Author Topic: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi  (Read 5409 times)

Brilliantine

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REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« on: August 05, 2015, 06:02:33 PM »
I have no debt myself. DW has student loans. She's currently unemployed.

Is it possible for us to refi her loans with SoFi or similar with me co-signing?

gReed Smith

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2015, 06:08:21 PM »
I don't know, but I think the odds are high enough that it's worth either calling them or just applying and taking the tiny hit on your credit score.

forummm

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2015, 06:43:13 PM »
One caveat: If you co-sign for them you're on the hook, even if you get divorced or she dies.

Brilliantine

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2015, 07:04:03 PM »
One caveat: If you co-sign for them you're on the hook, even if you get divorced or she dies.
Understood. And thanks for letting me know.

We've been married for 13 months and I didn't really discuss her loans with her until now. I know that they exist and that she's been paying them. I don't know how much. She's very private about this particular issue, maybe there is some self consciousness about the amount of debt but I will sit down with her and understand the situation tonight. Maybe her interest rates are low enough that there is not much to gain from a refi. Maybe she has a hair on fire debt emergency and I can help.

I have to say, the entire concept of merged finances and its consequences is at this point a total unknown for me.

forummm

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2015, 07:42:26 PM »
One caveat: If you co-sign for them you're on the hook, even if you get divorced or she dies.
Understood. And thanks for letting me know.

We've been married for 13 months and I didn't really discuss her loans with her until now. I know that they exist and that she's been paying them. I don't know how much. She's very private about this particular issue, maybe there is some self consciousness about the amount of debt but I will sit down with her and understand the situation tonight. Maybe her interest rates are low enough that there is not much to gain from a refi. Maybe she has a hair on fire debt emergency and I can help.

I have to say, the entire concept of merged finances and its consequences is at this point a total unknown for me.

Well, I must say I was surprised to see that you still don't know about your wife's debts. Generally I would strongly advise finding out about this kind of thing well before marriage. But too late for that. It was awkward at first for us to discuss finances when we were dating, but we got beyond that after some patient and caring discussions about the subject. I think it's important for you both to know what's going on with each other financially. You can keep your finances separate if that's the way you both want it to be. But you both should at least know what's going on with the other. I think finances are one of those things where there shouldn't be secrets in a marriage. You don't need daily updates on balances--but a pretty decent idea would be good.

Both my in-laws were bankrupted by their ex-spouses due to their bad financial behavior. It doesn't mean it will happen to you. But something you definitely want to avoid.

Good luck :)

SoFiCommunity

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2015, 09:23:27 AM »
I have no debt myself. DW has student loans. She's currently unemployed.

Is it possible for us to refi her loans with SoFi or similar with me co-signing?

Hey there! Thanks for your interest in SoFi! Yes, if you cosign on the loan, your wife is welcome to apply. I would encourage her to give us a call when she is ready to get started so we can help walk her through the process of adding a cosigner. You can reach us at 855.456.7634. For our business hours, please visit https://www.sofi.com/contact-us/
 

forummm

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #6 on: August 06, 2015, 09:46:58 AM »
I have no debt myself. DW has student loans. She's currently unemployed.

Is it possible for us to refi her loans with SoFi or similar with me co-signing?

Hey there! Thanks for your interest in SoFi! Yes, if you cosign on the loan, your wife is welcome to apply. I would encourage her to give us a call when she is ready to get started so we can help walk her through the process of adding a cosigner. You can reach us at 855.456.7634. For our business hours, please visit https://www.sofi.com/contact-us/
 

Hi SoFiCommunity. What is your threshold for debt in relation to income?

therethere

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #7 on: August 06, 2015, 10:58:25 AM »
Depending on the rate you have it may not even be worth it to refinance. I did an initial quote and the rates were higher than my current rates even if I shortened the term to 5 years (my highest rate right now is 4.875%). Also, be aware that most of their low rates are variable based on the Prime or LIBOR which are both currently at historic lows. If you anticipate the loans taking more than 5 years to pay off I would expect the rates to go up so keep this in mind in your analysis. For example, when I first graduated my rates were based on the 3-month libor +2.89%. The 3-month libor at that time was 5% or so. The past few years it has been below 0.5%.

Also, you say she is unemployed. So you would have to cosign, and you would be losing all the federal benefits of deferment/hardship by consolidating I believe (would have to check this out). Off the bat with little information you are providing it does not seem worth it. If she has 8% loans then that is a different story.

Sibley

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #8 on: August 06, 2015, 11:36:06 AM »
Um, when did SoFi join the forum?

Brilliantine

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #9 on: August 06, 2015, 11:39:19 AM »
Um, when did SoFi join the forum?
Date Registered:

Today at 09:10:49 AM

Brilliantine

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #10 on: August 06, 2015, 11:45:35 AM »
Depending on the rate you have it may not even be worth it to refinance. I did an initial quote and the rates were higher than my current rates even if I shortened the term to 5 years (my highest rate right now is 4.875%). Also, be aware that most of their low rates are variable based on the Prime or LIBOR which are both currently at historic lows. If you anticipate the loans taking more than 5 years to pay off I would expect the rates to go up so keep this in mind in your analysis. For example, when I first graduated my rates were based on the 3-month libor +2.89%. The 3-month libor at that time was 5% or so. The past few years it has been below 0.5%.

Also, you say she is unemployed. So you would have to cosign, and you would be losing all the federal benefits of deferment/hardship by consolidating I believe (would have to check this out). Off the bat with little information you are providing it does not seem worth it. If she has 8% loans then that is a different story.

It looks like this might be the case. She has two "providers"? Great Lakes and Navient. I think she consolidated the loans. The loans add up to ~$41,000. Navient has a total loan balance of ~28k and interest rate of 4.12%. The other one was more complicated, I saw numbers between 3.5 and 6%.

I was kinda shocked so I didn't want to discuss it further. It seems she is paying for them from her savings. I guess I will just help her pay them off as there is not a lot of benefit from refinancing.


Valetta

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #11 on: August 06, 2015, 05:48:29 PM »
I was unimpressed with SoFi personally. My student loans are 3.1% at Great Lakes. I figured I would walk through the SoFi application as an experiment just to see what I would get - I figured it would be highly unlikely to get less than 3.1% but why not give it a shot? I have a high income and net worth of over $500k. The rates it gave me were over 6%. I laughed and immediately unsubscribed from all future communications from them. I know others have had a good experience with them so I'm not saying, don't try it. I'm just saying that it's not the answer for everyone.

onecoolcat

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #12 on: August 06, 2015, 05:58:01 PM »
Sofi is great, I refinanced my 47k loans from 6.8% to 3.81% and have only had positive experience so far with the company and their servicer (Mohela).  Their application process is pretty easy and they will make a decision within a couple days.  They rejected my application the first two times because they couldnt verify my identity (DRB also did this and I really dont understand why).  I emailed their customer support and got a live person on the phone the next day that helped me reapply and subsequently get approved.

SoFiCommunity

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Re: REfi Wife's Student Loans with SoFi
« Reply #13 on: August 07, 2015, 09:35:59 AM »
I have no debt myself. DW has student loans. She's currently unemployed.

Is it possible for us to refi her loans with SoFi or similar with me co-signing?


 

Hi SoFiCommunity. What is your threshold for debt in relation to income?


We don't have a hard and fast debt to income threshold, but we do look at your ability to pay your monthly obligations, and we review your job, education and history of financial responsibility.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!