Speaker 1: It's time for the b A keep A the B
Speaker 1: keep a.
Speaker 2: Okay, the b A q A and we're back. We're
Speaker 2: back with the BA keep a.
Speaker 1: Okay, it is time for the b A Brown Ambition
Speaker 1: QA question and answer. So remember we're not your financial advisors.
Speaker 1: We're not financial planners, we're not your lawyer, we're not
Speaker 1: your insurance agent. We're just two girls chatting on a mic.
Speaker 1: And that we're not giving advice. We're merely answering questions
Speaker 1: that of how we might manage and then you have
Speaker 1: to make the best choice for yourself. But always lean
Speaker 1: into your the people that you pay for financial advice. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: we got two great listener questions. If you have questions, though,
Speaker 1: you can always submit them to us. We are a
Speaker 1: Brown Ambition podcast on Instagram, the BA podcast on Twitter
Speaker 1: which is probably not ideal, but Instagram, and then you
Speaker 1: can send us an email at brandanbisionpodcast at gmail dot
Speaker 1: com or go to brownanbisopodcast dot com and cliss click
Speaker 1: ask us anything.
Speaker 2: So yeah, let's get into our questions.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm excited about these. So our first question comes
Speaker 3: from listener Janelle, and she has a question about some
Speaker 3: student loan debt one of our favorite topics already, so
Speaker 3: she says. Her question is specifically about Naviant and student loans.
Speaker 3: So she says, I've recently got an offer from Naviant.
Speaker 3: From NAVIANTREFI to refinance my student loans. I have two
Speaker 3: private loans and one federal loan that's currently being serviced
Speaker 3: by Naviant. My federal loan is the biggest chunk of
Speaker 3: my debt. It's thirty five thousand dollars. I know that
Speaker 3: Naviant is ending their contract with the government, and I
Speaker 3: already printed out my payment history and loan details, even
Speaker 3: though no one has reached out to me about who
Speaker 3: the new servicer will be after their contract ends. My
Speaker 3: question is, am I in danger of losing my protection
Speaker 3: with public service loan forgiveness if I refinance my federal
Speaker 3: student loans with Naviant for all my loans similar as
Speaker 3: if I had refinanced them with so FI. I just
Speaker 3: want to lower interest rate because I'm tired of paying
Speaker 3: so much money to student loans, but I also don't
Speaker 3: want to lose my protections if the worst case scenario
Speaker 3: is I lost my job or hit hard times and
Speaker 3: I needed some assistance for deferment or forbearance.
Speaker 1: Jane quick answer. Yes. So here's a conundrum right that
Speaker 1: Janelle has, and many of you might be feeling this too.
Speaker 1: Janelle has two types of loans. She's got private student
Speaker 1: loans and she's got federal student loans. Now, I want
Speaker 1: you to think of private student loans, just call it loan,
Speaker 1: meaning it's similar to a car loan. It's similar to
Speaker 1: a home loan. Like you just owed in people. There's
Speaker 1: really no if something happens, there's no federal protection. So
Speaker 1: we all are very familiar now with the moratorium that
Speaker 1: happened when everything happened with COVID and quarantine. That the
Speaker 1: federal government was able to say with federal back loans,
Speaker 1: whether you had a a FAHA like a loan for
Speaker 1: your home or whatever, or like a VA loan for
Speaker 1: your home or student loans that were federally back, they
Speaker 1: have control of the money they lend out to say,
Speaker 1: you know what, actually, don't pay me right now things
Speaker 1: are rough. The federal government has control to do that.
Speaker 1: The federal government cannot tell private entities to do that.
Speaker 1: It cannot tell the regular people that you owe Hey,
Speaker 1: can you let Janelle know she doesn't have to pay no.
Speaker 1: So what Janelle is struggling with is that Janelle, refinancing
Speaker 1: your private loans, that's fine because you don't have those
Speaker 1: protections anyway, get your lower interest rate for those systs.
Speaker 1: But I know that's not where the chunk of what
Speaker 1: you owe is you really want to try to. You're
Speaker 1: trying to lower the interest rate on your federal student loans,
Speaker 1: and you can refinance them, but you will lose the
Speaker 1: federal protection because you cannot refinance federal student loans with
Speaker 1: the federal government. Don't refinance, you would have to refinance
Speaker 1: them with a private company, therefore taking them away from
Speaker 1: the federal government protection and going with a private company.
Speaker 1: So you have to ask yourself, do what's worth it?
Speaker 1: Is it worth with it to me to lose the
Speaker 1: protection in order to get a lower interest rate. I
Speaker 1: can't make that choice for you, but I just want
Speaker 1: you to know that those are your choices. I tend
Speaker 1: to lean toward make telling people like especially now, like
Speaker 1: if something does happen to your job, you would lose
Speaker 1: the ability to do for a barnment for barans or
Speaker 1: from a deferment that you know, I really don't like
Speaker 1: refinancing out of federal student loans unless I'm pretty certain
Speaker 1: that I'm going to be able to to be able
Speaker 1: to pay and nothing's going to happen to the way
Speaker 1: I make money. But you know, there's no way to
Speaker 1: know for sure. So just know that, yes, refinancing your
Speaker 1: federal student loans, you will lose the federal protection.
Speaker 3: Yep, one thousand percent. I have barely anything to add
Speaker 3: other than the fact that one I left out I
Speaker 3: just realized was that she says she's planning to pay
Speaker 3: off one of her private loans by the end of
Speaker 3: this year, So congrats on that. Yeah, that seven hundred
Speaker 3: bucks left, that's amazing. And the other private loan is
Speaker 3: only fifty six hundred dollar. I mean, I'm saying only
Speaker 3: it's a lot of money at nine percent, but that
Speaker 3: you know, see how you feel once you pay off
Speaker 3: that last loan, that fifty six hundred dollars one at
Speaker 3: nine percent. See how you feel if you can refinance
Speaker 3: that when and get that paid off, See how you
Speaker 3: feel then about your federal student loans. But for now,
Speaker 3: I would just rock with them and focus on those
Speaker 3: private loans, and then see how you feel later and
Speaker 3: how your finances are looking and it doesn't like just
Speaker 3: because you can save money by refinancing, like that opportunity
Speaker 3: is not going anywhere as far as i'm you know,
Speaker 3: as far as I know, you will be able to
Speaker 3: refinance in the future if you decide to. It's not
Speaker 3: like a one and done opportunity. Banks will always be
Speaker 3: trying to get your money. Okay, So don't be too
Speaker 3: hard on yourself on rushing into a decision right now.
Speaker 2: That's all I would add. Okay, all right.
Speaker 3: Question two do you want to read this one?
Speaker 2: Sure?
Speaker 1: This is a shorty.
Speaker 2: Hello.
Speaker 1: I'm a nurse and I've worked for a country Okay, Hello,
Speaker 1: I'm a nurse and I've worked for a county hospital
Speaker 1: for over half of my eighteen year nursing career.
Speaker 2: Oh. I love nurses.
Speaker 1: My mom was a nurse. I currently pay into a
Speaker 1: pension plan. That's awesome, but I have but I have
Speaker 1: paid into Social Security in the past. Will I be
Speaker 1: able to receive my pension and Social Security benefits when
Speaker 1: I retire? Anonymous in Texas?
Speaker 3: Hey Texas, Hey there, that's why when you said country hospital,
Speaker 3: I was like, maybe it is a country. Well, thanks
Speaker 3: for your service. I mean nurses don't get enough love.
Speaker 3: I feel like, yes, yeah, I see no reason and
Speaker 3: listen again, financial experts, I am not or we are not,
Speaker 3: But yes, I believe you have no problem getting your
Speaker 3: pension and your Social Security. You know, I think as
Speaker 3: if you're working on through a regular you know, nine
Speaker 3: to five job and you're paying your you're paying your
Speaker 3: payroll taxes FIKA, which is what does FIKA stand for?
Speaker 3: I know it's Social Security, Medicare and federal income taxes, right,
Speaker 3: those things. It's like the however many percent six percent
Speaker 3: of your paycheck that goes toward those those taxes, part
Speaker 3: of that is Social Security, so you should have been
Speaker 3: paying into that benefit. And absolutely the best way to know.
Speaker 3: Actually it sounds like you might be nearing retirement, but
Speaker 3: if you actually go to SSA dot gov and log
Speaker 3: in or create an account, they should actually be able
Speaker 3: to give you a sense of how much they can
Speaker 3: even estimate your benefit when you retire. I believe, so
Speaker 3: go and go to SSA dot gov. That would be
Speaker 3: my advice, and see what information you can find through
Speaker 3: your account there.
Speaker 1: And just so you know, like I hear what you're
Speaker 1: doing and what you've written us on taxes. Is it
Speaker 1: you think you're thinking to yourself, because I pay into pension,
Speaker 1: that I must not be paying to Social Security. That's
Speaker 1: not true. Like if you go, like like I'm on
Speaker 1: the government website right now, and it's like basically nearly
Speaker 1: every American worker as well as their employer, is required
Speaker 1: to pay into Social Security and Medicare taxes. It's just
Speaker 1: taken out of your check. You might have not noticed,
Speaker 1: inclusive if you're self employed. So just because you're paying
Speaker 1: into your pension, it doesn't mean that you're not paying
Speaker 1: into your Social Security. You are, you know, especially as
Speaker 1: a nurse there you know you work for a public
Speaker 1: entity of that, like you're paying into Social Security, and
Speaker 1: it's two separate things. Like you know, your your pension
Speaker 1: plan is separate from your from your Social Security. So
Speaker 1: I mean you, to Mandy's point, go to that website
Speaker 1: to absolutely make sure. But I'm probably like ninety eight
Speaker 1: point nine percent short that you are paying it to
Speaker 1: Social Security and not even recognizing it.
Speaker 2: So you gonna be good at taxes.
Speaker 3: Thank you for your question though, all right, that is
Speaker 3: the ba QA, like tip said at the top of
Speaker 3: the show, feel free to send us your quest questions.
Speaker 3: We are Brand Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com or
Speaker 3: you can also dm us on the Gram. We are
Speaker 3: at brand Ambition Podcast.
Speaker 1: Yes, we love your questions.
Speaker 3: Until next Friday.
Speaker 1: How about y'all