Hi Heather,

I have a few questions about my student loans.I am 23 years old and I have about $98,000 total in student loan debt. I have federal loans that I am paying for my undergraduate degree. These loans were taken out in my name. They total around $28,000. I just applied for the public service forgiveness program because I am a social worker and employed at a non-profit agency full time. So I will be paying the full 10-year (120) payments in order to get the remainder of my loans forgiven. The loans are also now affordable because I have applied for the income-based program, which now allows me to pay them back at a reasonable amount. Around $200 a month. This plan is working for me.

However, the problem that I currently face is that my father also took out Parent Plus loans in his name when I first started college. I started college at 17, so he told me I wasn’t allowed to take out loans until I turned 18. (Not sure if this is true, but this is what happened). He continued to take out these loans in his name the next few years and never switched the loans over to my name .Therefore I am left with parent plus loans totaling around $70,000. He is not paying of these loans and never offered to- I am left to pay the loans. After doing my research, it seems like I have no way to move the loans from my father’s name to my name. This is a big problem because now I cannot consolidate these loans with my federal loan, or have these loans based on my income-driven plan or apply these for my public service forgiveness plan and have them forgiven after 10 years. Is there any possible way that I can transfer the loans to my name? It seems like he made a mistake taking the Parent Plus loans out. However, I can’t afford to pay this amount back without some kind of plan that fits my low salary. I can’t afford to move out, and I can barely afford cost of daily expenses. He is charging me $1,000 a month to pay him back for the loans and is not able to compromise with any other monthly repayments I suggest. This takes almost by whole monthly salary. What would you recommend? I’m in desperate need of help.

Thanks so much. -Brooke

Check out the article here: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2014/12/08/4-strategies-for-repaying-federal-parent-plus-loans

Legally, I believe your father is the one who is legally responsible for paying the loan back. You could have the loan refinanced in your name through a private loan firm, but that is ill-advised as private loans are much more of a nightmare to deal with and do not offer the same benefits (they are very strict on late fees and unwilling to work with you on repayment options). I would recommend NOT signing any agreement to do this unless you are fully capable of paying it back and know the ramifications for doing so.

Since it is in his name, he has the ability to turn the loan into a direct consolidation loan (in his name) and he can be on the ICR repayment plan (income contingent), and if he worked in a qualifying job could receive forgiveness in 10 years through the PSLF program (or forgiveness after 25 years), but that would be up to him, as your employment would not count since it is in his name only. This article is also good:

https://studentloanhero.com/featured/parent-plus-loan-repayment-should-you-help-your-parents-pay-back-the-loans/

It sounds like a tough situation. You don’t want to leave your parents in debt, but at the same time you cannot do anything about it. Just remember that it was their decision to take out the loan and sign the paperwork, not yours. Good luck and I hope it works out