PayForED is excited to announce that our Student Loan Planning software was listed in the October 8th article of the Nerd’s Eye View at Kitces. The article was titled, “Student Loan Planning Software Solutions: Comparing the 8 Leading Tools for Financial Advisors” and was written by Ryan Frailich, founder of Deliberate Finances.
Since interviewing for this article, PayForED has launched our Student Loan Repayment (SLR) Software. Some of our system information was not released at the time of the interview.
In the article and review, Ryan listed six features financial advisors need to consider when selecting a Student Loan Analysis tool. Our Student Loan Repayer includes all six areas Ryan felt were critical. Listed below are the features identified by Ryan and found within our Student Loan Repayer are:
- Ability to input data from NSLDS
- Ability to Analyze Student Loans at the Household Level
- Adaptable Assumptions to Model Long-Term Student Loan Planning
- Side-By-Side Comparison of Repayment Plans
- Ability to Input Private Student Loans
- Ability to Filter Out Unavailable Repayment Plans
During our initial design testing, we discovered the complexity that many advisors and the married couples face in navigating their student loan repayment options. There are over 126 options to select from if you are a couple with student loans. We decided to address this critical issue facing couples and include it in our platform’s analysis.
In addition, here are some features that were not directly listed by Ryan but are found within the PayForED Student Loan Repayer. We feel that the features are also necessary for the financial advisors to make the best decisions for their clients.
- Single view analysis of the 126 options for married and engaged couples
- Negative amortization warning
- Managing AGI target for IDR methods
- Impact on federal loan repayment of private refinancing
- Repayment decisions flow to a cash flow analysis
- Estimate tax comparison of tax filing options
The PayForED, Student Loan Planning software completes our suite of solutions which also includes the College Cost Analyzer and In College Payer. The PayForED suite of tools enables the financial advisor and families before, during, and after college.
As a company, PayForED continues to fulfill its mission statement of “Solving and Preventing the Student Debt Crisis.” Our software development delivers an innovative and custom solution to both advisors and individuals.
To deliver these solutions, we are building a community of like-minded financial professionals that will be listed on the PayForED website. PayForED has two training programs available for advisers. The College Funding and Student Loan Advisor (CFSLA) designation include a group of financial professionals who have completed a 26 CFP CE approved training program. These individuals understand the entire educational funding and student loan repayment process. PayForED also has a Student Loan Repayment Adviser (SLRA) designation for 13 CFP CE. These advisers focus on Student Loan Repayment & Forgiveness training. These advisors will need to act as a fiduciary. The fiduciary standard has been debated among the financial service industry for the past few years. It is simple for us. If the advisor is not going to act in the client’s best interest, then we do not want them representing our methods.