I am desperate to find answers about my situation. I took out a private loan for my final year of undergrad in 2009—the amount then was about $29k.  It is a private loan from Sallie Mae - their “Tuition Answer” loan. The balance is now $63k. I am making interest-only payments in the amount of $506 per month. Once the interest-only period expires (11 more months) I’ll obviously jump into higher payments. By then I should have steady income.  The interest rate is variable and is currently at 9.7%, which seems high to me since I have heard chatter about interest rates being at an all-time low. I guess it is based on credit?

I am not sure how to deal with this loan going forward. I work a public interest job and bring home about $30k a year after taxes.  My payments are well over $900 a month for my private loan and federal loans, so I am really cutting it close every month.  This was not the dream I had in mind.  The federal loans are not my issue—they should be forgiven if I work in public interest for 10 years.  The federal loan payments are also more manageable because of IBR.  It’s the private loan that is weighing on me. 

I just want to know if there are ANY options out there for dealing with this private loan. I realize I’ll be paying off this private loan probably forever—but if I could avoid losing the roof over my head while doing it I would rest so much easier at night.

Are there any forgiveness/payment-lowering programs for private loans like this one?

Thanks so much for your help!