I currently owe about $100,000 for two children to attend college.
I am also retired with income coming from my pension, savings and Social Security.
Should I not have been paying these loans during the pandemic and wait until Oct. 1 to pay?
Should I still pay?
I hope there is some cancelation.
-L.
Dear L.,
Its tough to say whether in retrospect you should have stopped paying these loans.
It was the beginning of a very dark chapter that had no end in sight.
You made the best decisions you could with the information you had.
I think you made the right call tokeep making payments, provided that you dont have interest-accruing debt.
Over the past 14 months, your payments have gone 100% toward the principal.
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You could put those loan payments toward the interest-accruing debt first and then resume paying off the student loans.
But I dont think student loan forgiveness should be a major factor in your decision-making here.
No Interest Til Almost 2027?
Even the $10,000 isnt close to reality.
I wouldnt spend that money or invest it, though.
Put it in a bank account so that its safe.
You dont say whether making these loan payments is a strain on yourretirement budget.
If you struggle to make payments, you oughta have two conversations.
Depending on your income, you may be able to lower your monthly payments through an income-contingent repayment plan.
Youd need to consolidate your Federal Parent PLUS loans into a Federal Direct Consolidation loan first.
But the bigger conversation you oughta have is with your kids.
You took on this debt to finance their education.
So if theyre in a position to help you out with payments, kindly ask them.
If your kids are still in school, be honest with them about how much debt you have.
Maybe a degree of student loan forgiveness will happen someday.
But for now, you better plan as if its never going to be a reality.
Robin Hartill is a certified financial planner and a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
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You know which ones were talking about: rent, utilities, cell phone bill, insurance, groceries…
