Capping loan repayments

[MarissaNicole]

It depends. If you have locked in loans by consolidating in years past (and that option is no longer available) and the interest rate is lower than current day rates then we (current residents) lose. Our students loans that have lower rates than what was offered with previous consolidation do better. And as long as the economy sucks then rates will stay low and our student loans won't accrue as much interest.

The thing that *hurts* is that we are PGY1. We expected that these med school loans would be "differed" through residency, but once we reached the golden era of residency loan deferments are now gone and we have to pay.

The thing that aggravates me is that they want (from us) a very very small payment compared to what we owe. And where does the money come from to make those payments? My husband's check. And where does that check come from? The government! Very aggravating.

It’s very obvious that who ever comes up with this has no idea what really happens after medical school is over.

I think the problem is that the program isn't designed with medical student grads in mind. It was more meant for people with big loans and lower paying jobs. Unfortunately they took away residency forebearance and said "oh the residents can just take advantage of the IBR program like everyone else." And it isn't exactly a good fit.

We are leaning towards deferrment because 15% of our combined income will still be a lot if we live somewhere with a high cost of living.

[oceanchild]

We're using IBR. I know it's crazy to say given how much residents make, but with DH actually drawing a salary, we suddenly have more money than we've ever had in our lives. May as well start chipping away at those payments.

And maybe we'll hit the 20 year cap, depending on how they write the rules.