I graduated from law school in May 2006 with about $86,000 in student loans. My wife graduated the same year from nursing school with $18,000 in student loans. Hers have been paid off for about a year and we took that payment and applied it to mine. We also paid off $13,000 in credit cards and two cars.
Tomorrow, I make the final payment on the last of our non-mortgage debt, which is the final $3,250 of my student loans.
I've drawn a lot of good advice from these boards and I hope all of you have similar success in ridding yourselves of student loan debt. The most common question I have seen around here is whether paying student loans helps your credit score. The very common and true reply is that it does not make a substantial impact on your credit score like paying other debt might. Despite that, I would encourage anyone who can to pay extra on their student loans.
I believe that if you are reading this message, you already have decided to gather information on the financial impact of student loans. Making the decision to be proactive about them really is the first step to paying them off. I wish you all good luck in that endeavor.
Starting Scores: TU-666 on 10/29/11. EQ-701 on 12/29/11
Current Scores: TU-753 on 7/27/13. EQ-761 on 11/1/13
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Starting Score: 675