Cheryl Winokur-Munk

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1,406 appearances 26 recordings 2 series first heard Apr 2019 last heard Jun 2025

Cheryl Winokur-Munk’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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WSJ Your Money Briefing · Repayment Options for Student-Loan Borrowers · 8 Feb 2024 podcast
It's just it's a little bit complicated. voice-verified
You just want to make sure you do it correctly. voice-verified
So because people had been anticipating that payments would restart, but the government also wanted to give them an opportunity that if they were still struggling to pay back their loans, they wouldn't all of a sudden be declared delinquent or reported to credit rating firms or placed in default, etc. voice-verified
The so-called on-ramp period ends September 30th. voice-verified
And until then, financially vulnerable borrowers, if they miss their monthly payments, they're not going to be deemed delinquent or reported to credit rating firms, for example. voice-verified
It doesn't mean you shouldn't pay if you can, but if you're struggling, there is a little bit of a buffer for you. voice-verified
Even before the grace period ends, you really need to call your servicer if you feel like you're going to have a hard time repaying your loans. voice-verified
The first step before you even do that is really, I can't stress this enough, go to studentaid.gov and click on the link, the Federal Student Aid Simulator. voice-verified
This will help you figure out what payment plan could be right for you. voice-verified
If you can get on an income-driven repayment plan, you could have zero payments per month. voice-verified
And so even if you're struggling now, maybe you're on the wrong repayment plan. voice-verified
So that's why I say even before that on-ramp period ends, you should go to the government website today to figure out if you could qualify for lower payments. voice-verified
And maybe you won't even have to worry about not being able to repay your loans when the on-ramp period expires. voice-verified
It's possible. voice-verified
Now, though, with interest rates having risen, you're probably not going to get as great a deal as you might have when rates were really low. voice-verified
The other thing is when you go to a private lender, once you take your loans away from the federal program and you go to a private lender, you lose all the federal protections. voice-verified
So you have to be really careful about doing that because the things like income driven repayment, voice-verified
And the ability to have forbearance, just a lot of other options that you have under the federal program aren't necessarily available with private lenders. voice-verified
With private lenders, you're going to have to really look at the terms of the loan agreement and just make sure it's not just interest rate. voice-verified
You have to consider other factors when taking such a loan. voice-verified
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