Student Loan Tax Question

I thought you could consolidate to whatever rate is being offered by the particular lender.

well if turbo tax is user friendly then turbo tax it is! I think wiping it out is the best idea, I will have the final decision after i do my taxes, just waiting on fucking valvoline and delta sonic to send me my fuckin W-2s, same with tradeking, Danforth sent theirs in like 4 days

Nope. I wish you were right though.

TurboTax will probably get you through just fine. I wouldn’t mind answering a question via PM when the time comes for you to prepare your return and if you even have any questions.

Banks would never make any money that way.

TurboTax is cool cuz you can see the change after you enter it and see what you should do.

Doesn’t sound like its an issue in this thread, but you’ll also hit the cap. SL interest is not deductible forever. IIRC it was AGIs under $80k

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:43 PM ----------

Don’t take this the wrong way, but from your stories, it may make more sense to hold on to at least some of that as some savings. The carrying cost is very low, and deductible… I don’t understand peoples obsession of wiping out debt if it means they don’t have any safety net.

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:45 PM ----------

Don’t take this the wrong way, but from your stories, it may make more sense to hold on to at least some of that as some savings. The carrying cost is very low, and deductible… I don’t understand peoples obsession of wiping out debt if it means they don’t have any safety net.

---------- Post added at 07:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:45 PM ----------

Wow, you suck at math.

Add another to the supporters for Turbo tax. Very easy to use, this is the second year in a row that I’m using it now, and I’m definitely happy with it.

FWIW, they are all easy.

I’ve used TurboTax and TaxACT interchangeably on years when I do my own taxes. Typically depending on which I can catch a discount with. Its cheaper to go with a disc based copy if you are doing more than one return usually, but online hosting is nice if you are lazy with records.

taxfreedom.com is the free version of turbotax if you made under 31k, or are active duty miltary, or another condition.

I use it for my girlfriends “job” while she is in school still.

You pay her to cook?

Have you been paying on your student loans at all? I’m down to around 15k locked in at 4.25%, this year I only get to claim around $700 for taxes and obviously every year it goes down. That $3100 sounds extremely high in paid interest unless your doing a super short pay off term. Not to mention you usually don’t start paying them off till 6 months after you graduate but you can set it up to pay the interest only while you go to school. Student loans do count towards credit score, if you miss payments your score will drop. They can also be included in debt ratio for loans. Personally since my payments are so low I use mine as credit history. It has helped me get low rates on car loans and also help me get a mortgage.

this thread makes me really happy that work is paying for my schooling. i don’t really understand much with economics anyways, lol.

op, props on having the cash to pay off the loans by the time you finished, i know alot of people that have a crapload of debt from school.

I’m not sure this is true?

this would be a whole lot easier if i would have just gotten a full ride to begin with =p

no complaining allowed, you’re in great shape either way here.

As far as debt ratio this is from creditboards.com It is a few years old but is a sticky and has not been changed. Also this is for a mortgage, I can not comment on other type of loans. It seems that it “could” be counted but doesn’t mean it always will.

My student loan, car loan, and credit cards were included on my mortgage application for my DTI.

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=144468

  1. If you are going for a conforming mortgage, one that conforms to either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac guidelines, Federally Guaranteed Student Loans will count towards your debt ratio whether you are in repayment or in deferment. This is in the guidelines and while there may be conforming lenders or two that will not count them, they can not sell those loans as part of a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac guaranteed MBS (Mortgage Backed Security). The lender would have to portfolio them.

  2. If you are going for an FHA/VA/USDA Rural Development then as long as you can document that the loan(s) will be in deferment/forbearance for at least the next 12 months after closing they are not supposed to be counted towards debt ratio.

  3. If you are going for a nonconforming/subprime mortgage each lender will have their own rules. Generally the rules will be in line with FHA. However, some lenders will require that 2 yrs deferment/forbearance be documented otherwise the loans will be counted.

it seems like there is confusion about ‘accrued interest’ on the loan and ‘paid interest’… your can’t deduct accrued interest since that interest has in no way impacted your income for that year… once you actually start paying on that interest then you can start to deduct the portion of those payments that is interest from your taxes…

for example if you got a loan 4 years ago and it has been accruing deferred interest while you have been in school and then you pay it off the day you graduate you get to deduct absolutely nothing from your taxes even though part of that payoff is going to include the deferred interest

also student loans most certainly show up on your credit report and mortgage companies will consider them