Gs4 Security: Federal Student Loans

Monday, 17 December 2012

Federal Student Loans

Married couples in particular will benefit from the new IBR guidelines. "If you file jointly and you both have federal loan debt, under the old rules you could end up paying twice as much in the program as you would if you were single," noted Lauren Asher, president of the Institute for College Access & Success, who was quoted by the Dispatch. But the changes allow for lenders to consider the couple's total income and total debt from federal student loans, and payments from husband and wife will be based on their percentage of the overall debt.Moreover, lenders will now be permitted to consider a borrower's current loan amount when determining eligibility for IBR. This is a major change from the rules that were established last year, which only allowed lenders to consider the amount of debt a graduate had when repayment began, even though interest accrued since then might have been substantial. Now lenders will be able to examine both figures and choose whichever is higher to determine eligibility.