Question: Is it true there’s a student loan that erases the balance even if you don’t work in a special profession?
Answer: Yes, although you are oversimplifying the terms. There are several federal direct student loans that eventually forgive a balance, but only after the borrower makes a set number of payments (generally from 10 to 25 years’ worth) and meets other conditions; you can’t be in default and have the loan forgiven.
The newest of these college loans, which became available last month, is called the REPAYE Plan, for Revised Pay as You Earn. For undergraduate loans it caps the borrower’s monthly payments at 10 percent of discretionary income and forgives the balance after 20 years of steady payments; you can’t just walk away without paying.
The plan is open to any borrower in the federal Direct Loan college lending program, meaning both new or existing clients. Customers in other Direct Loan programs may apply to switch to REPAYE, regardless of their income or debt level after leaving college, according to Federal Student Aid, an office of the U.S. Department of Education.
Although more flexible than standard 10-year student loans with fixed monthly payments, income-driven loans can cost borrowers much more in the long run because they accrue interest for a longer period (and, potentially, on a higher principal balance, if low income has limited the borrower’s ability to pay down the principal). Also, any balance forgiven when the loan expires may be taxed as income, according to current Internal Revenue Service regulations.
Still, many analysts welcome REPAYE as an improvement that will lower monthly payments, and therefore stress, for some young adults who are burdened by debt they took on to finance their college educations. You can find out more about REPAYE and other income-driven federal direct student loans at StudentAid.gov/idr.
Q: Is Albert Hee the only target in that tax evasion case? What about the people who benefited from the fraud? Could they be indicted as co-conspirators?
A: Several Kokua Line readers have raised similar questions about this, but we can’t answer them definitively. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliott Enoki declined to specifically address the queries, saying that federal prosecutors never speculate about who may or may not be the subject of any investigation.
Hee was convicted in July on six counts of filing false income tax returns and one count of corruptly impeding the Internal Revenue Service from correctly calculating and collecting his taxes. Prosecutors say he siphoned about $4 million from his company, Waimana Enterprises, to cover salaries to family members for no-show jobs, college tuition for his children, family vacations, massages and dozens of other personal expenses.
His sentencing has been delayed twice but is set to proceed Wednesday.
Mahalo
Mahalo to three people who helped me when I fell on a department store escalator in Kaneohe on Dec. 14. On stepping onto the escalator to go to the second floor, my three-pronged cane got stuck, and because my wrist was strapped on my cane, I fell backward onto the moving stairs, with my arm still caught in my strap. I was frantic until three angels suddenly appeared to help. While I was flat on my back on the moving stairs, two held my back and head while a third person lifted my legs until they righted me at the top of the floor. I would like these three, a young lady and two men — whose names I did not get — to know how grateful I was for their help. I hope they will read Kokua Line and see this whenever it might be printed since I was not able to properly thank them at that time. I am fine. — Grateful Kaneohe senior
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