Fed Financial
student loans question?
i have student loans through nelnet and sallie mae. both are over $300 a month (sallie mae is 600) consolidated. there is no way i can really make these payments. if i do pay the total a month for one and only a portion of the other can they still report me even if im paying them?? i have tried everything and cant get the payments lower
Public Comments
- Immediately call sallie mae There are many types of deferements you can get through them to make lower payments or even pay nothing. For example, are you working less than 30 hours a week, is your income low, does your student loans exceed more than 4 and up to 25 percent of your income etc. call immediately to see what they can offer you
- If you're having a hard time making your minimum payments, there are things that you can do. If you have two lenders (Nelnet and SallieMae), perhaps you don't actually have a Federal Consolidation Loan (or you would only have one lender). If you have two loans, perhaps you should look into a Federal Consolidation Loan to pay those two off and have only one - big - loan left. You can spread your payments on a Federal Consolidation Loan over 30 years (which will lower your monthly payment, but will also increase the amount of interest that you'll pay over the life of the loan). If I've misinterpreted your question and you already have just the one Federal Consolidation Loan, you can contact the lender and request a forbearance, or even a Economic Hardship Deferment (if you qualify). Here's the form with all of the info: http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/FP0606HRD.pdf . As far as if they can report you if you're not making the minimum payments (even if you're paying something), the answer is "yes, they can." It can still have a negative effect on your credit. It's best to contact your lender(s) to try to work with them (forbearance, deferment, Federal Consolidation...) Good Luck!
