Student loans still listing as in deferment

September 18, 2017 7:39 AM

I graduated recently. I have some student loans from my master's work 5 years ago, and did exit counseling mandated by the federal government through their site. I noticed that I hadn't received a bill in the mail, so I went to my borrower portal on the lender's site to check on things, and they have me listed as being in deferment for another 4 years. What's the difference between contacting them to set things straight, and just letting them take the time to figure out that they're incorrect? Is a lag like that normal? Is it my responsibility to reach out to them with the proper status?

Also, I understand the concept of interest and the benefit of paying off sooner, but I'm not going to lie: a few months more of deferment without interest sound pretty sweet.

posted by codacorolla to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Response by poster: Oh, forgot to mention, I also contacted the school and confirmed that my status is officially 'graduated' and that there are no hang-ups there.
posted by codacorolla at 8:00 AM on September 18, 2017

Best answer: How long ago did you graduate? Are you sure you already burned your grace period? If you started your doctoral work pretty quickly after the master's, then you've probably still got your six-month grace, so if you graduated "recently" it's entirely possible you don't owe them anything yet, I would think.
posted by Sequence at 8:03 AM on September 18, 2017

Just call them, make sure the contact info on file is correct, and ask them when you should expect a bill. Ask them to send you something in writing about your payment schedule.
posted by zennie at 8:46 AM on September 18, 2017

It's accruing interest, so something you probably want to get straightened out if you can.
posted by goggie at 8:50 AM on September 18, 2017

Best answer: My girlfriend, a financial aid professional, says it is probably an error and will probably be corrected automatically. If you graduated in May you have about three months of grace period left anyway. You should contact your loan servicer for more information.
posted by likedoomsday at 8:51 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Nthing that you're probably still in grace and they will most likely catch up, but definitely contact them as you want to be fully aware of what is due when. Student loans are definitely not a head-in-sand type of thing, tempting as that may be.

In the event they have made (or ever do make) an error in billing or sending statements, you still owe what you owe + interest per the agreement you initially signed, and you definitely don't want to get hit with an unmanageable bill or get referred to collections.
posted by kapers at 9:12 AM on September 18, 2017

Response by poster: Ok, thanks for the perspective. I went ahead and called them, and it seems like whatever cycle the school reports on hadn't been updated before my defense, so they assumed another 4 years for graduation. I straightened it out with the lender, and that started my grace period.
posted by codacorolla at 9:38 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]