Debt Dumpers - 2017

[Ngwira]

Got my second W2 yesterday and DH and I filed our taxes. My return was pitiful, not at all what I'd hoped, but DH got a decent amount. Filing separate is a bummer, especially when it comes to student loan interest deductions, but we did ok overall. The best news is that I can now finally refile for my student loan payments to go down! According to the online estimator, my payment will drop form $815/mo to $311/mo. And my student loan provider now allows you to upload the forms online, which should make things go much faster. My payment is at the end of the month, so I'm wondering if they'll have to done by the time the February payment rolls around, but not holding my breath.

Wow, that is such a savings. Congrats! I have several staff attorneys in my office taking advantage of the IBRP. They are worried that the current administration will either do away or limit this program or will slash funding to certain public interest law jobs before their ten years is up. Especially if DT is in office 8 years. My guess is that the current people enrolled will be grandfathered in. However, new enrollees are in danger. Sad as it's helping a lot of people.

 

[dayvewc]

Car insurance renewal came today and it was $100 less than last time. 6 month premium was $665 instead of $775 which I paid in August. Keep in mind NJ has the highest car insurance in the country and this is for 2 vehicles with comprehensive coverage on my Camry. Thanks, Geico.

That's awesome. I just paid the renewal in November, and 6 months was $1800 for 2 cars with full coverage. About $900 each vehicle. Granted, in the past 18 months we've both had accidents so that definitely was part of it, but even before it was $900 for 6 months.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Car insurance renewal came today and it was $100 less than last time. 6 month premium was $665 instead of $775 which I paid in August. Keep in mind NJ has the highest car insurance in the country and this is for 2 vehicles with comprehensive coverage on my Camry. Thanks, Geico.

Not to be all argumentative, but Michigan is actually the most expensive state for car insurance. The average annual cost for an auto insurance policy in Michigan is 136 percent above the national average. And there is a very good reason for that. We have a no fault insurance system which means that we pay an extra annual fee to the state. This fee is used to cover unlimited lifetime personal injury protection for anyone that is injured in an accident. It sounds good in theory, but it is expensive and projected to be pretty much unsustainable. In practice, young people are more likely to be injured in an auto accident, so covering an 18 year old for life means that the state might be on the hook for medical costs for 50+ years.

Plus, lots of people in Michigan drive without insurance. It is estimated that 50% of drivers in Wayne county (which includes Detroit), drive uninsured. This means that insurance companies charge more because the chance of them being able to get any money from the opposing party is very low. So anyone with coverage in Michigan does well to carry a very robust uninsured motorist policy.

I paid $836 for our last six month premium for 2 cars. And that is with the 5 year customer discount, the snapshot discount for both cars, the multi-policy discount, the safe driver discount, etc. I am hoping that our next renewal drops by $100 or so because DH's "foreign license" points should drop off by then.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2015/0427/Top-5-most-expensive-states-for-car-insurance

 

[DisneyMandC]

Wow, that is such a savings. Congrats! I have several staff attorneys in my office taking advantage of the IBRP. They are worried that the current administration will either do away or limit this program or will slash funding to certain public interest law jobs before their ten years is up. Especially if DT is in office 8 years. My guess is that the current people enrolled will be grandfathered in. However, new enrollees are in danger. Sad as it's helping a lot of people.

I'm concerned about that as well. DH and I discussed whether we should file jointly and just keep making the high payment, or roll the dice. Student loan reform is said to be fairly low on the priority list, so we decided to go ahead and take advantage of PSLF while we can. I would hope that those currently enrolled would be given the benefits, but who knows. The first group of people who actually qualify for forgiveness should start this year since the program started in '07, so we'll see what happens.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I'm concerned about that as well. DH and I discussed whether we should file jointly and just keep making the high payment, or roll the dice. Student loan reform is said to be fairly low on the priority list, so we decided to go ahead and take advantage of PSLF while we can. I would hope that those currently enrolled would be given the benefits, but who knows. The first group of people who actually qualify for forgiveness should start this year since the program started in '07, so we'll see what happens.

I think it is smart to continue making the lowest payments possible and hope that the program will still be intact when you are eligible for the forgiveness. You can always reassess next year.

 

[Dentam]

This is how I feel today.

 

[Ngwira]

Not to be all argumentative, but Michigan is actually the most expensive state for car insurance. The average annual cost for an auto insurance policy in Michigan is 136 percent above the national average. And there is a very good reason for that. We have a no fault insurance system which means that we pay an extra annual fee to the state. This fee is used to cover unlimited lifetime personal injury protection for anyone that is injured in an accident. It sounds good in theory, but it is expensive and projected to be pretty much unsustainable. In practice, young people are more likely to be injured in an auto accident, so covering an 18 year old for life means that the state might be on the hook for medical costs for 50+ years.

Plus, lots of people in Michigan drive without insurance. It is estimated that 50% of drivers in Wayne county (which includes Detroit), drive uninsured. This means that insurance companies charge more because the chance of them being able to get any money from the opposing party is very low. So anyone with coverage in Michigan does well to carry a very robust uninsured motorist policy.

I paid $836 for our last six month premium for 2 cars. And that is with the 5 year customer discount, the snapshot discount for both cars, the multi-policy discount, the safe driver discount, etc. I am hoping that our next renewal drops by $100 or so because DH's "foreign license" points should drop off by then.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2015/0427/Top-5-most-expensive-states-for-car-insurance

Thanks for educating me, Jen. NJ must be in the top 3. We also have a high rate of uninsured in our state. In my county it's, Camden City. I'm so glad it came down. We were paying a surcharge for DH's accident which occurred in 2013.

 

[Ngwira]

That's awesome. I just paid the renewal in November, and 6 months was $1800 for 2 cars with full coverage. About $900 each vehicle. Granted, in the past 18 months we've both had accidents so that definitely was part of it, but even before it was $900 for 6 months.

Where do you live, dave?

 

[Ngwira]

I'm concerned about that as well. DH and I discussed whether we should file jointly and just keep making the high payment, or roll the dice. Student loan reform is said to be fairly low on the priority list, so we decided to go ahead and take advantage of PSLF while we can. I would hope that those currently enrolled would be given the benefits, but who knows. The first group of people who actually qualify for forgiveness should start this year since the program started in '07, so we'll see what happens.

I think it's smart to take advantage of PSLF. Heck, I wish I could too, but the numbers don't add up for those who have already made payments on their SL for 12 years (me and DH). We are both in public interest law and when the numbers were run, we didn't really benefit. The good news is that making extra payments has brought our loan balance down significantly. I should be done in about 8 years (owed over 100k back in 2004) or less and DH is almost done.

As for DT, who knows what he will do??? We can only hope for the best and pray that the promise the DOE made to students who went into public interest will be upheld.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I think it's smart to take advantage of PSLF. Heck, I wish I could too, but the numbers don't add up for those who have already made payments on their SL for 12 years (me and DH). We are both in public interest law and when the numbers were run, we didn't really benefit. The good news is that making extra payments has brought our loan balance down significantly. I should be done in about 8 years (owed over 100k back in 2004) or less and DH is almost done.

As for DT, who knows what he will do??? We can only hope for the best and pray that the promise the DOE made to students who went into public interest will be upheld.

Understandable. I've had a couple people question me before on whether it's wise to do PSLF, but I'm in the same boat of having over 100k, so it is worth it since I just started paying two years ago this month. The interest rates are just so frustrating. I realize I have a large amount of loans, but when I'm paying $815/mo and only $60 goes to principal, that just seems ridiculous. I think if I was on a 10 year standard plan my payment would be $1700. Which is more than my mortgage on my home with 17 acres.

By the way, I think Dave is from MO. Jen, why did I think you were in DC? Maybe I'm thinking of someone else on here. Funny stuff

 

[Ngwira]

Understandable. I've had a couple people question me before on whether it's wise to do PSLF, but I'm in the same boat of having over 100k, so it is worth it since I just started paying two years ago this month. The interest rates are just so frustrating. I realize I have a large amount of loans, but when I'm paying $815/mo and only $60 goes to principal, that just seems ridiculous. I think if I was on a 10 year standard plan my payment would be $1700. Which is more than my mortgage on my home with 17 acres.

By the way, I think Dave is from MO. Jen, why did I think you were in DC? Maybe I'm thinking of someone else on here. Funny stuff

I can't even look at my interest statements as I've paid back so far, almost DOUBLE the amount I borrowed. I just started touching principal three years ago... What a scam! It was tough to increase payments on a beginner's public interest salary, so I do feel your pain. Does your law school have an LRAP? All of the attorneys who work with me are getting LRAP assistance from their former law schools or through LSC which provides funding to our program. Not surprisingly, DT said he wanted to eliminate LSC, along with PBS, Planned Parenthood...sigh, I digress, and this isn't a political forum, so I'll stop here..lol.
Dave lives in Missouri? Who knew Missouri had such high car insurance rates!

 

[DisneyMandC]

I can't even look at my interest statements as I've paid back so far, almost DOUBLE the amount I borrowed. I just started touching principal three years ago... What a scam! It was tough to increase payments on a beginner's public interest salary, so I do feel your pain. Does your law school have an LRAP? All of the attorneys who work with me are getting LRAP assistance from their former law schools or through LSC which provides funding to our program. Not surprisingly, DT said he wanted to eliminate LSC, along with PBS, Planned Parenthood...sigh, I digress, and this isn't a political forum, so I'll stop here..lol.
Dave lives in Missouri? Who knew Missouri had such high car insurance rates!

My student loan interest for last year was only $400 less than the amount I paid in mortgage interest... and my mortgage is for 100k more than what my student loans are. I often joke that I should've just taken out a mortgage with a better interest rate to pay for school. Still, I know that I'm fortunate because one of my coworkers also has loans from undergrad. He's sitting at over 200k right now.

No LRAP through school, I suspect because I went to a private university for law school, and no LSC since I'm a government employee. It's just a frustrating situation. I pay my bills, never missed a payment, but barely see a dent in my principal. Still, I feel very fortunate to have been employed continuously since graduation, and to love my job. I have a good friend in a BigLaw job who paid off his loans about two years after graduation but is miserable. I'm sure he makes about two and a half times what I do, but to me it's not worth the money when you're sitting in your office until 10 pm every night and have no time to spend the money!

I thought Dave was from MO? Maybe I'm wrong. He seems like a nice midwestern guy!

 

[piccolopat]

Thank you everyone for your words of congratulations!

Now that my fiance and I have agreed on the wedding we want, I don't see myself coming ahead at all this year - our wedding is going to cost a little more than we thought it would...

Here's the breakdown of things:

I have 3 credit cards: one of them has a balance of $0, one of them has a credit (I had booked an expensive tour for our last WDW trip, had the credit card paid off and then cancelled the tour) - so I've been trying to charge things to that card to bring it back to a zero balance (and since I've previously paid off the tour, it's like found money!), credit card #3 has a balance of about $2500 owing.

I also have 2 lines of credit, with a balance owing of a little over $18,000.

I have a decent emergency fund of about $6000. We will probably dip into this a little for wedding costs, but I have insisted it remains above $5000 at all times. I have also saved a decent amount to cover our DVC rental for our trip next January, but it's still not enough to cover it completely (especially when you factor in the terrible exchange rate).

We did the math, and it actually makes sense for me to buy a Premier Pass for Disney - the one that is valid in both Florida and California. It's crazy expensive, but with a trip to DLR next week, another one in November and then our WDW trip in early January, we'll come out ahead in the long run. Unfortunately I now have a $1500USD charge to put on my credit card next week (which is about $2000CAD). We are only buying one, since it is cheaper to just buy tickets for my fiance, but the annual pass will work out because of the Photopass pictures and food/merch discounts.

I think this is the year we try to create good habits when it comes to our money, but just accept the fact that we will be a little farther behind by the end of the year. But hopefully with good habits in place, we can crush 2018!

Luckily, my fiance and I don't buy each other presents for Christmas, birthdays, anniversarys, etc. We always take a trip in January, so we don't need the added costs of Christmas. Both of us have birthdays in January as well, so we call our vacations our birthday trips (my birthday was a day after returning from WDW, so we went for lunch at Olive Garden but kept it cheap). We actually fly to California on Luke's birthday, so I told him that's his birthday celebration haha. We do the same thing every year for our anniversary - go for supper at the hipster pub we had our first date at (the food is amazing!) and then go to Stars on Ice (yes, figure skating. It's always here the week of our anniversary, so it just works - plus both of us enjoy watching pretty much any sport). We're going to get our family on board with no presents for Christmas next year, since we are planning a destination wedding and everyone will be paying enough just to come with us.

Congratulations on your engagement! I know this is a very exciting time for you both. I don't want to put a damper on things, but I would really like to suggest you minimize your travel this year and focus on paying down your debt before the wedding. Financial stress is a leading cause of divorce and is something than should be avoided as much as possible. If you skip two of the three trips you have planned, as well as the premier pass, you will likely have a nice amount to put towards your debt instead of waiting until 2018. I've been married almost 40 years now and had many early years where debt was an issue. It was so nice when we finally had things paid off and were able to start saving. I wish you a debt free start to your marriage!

 

[Ngwira]

My student loan interest for last year was only $400 less than the amount I paid in mortgage interest... and my mortgage is for 100k more than what my student loans are. I often joke that I should've just taken out a mortgage with a better interest rate to pay for school. Still, I know that I'm fortunate because one of my coworkers also has loans from undergrad. He's sitting at over 200k right now.

No LRAP through school, I suspect because I went to a private university for law school, and no LSC since I'm a government employee. It's just a frustrating situation. I pay my bills, never missed a payment, but barely see a dent in my principal. Still, I feel very fortunate to have been employed continuously since graduation, and to love my job. I have a good friend in a BigLaw job who paid off his loans about two years after graduation but is miserable. I'm sure he makes about two and a half times what I do, but to me it's not worth the money when you're sitting in your office until 10 pm every night and have no time to spend the money!

I thought Dave was from MO? Maybe I'm wrong. He seems like a nice midwestern guy!

Two of the Attorneys in my office (out of 5) have $200,000 PLUS in student loans. One went to Northwestern in Chicago and one went to Cardozo in NYC. Both only took out federal student loans which was smart, as they are subject to discharge under PSLF. The others have about 100k each, but they are a mix of public and private student loans which cannot be discharged under PSLF. So, although they have a smaller loan amount, their burden is just as great. The student loan crisis is terrible, people having to choose between paying back loans and having children because they can't afford childcare AND their loan payments. Forget buying a house or any of the other steps our parents and grandparents took which signified the transition into adulthood. It really is an albatross around the neck of the average student just trying to make something of themselves.
Like you, I am thankful I am able to pay it back, but what if I couldn't? Something needs to be done to address the spiraling costs of higher education. I'm not sure what that "something" is.

Anyway, public interest from the start and DH and I do not regret for one second, our decision. We also know "big firm" Attorneys and the burnout, alcoholism, divorce and high early death rates are REAL.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Two of the Attorneys in my office (out of 5) have $200,000 PLUS in student loans. One went to Northwestern in Chicago and one went to Cardozo in NYC. Both only took out federal student loans which was smart, as they are subject to discharge under PSLF. The others have about 100k each, but they are a mix of public and private student loans which cannot be discharged under PSLF. So, although they have a smaller loan amount, their burden is just as great. The student loan crisis is terrible, people having to choose between paying back loans and having children because they can't afford childcare AND their loan payments. Forget buying a house or any of the other steps our parents and grandparents took which signified the transition into adulthood. It really is an albatross around the necks of the average student just trying to make something of themselves.
Like you, I am thankful I am able to pay it back, but what if I couldn't? Something needs to be done to address the spiraling costs of higher education. I'm not sure what that "something" is.

Anyway, public interest from the start and DH and I do not regret for one second, our decision. We also know "big firm" Attorneys and the burnout, alcoholism, divorce and high early death rates are REAL.

You are so right. I don't know what the answer is either, but something needs to change. Keeping loans interest-free in school would be a good start, especially when those loans are sitting at 7.9%. Of course, I came into law school during one of the almost-government shutdown times. So on the first day of orientation they sat us all down and informed us that our first loan of $20,000 would not accrue interest while we were in school, but that, because of the recent government compromise, all of other loans would start accruing interest immediately. I had 20k in interest by the time I graduated, and I took out the bare minimum just to cover tuition and bar prep course, no living expenses. I am thankful DH and I do not want children. We literally could not afford it.

I texted my BigLaw friend this morning to ask how he was doing. I worry he will have a heart attack by age 35. I've dealt with extreme anxiety at a job before (as you may remember from my posts on the last Debt Dumpers thread about a year ago). It is not fun and certainly no way to live.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I thought @dayvewc was from West Virginia? Hope he pops in soon to clear up this mystery .

 

[Ngwira]

You are so right. I don't know what the answer is either, but something needs to change. Keeping loans interest-free in school would be a good start, especially when those loans are sitting at 7.9%. Of course, I came into law school during one of the almost-government shutdown times. So on the first day of orientation they sat us all down and informed us that our first loan of $20,000 would not accrue interest while we were in school, but that, because of the recent government compromise, all of other loans would start accruing interest immediately. I had 20k in interest by the time I graduated, and I took out the bare minimum just to cover tuition and bar prep course, no living expenses. I am thankful DH and I do not want children. We literally could not afford it.

I texted my BigLaw friend this morning to ask how he was doing. I worry he will have a heart attack by age 35. I've dealt with extreme anxiety at a job before (as you may remember from my posts on the last Debt Dumpers thread about a year ago). It is not fun and certainly no way to live.

Ha ha ha..you know there are a bunch of people reading our posts, laughing to themselves about "a bunch of LAWYERS" crying over student loans. LOL I know we made the decision to go to law school and that was a choice we made. I don't think there is much sympathy for our kind . Anyway, I hope your friend finds a way out. Especially given the fact that he has no more loans. I'd be out of there so fast..no question about that.

I'm happy there was SOMETHING that you could take advantage of. Lord knows that public interest work isn't easy. We deal with very difficult client populations and on top of that the pay is low compared to the private sector.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Ha ha ha..you know there are a bunch of people reading our posts, laughing to themselves about "a bunch of LAWYERS" crying over student loans. LOL I know we made the decision to go to law school and that was a choice we made. I don't think there is much sympathy for our kind . Anyway, I hope your friend finds a way out. Especially given the fact that he has no more loans. I'd be out of there so fast..no question about that.

I'm happy there was SOMETHING that you could take advantage of. Lord knows that public interest work isn't easy. We deal with very difficult client populations and on top of that the pay is low compared to the private sector.

LOL you are so right! If it makes anyone feel any better, I don't drive a Mercedes and I don't look or act like this guy-

 

[Ngwira]

LOL you are so right! If it makes anyone feel any better, I don't drive a Mercedes and I don't look or act like this guy-

LOL!! I just went back and read your honeymoon trip report. No lie, you were a STUNNING bride. When's your next trip to the World?

 

[Ngwira]

LOL!! I just went back and read your honeymoon trip report. No ****, but you were a STUNNING bride. When's your next trip to the World?

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