Debt Dumpers 2022

[Carol_]

i have mixed feelings about it but i won't go into it b/c i don't want this thread to get closed. that said-i am SO glad that when my oldest graduated in 2018 we made paying off the perkins loan the highest priority (back then it had the highest interest rates) b/c that sucker will not qualify from what i've read. we are advising to not spend what has been set aside during the pause period b/c there will likely be legal squabbles about it but to continue socking away what would have been the monthly payments in hopes that it transitions from a 'student loan' to an 'emergency' savings account.

Ya, this student loan forgiveness noise has been played my ENTIRE life. Best to just pay what’s owed if you can, and expect to be lied to ad infinatum by talking heads on screens vying for your devotion.
I’m finally close to done but it’s taken over 20 years, and it only started to go down very recently. It was over $360k at its peak. I’m paying it all off plus interest myself.

 

[Disneytrippin']

I think it's great for those that get it. But also reserve my displeasure as I think that either my consolidating my direct service(whatever the gov subsidized loans of the late 90s early 00s was called) loans or the fact that they were whatever type that was is going to screw me out of it.

I had to continue making payments this whole time, would have anyway but still. They show as FFELP or something like that but I can't really figure out what it means.

But if I do get it I'd redirect the money that goes to my ira and add it to my payment and get what would be left paid off in 2 or 3 months. Otherwise the interest rate is below 3% and I don't want to pay more than the extra I'm able to pay now.

Federal Family Education Loan Program ended in 2010. Now the just go by FFEL. Federal and Direct Loans qualify.

 

[afan]

Federal Family Education Loan Program ended in 2010. Now the just go by FFEL. Federal and Direct Loans qualify.

Maybe that's the letters We'll see, I'm not going to hold my breath since I didn't get my payments stopped. I've yet to read anything that spells out what loans actually count and how to know if yours does.

 

[Disneytrippin']

Maybe that's the letters We'll see, I'm not going to hold my breath since I didn't get my payments stopped. I've yet to read anything that spells out what loans actually count and how to know if yours does.

I didn't stop paying either. They say that it's possible that anyone who made payments during the freeze can request a refund of those payments from March 2020 to present. We should hear about everything within the next few weeks.

 

[afan]

I didn't stop paying either. They say that it's possible that anyone who made payments during the freeze can request a refund of those payments from March 2020 to present. We should hear about everything within the next few weeks.

I don't want the money back, I would still owe it even with the forgiveness. My point isn't that I still made payments but that I was still getting a statment each month saying I had to make a payment. Navient never told me I didn't need to make payments.

From comments I've seen on twitter and fb I'm also not the only one thinking that either the old loan type or consolidating will keep us from getting anything. We'll see what they say.

 

[jen7233]

What calculation did you use to consider what you can afford when buying your house? Did you use net pay or gross? We did a preapproval recently, and I feel the amount at the high end of affordability. This is a HCOL area.

 

[Disneytrippin']

I don't want the money back, I would still owe it even with the forgiveness. My point isn't that I still made payments but that I was still getting a statment each month saying I had to make a payment. Navient never told me I didn't need to make payments.

From comments I've seen on twitter and fb I'm also not the only one thinking that either the old loan type or consolidating will keep us from getting anything. We'll see what they say.

You can consolidate your Ffelp loan into a direct loan. You can see the options and info on the studentaid website along with your loan type and if you had a Pell grant.

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

What calculation did you use to consider what you can afford when buying your house? Did you use net pay or gross? We did a preapproval recently, and I feel the amount at the high end of affordability. This is a HCOL area.

Dave Ramsey recommends 25% of your take-home pay. That 25% would include principal, interest, PMI, property taxes, homeowners insurance, and HOA dues.

However, it really depends on your own income and expense levels. If you have a substantially higher income than your expenses, you would have more discretionary funds to spend on the house.

Here's an article to help you with some estimates, as well as a calculator:

5 Steps to Buying a Home That Won't Bust Your Budget

Mortgage Calculator

 

[disney-inspired]

I don't want the money back, I would still owe it even with the forgiveness. My point isn't that I still made payments but that I was still getting a statment each month saying I had to make a payment. Navient never told me I didn't need to make payments.

From comments I've seen on twitter and fb I'm also not the only one thinking that either the old loan type or consolidating will keep us from getting anything. We'll see what they say.

If they were direct federal loans I'm shocked that they said you still needed to make a payment. You did get the zero % interest right for that time right?
I made a bunch of payments in 2021 so I would also owe if I asked for a refund.

Navient sucks - I like how Sallie Mae tried to say it's different but it's just as crappy. I was moved over from Salliemae to navient and now to Aidvantage since Navient ended it's federal loan servicing.
Looks like Navient only handles FFEL and private loans now.

 

[afan]

If they were direct federal loans I'm shocked that they said you still needed to make a payment. You did get the zero % interest right for that time right?
I made a bunch of payments in 2021 so I would also owe if I asked for a refund.

Navient sucks - I like how Sallie Mae tried to say it's different but it's just as crappy. I was moved over from Salliemae to navient and now to Aidvantage since Navient ended it's federal loan servicing.
Looks like Navient only handles FFEL and private loans now.

They were direct that were consolidated. They are, straight from studentaid since I'm now verified, FFELP Consolidation. Have been paying interest this entire time.

I can't get rid of the bold, the B up top does nothing.

I don't even know if anything can be done since it's not actually FFEL.

 

[disney-inspired]

They were direct that were consolidated. They are, straight from studentaid since I'm now verified, FFELP Consolidation. Have been paying interest this entire time.

I can't get rid of the bold, the B up top does nothing.

I don't even know if anything can be done since it's not actually FFEL.

Oh yeah, I think the consolidation may have impacted those loans.

 

[amalone1013]

Budgeting win: planning for a Maternity leave cushion even though I didn't think we needed it. I'm going to have a couple short checks for a combination of 3 reasons - they're applying my pto differently than expected, I forgot to reach out and direct them to use additional pto and personal days (did that today but can't change this check, oops ), and I didn't recalculate when little miss came 6 days early. But no stress with budgeting a cushion!

 

[pblack]

End of August Update (purple text reflects what's changed):

My 2022 Financial Goals:

• Pay off our Camry loan (currently sitting just under $12k)....This has now been paid off and replaced with our home equity loan payment.
• Continue to pay extra to our Highlander loan (especially once the Camry is paid off)....Skipped the extra $50 this month to use towards other spending.
• Save an extra $1000 towards my main savings account outside of my automatic monthly transfers....I think I'm just going to scrap this goal. I don't see it happening by the end of the year.
• Save money for the following expenses: cat/gifts/annual credit card fees....Created an automatic $25 deposit towards this twice a month. Will continue to add larger sums as I'm able too.
• Save $$ for family trip (tentatively April 2023)....Crossing this off my list since my in-laws will be paying for most of it and what we'll need to come out of pocket for isn't much.
• Re-pay $2000 that I borrowed from my main savings to pay off the Camry loan....I paid 25% of this back and I honestly think I'm just going to scrap this goal at this point. I don't really see the "borrowed" money as a waste since it was used to eliminate a debt.
• Wasn't originally a goal, but I upped my DH's retirement contributions by 1%. He received an unexpected raise/COLA so I figured I'd go ahead and up this. We're now saving a total of 16% from his paychecks towards retirement. I may also increase my contributions once my 2% raise goes into effect for my July check. If I'm correct I'm at roughly 11% savings from my paychecks....Think I'm leaving my contributions as is for now and will reevaluate them again next year.

My 2022 Personal Goals:

• Professional pool replaster/remodel …..The pool is complete and it looks amazing!!!
• Exercise at least 4 times a week...Did not do good with this in August. It turned out to be a pretty busy month with the unexpected trip to Texas and then having to go back into the office for 3 days a week. Going to try and be better with this in September.
• Spend less money on items that we don't need....This one has been hit or miss (looking at you Halloween decorations). I've bought some unnecessary items, but I've also been stocking up on things when I find a good deal. Costco's P&G promotion started the other day (spend $100 on P&G products and submit for a $25 Costco cash card, limit 2 per membership) and I plan on going to Costco today to stock up on the items we use throughout the year (tide pods, dishwasher pods, TP, paper towels, etc.) My plan is to max out the 2 Costco cash cards for my membership. So I'll be spending a decent bit of money, but these items should also last us quite awhile so I won't need to buy them again anytime soon. Next year I really need to save up for a few months beforehand so it's not coming all out of pocket.
• Sell more items from around the house that I don't need to add to my vacation savings....Still slow going with some items. I need to dedicate a bit more time to this though. I have added some new items though to try and get rid of more stuff.

August seemed to fly by for me. I *think* the leaking pool pipe issue has been fixed. I still don't know the exact price of the repair though. The guys were out yesterday and fixed it/patched up the hole they created in my concrete, but he refused to take money from me yesterday since he wanted to make sure our issue is fixed first. They had to drain some of our pool water in order to fix the issue and the pool wasn't refilled enough to turn on the pumps by the time they left. Our original quote was $950-1250 depending on what they found plus the $400 inspection fee. So on the high end I'm expecting $1650, but hoping it'll be less. Since this wasn't something we were planning for some of our other backyard projects will be pushed to the backburner for now. Luckily we had the money from when we pulled out money for our home equity loan, but this is definitely not what I wanted to use it for.

We'll be heading to Texas for the long weekend and then Disneyland towards the end of the month. We're leaving a heatwave here in NorCal to head to scattered thunderstorms. I don't know which is the better option in this scenario. I hope everyone has a great labor day weekend and is plugging along on their journey! As you can see from my goals, don't feel bad if what you had planned to accomplish this year hasn't happened yet or you've had to change things up. The lovely thing about life is how adaptable we can be, especially if you're able to keep plugging along!

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

August summary
On the one hand, have not broken my streak of months in the red. On the other hand I feel like we're spending in advance so that hopefully (PLEASE!) in the next few months we're not doing big spends and the credit card can come down. Like we took advantage of some sales for this Labor Day (I swear they put them out earlier and earlier) to basically buy 80% of Christmas, birthday, and miscellaneous gifts that will be needed throughout the year. Since we'll be traveling in early December I didn't want to risk waiting for Black Friday sales for the things I knew I wanted to get and I feel like we made out pretty well in that sense.

I've already mentioned back to school, but so many charges were unexpected! Basically we're funneling all the money we would have saved from after school care into after school activities like dance and music lessons and sports. Since it's the first time we've done a lot of them we have to buy all the equipment and ugh. We've labeled this the year we try a lot of things so next year we can focus on the things we really like. i.e. they've been begging me to take ballet so we're doing ballet and I expect both of them won't want to continue but I'll guess we'll see! There's definitely a lot of pandemic guilt at play here, I feel like my kids are young, but have missed out on so many opportunities the past couple years so we're trying to make up for that now. I did draw the line at horseback riding lessons!

Health wise things were not great. I'm heavier than I have ever been in my life. Like, heavier than when I delivered my last baby! And ten pounds of that was baby! I'm pretty depressed about it since a bunch of it happened in like the last year and last summer I was SO good about walking/running, I was doing at least 5 miles a day! And this year has just been so busy I haven't done anything. I need something in my brain to flip so I start prioritizing this.

Goals for September:
-Eat out less. Did better at this in August, could be even better.
-Cut down on what I like to call "Target Spending." Don't run out for little things five times a week, plan out one visit and get everything we need in that visit.
-Prioritize my own health and exercise. I've just got to do it, especially before it gets cold and icy around here!

 

[Tygerlilly]

Health wise things were not great. I'm heavier than I have ever been in my life. Like, heavier than when I delivered my last baby! And ten pounds of that was baby! I'm pretty depressed about it since a bunch of it happened in like the last year and last summer I was SO good about walking/running, I was doing at least 5 miles a day! And this year has just been so busy I haven't done anything. I need something in my brain to flip so I start prioritizing this.

Goals for September:
-Eat out less. Did better at this in August, could be even better.
-Cut down on what I like to call "Target Spending." Don't run out for little things five times a week, plan out one visit and get everything we need in that visit.
-Prioritize my own health and exercise. I've just got to do it, especially before it gets cold and icy around here!

I'm in the same boat. It's been a year and I still haven't lost the "baby weight". And I just can't motivate myself to do anything about it.

I have the same goals as well, cutting back my "I need to hit the store for one or two things" and start prioritizing my mental and physical health. I feel like when I take care of my mental health, it helps with the physical aspect.

 

[pblack]

I know this is a question more so for the credit card thread, but they move so fast over there that I'd rather ask my question here for now lol.

I already have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card (the one with the $95 annual fee) and I received a credit card offer yesterday for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card (also a $95 annual fee) that comes with 3 free nights after meeting min spend and also comes with a free anniversary night award every year. I'm considering applying for the Marriott card since we do like to choose Marriott when traveling (we don't always though depending on price), but does it make sense to have both the Sapphire and the Marriott card? I use the Sapphire card for my every day spending and I love that I can transfer those points over to Southwest (among others). But I feel like it would also be beneficial to have the Marriott card to take advantage of the free night every year especially since we usually end up in a hotel for whatever reason a couple nights during the year. I think the annual fee is still cheaper than the one free night we could get. I'd also probably maximize the bonus points categories (i.e. 3x points per $1 on the first $600 spent on gas/grocery stores/dining). Hopefully this all makes sense lol. Guess I'm just looking for other opinions besides my own to either talk me into it or talk me out of it.

 

[Carol_]

I’m so close I can taste it…
Just waiting for The Gummint to cash my tax check so I can be sure I have enough to pay off the last $8k of the student loan.

 

[Carol_]

take the time to really review whatever their basis for this is b/c they can and do make mistakes. we spent the better part of a year going back and forth with the irs over our oldest's returns covering 2 or 3 years. irs kept insisting that money was owed and that the kid wasn't eligible to use the calculation that was used pertaining to income and school expenses. it took our cpa photocopying and highlighting sections from the irs's own page from their website that showed the calculation was exactly correctly applied before they acknowledged their error (several prior letters where the regulation was cited by us went ignored).

it may even pay to just have a cpa take a quick peek at it.

Yup. They screwed up. They established a joint marital account and held my money in it while awaiting our tax filings. When my husband filed and paid his taxes, they returned my taxes to my husband, who had no idea they were my taxes, but he deposited the check from The Gummint because who wouldn’t? Then, they Got my filing, and sent me a bill for unpaid taxes.

 

[amalone1013]

I know this is a question more so for the credit card thread, but they move so fast over there that I'd rather ask my question here for now lol.

I already have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card (the one with the $95 annual fee) and I received a credit card offer yesterday for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card (also a $95 annual fee) that comes with 3 free nights after meeting min spend and also comes with a free anniversary night award every year. I'm considering applying for the Marriott card since we do like to choose Marriott when traveling (we don't always though depending on price), but does it make sense to have both the Sapphire and the Marriott card? I use the Sapphire card for my every day spending and I love that I can transfer those points over to Southwest (among others). But I feel like it would also be beneficial to have the Marriott card to take advantage of the free night every year especially since we usually end up in a hotel for whatever reason a couple nights during the year. I think the annual fee is still cheaper than the one free night we could get. I'd also probably maximize the bonus points categories (i.e. 3x points per $1 on the first $600 spent on gas/grocery stores/dining). Hopefully this all makes sense lol. Guess I'm just looking for other opinions besides my own to either talk me into it or talk me out of it.

I was on that thread a lot before but can't keep up now. I have a sapphire reserve I keep for main spending and the travel perks, but I've got some like the Marriott card I keep just because the free night is worth more than the fee. I don't spend on them outside of the sign up bonus always because the earn rate isn't that great sometimes, and I'd rather have UR points. So it could be worth it to keep just for the free night, and beyond that you'd have to decide if you wanted 3x Marriott points on that $600 of gas/grocery/ dining, or if you'd rather have URs - I can't remember the sapphire Preferred earn rate off the top of my head typically I find URS more valuable for my situation, but it definitely depends on your travel style.

Eta: also research some properties/ time of year you'd use it and see how many points they are. Marriott switched to demand pricing now sooooo no guarantee on how many points a property may be now

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I was on that thread a lot before but can't keep up now. I have a sapphire reserve I keep for main spending and the travel perks, but I've got some like the Marriott card I keep just because the free night is worth more than the fee. I don't spend on them outside of the sign up bonus always because the earn rate isn't that great sometimes, and I'd rather have UR points. So it could be worth it to keep just for the free night, and beyond that you'd have to decide if you wanted 3x Marriott points on that $600 of gas/grocery/ dining, or if you'd rather have URs - I can't remember the sapphire Preferred earn rate off the top of my head typically I find URS more valuable for my situation, but it definitely depends on your travel style.

Eta: also research some properties/ time of year you'd use it and see how many points they are. Marriott switched to demand pricing now sooooo no guarantee on how many points a property may be now

I also have the CSP card. When I first signed up several years ago, it was 2 pts for travel and dining, 1 pt/$ for everything else. Lately, it switched to 3 pts/$ for dining but we don't eat out very often. I've never looked into the Marriott card but it would be easy to say without a doubt that one free night in any of Marriott's brands would be more than $95. I feel like anything that steers us away from earing UR points, usually just messes us up. At some point, I'll go to book something and be like "Dang, I just need 500 more points." which I would have had if I just stick with the CSP. Also with CSP, you can book the Marriott room for free without having to transfer UR points to Bonvoy. You just book through Chase Rewards link from your account's main page, enter dates, and choose a hotel. Most of the time, they are refundable and I've cancelled in the past and points get re-deposited almost immediately. When we first got our cards, Disney hotels were available to be booked using UR points and we were able to stay 4 nts club level at the Boardwalk with only having to kick in like $400. Yay! Shortly after that, Disney pulled all their hotels out because God forbid, someone use their cc perks to stay at WDW. I don't know why they'd care as long as they're getting paid by Chase.
I'd like to add some 4 letter words here as to how evil that is, but I won't.

I did get the American Airlines card recently since we'll be flying AA RT in a few weeks for our cruise on the Dream and we get 1 bag free pp each way. Also we'll get a bunch of AA miles for completing the minimum spend which will be easy. I haven't started using it yet so I need to look into it more. I am waiting for our CSP statement cycle to close before starting to charge on the AA card. Don't want to get in over my head with juggling balances on several cards at a time.

We used to occasionally sign up for SWA cards for the bonus points but lately, SWA has been terrible out of Philly with so few non stop flights to anywhere. In the past we've had non-stops to MCO, FLL, TPA, PHX, LAS, & HOU. There were multiple options per day of non stops to MCO. Now there is like one per week. So, no point in getting a SW card any time soon.