Student Loans

[DrumNFeather]

My wife and I are within striking distance of paying off her fairly meager student loans from her undergrad time at BYU. When I married her she was on a $50 a month plan to pay off the loan. Once we got serious about repaying the loan, we tripled that payment...which still isn't much, but it has put us in a position to pay it off by the end of the year. From time to time when we had extra money, we'd throw it at the loan.

My student loans for grad school just kicked in last month and now I am heading down a road that, if I keep my repayment plan as it is, will have me paying double the amount of the original loan.

I'm just curious to know what your (the collective you) approach is to student loans if you have any. I know we have several lawyers here that have incurred far more debt than I have. I also know that education debt is often considered "good" debt (vs. a car or something like that) and as such, there isn't an urgency to paying it off.

What is your approach to paying off student loans? The quicker the better? Or do you just pay your monthly allotment?

[Pheidippides]

My wife and I are within striking distance of paying off her fairly meager student loans from her undergrad time at BYU. When I married her she was on a $50 a month plan to pay off the loan. Once we got serious about repaying the loan, we tripled that payment...which still isn't much, but it has put us in a position to pay it off by the end of the year. From time to time when we had extra money, we'd throw it at the loan.

My student loans for grad school just kicked in last month and now I am heading down a road that, if I keep my repayment plan as it is, will have me paying double the amount of the original loan.

I'm just curious to know what your (the collective you) approach is to student loans if you have any. I know we have several lawyers here that have incurred far more debt than I have. I also know that education debt is often considered "good" debt (vs. a car or something like that) and as such, there isn't an urgency to paying it off.

What is your approach to paying off student loans? The quicker the better? Or do you just pay your monthly allotment?

Depends on the loan. My federal loans are locked in at 2%, which is lower than inflation, so I am in no hurry to pay those off (the impact to cash flow is also negligible because they are on a 30 year term). It's essentially better than free money.

My private loans are not so nice, however, and we save up every month and then pay a large chunk at the end of the year after we are sure we have proper reserves for savings, taxes, etc. We are trying to knock those out in the next few years.

[Tim]

My wife and I are within striking distance of paying off her fairly meager student loans from her undergrad time at BYU. When I married her she was on a $50 a month plan to pay off the loan. Once we got serious about repaying the loan, we tripled that payment...which still isn't much, but it has put us in a position to pay it off by the end of the year. From time to time when we had extra money, we'd throw it at the loan.

My student loans for grad school just kicked in last month and now I am heading down a road that, if I keep my repayment plan as it is, will have me paying double the amount of the original loan.

I'm just curious to know what your (the collective you) approach is to student loans if you have any. I know we have several lawyers here that have incurred far more debt than I have. I also know that education debt is often considered "good" debt (vs. a car or something like that) and as such, there isn't an urgency to paying it off.

What is your approach to paying off student loans? The quicker the better? Or do you just pay your monthly allotment?

One of the reasons I took the job with Red Hat back in the beginning of 2007 was because they were giving me a "relocation bonus" that happened to be enough to pay off my student loans. They were about to kick in, and I didn't want to ever have to pay on them, so I took the job, took the bonus, signed a two-year commitment, and paid off my loans immediately.

[Mormon Red Death]

My wife and I are within striking distance of paying off her fairly meager student loans from her undergrad time at BYU. When I married her she was on a $50 a month plan to pay off the loan. Once we got serious about repaying the loan, we tripled that payment...which still isn't much, but it has put us in a position to pay it off by the end of the year. From time to time when we had extra money, we'd throw it at the loan.

My student loans for grad school just kicked in last month and now I am heading down a road that, if I keep my repayment plan as it is, will have me paying double the amount of the original loan.

I'm just curious to know what your (the collective you) approach is to student loans if you have any. I know we have several lawyers here that have incurred far more debt than I have. I also know that education debt is often considered "good" debt (vs. a car or something like that) and as such, there isn't an urgency to paying it off.

What is your approach to paying off student loans? The quicker the better? Or do you just pay your monthly allotment?

Depending what your interest rate and whatever other debt you have is how I would handle it. If this is the only debt beyond your mortgage then I would pay triple payments. If you have a car payment or any credit card debt then you pay that off first. Additionally once you are down to just the mortgage and the school loans whichever has the lowest the interest rate pay that off first.

[TripletDaddy]

We paid more than the monthly, but we did not take the approach you took of using any and all extra money to help pay them off. They were mostly consolidated at a very low rate, so I wasn't rushing to give my money back to the guv.

[marsupial]

One of the reasons I took the job with Red Hat back in the beginning of 2007 was because they were giving me a "relocation bonus" that happened to be enough to pay off my student loans. They were about to kick in, and I didn't want to ever have to pay on them, so I took the job, took the bonus, signed a two-year commitment, and paid off my loans immediately.

That's why we moved to Jackson, Mississippi. They're paying of danimal's loans to sweeten the deal.

[Art Vandelay]

That's why we moved to Jackson, Mississippi. They're paying of danimal's loans to sweeten the deal.

You must have to sort through a lot of sketchy images to find the great avatars you keep coming up with. I always feel so lost on here. There must have been a profound nursing discussion you actively participated in that I'm unaware of.

[JohnnyLingo]

You must have to sort through a lot of sketchy images to find the great avatars you keep coming up with. I always feel so lost on here. There must have been a profound nursing discussion you actively participated in that I'm unaware of.

I don't know that it was profound.... something about Salma Hayek and a third-world country.

[Fiyero]

There was a new law that went into effect on July 1 that caps your student loans at 15 percent of your adjusted gross income. If your figure is >15 percent, here read all about it.

[Donuthole]

Mine are all gov't loans, and are locked in at 3%. That bumps to 2% in February, when I've completed 2 years of timely payments. Much like nikuman, I'm in no hurry to pay them back with such a low interest rate, though sometimes I have to fight the urge to throw a spare chunk of money at them just to see the principal drop.

[TripletDaddy]

No need to list initial amounts out of school, but how many years passed before you finished paying off your student loans? For those that are still paying, how many years before you think you will have yours paid off?

My wife and I collectively have around 7k left on our student loans. Not much, or at least doesnt seem that much to me. We currently pay around double the minimum payment each month. We left school in 2000, so we are now at the decade mark.

My question is how closing out the loan will affect my credit score. Does it make it go up because we no longer have the debt? Does it make it go down because I am losing a current sample of on-time payments? Does it have no real effect on the score? We carry no credit card balance each month, we lease our cars, and sold our house last summer, so basically we have no other debt. At the same time, I'm not sure if I am currently "building" my credit, either.

I'm getting bored of this monthly payment and am tempted to just make it go away, but dont want to hurt myself in the process. Any input how closing out your student loans impacted your score, if at all?

[thesaint258]

Since I missed the boat on the super low interest rates, my goal is to pay off my loans as quickly as I can. Right now, I have a car loan, so I'm making double payments to get that taken care of in just over a year. When that's paid off, I'll take most of that money and put it toward my student loans. That should mean that my student loans will be paid off in around five or six years.

[pellegrino]

No need to list initial amounts out of school, but how many years passed before you finished paying off your student loans? For those that are still paying, how many years before you think you will have yours paid off?

My wife and I collectively have around 7k left on our student loans. Not much, or at least doesnt seem that much to me. We currently pay around double the minimum payment each month. We left school in 2000, so we are now at the decade mark.

My question is how closing out the loan will affect my credit score. Does it make it go up because we no longer have the debt? Does it make it go down because I am losing a current sample of on-time payments? Does it have no real effect on the score? We carry no credit card balance each month, we lease our cars, and sold our house last summer, so basically we have no other debt. At the same time, I'm not sure if I am currently "building" my credit, either.

I'm getting bored of this monthly payment and am tempted to just make it go away, but dont want to hurt myself in the process. Any input how closing out your student loans impacted your score, if at all?

I don't think it would hurt your credit score one way or the other to pay off your loans. Evaluating your current debt or lack thereof is a small piece in the bigger puzzle.

[wuapinmon]

My question is how closing out the loan will affect my credit score. Does it make it go up because we no longer have the debt? Does it make it go down because I am losing a current sample of on-time payments? Does it have no real effect on the score? We carry no credit card balance each month, we lease our cars, and sold our house last summer, so basically we have no other debt. At the same time, I'm not sure if I am currently "building" my credit, either.

I'm getting bored of this monthly payment and am tempted to just make it go away, but dont want to hurt myself in the process. Any input how closing out your student loans impacted your score, if at all?

[New Mexican Disaster]

I will be paying my student loans for another 22 years. Unless things take a dramatic turn for the better.