With regards to advising shoppers on pupil mortgage points, many monetary advisors may first take into consideration latest graduates in search of recommendation relating to the best solution to pay down their balances. Nevertheless, the variety of Federal pupil mortgage debtors over the age of fifty has elevated considerably previously 20 years, with many of those debtors holding Mother or father PLUS loans that have been used to assist fund their kids’s undergraduate schooling.
Whereas pupil debtors of Federal Direct loans are eligible for a variety of Revenue-Pushed Reimbursement (IDR) plans – together with the newly launched Saving on a Helpful Schooling [SAVE] plan – that may cut back required month-to-month funds considerably in comparison with the usual compensation possibility (relying on the borrower’s earnings), accessible IDR plans for these with Mother or father PLUS loans are way more restricted, typically leading to considerably bigger month-to-month mortgage funds. Which not solely cuts right into a guardian’s present money stream, but additionally limits their skill to save lots of for his or her (probably fast-approaching) retirement.
Nonetheless, Mother or father PLUS debtors (and their advisors) have a chance (till July 1, 2025) to entry extra beneficiant IDR plans through the use of a “Double Consolidation” mortgage technique. With this selection, a guardian borrower first consolidates their present Mother or father PLUS loans into 2 Direct Consolidation loans, after which consolidates these 2 Direct Consolidation loans right into a single new Direct Consolidation mortgage. The ensuing mortgage could be eligible for extra favorable IDR plans, together with the SAVE plan, in any other case unavailable for these with Mother or father PLUS loans. Importantly, whereas this course of might sound comparatively simple on the floor, the multi-step course of have to be accomplished precisely and utterly to make sure that the ensuing Direct Consolidation mortgage is eligible for preferential IDR choices.
Notably, given the looming July 2025 deadline and the significance of finishing the Double Consolidation course of (which may contain many paper kinds and take 3–6 months in whole) precisely and in a well timed method, advisors can play an essential function in guiding shoppers with Mother or father PLUS loans via every step of the method. Additional, advisors may also help shoppers who full the method select the very best IDR possibility for his or her scenario and take steps to attenuate required funds, from deciding whether or not to elect to file taxes individually (for married {couples}) to discovering methods to cut back the borrower’s Adjusted Gross Revenue.
In the end, the important thing level is that as extra people 50 and older maintain pupil loans, monetary advisors might discover that an rising variety of shoppers are dealing with the problem of paying down loans taken out for his or her kids’s schooling bills whereas additionally attempting to save lots of for their very own retirement. And for these shoppers who presently have Mother or father PLUS loans (or who’re planning to have such loans and who can full the consolidation course of earlier than July 2025), advisors can add vital worth by supporting them via the complicated means of Double Consolidation, which might be an efficient method to assist them save on their kids’s schooling and, on the identical time, to liberate extra of their wealth to pursue extra of their different essential monetary objectives!