123
votes
Accepted
Why is my student loan balance not going down?
While it's common to think of it that way - pay off the interest first, then the principal - that's not actually how your payments work over time. It's true of any one payment, though.
Interest is ...
- 35.7k
95
votes
Accepted
How can I prepare for my US student debt?
But what should I be expecting? How much trouble am I in?
If you graduated with $134,181 in loans at a rate of 9.3% you'd expect a repayment amount of $1,722/month for 10 years. If you make $70,000/...
- 68.6k
86
votes
Accepted
Multiple loans, multiple payers - how to snowball fairly
First off, your commitment to paying down debt and apparent strong relationship with your brother is admirable. However, I think you are overcomplicating your situation and potentially endangering ...
- 41.5k
79
votes
How can I prepare for my US student debt?
IMHO, you made a very poor choice with school selection. When we make poor choices as adults we have to write checks to solve those problems. Yours is one that will cost you well over 140K, and ...
- 75.7k
75
votes
Accepted
What are the biggest pitfalls to avoid with student loans?
(This answer is based on the article you linked in the comment, but could probably apply in general as well)
What re-payment detail are people overlooking?
There are not many specifics in the ...
- 129k
68
votes
Accepted
Using fiancée's money to pay off my student debt
Congratulations on your engagement, and on your desire to begin your marriage debt free.
Your fiancée can give you up to $14,000 per year as a gift without having to pay any gift tax. Above that, ...
- 115k
62
votes
Accepted
How can a high school student value a possible degree?
college is valuable even if we don't get a high income
Absolutely! Any education is valuable in some way. Not all are valuable economically, though. A degree in sociology that enables you to work in ...
- 129k
61
votes
How can I prepare for my US student debt?
You've been tricked into an inappropriate lifestyle
And the student loan companies did it. Their motivation is the positively insane interest rates for loans which cannot be discharged in ...
53
votes
Accepted
Should I pay down my student debt early?
In the UK, supposing that this student debt is the government backed type debt and not private debt, then it will never be reported on your credit report and will not affect your chances of getting ...
- 8,630
52
votes
Would it make sense to take a loan from a relative to pay off student loans?
Personally, I avoid making business deals with friends and relatives. There's just too much of a possibility that things can go wrong.
Let's assume that you're honest people and you have no ...
- 22k
52
votes
Accepted
Debt management: 0% CC APR for 15 months vs 7% student loan debt
Paying 0% on $400 instead of 7% saves you ~$2.33 each month. You'd still have to make minimum payments each month on the credit card, so you can't put all of that $400 toward the student loans anyway. ...
- 68.6k
51
votes
Accepted
Ask mother to pay off entire student loan, then pay her?
In the US, the main tax consequences are:
The interest she receives will be income and have to be declared as such
The interest you pay would no longer be deductible since loans from relatives are ...
- 129k
51
votes
Pay everything now or gradually?
To put this into perspective, you are paying ~$1500 interest annually (gradually decreasing), or $132 monthly.
All the while, you have money sitting in your bank account doing seemingly nothing.
...
- 3,118
50
votes
Accepted
Taking college classes to avoid student loan payments indefinitely
You mentioned that this is a private student loan, not a federal loan. There are no standard terms for private loans like there are for federal loans. To find out the deferral rules, you would need to ...
- 115k
49
votes
Should I pay down my student debt early?
For most people the answer is a strong No, you should not pay more than the minimum repayments.
UK student loans are a special type of debt with two big differences to a normal loan:
You are not ...
- 1,464
49
votes
Accepted
UK Student Loan Repayments
The UK Student Loan system is best thought of not as a loan, but as a tax on future earnings. You are correct, the majority of people will never clear their debt, a substantial portion won't even ...
- 536
48
votes
3.5% Interest Student Loan or use all of my savings on Tuition?
According to the OSAP website you will not be charged interest until 6 months after you graduate for the Ontario portion of your loans (Canada portion accrues interest immediately after graduation). ...
- 68.6k
48
votes
Will the Government come after my daughter's assets if I can't pay my student loans?
Short answer: No
Your daughter is not liable for the student loan debt unless she co-signed for it. Also, she can not inherit the debt, but the government CAN make a claim on your estate and take it ...
- 52.9k
46
votes
Accepted
Put my student loan in parents’ second mortgage - help?
The student loans are gone, all lenders see is a 2nd mortgage. Since the mortgage is secured by the home you'd likely have a hard time getting a better rate on an unsecured loan, but it doesn't hurt ...
- 68.6k
43
votes
Accepted
How much of my income should I put towards paying off student loans vs saving for a house?
In my opinion, you should pay off the student loans as soon as possible, before you start saving for the house downpayment.
$26k is a big number, but you have a great salary. (Nice!) Up until now, ...
- 115k
42
votes
Does borrowing from my 401(k) make sense in my specific circumstance?
The set of circumstances that 401k loans make sense, are very small. As you would expect yours is not one of them.
You make 70K per year and need 6500. Interest rate is not your problem, ...
- 75.7k
40
votes
When paying for college, should I take out (interest-free) loans and pay them off with saved money, or use the saved money directly?
Here are the risks involved with student loans:
They are very difficult to get discharged in a bankruptcy - the only way you can get rid of them is through death or disability (there are forgiveness ...
- 129k
40
votes
What are the biggest pitfalls to avoid with student loans?
Attend a less expensive school
The biggest pitfall to avoid is attending a school at you cannot afford. If you can get a need-based scholarship to Harvard, by all means attend an expensive university,...
- 32.7k
39
votes
Is it illegal for a student loan servicer to lower the minimum monthly payment after overpayments?
No, I don’t believe this is illegal. I think you’ve already highlighted the reasons this is done:
As a service to the borrower, it allows them to lower their payment if they choose.
If the borrower ...
- 115k
37
votes
I have to pay back my student loan. When is the best time to do it?
That mortgage would be lowered by twice the amount of my student loan.
doesn't sound too bad, since the other place you can put the money is into "down payment" and that has between 1:1.5 ...
- 6,758
36
votes
Accepted
Would it make sense to take a loan from a relative to pay off student loans?
My biggest concern with this plan is that there's no going back should you decide that it is not going to work, either due to the strain on the relationship or for some other reason.
If you were ...
- 129k
35
votes
What happens if I just don't pay my student loans?
Same thing as for any debt: bank sues you, you lose, you are in an even deeper hole because you now owe them for the cost of the court case, your credit rating goes into the toilet, you may even have ...
- 41.5k
35
votes
Taking college classes to avoid student loan payments indefinitely
Money interactions/discussions often draw a lot of emotions out of people and this is often complicated by in-law relationships.
The best advice one can give you is to stay out of this conversation. ...
- 75.7k
34
votes
Accepted
Should I dump my savings into my student debt?
Keep 3-6 months (or more if you need to, for me the number is 9 months) worth of expenses in an emergency fund. Put the rest against the student loan.
The length of time depends on your situation. ...
- 2,855
31
votes
Accepted
Paying Off Student Loans Early
As you noticed, there are diminishing returns on the interest savings as you get closer to paying off the loan. Certainly, the quicker you pay off the loan, the more interest you save. However, the ...
- 115k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible