Lisa asks…
How do i get my federal student aid direct loan audited?
I am disputing my billing history but have gotten no where with the “customer service” people on the phone. there has to be a way to get my loan audited. please, help!
Nagesh answers:
To dispute any federal student loan issue, you’ll probably get the best results from the FSA Ombudsman’s office, which is sort of like the Department of Education’s version of the Better Business Bureau. You can contact them at:
U.S. Department of Education
FSA Ombudsman
830 First Street, NE
Fourth Floor
Washington, DC 20202-5144
Phone: 1-877-557-2575
Fax: 202-275-0549
Online: http://www.ombudsman.ed.gov/about/contactus.html
Hope this helps!
Christopher S. Penn
Producer, the Financial Aid Podcast
Daily free financial aid internet radio, no iPod required
http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com
FinancialAidPodcast [at] gmail [dot] com
Robert asks…
Entrance Counseling Loan questions?? please help?
i have a horrible memory…
If I am in default on my loan, I cannot receive additional federal student aid.
A. True
B. False
10. If I do not choose a repayment plan, the Direct Loan Servicing Center will place my loan in the Standard Repayment Plan.
A. True
B. False
7. If my circumstances change the day after I receive the last disbursement on my loan, and I no longer need the full amount of my loan, I should…
A. Return the funds that I do not need at the end of theyear.
B. Return the funds that I do not need as soon as possible.
C. Spend the money on other things.
D. Keep the money in the bank and use it next quarter.
Nagesh answers:
B, a, a. I hope I helped. And sorry in advance if these answers are wrong…but i dont think they will. Good luck 😉
Donald asks…
Student Loan Consolidation?
Student Loan Consolidation?
I have a question about student loans that are consolidated. I always make my payemnts on time. As soon as I receive the bill, I send the payment out the next day, have never missed a payment or been late. Aslo, I have a fixed interest rate. HOWEVER, MY INTEREST balance fluctuates every month. When I asked the people direct loan servicing center about this, I was told that they have to have a payment EXACTLY every 30 days in order for the interest not to fluctuate. What’s going on here? Isnt this the biggest load of crap you have ever heard? Anyone else experience this?
Nagesh answers:
The interest charged per month will vary as per the number of days between each billing cycle. It will also vary because every time you are making a payment, you are reducing your principal, so this might be a good thing. The people at the loan servicing center are not doing a good job explaining this to you, but you sould know these fundamentals already. If not, read up about them.
Ken asks…
Has anyone heard of Orion Direct Services?
I recently submitted an online personal loan application to Orion Direct Services. When they called me, they said that I would have to put up $1,800 as collateral for 6 months. Now I’ve heard about loan scams like this where someone sends in money and never receives a loan, so I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this company.
Their website is www.oriondirectservices.com
Nagesh answers:
It’s getting hard to tell the legitimate lenders from the scam artists these days. They are starting to use names that sound like real businesses.
I could not find anything with the exact name you posted. I did find several that used some form of the name Orion in their name that were being sued but I don’t know if it’s the same company.
Read the link below from the Federal Trade Commission on Advance Fee Loans.
I personally would not take a loan that I had to pay money up front. If I had $1800, I probably wouldn’t need the loan to begin with and it’s just weird that these guys are asking for money up front from people that need money. If they had the money, they wouldn’t be asking for a loan.
Mary asks…
As a teacher, can I qualify for BOTH Public Service and Teacher Loan Forgiveness Programs?
There are 2 loan forgiveness programs available for elementary and secondary (public) school teachers:
1. STAFFORD LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAM FOR TEACHERS
Under this program, individuals who teach full time for FIVE consecutive, complete academic years in certain elementary and secondary schools that serve low-income families and meet other qualifications may be eligible for forgiveness of up to a combined total of $17,500 in principal and interest on their FFEL and/or Direct Loan program loans.
2. PUBLIC SERVICE LOAN FORGIVENESS
Under this program, you may qualify for forgiveness of the remaining balance due on your eligible federal student loans after you have made 120 payments (i.e. 10 YEARS WORTH) on loans under certain repayment plans (IBR, income-contingent plans) while employed full time by certain public service employers.
So my question is this:
After graduating in 2012, I will enter the teaching profession as a high school science teacher. I start repaying my loans under the IBR plan. According to the above, does this mean that after 5 years, I will have up to $17,500 in loans forgiven, and then after another 5 years, ALL remaining debt will be forgiven?
This covers both forgiveness programs, and it does not say on the government student aid website that you can’t use more than one forgiveness program!!! If this is true, I think I’ve just discovered a great way to “beat the student loan system” (and not many people probably realize this crafty method).
***The only catch I can foresee is that if you do get $17,500 of your loans forgiven after 5 years using the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, that may disqualify you for the IBR repayment plan from that point on (since your loan debt will be lessened in relation to your annual income).
How’s my thought process on this? Is this all correct?
Nagesh answers:
First off, you must understand their is no way possible to “beat the student loan system”…. Well, short of dying. LOL
Economists and politicians alike have been working very hard at making these loan forgiveness programs LOOK very good, but in all practicality, I doubt when all the kids getting loans will actually have it work out when it’s finally time to have them forgiven will actually pay off as much as they think will happen.
For example:
In order to qualify for the IBR repayment plan, you MUST meet certain income eligibility guidelines (predetermined “economic hardship” criteria) and your family be 150% BELOW federal poverty levels. Do you have any dependents? No? If you don’t, and have a full time job (even a teaching one) you aren’t going to be considered BELOW these levels and won’t qualify for the lower payments of the IBR repayment plan. I looked it up once (hopefully it’s changed in the years since) and a SINGLE person working FULL time, even making barely more than min wage wouldn’t qualify!! It’s stupid. Anyway, this means you wouldn’t qualify for the IBR and your loan would likely be set at the Standard 10 year payment plan. Yes, its stupid… It means as long as you made all your payments on time, you’d have no balance left to be forgiven. And if you go into default, you can’t get anything forgiven.
This Department of Education Publication gives much more detail then most of the others. It’s a few years older (when they first created this program) since then, the new ones have all but removed the BARE min info about this. Read everything very carefully (starting on page 41).
Http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/FundingEduBeyondHighSchool_0910.pdf
I like this book because it defines what a “public service” jobs are really public service jobs and the new books out now don’t define them.
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