was i the only one?!?! (2 Viewers)

[xeuyrawp]

Yeah theres not too much of an advantage with paying it off now, I think I'd much rather the money now when most people wouldn't have that stable 35/40K to prop themselves on.

I made the mistake of paying up front in first year, and I've never seen 7K in my bank account at any one time again

Yup, agreed.

Steve used to be upfront paying, but then worked out in actuarial studies that it costs more to pay upfront now. I think students should know these things. I just happened to pick the better alternative because I'm poor!

There's also the point that it's a different kind of debt which is more expected by financial institutions. Ie, it's not like a 10k car loan, which may stop me from getting another loan. If you have the money, though, and you can't think of anything else better to do with it, definitely start paying it off.

But, the 3-5%(?) extra tax on my income really isn't going to bother me. I'd rather invest/spend/save the annual 4.2k and use it in the short term, than pay an inflated HELP (lol, noone's going to stop saying 'HECS'...) dept.

 

[mserica]

For me... i cant stand having any form of debt (I have one debt already and thats enough for me).... so I get my uni paid upfront!!

 

[ReaveR]

Same deal here, didn't know the due date had passed at all.

I had set up mail forwarding but magically thhose settings disappeared, so I never even knew it changed from paper to online. Oh well.

I just paid online (but not the $200 late fee) and all those nasty red bits disappeared. The statement thing has been wiped to, so no mention that I still owe the fee. I know I do, but they'll have to chase it up cos I'm not going to pay it voluntarily.

As for deferring vs. upfront, yes if you defer you'll get the value transfer later on, especially if you drag out paying the loan over a longer period of time (read: stay on the same income). I suspect alot of students know this already but just pay it cos they can.

 

[Cyan_phoeniX]

For me... i cant stand having any form of debt (I have one debt already and thats enough for me).... so I get my uni paid upfront!!

I Agree.

It really depends on the person's situation., but if your still living at home (i.e. like me), and thus don't have that many costs, its better to pay it up now. Firstly you get 20% off, so 2200ish turns to 1600ish for me.

Most importantly (and this is the main reason for me), if you ever want to take out a loan for a unit/home, the banks, regardless of what some people say, DO look at your hecs debt. My dad, a financial advisor (sigh, sorry - but im saying what he is so his opinion might be worth something) tells me that paying off hecs over time may seem small, but it makes a difference with the banks decision when your asking for and paying off a 300k loan. a 26k debt is still a debt.

(and 3rdly, i'm also probably going to have another 23k POSTGRAD debt, so thats 50k that needs to be paid off in the future).

But as I said, not everyone still lives at home, so it depends on your situation. If you need money now for living costs, then deferring it totally is probably better for people in that situation.

 

[mserica]

That is true, the banks look at your HECS as when I went to get my house loan 3 years ago one of the first questions on the one of many forms i completed stated if you have a HECS debt what is your outstanding balance...(lucky for me... no HECS debt) so i could borrow more for the house as it has a negative impact on the amount of money you wish to borrow.!!!

 

[Cyan_phoeniX]

That is true, the banks look at your HECS as when I went to get my house loan 3 years ago one of the first questions on the one of many forms i completed stated if you have a HECS debt what is your outstanding balance...(lucky for me... no HECS debt) so i could borrow more for the house as it has a negative impact on the amount of money you wish to borrow.!!!

*e-hugs mserica*

 

[Monstar]

wait wait, shit wat's happening... my thing looks like this now:

And THIS:

IS THIS BAD?! RED LOOKS BAD!!!



THAT"S WHAT I THOUGHT!!!

BUT

it SEEMS i got hecs-help... but i' getting freaked here, wat's happening?!

-P_D

STAT and ACST= Shit my two least fav subjects.

 

[Tabris]

I Agree.

It really depends on the person's situation., but if your still living at home (i.e. like me), and thus don't have that many costs, its better to pay it up now. Firstly you get 20% off, so 2200ish turns to 1600ish for me.

Most importantly (and this is the main reason for me), if you ever want to take out a loan for a unit/home, the banks, regardless of what some people say, DO look at your hecs debt. My dad, a financial advisor (sigh, sorry - but im saying what he is so his opinion might be worth something) tells me that paying off hecs over time may seem small, but it makes a difference with the banks decision when your asking for and paying off a 300k loan. a 26k debt is still a debt.

(and 3rdly, i'm also probably going to have another 23k POSTGRAD debt, so thats 50k that needs to be paid off in the future).

But as I said, not everyone still lives at home, so it depends on your situation. If you need money now for living costs, then deferring it totally is probably better for people in that situation.

20% discount is a good treat, but has anyone done the maths (I haven't)?

e.g. if u put $4000 every semester into a relatively secure investment, with a decent interest/return rate, for 4 years (thats 8 deposits) and let it accrual and accumulate interest or returns.

After five years, is the final amount larger than the total amount of HECS payed up front?

 

[Cyan_phoeniX]

20% discount is a good treat, but has anyone done the maths (I haven't)?

e.g. if u put $4000 every semester into a relatively secure investment, with a decent interest/return rate, for 4 years (thats 8 deposits) and let it accrual and accumulate interest or returns.

After five years, is the final amount larger than the total amount of HECS payed up front?

well if i put 1650 into an account instead of 1650 upfront would it accumulate into 2200 in 4 years? Maybe. It would probably be close, but i doubt that there would be much gain. (6% P.A. may be close - thats what i get via a netbank saver).

 

[ALLLICE]

What I really love about this whole Hecs/ HELP thing is that the second we enrol it's assumed that we know how this whole screwy system operates... lol whenever there was an option to defer payment i ticked the box...metaphorically so to speak...since EVERYTHING is done on computers which annoys me. If something crazy happens during enrolment or while applying for hecs or help or whatever where's the hard copy to back us up?!...this means that everything that goes wrong will be our own faults. Even if it isn't.

P.S. P_Dilemma is in my Phil132?! *shocked and suprised*

 

[iambored]

fornstar: Are you a CSP student? If so, then it'll automatically place you as deferred as long as you've provided your TFN previously. Otherwise, you will incur the late fee, which is a flat fee for everyone.

EDIT: ok, this 200$ fee complicates things. If you wait AFTER the 23rd FEb and then decide to pay upfront, then you get the 200$ fee. If you just leave it (and defer it) then you dont get that 200$ fee. As most of us have been saying, the 200$ fee is just stupid.

So what happens if someone pays upfront now? Pretend they are supposed to pay $2000. If they paid before the 23rd February they would have paid $1600 because of the 20% discount. Does that mean if they paid today they would be paying $1800? (they'd still get the discount but get charged a late fee?)

Did this fee exist last year?

 

[mserica]

Well from my understanding yes, thats correct as I pay upfront and i got the discount, however one of my gf's normally pays upfront but isnt paying until mid March so she will be paying discounted fees plus the $200 (as long as she does so before March 31)

There were late fees last year but from memory i think they were only $100 which including administration charges ( I think thats what it said on my invoice - not 100% sure though)

 

[iambored]

ok thanks for the information, now it all makes sense.

 

[AsyLum]

According to the MQ site, the late fee will be incurred with the next round of fees, rather than now, though I don't think they'll stop you from paying it now.

 

[xeuyrawp]

After five years, is the final amount larger than the total amount of HECS payed up front?

If you put it in a short-term investment (ie, comparing it with the semester/annual percentage of HECS-HELP), it'll only be marginally better than the 20% HELP discount.

If you put it in a longer term (3 years), and keep adding savings (as you would, every semester), you'll be much more ontop of it. Then you pull your investment when you graduate, immediately pay off your HELP debt, and still have extra money.

Obviously the government is not going to charge you much more than what an average person could pay via the same cash in average investments. It would be ridiculous -- people would rather borrow the money from elsewhere and pay upfront. Conversely, the government is holding a debt on our behalf until we pay it, so it's going to cost them money immediately.

That's why there's the 20% discount, because they want the guarantee of having the money now, but it's not so tempting as for people to seek other means (borrowing money from a family member, etc) and then paying upfront as a sort of investment. Of course they don't want the discount to be too small, because people could invest under it, and pay it too easily.

 

[P_Dilemma]

P_Dilemma is in my Phil132?! *shocked and suprised*

Wanna meet up? lawl

-P_D

 

[ALLLICE]

Wanna meet up? lawl

-P_D

sure..im all for meeting new ppl...do u go to the day time lectures?

 

[xeuyrawp]

Wanna meet up? lawl

-P_D

Woot, 132!

Can I come and boo-hiss when they say 'meta-ethical cultural relativism'?!

 

[P_Dilemma]

sure..im all for meeting new ppl...do u go to the day time lectures?

Sure, 11AM Wednesday, and Thursday, right? I'll just shout ur name out from the front of the hall

-P_D

 

[ALLLICE]

Sure, 11AM Wednesday, and Thursday, right? I'll just shout ur name out from the front of the hall

-P_D

ahahaha how random!...what's ur real name...u have an unfair advantage here..