https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 04 Aug 2026 23:01:07 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900746 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 09:35:56 +0000 avivoca 900746@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@runnerd: Oh man, my husband's student loans were through that company, and it was a nightmare. I was so, so glad when we were able to pay them off last year and not have to deal with them anymore! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900642 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 09:11:48 +0000 loveisstrange 900642@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@runnerd: Ah, no. Mine are through "FedLoan Servicing" </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900639 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 09:10:31 +0000 mlm2934 900639@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: oh ok, good, i'm relieved haha!! "direct loans" is one of the company names for administratoring some federal loans too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900630 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 09:08:41 +0000 loveisstrange 900630@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@runnerd: When I say direct loans, I mean Stafford loans directly through the federal government. So far they have been far more helpful and easy to deal with than Sallie Mae has. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900616 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 09:06:54 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 900616@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I say pay it off! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900604 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 09:03:24 +0000 mlm2934 900604@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>i am always an advocate of paying off debt regardless of interest rates, tax deductions, etc. as long as you leave yourself some savings for emergencies.</p> <p>when you say direct loans, do you mean the company direct loans? cause if you do, i would PAY THOSE OFF!!!! my DH's loans were with that company and when we tried to get on a more aggressive payoff plan, they were an absolute nightmare!!!! it took 5 months of our payments being applied wrong and going to mostly interest before they go it right - then the loans got transferred to a different company and now everything is done correctly. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900507 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:33:54 +0000 jetsa 900507@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dagret: @zippylef: I know with car and house loans its a 10 day payoff. So you have 10 days to make the payment. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900501 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:31:26 +0000 loveisstrange 900501@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@swurlygurl: Thats definitely something to consider, thanks! We're overseas military, so we pay US taxes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900498 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:30:11 +0000 swurlygurl 900498@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ouch - yes, pay it off! </p> <p>One reason you might not want to pay it all off right away though: I have no idea how UK taxes work, but we paid off all my loans at once, but you're only allowed to deduct a certain amount of student loan interest come tax time, and we paid more than we could deduct. If we could do it over again we would have paid half, then paid the other half Jan 1 the following year. That way we would have gotten more back in tax deductions than the interest gaining on the loan.</p> <p>I don't know if that made any sense, I'm not so good with taxes - it's DH's thing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900481 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:26:13 +0000 loveisstrange 900481@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@evansjamie: @MsLipGloss: Huh, okay. I will do that. Thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900479 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:25:38 +0000 MsLipGloss 900479@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: It works just like any other loan - you will need to get an exact payoff amount that is good for a period of time (usually 15-30 days). If you call and ask for a payoff amount (as opposed to your balance), they should be able to provide that to you. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900478 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:25:10 +0000 avivoca 900478@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: If you talk to them again, ask for the payoff amount. I know for my house loan, it's weird, the amount I owe isn't the total payoff amount. I think they have to add interest up until the day you pay. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900474 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:24:24 +0000 dagret 900474@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: you have to call and ask them for the payoff amount, and then I think that $ has to be there in 24-48 hours? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900471 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:23:25 +0000 loveisstrange 900471@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsLipGloss: I just talked to Sallie Mae the month before last that that $20k is the total amount I currently owe. So, would't paying that amount just pay the loan off? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900458 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:18:55 +0000 dagret 900458@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: I agree, if you have decent emergency funds go ahead and pay it off! 6.8% is rough! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900456 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:18:30 +0000 MsLipGloss 900456@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: You will need to be sure that the payment is applied to the principal amount of the loan, especially since the payments have been deferred. (I don't know if you have been making periodic interest payments or not.) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900441 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:14:51 +0000 loveisstrange 900441@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Alivoo01: As far as I am aware, there is no early payoff penalty. The loans are all Stafford Loans, not private. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900438 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:13:21 +0000 Bookish 900438@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: Then by all means! Kick that loan's butt ;) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900434 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:12:30 +0000 loveisstrange 900434@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: I'm not really sure? They've been deferred, so we just barely started paying them off. </p> <p>@MsLipGloss: @Bookworm: The money would be coming out of our secondary savings and is about 1/3 of what we have in total liquid savings at the moment. We have 6 months of full living expenses in our primary savings right now. We would still have PLENTY to fall back on. It would not deplete our savings. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900429 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:11:52 +0000 T.H.O.U. 900429@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I guess my question would be what is the other alternative if you don't pay down the loans? 6.8% interest is fairly high in terms of other rates you can get now (most car and mortgages are currently under that I believe). So unless you had plans to do something that would cost more then 6.8% or earn you more interest then I would pay it off. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900428 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:11:26 +0000 Alivoo01 900428@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Depends if your loans carry a penalty for early pay off or not. Otherwise, I'd pay it off or pay down as much as possible. 6.8% is high - ouch! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900408 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:07:03 +0000 looch 900408@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Are you still at a point where you can continue to deduct the interest expense? I paid mine off when I could no longer do so. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900403 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:05:52 +0000 MsLipGloss 900403@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: I think it really depends on where the money is coming from . . . if you are going to deplete your cash/savings account in order to pay off a portion of the debt, I wouldn't do it. I would much rather have a large savings account while DH is in the transition than pay off a portion of the debt. Whatever you think you might need in savings, double that amount (, i.e. if you were planning on having 3 months worth of bills saved up, go for at least 6 months . . . although I wouldn't recommend anything less than 6 months). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900393 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:02:42 +0000 Bookish 900393@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Since interest rates on savings accounts are still so low, it would be a better use of your money to pay off the debt. You're accruing 6.8% in interest charges, while if your money just sat in a bank, it would barely grow. I hope that makes sense, but yeah, if you can pay it off and make your lives easier when your DH goes back to school, do it, provided you have a good emergency savings left over :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900357 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 07:48:42 +0000 loveisstrange 900357@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: About 6.8%. One of my 9 loans has a slightly lower one, but the majority is 6.8%. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900356 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 07:48:09 +0000 mrbee 900356@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What's the interest rate like on the loans? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/need-advice-on-repaying-student-loans#post-900352 Tue, 02 Jul 2013 07:46:30 +0000 loveisstrange 900352@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So, I had to rely heavily on student loans when I went to college. I have roughly $43k total. ~$20k through Sallie Mae and ~$23k in direct federal loans (It's 9 separate loans, 8 of which have a 6.8% interest rate and 1 has a 6%). Because it through 2 different companies, we pay 2 payments a month, which is annoying and cumbersome. Consolidation wouldn't really do much to reduce anything for me. </p> <p>We are in a position to throw a sizable chunk of money at the loans if we want to. We are considering paying off the Sallie Mae loans completely and just having the direct loans.</p> <p>We're trying to figure out if paying off a huge chunk is better or continuing to make payments is better (in terms of interest and such). In about a year, DH will be exiting the military and will be back to being a full-time student. We are trying to figure out just what we need to do to make it work once we are back home. Reducing the loan payments to just 1 payment a month instead of 2 would help a lot. These loans are the only debt we have.</p> <p>Advice? </p>