Reducing PSLOC Monthly Repayment

[ShallowPockets]

Hi all, 

I'm having a meeting with my branch next week but just to add a layer of predicability to my meeting: i'm having trouble making the minimum monthly payment with other expenses. Is it possible that my bank be amenable to reducing the monthly amount or is that unlikely? Or hard to say?

Thanks in advance! 

[Diplock]

Which bank is this? And are you accurately still an articling student? Not that I necessarily have a perfect answer, but I know when I went through Scotia considered articling students to still be students. In other words, you weren't even put in repayment during the articling period. So I'm not sure what policies your bank may have, but that would certainly be one thing to raise at the start.

[LMP]

6 minutes ago, Diplock said:

Which bank is this? And are you accurately still an articling student? Not that I necessarily have a perfect answer, but I know when I went through Scotia considered articling students to still be students. In other words, you weren't even put in repayment during the articling period. So I'm not sure what policies your bank may have, but that would certainly be one thing to raise at the start.

They still charge you intrest monthly, but repayment doesn't begin until after articling. So I suspect it is the interest amount that OP wants to negotiate (which in fairness, with current rates, can be a few hundred a month). 

[Toad]

I assume the OP is talking about the interest rates minimum payments and because they appear to still be an articling student, I assume they PSLOC is maxed out so they are unable to use the PSLOC for the interest payments.

Interest rate only payments used to be a breeze, but with interest rates as they are, it is still $600 - $900 per month for people who maxed their PSLOC (depending on the limit).

I'm not really sure what relief would be available for interest rate minimum payments.

I believe for when it actually goes into repayment that Scotiabank has always been able to extend to 15 years, and TD I believe can also be extended for 15 - 20 years. I'm not sure if any of the banks introduced any additional measures for people struggling with repayment  besides what they have always had and I've never heard of any relief being available for interest only payments.

I've read of a few people struggling with payments on here mentioning they will reach out to the bank, but I don't believe they have ever followed up and posted the result of their conversations.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Toad

[123]

1 hour ago, Diplock said:

Which bank is this? And are you accurately still an articling student? Not that I necessarily have a perfect answer, but I know when I went through Scotia considered articling students to still be students. In other words, you weren't even put in repayment during the articling period. So I'm not sure what policies your bank may have, but that would certainly be one thing to raise at the start.

54 minutes ago, LMP said:

They still charge you intrest monthly, but repayment doesn't begin until after articling. So I suspect it is the interest amount that OP wants to negotiate (which in fairness, with current rates, can be a few hundred a month). 

My scotiabank reps were incredibly incompetent, and required minimum payments during articling. They didn’t respond and wouldn’t meet with me for most of my articling term. They eventually removed the payment after I hired a lawyer to write a demand letter, but the year was basically over by then. 

They also made me reapply for a PSLOC in second year, rather than just releasing the second instalment of money. In third year, they delayed the release of money past when tuition was due, which cost me late fees with Dal. 

I think it was because I got my loan at a branch that was nowhere near a university and had pretty high turnover. 

[Diplock]

11 hours ago, realpseudonym said:

My scotiabank reps were incredibly incompetent, and required minimum payments during articling. They didn’t respond and wouldn’t meet with me for most of my articling term. They eventually removed the payment after I hired a lawyer to write a demand letter, but the year was basically over by then. 

They also made me reapply for a PSLOC in second year, rather than just releasing the second instalment of money. In third year, they delayed the release of money past when tuition was due, which cost me late fees with Dal. 

I think it was because I got my loan at a branch that was nowhere near a university and had pretty high turnover. 

Wow, that sucks. But I agree with your diagnosis of the problem. I went to the branch that everyone from my school went to, and that pretty much guaranteed I was dealing with someone who knew how everything works. I'm sure that helped.

[ShallowPockets]

Hi everyone, i'm terribly sorry- i am no longer an articling student. That definitely may change the advice you are generous enough to impart

[erin otoole]

10 hours ago, ShallowPockets said:

Hi everyone, i'm terribly sorry- i am no longer an articling student. That definitely may change the advice you are generous enough to impart

Depends what school/bank you go through. For example as pseudonym pointed out the local branch will be out to lunch when it comes to the PLOC. My partner is currently having issues with their PLOC because they went through some local branch in the suburban GTA. 

Windsor students who got their scotia PLOC through the Ouellette office can get some breathing room. Send an email and set up a phone call they can often extend the repayment period. Consider, if the bank extends the repayment period they make more money off of you. Good luck, I can't imagine the stress you are going though man these interests rates are killing everyone. 

[Cool_name]

On 11/18/2023 at 5:20 PM, Toad said:

I assume the OP is talking about the interest rates minimum payments and because they appear to still be an articling student, I assume they PSLOC is maxed out so they are unable to use the PSLOC for the interest payments.

Interest rate only payments used to be a breeze, but with interest rates as they are, it is still $600 - $900 per month for people who maxed their PSLOC (depending on the limit).

I'm not really sure what relief would be available for interest rate minimum payments.

I believe for when it actually goes into repayment that Scotiabank has always been able to extend to 15 years, and TD I believe can also be extended for 15 - 20 years. I'm not sure if any of the banks introduced any additional measures for people struggling with repayment  besides what they have always had and I've never heard of any relief being available for interest only payments.

I've read of a few people struggling with payments on here mentioning they will reach out to the bank, but I don't believe they have ever followed up and posted the result of their conversations.

Can confirm Scotia extended my term out to 15 years after it went into repayment, which I think was two years post articling.

[Renerik]

Your mileage may vary - I went to a local branch and got sub-prime.