Student Loan Solutions for Home Ownership

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Student Loan Solutions for Home Ownership

Student loans allow you to invest in your future, and though that may at times feel overwhelming, the payments don’t have to be a burden. You may qualify for multiple options that will relieve you from such financial pressure as you take the next steps in building your career in the medical field and the life you’ve been working toward for so long. These options include Student Loan Deferment or Income Based Repayment Plans. Read on to find out more about each of these programs and if you may qualify!

Income-related repayment plans can make your student loan debt more manageable by lowering the amount of your monthly payments. To lower your monthly payments, you may consider one of three plans including Income-Based Repayment Plan (IBR Plan), Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan, or an Income-Contingent Repayment Plan (ICR Plan). Each of these has criteria that must be met in order to qualify, mainly that you must benefit by having your payment amount under the plan be less than your standard payment. Also, your student loan debt must be higher than your annual income or a significant portion of it.

You may also consider receiving a deferment of the principal and interest of your student loans. A deferment would allow you to temporarily postpone your payments and help you avoid default. A bonus of this program? The federal government will pay any interest that accrues on subsidized loans during the deferment period. There are qualifications that must be met in order to defer your student loans. Take a look at the table here to see if this may be an option for you: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/deferment-forbearance

Keep in mind that the time period for each of these programs is up to one year only, though you can continue to reapply. With IBR you may reapply until your loans are paid-in-full or until you quality for loan forgiveness. With deferment, you may reapply for up to a total of three years’ time.

There are benefits to each of these options. Of course, before entering any of these programs, first ask yourself if this is the best financial option for you or if there are other budget items you can sacrifice in order to make your standard payments more easily.

A great time to enter these programs may be in order to afford a new home! Balancing your student loans under one of these programs with a Doctors’ Loan on a home may be a wise long-term investment, and a great way to settle into your newly matched community.