recently married - should i stay in IBR for loan repayment?

[emresidentt]

I've been on IBR for the past year and recently just got married.  because my wife's income will now be included, I imagine my monthly payments will be higher (combined income <$120k).  we most likely will be filing our taxes jointly.  is there another repayment option you guys suggest?

[canadianoutlaw]

have you considered filing separately? have you crunched the numbers on joint vs. separate and the implications of each? also depends on what your loan burden is, what specialty you are in, location, etc

[emresidentt]

if she is in the military and I am part of her benefits like health insurance, do I still have the option of filing separately?

[jfoxcpacfp]

emresidentt wrote:

if she is in the military and I am part of her benefits like health insurance, do I still have the option of filing separately?

Click to expand...

Yes, how you choose to report your tax information does not affect your benefits.

[emresidentt]

thank you!  I'll look into it more

[Joy Sorensen Navarre Navigate]

Great question! The answer depends on your student loan repayment goals.

If your goal is to pursue PSLF, and your goal is minimum payments: you'll find that the REPAYE payment is 30% less than the IBR payment, when you file jointly. You will want to compare those payment amounts to the amount required with IBR if you file separately.

If your goal is to keep payments low during training, with the intention of paying them off as soon as you can after training, you'll want to compare IBR, REPAYE, and private refinance payments.