https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 12 Apr 2026 12:07:55 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777987 Fri, 06 Oct 2017 08:38:46 +0000 fmmtk 2777987@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Consolidating does make you ineligible for the public service loan forgiveness. At the time I consolidated it made sense to do so based on rising interest rates; however, as I approach my tenth year in public service I absolutely regret it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777977 Fri, 06 Oct 2017 08:30:20 +0000 2PeasinaPod 2777977@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I graduated undergrad in 2002, so it's definitely about the time you graduated. I was able to get a 2% interest rate at the time and paid both mine and DH's off early once we consolidated. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777951 Fri, 06 Oct 2017 00:19:50 +0000 wrkbrk 2777951@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DesertDreams88: I think mine are fixed at 3-4% somewhere in there but I don't recall exactly. Graduated law school in 2009 with $240,000 in debt sooooo don't feel bad. :D </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777868 Thu, 05 Oct 2017 14:27:56 +0000 DesertDreams88 2777868@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Sounds like it is mostly when people went to school. For me, undergrad was 2006-2010 and then grad was 2013-2014 I think (I did the program in 15 months and not along a normal school year so it gets fuzzy). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777826 Thu, 05 Oct 2017 10:18:54 +0000 Mamatimes3 2777826@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>When did you graduate? </p> <p>Mine were around 2.5%. I graduated from college in 2000 and had about $20,000 in loans from sallie mae. At some point, I consolidated them a couple of years later with that low rate. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777796 Thu, 05 Oct 2017 08:46:24 +0000 Dr. Pepper 2777796@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I refinanced all my federal and private loans to a Bank of ND student loan. You have to be a resident of ND to get it. You do lose your federal loan benefits (loan forgiveness and income based repayment). They had two options: fixed rate (4.5%) and variable rate (1.5%). I normally would not do variable rate due to risk of it skyrocketing, but they had good terms- max increase was 1% per year and max overall rate was 10%. I knew I would have them paid off in 2 years, so the rate would increase to a max of 3.5% by the time I was done. In the end, my rate was 1.74%, so my gamble was well worth it.</p> <p>I should add- all my loans were taken out from 2007-2011. Original rates were 6.8% for federal and 7.5% for private. I had a total of $94,000 when I graduated and had paid it off to about $80,000 when I refinanced to the Bank of ND loan. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777765 Thu, 05 Oct 2017 06:03:24 +0000 Adira 2777765@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think it might be about when you went to school? I graduated and consolidated my loans in 2006. Federal loans at 3.5%. Though my husband graduated at the same time and did some shopping around - he went through Sallie May (I think they've changed their name since then) and got a 1.9% loan. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777759 Thu, 05 Oct 2017 04:22:47 +0000 My Only Sunshine 2777759@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My rate on private loans for law school was 1.5% and they knocked off an extra .25% for paying by auto debit. 2006-2009. I think federal were 2.5% at that time, so I only took subsidized federal loans.</p> <p>I never refinanced because right around the time I graduated the economy tanked and my rates were better than anything I could get from refinancing. </p> <p>So much of it seems to come down to when you took out your loans. The whole thing is such a nightmare. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777743 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 21:34:26 +0000 Becky 2777743@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@peaches1038: Oh boy, I have never heard of a rate that high outside of the small print on variable interest rate consolidated loans. But yes, it basically depends on when you took your loans out. My sister and I have almost the same total amount, but hers is at 3% interest and mine is 6.8%--they were taken out a decade apart. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777721 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 20:35:46 +0000 catomd00 2777721@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think older people will have lower rates. My loans are Dept of ed and taken out starting in 2009. They are all 6.8 and 7.8%. Total joke. I don't have any other lines of credit with rates that high) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777708 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 20:00:43 +0000 skipra 2777708@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I forgot my exact rate but it is around 1.6% I think. I had $13k in student loans, and when I graduated my dad told me I needed to consolidate date them asap to lock in at that super low rate. My monthly payment is under $100. I could easily pay it off but at that rate it's not really worth it.</p> <p>Eta I was only eligible for 1 type of loan because I went to school outside the U.S. but I can't remember all the details now. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777703 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 19:32:51 +0000 gingerbebe 2777703@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I had 5% on my loans. I did not refinance them because I had some loan forgiveness through LRAP at law school for the first two years, then we incomes out. Then we had the option of Public Service Loan Forgiveness, but ultimately we didn't want to wait 10 years, so we just knocked them out hard in 5 years.</p> <p>DH had a mix of federal and private and he originally consolidated to get a lower average rate bc one of his loans was ridick (his rates were somewhere between 6-8%) and then eventually did a refinance with DRB (now called Laurel Road?) for a very low but adjustable rate. He started at 2.85% and is currently at 3.58% after 2.5 years. It's still lower than today's current rates for a stable rate and it pushes us to work harder to knock it out since it is variable. </p> <p>No matter what you do don't get a marriage consolidation. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777698 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 19:16:26 +0000 danda 2777698@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mine are 2.3-4 percent. Mostly it's due to timing (1999-2002). I also consolidated when loan rates were low around 2004 or so to lock in the lowest rate, and I've gotten rate reductions for things like 60 on-time payments and auto-pay. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777686 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 18:00:21 +0000 peaches1038 2777686@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My loans are all federal and my interest rate is 6.8-8.6%. It's awful. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777685 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 17:41:23 +0000 agold 2777685@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My interest rate on my own remaining student debt is 1.05%. I got this from some kind of consolidation program my school advisor told me about while I was in the midst of graduate school. That was quite a while ago! :silly: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777676 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 16:49:54 +0000 NCSUchick27 2777676@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mine were all federal loans and they were all around 5-6%. </p> <p>DH is 3 years older than me and his undergraduate loans were all less than 3%. His grad school loans all had higher rates.</p> <p>We both went to a public university so the tuition was cheaper than private universities so we were both able to get by with just federal loans. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777673 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 16:29:32 +0000 SweetiePie 2777673@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MaryM: Yeah I also went to a private school so tuition was significantly higher. But it was nothing compared to today’s tuition 😱 </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777667 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 15:52:41 +0000 MaryM 2777667@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: I also only had loans for undergrad. I only went to grad school because my job was willing to pay for it. </p> <p>But the undergrad loans were for a private school...so they were closer to what most people leave grad school with. Oh the decisions they trust 17 year olds to make for their future! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777666 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 15:48:09 +0000 SweetiePie 2777666@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MaryM: Uhhhh yeah I was also going to say I’m probably a lot older! When I graduated I was able to get 1.9%. Maybe it was 2.9%? But yeah. Different times, man! Also I only got undergrad, so I imagine if i had done grad school or an advanced degree in later years it would be higher. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777663 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 15:44:14 +0000 travellingbee 2777663@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mine are around 3%. I took out loans from 1995-2001<br /> and consolidated them in 2002 at that fixed rate. I think they offered better deals for consolidating them then. However, I didn't qualify for any forgiveness of my loans because of when I took them out (congress didn't approve forgiveness of the loans during those years), so even though I have taught in Title one schools for years, I got screwed there. I think in the long run, you win! :wink: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777660 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 15:38:42 +0000 MaryM 2777660@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mine were fixed around 3.5-4%. The answer in my case...I'm old!</p> <p>ETA: And they were all federal loans. </p> <p>But, because of the overall amount of them, I wasn't able to fully pay them off until we sold a house. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-did-you-get-such-low-student-loan-aprs#post-2777658 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 15:37:16 +0000 DesertDreams88 2777658@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Spinning off my previous thread... I am shocked at some of the student loan APRs you all have!! Wowzers. When DH &amp; I graduated, we had 80K at 5-6.8%, about half and half private and public. We are down to 24K (after taxes/pensions/health insurance we make 48K btwn the 2 of us, sooooo yeah.) Here's the stats:</p> <p>Public: 10,424 owed, 6.1% APR fixed<br /> Public: 5,420 owed, 5.4% APR fixed<br /> Private: 8,022 owed, 4.75% APR, variable</p> <p>I have thought about consolidating but in the past it didn't make financial sense because they average your interest and add an extra .25%. I also think I read something about consolidating maybe taking some of your forgiveness or IBR plan options off the table, not sure. I got 15K forgiven through teaching and Teach For America, so I was hesitant to refinance public into private. </p> <p>I'm not a big fan of the everything-forgiven-after-10-yrs-of-IBR-payments idea. Last 2 times I checked, I didn't qualify for IBR. </p> <p>Anyway, how did you get some low interest rates? Did any of you refinance? Did any of your refinance public with private companies? What was that experience like? Why did you do it? </p>