RepaymentOption

A RepaymentOption object returns all the financial details of a given Repayment Plan, properly calculated for your Borrower and their unique situation, allowing you to provide a unique Assessment tailored just for their needs—enabling them to compare various Repayment Plans against their current Repayment Plan, and choose a Plan that works best for their goals and needs.

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Understand total_paid vs total_cost
total_paid is the sum of all monthly payments a borrower will make on a loan's current Repayment Plan over its lifetime.
With Income-Driven Repayment plans, there is sometimes a "tax bomb" at the end of their repayment term—any outstanding balance is forgiven, but treated as taxable income. Thus, total_cost provides the sum of total_paid plus the taxes owed on that forgiven amount (which is calculated and provided in the amount_forgiven and estimated_tax_liability properties). In other words,total_cost is the bottom line amount a borrower will pay to dispense of their loan on a RepaymentOption.

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Understand scheduled_monthly_payment vs starting_monthly_payment
When you look at RepaymentOption objects, you will notice there are two monthly payment properties—scheduled_monthly_payment and starting_monthly_payment. Though confusing, these values are provided separately to help a borrower make the best financial decisions for their futures, not just during this historically anomalous time.
During the ongoing COVID forbearance period—currently scheduled to end 2023-06-30—scheduled_monthly_payment provides the monthly payment a borrower would pay under normal conditions.
On the other hand, starting_monthly_payment provides the monthly payment a borrower is expected to pay during COVID forbearance (which should always be 0.00).
When the COVID forbearance period ends, both scheduled_monthly_payment and starting_monthly_payment should hold identical values.

Schema Definition

Property	Type	Format	Description
`action_items`	`array`		Deprecated. Will be removed in API v2.
`amount_forgiven`	`number`	`float`	Total amount of outstanding `Loan` balance that will be forgiven at the end of the current Repayment Plan's term.
`annual_snapshots`	`array`	TODO	TODO
`eligible_loans`	`array`	`Loan`	An `array` of `Loan` objects which meet the eligibility criteria for this `RepaymentOption`.
`estimated_tax_liability`	`number`	`float`	Estimated tax bomb, or the amount a `Borrower` will have assessed as income based on total amount forgiven by their Repayment Plan.
`final_monthly_payment`	`number`	`float`	The amount of the final monthly payment.
`ineligible_loans`	`array`	`Loan`	An `array` of `Loan` objects which do not meet the eligibility criteria for this `RepaymentOption`.
`ineligible_reasons`	`array`	`string`	An `array` of reasons `Loans` or a `Borrower` may not meet eligibility criteria for this `RepaymentOption`.
`name`	`string`		The name of the Repayment Plan this `RepaymentOption` represents.
`number_of_payments`	`integer`	`int32`	Total number of payments that will be made over the course of the repayment term.
`pslf_eligible`	`boolean`		Is this `RepaymentOption` eligible for PSLF forgiveness? Defaults to `false`.
`repayment_plan`	`object`	`RepaymentPlan`	A `RepaymentPlan` object with full details on the Repayment Plan this `RepaymentOption` represents.
`scheduled_monthly_payment`	`number`	`float`	The regular monthly payment a borrower would pay under normal conditions, but is unlikely to pay during COVID forbearance.
`starting_monthly_payment`	`number`	`float`	The monthly payment a borrower is expected to pay during COVID forbearance (which should always be `0.00`).
`total_cost`	`number`	`float`	The sum of `total_paid` plus `estimated_tax_liability` owed on total `amount_forgiven`. In other words, `total_cost` is the bottom line amount a borrower will pay to dispense of their loan on the current Repayment Plan.
`total_paid`	`number`	`float`	The sum of all monthly payments a `Borrower` will make on a loan's current Repayment Plan over its lifetime.

Example

{
  "action_items": [],
  "amount_forgiven": 0,
  "annual_snapshots": [],
  "eligible_loans": [],
  "estimated_tax_liability": 0,
  "final_monthly_payment": 0,
  "ineligible_loans": [],
  "ineligible_reasons": [
    "No partial financial hardship",
    "New Borrower Date is required",
    "Qualifying PAYE requires Adjusted Gross Income",
    "Qualifying PAYE requires Residence",
    "Qualifying PAYE requires Family Size",
    "No eligible loans"
  ],
  "name": "Income-Based (2009)",
  "number_of_payments": 0,
  "pslf_eligible": true,
  "repayment_plan": {
    "description": "Income Based Repayment Plan (2009)",
    "idr": true,
    "name": "IBR",
    "type": "ibr"
  },
  "scheduled_monthly_payment": 0,
  "starting_monthly_payment": 0,
  "total_cost": 0,
  "total_paid": 0
}