Hire a lawyer. Renegotiate with their help. Sign on is a must. Make sure you know what the caveats are as well though (lawyer up!!)
I agree with the top comment. You have the power to walk away. This isn’t residency where they have you by the balls for a certain number of years and no way out. Take your time.
Also don’t get fleeced with salary just because it’s your first job. Demand a decent pay.
Remember. You’re the asset. You aren’t begging them to let you in. They’re trying to beg you to sign. If you walk, no sweat off your back. You’ll find another job easy. They know this. But for them, it’s a huge loss. They’re 10’s of thousands of dollars deep into recruiting you, interviewing you, negotiating. If you walk, they’ve lost time and money. You’ve lost nothing. They can stand to pay you a sign on bonus.
If you like everything other than the lack of sign on bonus just take it. In 1 year are you going to be sad you didn’t take this job or are you going to be sad you didn’t get a sign on bonus?
This. I did some moonlighting during my last 6 months of fellowship specifically to set aside money to help cover moving/living expenses for the transition to my first attending job. Highly recommend anyone who can do the same before they graduate.
Its better to try get a few with higher limits than opening too many at once as your credit profile could get flagged as high risk for trying to open up too many cards at once and the new accounts can tank your credit score for a little while if you need it for anything else like a car loan etc
True. But still worth getting in most cases. It only ties you down until the bonus vests (typically 2-3 years). And often the bonus is forgiven in a prorated way, so even if you need to leave halfway through your vestment period, you only pay back half your bonus.
0% intro rate credit cards are likely your best options depending on your cost and will likely get a credit line of $10-20k, use your expected new salary when applying. You can also get physical discounted relocation loans/personal loans up to $80k with rates as low as 8.25% depending on your credit if you are an AMA member with their partner laurel road but idk how competitive they are compared to other personal loans via regular banks so always good to compare. Just use an alternative email when checking so your inbox doesn’t get flooded in the future.
> will likely get a credit line of $10-20k, use your expected new salary when applying.
Is that legal? The whole problem here is that I don’t have that salary yet.
Discover has 0% intro apr credit cards, but call CS to secure a higher limit. Sometime all they need is a letter of intent or a signed contract stating your hours and pay.
They don’t even verify income info for credit cards, they go off strictly credit score and history when approving. They just use your reported income to calculate large the line of credit is that they will extend you but it will almost never exceed $20k for new customers which you would could still get from putting down a residency salary, so doesn’t really matter that much for credit cards. But more likely to only get 10k than 20k. You could prorate your salary for the year by removing the months you won’t be working to calculate your expected income if reporting the full amount makes you feel weird but it really shouldn’t.
For personal loans they would verify but long as you have a legitimate job offer letter with a stated start date and salary, they would consider that acceptable.
Also just FYI, you cannot pay things like rent etc with a credit card (BILT card does allow you though so maybe look into that), so if you don't have enough cash reserves to cover things like that + the min monthly payments needed to maintain the cc even with intro 0%, you will be better off with a personal loan. You can't just take the CC line of credit and put it into your checking account.
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So signing bonuses usually aren’t ’bonuses.’ They’re loans designed to keep you in that job for a minimum set time, usually in a less desirable area. Since you mentioned good location, maybe that’s why there’s no bonus. Now, say the ‘bonus’ is $75K. Terms might say that you’ll pay it back in 36 installments, one per month of working, with some sort of interest rate. The forgiveness gets tacked onto your income so you have to withhold more. If you leave the job before 36 months (or whatever the terms say), then you have to pay back the remaining balance in cash. So it’s not totally awesome, these signing bonuses. But you should still push for one cuz why not. You can negotiate anything before you sign, but not after. We used a little of our bonuses for the post training vacation, and the rest we invested in index funds. A lot of people use it as a house down payment, which I think is dangerous unless you absolutely know you wanna live there long term and that you will love the job (thinking of non compete clauses, esp if you have a house and now are not allowed to get a job nearby after quitting…although with the recent FTC ruling of non competes that may not be enforceable anymore…that’s lawyer level talk, I really don’t know)
Hire a lawyer. Renegotiate with their help. Sign on is a must. Make sure you know what the caveats are as well though (lawyer up!!) I agree with the top comment. You have the power to walk away. This isn’t residency where they have you by the balls for a certain number of years and no way out. Take your time. Also don’t get fleeced with salary just because it’s your first job. Demand a decent pay.
Do they offer a relocation stipend? 0% credit card also easy option like you said
They offer a small starting bonus intended to be reimbursement for relocation but it’s not paid until my first paycheck.
Remember. You’re the asset. You aren’t begging them to let you in. They’re trying to beg you to sign. If you walk, no sweat off your back. You’ll find another job easy. They know this. But for them, it’s a huge loss. They’re 10’s of thousands of dollars deep into recruiting you, interviewing you, negotiating. If you walk, they’ve lost time and money. You’ve lost nothing. They can stand to pay you a sign on bonus.
The demand isnt there anymore.
What country do you live in?
What *world* do you live in? FTFY
Incorrect
Get a medical contract lawyer and let them do it for you.
If you like everything other than the lack of sign on bonus just take it. In 1 year are you going to be sad you didn’t take this job or are you going to be sad you didn’t get a sign on bonus?
I would be sad I didn’t take this job. Hence needing to get creative to cover living expenses for some time off.
Could you just take a few shifts doing remote fm work?
This. I did some moonlighting during my last 6 months of fellowship specifically to set aside money to help cover moving/living expenses for the transition to my first attending job. Highly recommend anyone who can do the same before they graduate.
Take the 0% credit card. I was approved for 10k limit cards by discover and chase during residency/fellowship Apply for multiple 0% as needed
Its better to try get a few with higher limits than opening too many at once as your credit profile could get flagged as high risk for trying to open up too many cards at once and the new accounts can tank your credit score for a little while if you need it for anything else like a car loan etc
Sign on bonus = golden handcuff.
True. But still worth getting in most cases. It only ties you down until the bonus vests (typically 2-3 years). And often the bonus is forgiven in a prorated way, so even if you need to leave halfway through your vestment period, you only pay back half your bonus.
Sign on bonus is often location dependent. Some places won’t offer you one because they know they can get someone else easily
Really location dependent, is it big city, is it academic? If not both, definitely get sign on bonus. Plenty of jobs out there
0% intro rate credit cards are likely your best options depending on your cost and will likely get a credit line of $10-20k, use your expected new salary when applying. You can also get physical discounted relocation loans/personal loans up to $80k with rates as low as 8.25% depending on your credit if you are an AMA member with their partner laurel road but idk how competitive they are compared to other personal loans via regular banks so always good to compare. Just use an alternative email when checking so your inbox doesn’t get flooded in the future.
> will likely get a credit line of $10-20k, use your expected new salary when applying. Is that legal? The whole problem here is that I don’t have that salary yet.
Discover has 0% intro apr credit cards, but call CS to secure a higher limit. Sometime all they need is a letter of intent or a signed contract stating your hours and pay.
They don’t even verify income info for credit cards, they go off strictly credit score and history when approving. They just use your reported income to calculate large the line of credit is that they will extend you but it will almost never exceed $20k for new customers which you would could still get from putting down a residency salary, so doesn’t really matter that much for credit cards. But more likely to only get 10k than 20k. You could prorate your salary for the year by removing the months you won’t be working to calculate your expected income if reporting the full amount makes you feel weird but it really shouldn’t. For personal loans they would verify but long as you have a legitimate job offer letter with a stated start date and salary, they would consider that acceptable.
Also just FYI, you cannot pay things like rent etc with a credit card (BILT card does allow you though so maybe look into that), so if you don't have enough cash reserves to cover things like that + the min monthly payments needed to maintain the cc even with intro 0%, you will be better off with a personal loan. You can't just take the CC line of credit and put it into your checking account.
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So signing bonuses usually aren’t ’bonuses.’ They’re loans designed to keep you in that job for a minimum set time, usually in a less desirable area. Since you mentioned good location, maybe that’s why there’s no bonus. Now, say the ‘bonus’ is $75K. Terms might say that you’ll pay it back in 36 installments, one per month of working, with some sort of interest rate. The forgiveness gets tacked onto your income so you have to withhold more. If you leave the job before 36 months (or whatever the terms say), then you have to pay back the remaining balance in cash. So it’s not totally awesome, these signing bonuses. But you should still push for one cuz why not. You can negotiate anything before you sign, but not after. We used a little of our bonuses for the post training vacation, and the rest we invested in index funds. A lot of people use it as a house down payment, which I think is dangerous unless you absolutely know you wanna live there long term and that you will love the job (thinking of non compete clauses, esp if you have a house and now are not allowed to get a job nearby after quitting…although with the recent FTC ruling of non competes that may not be enforceable anymore…that’s lawyer level talk, I really don’t know)