It took me 7 years to pay off my student loan and I had only a small loan. When paying off your student loans, you need to create a budget where you allocate for making that payment every month. With my mortgage, I have found it much easier to allocate for the payment by subtracting 1/2 of it out of each paycheck, but then later writing the actual check. That way I am not left with virtually nothing after making the payment. This approach would work for student loans also.
In addition to making a budget and allocating for your monthly payment, set aside money in a savings account in the event you may get laid off, fired, have a medical problem, or some other emergency. This would enable you to continue making your student loan payments and meeting other financial obligations.
Ideally, this account should have enough funds for 6 months of expenses, but to make it a little less overwhelming, aim for 1 month of expenses and keep going from there. Figure out how much you can afford to put into savings each month and do automatically. If you can only do $10.00 a month, that's better than nothing.
Keep your discretionary spending under control when paying off a student loan. For example: if you eat a lot of snacks and drink coffee, soda, or tea, to minimize excess snack and drink purchases, consider buying snacks in bulk and then taking some with you to work or wherever you are going for the day. Most people don't realize what $1.00 cup of coffee from the local convenience store adds up to over a year.
Just for reality's sake, say you work 20 days out of each month, or 240 days per year, and you get a cup of coffee every day before work. If you pay for a $1.00 cup of coffee each day, that's $240.00! Wow. Imagine what you could do with $240.00. That could be a car payment or rent for many people. And many people have several cups per day. Your work place may have free or cheap coffee, or you could bring a thermos with you.
Another way to curb your expenses would be to consider your entertainment budget. For example, if you have cable TV, Netflix, and you also go out to the movies once a week, can you cut out one of those? You could cut either the cable TV or Netflix and still be able to see plenty of movies and TV shows with the other option.
If you are a young adult, paying off your student loans is just the beginning of many financial responsibilities you will be asked to meet. Making payments on time every time will help to ensure that you maintain a good credit record, so that you can someday get other credit to buy a car or home if you want. It is a complicated process that can be made much easier with some simple planning and budgeting.
Don't worry. Being frugal is the new chic these days.
By Barbara Pope from KS
If you have student loans which you cannot consolidate and they are at a high interest rate, compounding daily, then search for a credit card that will allow you to transfer balances at a low fixed interest rate for the life of the balance.
I have 2 companies claiming to have consolidated the same student loans. Both want payment starting in July. Upon contact both say to contact the other company and tell the they do not own the loan. How do I fix this?
Go to www.finaid.com and type in Ombudsman in the search box. Contact the Ombudsman to help you resolve your student loan problem.
Talk with someone from your college financial aid office, They may be able to help.
Where did your loan(s) originally come from? Talk to someone there,
What can happen to me if I cannot pay all my students loans off at one time? I did not find a job after college and I am looking everyday. I babysit and I am paying on two loans now and my mother is paying on one for me and my aunt is paying on one for me.
My dad passed away without any notice in 2006 and my mother and I just can't take all that has happened to us. We are trying to pay as much as we can on the loans, but I keep getting calls and they are demanding more that I just don't have. I am so scared that we will lose our home if I can't pay them all back at once. My question is: I am paying as much as I can and is there any help out there for people like me with the same problem?
By Kimberly
If you don't pay on your student loans, they can garnish up to 15% of your wages, take your income tax refunds and take a portion of some social security benefits, but they can NOT take your house, so please stop worrying about that. What you can do is apply for a forbearance. This is a link to a government site that will give you the information you need about forbearances: studentaid.ed.gov/
I have not been able to pay mine, and they have never done anything to me but threaten. There have been times when I made a little more than needed to live on, have never been garnished, audited, or had my current SSD taken away. If you can find an attorney who will see you for 30 minutes for free, you can find out for real.
In 2001, 9 years after I graduated, I was offered a payment plan of just 275.00 (more than half my net income besides room and board), and at that rate, it would have taken me till I was 82 to pay it off.
But this sites will help.
bankruptcy.findlaw.com/
One of the things I tried was to get the loan forgiven because I was disabled. They offered to cancel every penny...if I could get a doctor to say I was so severely disabled that I couldn't work at anything, which included picking up a phone. The irony was they called me about every other day which means I can pick up a phone. They set me up to fail knowing that it wouldn't work.
I wish you well. I also know that so many loans and the horror stories that go with them have made my grandson decide to not go to college.
Good luck.
