How do I find out my student loan payoff amount?

You can find your federal student loan balances by logging into your account at StudentAid.gov . For private student loan balances, you can contact your loan servicer or check your credit report.

How does student loan payoff work?

If you don't pick a repayment plan, your loan servicer will place you on the Standard Repayment Plan. On the Standard Plan, you repay your loan(s) over 10 years . Your monthly payments on this plan are based on a 10-year schedule and not based on your income or your ability to pay.

How long does it take the average person to pay off their student loans?

On average, people with student loans have spent just over 21 years paying back their loans. Federal student loans offer repayment plans that last from 10 to 30 years. Private student loan repayment terms vary.

Are student loans hard to pay off?

It typically takes between 10 and 30 years to pay off a student loan balance , depending on your loans' interest rates, balance owed, annual income and repayment plan. Your chosen repayment plan greatly influences how long it will take to eliminate student loan debt.

Can you negotiate a payoff on a student loan?

Absolutely. But before you begin negotiating, your loans will probably need to be either in default or near default . Some lenders may suggest an alternative repayment plan, but if your loans are far beyond hardship assistance, you can start trying to negotiate a student loan settlement.

Does paying off student loan in full hurt credit?

When you pay off a student loan, it's possible that your credit score will go down temporarily . That said, it'll typically recover and may continue to increase over time as you use credit responsibly.

Is paying off student loans a write off?

Are student loan payments deductible? When you repay student loans, you pay down the original balance and the interest that has accrued on that balance. You can deduct that interest on your taxes, but the entire student loan payment amount is not tax-deductible .

Is $40,000 in student loans a lot?

Right now, the average student loan debt in the U.S. is nearly $40,000 but many students borrow much more. Depending on your field of study and career prospects, borrowing upwards of $100,000 to fund your higher education could either be a smart investment or a big mistake.

Is it smart to pay off your student loans early?

Pay less over the life of the loan: Because your student loan, like most other debt, accrues interest when you carry a balance, it's cheaper if you pay off the loan earlier . It gives the debt less time to accumulate interest, meaning you'll pay less in the long run.

How long would it take to pay off a $40,000 loan?

It will take 47 months to pay off $40,000 with payments of $1,200 per month, assuming the average credit card APR of around 18%. The time it takes to repay a balance depends on how often you make payments, how big your payments are and what the interest rate charged by the lender is.

How much is student loan payment for 40k?

The monthly payment on a $40,000 student loan ranges from $424 to $3,591 , depending on the APR and how long the loan lasts. For example, if you take out a $40,000 student loan and pay it back in 10 years at an APR of 5%, your monthly payment will be $424.

How long does it take to pay off $50 000 in student loans?

Total Repaid For example, say you have a $50,000 loan balance with a 6.22% interest rate — the average student loan interest rate for graduate students. On the standard 10-year repayment plan, you'd pay $561 per month and $17,277 in interest over time.

My $38,000 Student Loan Payoff Plan (2024)

$40,000. That’s the total amount of student loans that I accumulated while I was getting my undergraduate and graduate degrees. The amount that is left is still at $38,000 now, mainly because I haven’t really bothered withstudent loan repayment (even though I should have!)and interest has stupidly been building up. I would have taken out…

$40,000.

That’s the total amount of student loans that I accumulated while I was getting my undergraduate and graduate degrees. The amount that is left is still at $38,000 now, mainly because I haven’t really bothered withstudent loan repayment (even though I should have!)and interest has stupidly been building up. I would have taken out more in student loans but the last couple of semesters I wised up and paid for in cash instead.

It is a lot of student loan debt, but I don’t feel completely horrible about it, I did earn2 undergraduate degrees and a Finance MBA all for that amount. If I wouldn’t have earned scholarships or paid some of it, it would have easily been 3 or 4 times that amount.

I’ve been talking a lot about my plan to payoff my student loans as fast as possible. Back in February of 2012, I started my action plan for them to be gone. For me, it’s almost to the point where I am obsessing a little too much about my student loan repayment plan. I am constantly trying to figure out my cash flow and budget to see if I can get there any more quickly. I’m really focused on my extra income efforts and it’s an obsession now.

Luckily, I was able to graduate and find a great job back in 2010 and it helped me pay back student loans a little bit and start my student loan repayment plan. So many people told me that I wouldn’t find a job though. They were probably just trying to help me out by telling me what most kids my age didn’t know back then, but I wasn’t listening.

Now that I am done with graduate school (which I am extremely happy about being done with), I really need to start focusing and finally starting to aggressively pay back my student loans and start my student loan repayment. I’ve been paying down my student loans a little bit here and there but not enough where you can actually notice it.

My goal with mystudent loan repayment plan.

My goal is to have my student loans completely gone by April of 2013, or even possibly March of 2013. I know any sooner is most likely not possible since my plan is already pretty strict. Learninghow to pay student loans faster is not easy though. Yes, you can read abouthow to pay student loans faster, but you really need to sit down and make an action plan.

In order to complete my goal, I need to pay around $7,000 per month on my student loans for around 6 months (which would make the payoff date April of 2013). This most likely sounds insane, but I know it’s possible. No, I will not be living off of Ramen noodles. I will still have the same quality of life and be doing nearly everything the same.

My main thing is that we have really ramped up our income in the past couple of months. W is currently making more than three times what he used to make at his old job, and I’m making more as well. This extra money definitely helps make this goal more attainable.

1. Add up your total student loan debt for your student loan repayment plan.

Your very first step with your student loan repayment is to add up your total student loan debt. Use astudent loan calculator if you need to.

This may sound stupid, but have you ever truly added up your total student loan debt, down to the exact cent? Enter reality and figure out how much you actually owe. I have a couple of friends who still can’t really say how much they owe, because they aren’t sure. I can understand this because some of the loans that you’ve taken out might have been from 4 or more years ago.

When I added up my total student loan debt, I wasn’t completely sure of the exact dollar amount. YES I REALLY JUST SAID THAT, I’m a bad personal finance blogger. I did know of the general area, but I was off by around $2,000. When I finally sat down and realized the exact dollar amount that I owed, reality really set in.

Once you know that exact number, it’ll help you realize that you need an student loan repayment action plan to pay it off.

Also, using astudent loan calculator can help if you want to figure out your monthly student loan payment. You can find severalstudent loan calculators online with just a simple Google search.

2. Decide which student loans you’ll pay offfirst.

It’s really up to you personally. Different people prefer to attack their debt in different ways. With me, I’m trying to get rid of my student loans which have the highest interest rates. A large amount of my loans are at 6.8%.

3. Find extra money to apply towards your student loans.

I’ve really been working hard on finding ways to earn extra income forhelp paying student loans. I’ve been doing great with this, but it hasn’t always been this easy. In September I made $3,275 and in October I made $3,700 (both after fees but before taxes) in extra income. Before September, I wasn’t making nearly these amounts, and I am still very surprised.

EDIT (February 8, 2013): In the month of January, I made over $6,000 in extra income. I do many things in order to reach this level, read further on my extra income page. I’m a freelance writer, a virtual assistant (read further on how to become a virtual assistant and what exactly a virtual assistant does), and blog owner in my spare time.

For me, the main thing I doto make extra money is blogging and freelancing. If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I have a tutorial that will show you how to easily make a blog of your own in just minutes. You can find the tutorial here.

My goal right now is to throw nearly all of my extra income towards my student loans so that I can pay off my student loans fast. Now, why am I not saying “ALL” instead of “nearly?” It’s because I am being realistic. I know for a fact that I will not put all of it towards student loans, in fact, I’ve already spent some of it (not a lot though).

Related articles:

75+ Ways To Make Extra Money
10 Ways To Make Money Online From The Comfort of Your Home
10 Things I’ve Done To Make Extra Money
Ways To Make An Extra $1,000 A Month
Howto Earn Extra Income Part 1

4. If you can or want to, then ELIMINATE expenses!

There are probably a couple of things out there that you do not absolutely need. Or maybe there are things in your life that you can get for cheaper. Try calling any of the companies that you do business with and see if they can lower their prices at all. This can be your gym, cell phone, internet and so on. Getting a cheaper price can make student loan repayment attainable.

There are also many other things that you can do. Lowering your auto expenses, lowering your utility bills, eating at home more often, cooking from scratch and so on are all great things you can do to lower your expenses.

We are really working on eating at home as much as we can. We used to go out to eat way too much. What’s the point of eating out at a restaurant every single day? We were being stupid, it’s that plain and simple.

Cutting your expenses can help you pay off your student loans fast and reach your student loan repayment plan with a little less stress.

If you are still in college, I recommend you read my postHow To Save Money On Textbooks + Campus Book Rentals Review. I have a coupon code in there as well, so if you are interested in saving money on your textbooks, it can be a great post to read.

What are you doing to pay off your student loans quicker?

Answer these questions:

1. How much do you owe?

2. How much have you paid off?

3. How long do you think it will take you to pay your student loans off completely?

4. What are you doing to pay them off more quickly?

UPDATE: My student loans are gone(click here to read all about it)! 🙂