That sounds like an excellent way to take advantage of the community property rules.

Michelle,

This is an excellent question. Your understanding of REPAYE is mostly correct.

As the rules stand right now, filing separately does not help lower REPAYE payments. However, President Biden recently proposed a new repayment plan.

This new plan would be a refresh of the REPAYE plan. One of the notable tweaks is that it would allow borrowers to file their taxes separately for lower payments, like the other IDR plans.

Unfortunately, this plan hasn’t been officially created yet. It is still going through the rulemaking process. It is possible that the new feature for married couples doesn’t make it to the final version. That said, I think there is a chance that before this year is over, you will be able to file taxes separately and stay enrolled in the REPAYE plan.

Thank you very much. I will attempt to submit my UK pay stubs along with a letter from my company documenting the foreign exchange rate of annual salary. Fingers crossed it will work.

That is a really interesting question. I don’t see why they shouldn’t, but I’ve never seen this approach used before. If it doesn’t work, you may have to come up with some alternative methodology to document your income, but your servicer should be able to help.

Based on your description, it sounds like you will not be eligible for PAYE whether you consolidate or not. Likewise, you won’t be eligible for “IBR for New Borrowers” either.

Consolidation shouldn’t impact your REPAYE or IBR eligibility. However, filing separately won’t lower your REPAYE payment.

I know I’m giving you mostly bad news here, but it sounds like IBR is your best option based on your comment. That said, if you have any questions or concerns, I’d encourage you to call your servicer for clarification. They can pull up your account and look at your loans to verify eligibility.