Ultimate Guide To Student Loans

Now that you’ve graduated college, you’re probably focused on finding that first job. With many jobs hard to find, paying off your college debt is probably at the bottom of your priority list. However, for those who take paying off their college debt seriously, the burden of being in debt is significantly reduced, building credit and allowing you to stay ahead of the financial curve.

Depending on the type of loan you have, repayment options are many. Some people are so overwhelmed by the total amount of the debt, that they rarely see the various types of repayment options that are available. A good suggestion is to stay focused on the monthly payment versus the total sum of what you owe. This should make the idea of repayment more manageable.

If you are a recent grad and you’re wondering exactly how you are going to pay off your loans, don’t despair. There are a variety of methods you can use. One of the most popular and effective is student loan consolidation. Using student loan consolidation, you group your loans into a single loan which often reduces your monthly payment amount.

When I’m asked about the most effective way to pay off student loans, I often answer with this tip that I learned when paying off my graduate school debt. Begin by contacting your lender and see if there is a penalty for early payment. Why early payment do you ask? Some loan providers discourage early payment because they want to collect all of the interest from lenders. Others would rather you pay the debt owed. If they allow early repayment, make one extra payment a year and watch that loan disappear for less cost and ahead of schedule.

The first thing you need to do is pick up the phone and have a conversation with your lender. If they penalize you for early payment then there’s no sense in submitting an extra payment each year. Doing so will only lower you disposable income. However, if there is no penalty for early repayment, ask what one extra payment each year – in the amount of your monthly payment – would do to the total amount owed. You will be pleasantly surprise of the positive impact this can have.

One thing to look out for is how the lender treats your extra payment. A common mistake is that individuals send in the extra payment without any directions for the lender. As a result, they think that you are just advancing next month’s payment. In order to take advantage of early repayment, you need to write on the check, “apply to principle”. If you don’t, they will simply put it towards the following month’s bill. This obviously defeats the purpose as the principle is what you are trying to address.

Get yourself into the habit of making one extra payment each year. This may seem like a difficult task, but think of it this way. Even if your monthly payment is 350 dollars, saving 30 bucks a month to put towards your loan at the end of the year is really no big deal. The result is you will only be making payments for say, 7 years versus 10. Short term pain equals long term gain. Imagine what it would be like to not have that monthly loan.

Paying off your college loans seems like an almost impossible task, but isn’t. Stay focused on making your monthly payments one at a time. Before you know it, you will be way into repayment and can explore other options like making an extra payment towards principle annually. This will save you money and help you eliminate your debt.