Income-Driven Repayment Options for Gay or Lesbian Couples (Post DOMA)
On Wednesday, June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the federal government to recognize marriages between same-sex couples. Equal protection for my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters! What does the DOMA decision mean for gay and lesbian student loan borrowers? Same-sex married couples with student loans will find that having one’s marriage recognized by the federal government makes for some mighty tricky tax decisions. The income-driven repayment plans (like Income-Based Repayment and Pay-As-You-Earn) limit a borrower's…
Sorting Out the Income Driven Repayment Options
You say tom-a-to, I say tom-ah-to. But the income driven repayment options are much more different than their names imply. Pay As You Earn (PAYE) gets you the lowest payments and earliest forgiveness, but can't be chosen by people who borrowed before October 1, 2007. Income-Based Repayment is a little more expensive than PAYE but is available to more folks. Income-Contingent Repayment isn't the newest or cheapest option, but if you are a Parent PLUS loan borrower, it's the only available income-driven plan (and only after…
Student Loans and “The Tax Man”
Started getting those tax docments arriving in the mail? Remember that the income-driven repayment plans (like Income-Based Repayment and Pay As You Earn) limit a borrower's student loan payments to an affordable level given his or her income. Monthly payments are determined based on the borrower’s Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) and family size. To maximize the allowable reductions or adjustments from your total income: • Save for retirement. The best way to boost your adjustments is to save for retirement. Try…
Pay As You Earn is even hotter than Income-Based Repayment
President Obama’s new Pay As You Earn (PAYE) repayment option is yummy. Thank you, Mr. President! Except, um, lots of us don’t qualify for PAYE and will have to settle for its somewhat less attractive (but still good looking) older sibling--Income-Based Repayment (IBR). Here’s a short list of some of the similarities and differences between Pay As You Earn and Income-Based Repayment: Only “new borrowers” are eligible to choose Pay As You Earn Only federal Direct Loans are eligible for repayment under Pay…
Defending Your Liberty, While Waiting On Hold
In November 2001, I deployed into Afghanistan with my fellow Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) to capture or kill those responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and to aid Afghanistan's Northern Alliance in their efforts to defeat the Taliban and rest control of their proud country from that brutal regime. The last thing that I, or any deployed servicemember, wants to think about is the financial security of my family back home. Yet today, according to a recent…
