FitBUX As Told By A Member

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  • FitBUX As Told By A Member
Author: Joseph Reinke, CFA

FitBUX as told by a FitBUX member. We can help you too.

The story below is from an existing FitBUX member, Landon Pillsbury, PT, DPT from Omaha, NE. We’re very glad we could help.

If you need help figuring it all out, simply join FitBUX here and schedule a free coaching call. If need be, we can get on the phone with you and your servicer to sort things out. This is a free service.

(Slightly edited and shortened for clarity only.)

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In November when my federal loans were entering repayment, my loans were transferred from Navient to FedLoan Servicing because I am repaying my loans under the PSLF.

I was already approved for the PAYE income-based repayment plan for $0/month for a year (I’m completing a residency program so I make fairly little compared to other new grads).

I received a weird email stating “You may qualify for lower payments on some of your loans!” If I did the math correctly, this is impossible considering you cannot pay less than $0. Turns out, about half of my loans didn’t transfer properly over from Navient on my IBR. I had to call and ask why, and after 2 different representatives and about 1.5 hours on the phone, no one knows why. One lady tells me that she can request that the loans be added to my already accepted IBR because it’s within a certain amount of days. “In 7-10 business days you should see the shift,” she said. 

A month goes by, no change on my profile. I call again to figure out what is going on. Apparently, it was held up in limbo for some reason, and the new lady says she will make it a priority case (since now I have a bill on my federal loans for $800+ even though I’m approved for an IBR payment of $0).

She says that “nothing can be done about this month‘s bill because its already been billed, but I can be on an ‘administrative forbearance'”…...I may have accidentally shown my frustration about this verbally more than I should have. Especially when this obviously will not be a qualifying payment, and I lose my qualifying payments for the months of November and December on the PSLF and IBR. She didn’t even think this as an issue even though she’s a “PSLF” specialist”.

When I am asking about what else can be done, considering I am making far less than what I intended during this year of residency when I SIGNED these promissory notes and this is not even my fault, she states, “Well when you sign the promissory notes on these loans, it is expected that you are able to pay the payments regardless.”

I immediately had to correct her unprofessional comment and asked to be transferred to a supervisor after letting her know I did not appreciate her essentially brushing off my right to take advantage of repayment programs specifically made for people in my situation.

Supervisor says that my loans can be transferred no problem, they just didn’t have the correct application from StudentLoans.gov and he would get it taken care of. 

Monday the following week comes, still no change. Talk to a supervisor’s supervisor….. Apparently, this month’s forbearance can be overridden using a PSLF override once the dust settles. He isn’t sure why I got a payment of $0 in November, but now it’s being billed and the loans aren’t on my PAYE/IBR.

He seems calm about it and says not to worry. It will be approved for the override no problem. Once my loans get added to my preexisting IBR, call back and we will get it sorted out. Later that week, I get all of my paperless inbox messages from FedCROOK Servicing…. ALL of my loans were switched to a standard repayment!!!!! One of the messages says I can save by applying for an IBR….. Fuming…. 

Eventually, I call (once again for about 2 hours total to get to the right people) to get everything figured out.

I explained my story similarly and told them that if it’s not taken care of appropriately before my payment goes through then I will have to contact someone outside of their company to figure out what is going on as I cannot keep spending my time on the phone like this when it gets nothing done.

Mind you, at this point, I have spent a total of 6-7 hours on the phone/holding over this situation. They immediately told me they are on it and will get things done that afternoon, and I even received a phone call from the supervisor I spoke to later that evening telling me it is taken care of, which it was when I logged in.

IT TOOK THREATENING THEM TO GET IT DONE BEFORE MY DECEMBER PAYMENT WENT THROUGH! 

Moral of the story, If I had not been diligent and paying attention, I would have missed a payment, gone into forbearance, or had far more issues had it not been taken care of promptly.

To start this fiasco, I got an email about how I can make smaller payments on my loans, but NOT A SINGLE email that my loans had a due payment….. I had to get to supervisors 3 separate times to basically tell them exactly what was going wrong with my loans each time in order to get it sorted out and explain to them why I am pushing for the corrections to be made as they kept brushing the urgency of the situation under the rug.

Thank god I have talked with Joe Reinke from FitBUX, and have access to the FitBUX platform to  know what I’m talking about as well as my FitBUX Coach’s expertise because it could have easily been too late and “my fault.”  


Joseph Reinke, CFA

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About the Author

Joseph Reinke is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charter Holder and founder of FitBUX which has helped over 14,000 young professionals on their journey to financial freedom. Joseph has been personally investing since he was 12 years old.

In addition, he has experience in student loans, mortgages, wealth management, investment banking, valuation, stock trading, and option trading. He has been on 100s of podcast and has been invited to 100s of universities to discuss financial planning with their soon to be graduates.

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