Student Loans
For any new medical professional student loans are at the root of their financial future. Questions arise in all forms and for the most part student loans become an area where people feel they must be self taught "experts" on the subject. The challenges are many as changes to your loan structure can cause dramatic changes for your future. In today's world of student loan repayment there are a few main options that have everyone talking..
Income Driven Repayment Plans
These programs are typically for Government loans and can dramatically help lower payments if your debt is large in comparison to your income. Many people are looking to benefit from debt forgiveness programs such as "Pay As You Earn" (PAYE), "Income Based Repayment" (IBR), and "Public Service Loan Forgiveness" (PSLF). The basics of these programs are as follows:
PAYE - Pay As You Earn - Payments are generally 10 percent of your discretionary income, but never more than the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount. Loan forgiveness is "currently scheduled" to happen after 20 years of consecutive on time monthly payments. Any forgiven amount is considered as a taxable event.
IBR - Income Based Repayment - Payments are generally 15 percent of your discretionary income, but never more than the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount. Loan forgiveness is "currently scheduled" to happen after 25 years of consecutive on time monthly payments. Any forgiven amount is considered as a taxable event.
More Info on these income based repayment plans can be found at: https://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/understand/plans/income-driven#monthly-payments
PSLF - Public Service Loan Forgiveness - This program is generally an add on to the above mentioned program and allows a persons student loan debt to be forgiven on qualifying loans after 10 years of consecutive on time monthly payments. With this program the amount forgiven is currently not taxable.
More info can be found at the following website for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program at this website:
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/public-service-loan-forgiveness.pdf
