Student loans?

DirtyDirtyVagrant

So I just looked up my student loans on the Federal student aid website just to get some idea about how fucked I am.

I expected to see 3-4 loans with penalties and interest to the tune of $10-11k.

What I'm seeing is a single $2600 loan with a "canceled amount" of $1753 to the tune of an $888 total balance.

What the fuck is going on? Am I dreaming? This is too good to be true, right? There has to be some explanation for ten thousand dollars worth of debt just disappearing?

Esh

DirtyDirtyVagrant wrote:

So I just looked up my student loans on the Federal student aid website just to get some idea about how fucked I am.

I expected to see 3-4 loans with penalties and interest to the tune of $10-11k.

What I'm seeing is a single $2600 loan with a "canceled amount" of $1753 to the tune of an $888 total balance.

What the fuck is going on? Am I dreaming? This is too good to be true, right? There has to be some explanation for ten thousand dollars worth of debt just disappearing?

Call them? Because that's the only way you're going to be sure.

Adus

Did you consolidate somewhere else or something?

DirtyDirtyVagrant

No. I haven't done anything with them since I left school.

I didn't take out any private loans, either...is there someplace that I can see a legit credit report for free? Cheap?

Esh

DirtyDirtyVagrant wrote:

No. I haven't done anything with them since I left school.

I didn't take out any private loans, either...is there someplace that I can see a legit credit report for free? Cheap?

Yeah...

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

I don't understand why you just don't call them instead of trying to Sherlock Holmes this yourself. They'll give you the definite answer.

DirtyDirtyVagrant

The definite answer according to the guy at the federal student aid office is that yes, I do in fact owe just $888. He further stated that it was unlikely that I had any private loans, since I only filled out a FAFSA form at the time of my enrollment.

However, looking at my credit report, I seem to still have around $7200 in outstanding 'student aid' debt to citigroup. This is most unsavory. I believe I will be calling the school tomorrow.

Underwhelming

Well, the only solid advice I can give is this: Don't count on mistakes happening in your favor. If you owe the government/school money, they will realize their error and come for it eventually, and who's to say you won't be worse off, financially, then than you are now.

Elin

Federal loans, until recently, could be serviced by banks. My husband has a federal loan serviced through Sallie Mae. So it looks like you have 800$ odd serviced by the government and 7000$ serviced by Citi. Totally normal.

iolo

Which federal student aid website were you looking at? You should be looking at the National Student Loan Database at nslds.ed.gov. All federally guaranteed student loans will be listed there, whether made through a lender or directly from the Department of Education. You can get or reset your PIN at pin.ed.gov. You can get contact information from NSLDS for each of your loan servicers.

DirtyDirtyVagrant

That's the one I was looking at. Does that mean that the $7000 in citigroup serviced loans aren't or may not be federally guaranteed?

halkun

If it's anything like mine, I had a Stafford load though Citibank and another though SLFC FINANCE SUBS. The way that it works is that there is a portion of the interest rate which is subsidized, and a portion that is not. To reclaim that money, you need to file your 1098-E form with your taxes. That will credit back some of the interest. You will have to file using a 1040 form, or have a tax person help you out. You can't use an EZ form.

What's going to happen is you are going to get two payback books, one for each lender. I beg you *NOT* to consolidate them. Pay back the smaller loan as fast as you can and take that tax credit every year. If you consolidate, you are going to screw up your interest rates and wind up paying more in the long run.

In short, call Citibank, they have your loan and can tell you what the balance is, the payback amount, and the interest rate, both subsidized and unsubsidized.

iolo

Citibank sold off its student loan business in 2010, private loans going to Discover Financial and FFELP loans to Sallie Mae. So its weird that you would still have student loans with them. Definitely get in touch with them.

AManFromEarth

Pre government take over of the loan industry loans are still administered by their originators I believe. Of course all of mine were from the friendly sodomites at Sallie Mae anyway so take this with a grain of salt.