Help figuring SL interest, please??

[Anonymous]

Okay, I can't figure this out myself and hubby (who could) is on travel STILL. Can ya'll please help? Math has never, ever been my strong suit!!

Our loan, which we took out in Feb 2000, was originally for $28K+ change (somewhere around $28,400). We've used 22 months in forbearance. To pay it off today would be approx $28K. On our account it says with capitalized interest, it's $52K.

Our payments (on the LEVEL plan, which we've ALWAYS been on) were $242 for about 3-4 years, then jumped up to $504/month. So far, we've paid approx $29-30K.

Can anyone tell me how the interest is figured? And if that number's right?

Really, really, really, thanks SO much in advance!!
*hating math with a purple posied passion*

Edit: Forgot to mention interest rate (see, I AM stupid!! Grrrrr!!!): 8% (consolidation loan).

Message Edited by Wonderin on 06-13-2008 06:15 PM

[MattH]

The best sites I know for doing loan calculations are http://www.mtgprofessor.com/ and www.bankrate.com they both have various tools.

[LynnInMN]

The best site for student loan calculations is http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml

[Anonymous]

OK-

A 28K loan 10 years at 8% would be 339.72 a month- '

Over the life of this loan paying every month - 12,766. in interest would be paid.  add in the 4 years in school, 2 years of forbearance and a few years of interest only payments-

So it's fairly safe to say you were at interest only those first few years- 

 22 months in forbearance - you did not make payments but the interest still accured -

I think it really could be posible you still owed this much-  

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Wonderin wrote:
Okay, I can't figure this out myself and hubby (who could) is on travel STILL. Can ya'll please help? Math has never, ever been my strong suit!!

Our loan, which we took out in Feb 2000, was originally for $28K+ change (somewhere around $28,400). We've used 22 months in forbearance. To pay it off today would be approx $28K. On our account it says with capitalized interest, it's $52K.

Our payments (on the LEVEL plan, which we've ALWAYS been on) were $242 for about 3-4 years, then jumped up to $504/month. So far, we've paid approx $29-30K.

Can anyone tell me how the interest is figured? And if that number's right?

Really, really, really, thanks SO much in advance!!
*hating math with a purple posied passion*

Edit: Forgot to mention interest rate (see, I AM stupid!! Grrrrr!!!): 8% (consolidation loan).

Message Edited by Wonderin on 06-13-2008 06:15 PM

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[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

OK-

A 28K loan 10 years at 8% would be 339.72 a month- '

Over the life of this loan paying every month - 12,766. in interest would be paid. add in the 4 years in school, 2 years of forbearance and a few years of interest only payments-

So it's fairly safe to say you were at interest only those first few years-

22 months in forbearance - you did not make payments but the interest still accured -

I think it really could be posible you still owed this much-

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Thanks, Timothy!
But this was a consolidation loan ... the amount we borrowed when we consolidated was $28K (plus change)!! There wouldn't be the 4 years of school in the equation!

[Anonymous]

wait, I'm confused. When did you take out the consolidation loan? In 2000? was the forbearance before or after that? B/c a 28K loan from 2000 could easily reach that amount, I would think. Interest usually capitalizes quarterly.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

wait, I'm confused. When did you take out the consolidation loan? In 2000? was the forbearance before or after that? B/c a 28K loan from 2000 could easily reach that amount, I would think. Interest usually capitalizes quarterly.

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We took it out in 2000, made $242 payments monthly (what we were supposed to) for several years and then in approximately 2005 used about 22 months in forbearance.

Our promissory note doesn't say the terms of the loan (i.e., how many months) but I guess that in about 5 years we didn't make much of a dent in the loan? I mean, for it to have ballooned so much?

I don't suppose you'd have any insight into why, when ACS took it over, the payments ballooned (on the LEVEL plan) from $242 to $504, would you? That has me completely stumped!!!!

EDITED: Whoops! It could have been less than 5 years -- about 4 1/2 years, I think, at the least.

Message Edited by Wonderin on 06-26-2008 11:08 PM

[Anonymous]

It does seems a bit extreme. My question is, did you contact the company? To me, that seems to be the best place to start. Maybe you were making interest-only, b/c at 10 years, $28K would be about$340/month. I would just call and ask.

[Anonymous]

It's being investigated right now, actually. A specialist with the Dispute Resolution department has had our file now for about 2-3 weeks (getting nervous, waiting). What actually initiated the look-into was our asking for GW towards some of the lates.

It's just been such a stinking mess. Every time we'd contact them, we'd get someone who obviously spoke little english and read from an (REALLY) obvious script.

When we asked why the change from $242 to $504 on the LEVEL payment plan, the rep would literally tell us "That's what you've always paid." We'd tell'em "Nope. It's not. We have proof." And the rep would pretty much tell us we were full of crap.

They couldn't even "find" our promissory note. The Dispute Specialist found it in a few days and sent it to us.

So, hubby and I kind of think that with all the unprofessional crap we've had to deal with, it would nice if we could get the most recent lates off. :/

[Anonymous]

Ask ACS to send you a payment/transaction history - it will show all capitalized interest and payments received (and how applied to principal and interest). When you see it all line by line it will make more sense to you- and you'll know that you can learn this math!

A $28K consolidation loan would have a 20 year repayment period. At 8% for 20 years on $28K, your monthly payment would be $234.20 a month - pretty close to your LEVEL $242. Why the payment would jumpt to $504 I don't know- but my guess is it's a double payment and a late fee, and that's the minimum payment for one month, not the rest of the repayment term.

Your annual interest is $2240 a year, and for 22 months of forbearance that's about $4400 being added to your balance of $28K= $32400. 20 year repayment on that would be $271 a month, but you wouldn't have the full 20 years since you've used 5+ years. Even at 15 year repayment your payment would be $309.

Get the documentation from ACS and you'll know more about why there's a jump and why your balance is what it is. Hope that helps.