possible to refinance med school loans right after graduation?

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osprey099

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I will graduate with $180k (after interest) in federal stafford loans around late May. Assuming I have my residency (starting July 1) contract signed and ready to go, is it possible for me to refinance using SoFi/DRB/etc to get their 3-4% rates rather than my 6% federal rates? I have excellent credit (800+). Would I have to refinance during the period of "post-graduation" and "pre-residency"?

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I will graduate with $180k (after interest) in federal stafford loans around late May. Assuming I have my residency (starting July 1) contract signed and ready to go, is it possible for me to refinance using SoFi/DRB/etc to get their 3-4% rates rather than my 6% federal rates? I have excellent credit (800+). Would I have to refinance during the period of "post-graduation" and "pre-residency"?

Are you looking into any of the IRB/PSLF or other type programs? If so, I wouldn't switch to a private loan. I believe you also still have a six month grace period after school ends before loan repayment begins, so you don't need to do anything until December/January...
 
I'd also like to add if you sign up for REPAYE then you're effective interest rate is much lower (I think mine is about 4.5-5%), as the government covers half your unpaid interest.

SoFi, to my knowledge, does not offer a residency loan consolidation program, meaning they won't take into account your attending income (meaning even if you do get approved, your rates would be high), nor would you get low in-residency payments. DRB and LinkCapital are the only two banks I know that consolidate loans for residents. With DRB you pay $100/month while in residency.

Also, DRBs rates have gone up. I consolidated my private loans with them when their resident consolidation loan first came out, then tried to re-consolidate a year later when I matched to a fellowship (otherwise they wouldn't extend my in-residency status and I would start full repayment while in fellowship). The new rates they offered me weren't that much better than federal loans, and you lose all the benefits of federal loans. I decided not to re-consolidate, but I was fortunate enough to get a windfall so I paid off all the private/DRB loans a few months ago.

Unless you know you won't be aiming for PSLF, and your salary is high enough the REPAYE interest subsidy doesn't provide any meaningful benefit, you may be better off keeping your federal loans.
 
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Are you looking into any of the IRB/PSLF or other type programs? If so, I wouldn't switch to a private loan. I believe you also still have a six month grace period after school ends before loan repayment begins, so you don't need to do anything until December/January...

I'd also like to add if you sign up for REPAYE then you're effective interest rate is much lower (I think mine is about 4.5-5%), as the government covers half your unpaid interest.

SoFi, to my knowledge, does not offer a residency loan consolidation program, meaning they won't take into account your attending income (meaning even if you do get approved, your rates would be high), nor would you get low in-residency payments. DRB and LinkCapital are the only two banks I know that consolidate loans for residents. With DRB you pay $100/month while in residency.

Also, DRBs rates have gone up. I consolidated my private loans with them when their resident consolidation loan first came out, then tried to re-consolidate a year later when I matched to a fellowship (otherwise they wouldn't extend my in-residency status and I would start full repayment while in fellowship). The new rates they offered me weren't that much better than federal loans, and you lose all the benefits of federal loans. I decided not to re-consolidate, but I was fortunate enough to get a windfall so I paid off all the private/DRB loans a few months ago.

Unless you know you won't be aiming for PSLF, and your salary is high enough the REPAYE interest subsidy doesn't provide any meaningful benefit, you may be better off keeping your federal loans.

Thanks for the input!

I know I won't be going for PSLF. I'm not too knowledgable about the REPAYE but my goal is to pay off loans ASAP. I think I will just go with the standard 10yr repayment plan after consolidating my federal loans, pay the monthly payments during residency and try to pay off the rest in 1-2 years after becoming attending. I did some calculations and it seems like I'll end up paying anywhere from $200-230k from a $180k principal so this doesn't seem too bad.
 
Thanks for the input!

I know I won't be going for PSLF. I'm not too knowledgable about the REPAYE but my goal is to pay off loans ASAP. I think I will just go with the standard 10yr repayment plan after consolidating my federal loans, pay the monthly payments during residency and try to pay off the rest in 1-2 years after becoming attending. I did some calculations and it seems like I'll end up paying anywhere from $200-230k from a $180k principal so this doesn't seem too bad.

Depending on your income, the 10 year repayment amount might be too high. You might benefit from ibr for the residency years and then move to weigh repayment afterwards. Check all your options before going for the sofi option.
 
Thanks for the input!

I know I won't be going for PSLF. I'm not too knowledgable about the REPAYE but my goal is to pay off loans ASAP. I think I will just go with the standard 10yr repayment plan after consolidating my federal loans, pay the monthly payments during residency and try to pay off the rest in 1-2 years after becoming attending. I did some calculations and it seems like I'll end up paying anywhere from $200-230k from a $180k principal so this doesn't seem too bad.
I agree with others that you should seriously consider RePAYE. See this thread for some great examples and numbers. It is worth your time and effort.

Idea to enter REPAYE early

And read this.

What Should I Do With My Student Loans?

If you still have questions, in confident everyone here will be happy to help.
 
I agree with others that you should seriously consider RePAYE. See this thread for some great examples and numbers. It is worth your time and effort.

Idea to enter REPAYE early

And read this.

What Should I Do With My Student Loans?

If you still have questions, in confident everyone here will be happy to help.
I wish I had seen these links earlier. For some reason, I thought I read that Perkins loans weren't able to be consolidated or that all of your federal loans had to be consolidated together. It would have made a lot of sense for me to have consolidated my perkins and my lowest-rate direct loan at graduation and then applied for repaye on that consolidated loan. Not sure if it makes sense now, with my Perkins in forbearance since it came out of grace.
 
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