Lucy199 Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Not sure if this will get bumped but... who has had experience paying off their loans in 10 years at a higher monthly payment vs stretching the repayment period, increasing the total amount, thusly lowering their monthly payment.. I know that mathematically the 10 year plan is the smartest, I just feel like I am going back to scraping by the way I was before school started.. I know we make good money and these things will get paid off eventually but seeing it on paper is disheartening.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UGoLong Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 I’ve not had a student loan but I have had mortgages. Assuming there is no prepayment penalty, you might take the longer term and pay extra against the principal along the way. For our mortgage, that greatly shortened the term and I just kept adding a few dollars each month until we were making triple payments towards the end. A 30 year mortgage got paid off in 22 with a considerable savings in the end and we had the flexibility to hold back the extra payments if we needed to.As I said, I don’t know if you can do the same thing with a student loan, but it might be worth asking.Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Believe Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 i did the 20 year or 30 year plan (don't remember which) but i pay 1000k more per month than the minimum and apply it to highest interest loan. That way, I am reducing future interest while still being flexible in case I need extra money for car repair, house repair etc. I had about 88k in loans when i graduated, minimum is like $500 a month, i pay 1500k a month and have paid close to 18k towards loans this year thus far. Still have saved up quite a bit in my bank and maxed my roth IRA. The key here is to make sure you overpay, otherwise, you will definitely overpay in the future with all the interest. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MT2PA Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Use the studentloans.gov site. You can enter your loan amounts and types and it estimates for you the monthly payment and overall total (so how much interest you'll pay) for the entire spectrum of repayment plans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinntsp Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 https://unbury.me/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corpsman2PA Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 On 10/22/2019 at 5:50 PM, Lucy199 said: Not sure if this will get bumped but... who has had experience paying off their loans in 10 years at a higher monthly payment vs stretching the repayment period, increasing the total amount, thusly lowering their monthly payment.. I know that mathematically the 10 year plan is the smartest, I just feel like I am going back to scraping by the way I was before school started.. I know we make good money and these things will get paid off eventually but seeing it on paper is disheartening.. DONT stretch it out. If its 10 years, pay it off. Make sure you’re contributing to your 401k to get the match (and Roth IRA if you’re able). If the interest is reasonable, you’ll come out ahead with a shorter loan term. Get aggressive and get out of debt. I paid mine off by year 3 (granted I didn’t have what others have) but it was a great weight lifted. Yes you may feel like you’re “scraping” by, but you need to delay your gratification a few more years and get out of debt. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 I had every intention of paying mine off as fast as possible (which with every cent thrown at it would have been about 5 or 6 years) i still have this intention but I took a pause for about a year to do something different ....I decided I wanted to start investing in some passive side income so I dropped my loan from standard ten year plan to the IBR plan to drop my monthly obligation to it, owe no other debt, and purchased an income property that now brings in almost $2,000 income to me monthly from tenants. Of course there’s costs and repairs associated with owning property but I’m still quite net positive. I continue to pay MORE than the IBR plan requires each month and now have extra money to put towards the loans and retirement. (Not to mention the home’s value continues to grow in a hot stable market) This wasn’t an easy decision to make and can go horribly wrong for you especially if you have a lot of consumer debt or lack the discipline to keep attacking your loan debt (easy to spend extra income on toys restaurants etc) Its not for everyone but just something to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator ventana Posted October 26, 2021 Moderator Share Posted October 26, 2021 finace for 20, pay off faster, this way if you ever need to you can cut back on the monthly payments for a few months I paid the bulk of mine off in about 9 years left the remaining ~20k to pay off over time as it was in a fixed 2% note.... ended up loosing the ability to write of interst (over income limit) and just paid off the remaining 2k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photograph51 Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 I lived like a broke student before I started school, so I was able to save money to pay 40% of my tuition from savings and use savings for all of my living expenses. I lived like a broke student when I was a student. While my classmates shopped at Nordstrom's, I went to Goodwill. When they spent breaks in Cancun, I picked up PRN shifts at my old job. They were checking out the local restaurants while I stocked up and the bent and dent. I kept living like a broke student after I graduated and started working. I made my last student loan payment just under 16 months after graduation. I graduated 3 years and 4 months ago and I am now making more off of my investments than I spend (although that could change if the financial market sours.) Frugality goes a long way. Whining doesn't. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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