Student Load Negotiations

[osumatt]

Has anyone had any success negotiating with a student loan provider for a lump sum payment? My brother recently passed away and I'm the sole heir. No sympathies please as we weren't all that close. Anyway, there's plenty of money in the estate to take care of my wife's student loans but thought I would try to negotiate with the lender to see if we can get the payoff down a bit.

There are two lenders and the total is around $90K (it makes me sick to my stomach that it's that much). Interest rates are around 6.5%.

TIA

[Beef Supreme]

Student Load negotiations: Do you want it in the face or on the tits?

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

That didn't sound right, so I looked it up. Its $2500 per return. Phaseouts for MFJ start at 135,000.

So if he's got 90,000 @ 6.5%, that would be in the ballpark of $5,850 yearly, so he'd be limited out.

I have no idea what his effective tax rate is, but if it is 20%, he'd be saving $500 on the student loan interest deduction, so it sure is nice, but it isn't a giant deal one way or the other.

That's a little bit down in the weeds. If you have any questions, shoot. The big deal is that if it is in a retirement fund already, don't distribute it until you know what you're doing.

I was saying Student loan interest. Not sure if I was clear on that. I thought mine was only deductible up to 10k per year on the interest, which when i'm paying what i'm paying that happens quickly.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by O.city

I was saying Student loan interest. Not sure if I was clear on that. I thought mine was only deductible up to 10k per year on the interest, which when i'm paying what i'm paying that happens quickly.

Yeah, the link is about the student loan interest deduction.

I think in prior years you could roll some student loan interest into the American opportunity credit. It’s gone now and I don’t know all the specific iterations.

I think the cap on eligible student expenses is 10. Not sure though.

[Dartgod]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

For rizzle, yo.

But student loan interest isn't an itemized deduction like Home Mortgage interest is. It is a 1040 adjustment on the (used to be) front page, so it will reduce AGI before the standard deduction is applied.

Yep, I got a whopping $2 tax credit for my student loan debt this year.

[oldman]

The simple solution would be to call them and find out. They will probably tell you they'd rather squeeze your nuts than to give up that 6.25% over the next X many years, but it never hurts to ask. I paid for all 3 of my kids to go to college, partially with college loans and it was a race to see if I could pay them off or die first.

[BryanBusby]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

For rizzle, yo.

But student loan interest isn't an itemized deduction like Home Mortgage interest is. It is a 1040 adjustment on the (used to be) front page, so it will reduce AGI before the standard deduction is applied.

Fair enough. I never took out student loans so had no idea.

Just more proof to talk with an advisor than some idiot named after a weather guy.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Student loans aren't even dissolvable in bankruptcy. Good luck trying to get them to give up some of their pound of flesh.

[T-post Tom]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I don't know about student loans, but it sounds like you've got some good leverage to negotiate some things with your wife.

Fastest draw in the west.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by TribalElder

usually to get a lump sum settlement granted you need to default on the loan for a few months so that the lender becomes desperate to recover any of the money.

Once you miss a few months if they are anything like credit card companies they will settle for less than what is owed

They are not like credit card companies. As someone else noted, they have a debt obligation that is not dischargeable in bankruptcy, so they have almost no incentive to write off any portion of the loan.

Try if you like, but you're probably going to be arguing with a brick wall.

[osumatt]

Thanks for the info. I have no illusions of them backing off the principal but thought they may forgive a bit of the interest built over the years. I did talk with my financial advisor and he did suggest paying this off instead of making the lump sum payment on my house note as the interest rate on the house is below the interest rate on the student LOANS. Once we get these paid off, we'll just roll what we were paying on the loans towards our house payment.

No auto loans for us. Been without a car loan for three years and hope to never have another one.

I think we'll just call the banks and see what they have to say. It couldn't hurt.

Seriously, I get on here daily for the past 18 years and have posted a total of 61 times. I think this is the first thread I ever started and I f*** up the title thread....

[Dartgod]

Originally Posted by osumatt

Seriously, I get on here daily for the past 18 years and have posted a total of 61 times. I think this is the first thread I ever started and I f*** up the title thread....

n00bs

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by osumatt

Thanks for the info. I have no illusions of them backing off the principal but thought they may forgive a bit of the interest built over the years. I did talk with my financial advisor and he did suggest paying this off instead of making the lump sum payment on my house note as the interest rate on the house is below the interest rate on the student LOANS. Once we get these paid off, we'll just roll what we were paying on the loans towards our house payment.

No auto loans for us. Been without a car loan for three years and hope to never have another one.

I think we'll just call the banks and see what they have to say. It couldn't hurt.

Seriously, I get on here daily for the past 18 years and have posted a total of 61 times. I think this is the first thread I ever started and I f*** up the title thread....

Sounds like a good plan to me. The other thing you might consider is sticking some in a ROTH or something. I think there is a fair chance an investment can yield higher than the 6.5%.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Sounds like a good plan to me. The other thing you might consider is sticking some in a ROTH or something. I think there is a fair chance an investment can yield higher than the 6.5%.

Yeah. Whatever. Hyman Roth called me small potatoes.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Student loans aren't even dissolvable in bankruptcy. Good luck trying to get them to give up some of their pound of flesh.

One of these presidential guys ever campaign on dissolving student loan depth will get my vote so hard.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by osumatt

Thanks for the info. I have no illusions of them backing off the principal but thought they may forgive a bit of the interest built over the years. I did talk with my financial advisor and he did suggest paying this off instead of making the lump sum payment on my house note as the interest rate on the house is below the interest rate on the student LOANS. Once we get these paid off, we'll just roll what we were paying on the loans towards our house payment.

No auto loans for us. Been without a car loan for three years and hope to never have another one.

I think we'll just call the banks and see what they have to say. It couldn't hurt.

Seriously, I get on here daily for the past 18 years and have posted a total of 61 times. I think this is the first thread I ever started and I f*** up the title thread....

Sounds like a good plan, except, possibly, for paying down the home mortgage faster. Depending on the rate, that may not be a terribly exciting thing to do. Once you factor in the tax deduction (assuming you're not capped by SALT), the effective cost of a home mortgage at prevailing rates is very low.

I'd be maxing out 401(k) deductions, IRA deductions, etc., before I'd be worrying about paying down the mortgage faster.