt-out of it, but I don't know if opting-out after it's already been applied would change the outcome of accelerated due dates???    

[Revelate]

---

@thornback wrote:

---

@Revelate wrote:

Another reason to not request it if not needed I guess.

---

Yeah but.. the Cares Act forbearance is automatic (at least those serviced by Nelnet were automatically adjusted). You can request to opt-out of it, but I don't know if opting-out after it's already been applied would change the outcome of accelerated due dates???    

---

Really depends on their implementation but I suspect it would reset due date to next month sadly.  I don't know why anyone would keep a before and after due date to be honest in their data model and I suspect it was just a single line SQL statement to update all the due dates to 6 months from when they ran it.

[thornback]

---

@Revelate wrote:

---

---

Really depends on their implementation but I suspect it would reset due date to next month sadly.  I don't know why anyone would keep a before and after due date to be honest in their data model and I suspect it was just a single line SQL statement to update all the due dates to 6 months from when they ran it.

---

Yeah... I think you're probably right about that. 

[calyx]

---

@Revelate wrote:

---

@thornback wrote:

---

@Revelate wrote:

Another reason to not request it if not needed I guess.

---

Yeah but.. the Cares Act forbearance is automatic (at least those serviced by Nelnet were automatically adjusted). You can request to opt-out of it, but I don't know if opting-out after it's already been applied would change the outcome of accelerated due dates???    

---

Really depends on their implementation but I suspect it would reset due date to next month sadly.  I don't know why anyone would keep a before and after due date to be honest in their data model and I suspect it was just a single line SQL statement to update all the due dates to 6 months from when they ran it.

---

^ This is what I was told.   I could remove the forebearance and get back to paying, but my next due date would restart to next month.   I would still enjoy the 0%, but that would be it.

I'm due to be furloughed this month, so I guess I'll skip my push pay this month (when it all started and auto pulls stopped, I did not remove the extra I pushed from my bank).

It makes sense that it was automated that way - I don't know why one would ask for a forebearance unless you wanted to push back the payment (most likely for financial reasons)... so it's natural that your next due date would just be the end of the forebearance.   It's a hair frustrating that I can't even be mad at a servicer for it.

My servicer is Cornerstone, which is one of the smaller ones, but i think it's the same across the board.   I did check in with them when this all started and basically got a "hold on until we figure this all out" but then my next message from them was about the automatic application.   Oh well.  I'll just stockpile the payment until October.    I could have bigger problems.