1) Are/were you able to defer or reduce any loan payments while in residency?
Yes, I'm planning to defer loan payments. Obviously, interest continues to accumulate. Another option many people are taking are the income based and income contingent repayment plans.
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2) How long do you expect it will take you to pay off your loans?
Not sure. We plan to live fairly conservatively for a few years out of residency and aggressively pay down student loans as well as put some money towards retirement. In theory, you can take 30 years to pay them off, but the amount of interest you accumulate is astronomical. It wasn't so bad back in the days when the interest rates were <3% on student loans, but now they are at ~6.8%.
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3) How much did you owe in student loans right after medical school?
~$180,000 (med school, graduate school, and post-bacc combined.)
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4) What are your estimated loan payments?
I don't recall at the moment. I chose the 30 year graduated extended payment plan (where your payments start lower and then get higher over 30 years) because I wanted some flexibility in how much I need to pay right out of residency. I plan to pay them off far sooner than that, though.
The AAMC has loan calculators. I also recommend you check out the presentation at http://www.aamc.org/programs/first/traini ng/mdeconomics.htm . It gives a very good synopsis of some of the common repayment strategies and how much it will cost. Of course, the rules change constantly.
Depending on how your loans are set up, you can defer all or part through residency. I’m not sure about deferement if you go on to do a fellowship. Your loans will accumulate interest, so do the math and see if you can afford to start the payback during residency. I had some financial resources prior to starting medical school, so only borrowed about $65K. I consolidated and got a 30-yr payback, which meant around $300/month, a managable amount during residency. I have since stepped that up with the intent of being debt free (mortgage too) in about 10 years.
I graduated with $230,000 in debt from 1.5 years post bacc and 5 years of a medical school with living expenses. I did 30 year graduated extended payment plan and payed $800 a month in residency after taking a deferment for internship. Now at end of 3 years of residency and one year internship, I am at 233,000. i asked for some professional advise and he said to pay off so I am done paying around retirement which should be around 20-25 years. It is better for me to pay off my credit cards, my car and my home morgage then my student loans initially.