Been on them for about eight years now. About 12,500 left on mine and the plan I'm on was supposed to jack payments up every two years. Maybe it's that it wasn't all that noticeable before, but my payment just jacked up another $100 this month going forward. Wouldn't be an issue, except my mother is shoveling her own payment onto me and I haven't the heart to tell her off, considering I make relatively good money monthly, live frugally enough to mind my own business, and stay out of the way.
Her loan should be repaid around this time by next year, but the bump up coming in now is frustrating to say in the least. I've been considering refinancing for awhile, but seems like every private lender or bank you look into does everything differently. Either doesn't work with your school even if it was Title IV, demands you input every loan individually and won't let you refinance ones under $1000, or requires your gross income to be above a certain point.
I guess what I'm probing for are opinions. Like am I better off just going into Income Based for the time being and - because I'm not fucking stupid enough to think interest isn't building up and I should only pay what the number says exactly each month - just dish out the same $150 I was paying on and bide it for twenty more years? Or am I better off at this point refinancing and relying on good credit and rates to keep it in a comfortable, fixed position?