topic Re: Paying student loans with credit in Credit Cards

Paying student loans with credit

dapps06 — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 15:22:09 GMT

I have several student loans with Sallie Mae, or I guess Navient now, and I was thinking of paying my smallest one (2500) off with my Chase Freedom card since the Freedom has no interest until February 2016. The interest on this particular loan is 6.8 %, I figured it would save me some money. Would this type of "purchase" look bad to Chase?

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Imperfectfuture — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 15:26:44 GMT

Lots of folks do it, IF the school, servicer takes credit card payments (not sure, when I had student loan in 1978, it was 500, in 1982 it was 3000, so been awhile for me).

Re: Paying student loans with credit

dapps06 — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 15:31:42 GMT

Hmm, maybe I'll do it then. I wonder if I'd get 1% cash back, I don't really care either way but I'm curious regardless.

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 15:33:42 GMT

@Imperfectfuture wrote:
Lots of folks do it, IF the school, servicer takes credit card payments (not sure, when I had student loan in 1978, it was 500, in 1982 it was 3000, so been awhile for me).

Yes, if they do take cc payments there is usually a convenience fee. This might negate the rewards (which is the usual question) but would probably be worthwhile for a 0% APR. But make sure that they accept them, some allow it only for overdue payments.

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 15:36:18 GMT

If credit card payments are allowed and you use a 1% card Id imagine you would receive the cash back like any other purchase. Beware of any fees your school may charge as someone wisely pointed out to me yesterday. Mine may be $15 per payment (still researching, loans are in deferment) on a monthly basis its not worth it but for a large payment it might be ok

Re: Paying student loans with credit

dapps06 — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 15:38:56 GMT

While it was with Sallie Mae credit cards were accepted with no fee, over the phone at least, now that it's with Navient I'm not sure. I called but they are closed so I'll try again tomorrow. Thanks for the responses.

Re: Paying student loans with credit

dapps06 — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 15:00:14 GMT

I called this morning and Navient (Sallie Mae) will only allow you to pay your current monthly payment with a credit card. They won't allow you to pay the entire balance off. I've been wanting to consolidate my student loans so I looked into it and ended up filling out the application on the department of education site. When you consolidate you can pick a new service provider so I switched from Navient to Great Lakes, hopefully I made the right choice. I read some good things about them online so I figured what the hell.

Edit:

And for those wondering, to pay with a credit card over the phone with a rep there is a $15 fee, but if you use their automated phone payment system there is no fee.

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 15:58:13 GMT

Step #1: Get a Prepaid Redcard by American Express
Step #2: go to Target and load $2500 on your Redcard and pay with Freedom card
Step#3: use the redcard bill pay system to pay off the loan.
Step #4: pay off the Freedom bill before the 0% APR expires

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 18:19:57 GMT

@dapps06 wrote:
I called this morning and Navient (Sallie Mae) will only allow you to pay your current monthly payment with a credit card. They won't allow you to pay the entire balance off. I've been wanting to consolidate my student loans so I looked into it and ended up filling out the application on the department of education site. When you consolidate you can pick a new service provider so I switched from Navient to Great Lakes, hopefully I made the right choice. I read some good things about them online so I figured what the hell.

Edit:
And for those wondering, to pay with a credit card over the phone with a rep there is a $15 fee, but if you use their automated phone payment system there is no fee.

Can you really pay back Great Lakes with credit? I have loans with them, but I never saw the option. I've been paying directly with my bank for the past two years...

Re: Paying student loans with credit

dapps06 — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 18:28:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@dapps06 wrote:
I called this morning and Navient (Sallie Mae) will only allow you to pay your current monthly payment with a credit card. They won't allow you to pay the entire balance off. I've been wanting to consolidate my student loans so I looked into it and ended up filling out the application on the department of education site. When you consolidate you can pick a new service provider so I switched from Navient to Great Lakes, hopefully I made the right choice. I read some good things about them online so I figured what the hell.

Edit:
And for those wondering, to pay with a credit card over the phone with a rep there is a $15 fee, but if you use their automated phone payment system there is no fee.

Can you really pay back Great Lakes with credit? I have loans with them, but I never saw the option. I've been paying directly with my bank for the past two years...

When I mentioned the fee I meant for Sallie Mae. After I made this post I called Great Lakes to ask a few questions, one of them being can I pay with a credit card. I was told that I could, and that I could even pay in full if I wanted. I forgot to ask about their fee though. We'll see if this ends up being the truth, the whole consolidation process is going to take around two months so I won't know anything for awhile.

Re: Paying student loans with credit

CreditCuriosity — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 20:03:52 GMT

Nice I did not know you could pay your student loan payment to navient by CC... 200 dollar per month for points/spending bonus.. Thank you, didn't think it was possible

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Pat94108 — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 22:36:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@dapps06 wrote:
I called this morning and Navient (Sallie Mae) will only allow you to pay your current monthly payment with a credit card. They won't allow you to pay the entire balance off. I've been wanting to consolidate my student loans so I looked into it and ended up filling out the application on the department of education site. When you consolidate you can pick a new service provider so I switched from Navient to Great Lakes, hopefully I made the right choice. I read some good things about them online so I figured what the hell.

Edit:
And for those wondering, to pay with a credit card over the phone with a rep there is a $15 fee, but if you use their automated phone payment system there is no fee.

Can you really pay back Great Lakes with credit? I have loans with them, but I never saw the option. I've been paying directly with my bank for the past two years...

Yes. A GL rep told me so when I was inquiring about payments when living abroad.

This is an excerpt from their email to me:

"Please note, if you have a Department of Education held loan, we can now accept one-time payments with a debit or credit card. However, to take advantage of this, you will need to call us at the number listed below."

Hope that helps!

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Broke_Triathlete — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 14:16:29 GMT

I realize I'm bumping an old thread, but I found out some good information for any one wishing to pay their student loans with their C.C.

1) There is NO fee when giving a C.C. over the phone, at any time with Navient.

2) You can only pay your 'due' amount with a C.C. You cannot pay a surplus. Which sucked for me because I was on an IBR plan of $58 a month. Not real helpful there to put some spend on my cards.

3) If you have the funds and want all your payments to go on your card you can request (which I did) your monthly payment to be higher, and from there you can pay that balance with a C.C. For instance, I was on IBR of $58 a month. I requested to be removed from the program and to pay the normal rate. You have to make your 1st normal rate payment (for me it is $282) and pay with a C.C. (which I did). At that point (again, I did this) I requested my monthly payment due to be $1,000 so I can pay $1,000 a month on my credit card. It has to be approved first and you can either up it or lower it at your request. Once approved you can pay the full $1,000 on your C.C. I'll do that for a few months and reevaluate my funds and try to increase it even more if I can.

4) Any payments made after your standard montly payment is due (on your C.C.), will have to be from your checking account. So say if I pay $1,500 this month. The max I can pay (if approved) is $1,000 on my C.C. and then $500 will come out of my checking account. So now I'm going to get some nice spend on my C.C. and some rewards I'd be missing out on with spending I'd do normally!

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:08:48 GMT

@Broke_Triathlete wrote:
I realize I'm bumping an old thread, but I found out some good information for any one wishing to pay their student loans with their C.C.

1) There is NO fee when giving a C.C. over the phone, at any time with Navient.

2) You can only pay your 'due' amount with a C.C. You cannot pay a surplus. Which sucked for me because I was on an IBR plan of $58 a month. Not real helpful there to put some spend on my cards.

3) If you have the funds and want all your payments to go on your card you can request (which I did) your monthly payment to be higher, and from there you can pay that balance with a C.C. For instance, I was on IBR of $58 a month. I requested to be removed from the program and to pay the normal rate. You have to make your 1st normal rate payment (for me it is $282) and pay with a C.C. (which I did). At that point (again, I did this) I requested my monthly payment due to be $1,000 so I can pay $1,000 a month on my credit card. It has to be approved first and you can either up it or lower it at your request. Once approved you can pay the full $1,000 on your C.C. I'll do that for a few months and reevaluate my funds and try to increase it even more if I can.

4) Any payments made after your standard montly payment is due (on your C.C.), will have to be from your checking account. So say if I pay $1,500 this month. The max I can pay (if approved) is $1,000 on my C.C. and then $500 will come out of my checking account. So now I'm going to get some nice spend on my C.C. and some rewards I'd be missing out on with spending I'd do normally!

as someone with over 10 loans with navient, I find this hard to believe. I am 100% unable to pay anything on any of my loans with a credit card. It is with a debit card or a checking account ONLY. Doesnt matter if its interest payments or regular loan payments, credit cards are not allowed. I just called to confirm this. Doesnt matter if its IBR, regular repayment, deferrment, whatever.

The only way to circumvent this would be to use a credit card convenience check. Honestly I would like to know why there is this discrepancy. My loans were previously serviced by Sallie Mae.

A few of my loans are at 6.8% and I pay the interest on those. I would love to start transferring these to a 0% card and amp up the payments one day.

I am just shocked here because I am basically reading that I could set my payment to 2 grand, throw on to my double cash, pay off, repeat, or earn MR points. I gotta figure this out. Sorry if I sound skeptical!

Re: Paying student loans with credit

red259 — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:12:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Broke_Triathlete wrote:
I realize I'm bumping an old thread, but I found out some good information for any one wishing to pay their student loans with their C.C.

1) There is NO fee when giving a C.C. over the phone, at any time with Navient.

2) You can only pay your 'due' amount with a C.C. You cannot pay a surplus. Which sucked for me because I was on an IBR plan of $58 a month. Not real helpful there to put some spend on my cards.

3) If you have the funds and want all your payments to go on your card you can request (which I did) your monthly payment to be higher, and from there you can pay that balance with a C.C. For instance, I was on IBR of $58 a month. I requested to be removed from the program and to pay the normal rate. You have to make your 1st normal rate payment (for me it is $282) and pay with a C.C. (which I did). At that point (again, I did this) I requested my monthly payment due to be $1,000 so I can pay $1,000 a month on my credit card. It has to be approved first and you can either up it or lower it at your request. Once approved you can pay the full $1,000 on your C.C. I'll do that for a few months and reevaluate my funds and try to increase it even more if I can.

4) Any payments made after your standard montly payment is due (on your C.C.), will have to be from your checking account. So say if I pay $1,500 this month. The max I can pay (if approved) is $1,000 on my C.C. and then $500 will come out of my checking account. So now I'm going to get some nice spend on my C.C. and some rewards I'd be missing out on with spending I'd do normally!
as someone with over 10 loans with navient, I find this hard to believe. I am 100% unable to pay anything on any of my loans with a credit card. It is with a debit card or a checking account ONLY. Doesnt matter if its interest payments or regular loan payments, credit cards are not allowed. I just called to confirm this. Doesnt matter if its IBR, regular repayment, deferrment, whatever.

The only way to circumvent this would be to use a credit card convenience check. Honestly I would like to know why there is this discrepancy. My loans were previously serviced by Sallie Mae.

A few of my loans are at 6.8% and I pay the interest on those. I would love to start transferring these to a 0% card and amp up the payments one day.

I am just shocked here because I am basically reading that I could set my payment to 2 grand, throw on to my double cash, pay off, repeat, or earn MR points. I gotta figure this out. Sorry if I sound skeptical!

I have navient loans and made multiple payments with credit cards over last few months, so it most certainly is possible. I'm not sure why you are speaking to representatives about it. You call in and its an automated system that lets you pay with your credit card. You should not be talking to anyone if you are calling in to pay.

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:15:05 GMT

@red259 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Broke_Triathlete wrote:
I realize I'm bumping an old thread, but I found out some good information for any one wishing to pay their student loans with their C.C.

1) There is NO fee when giving a C.C. over the phone, at any time with Navient.

2) You can only pay your 'due' amount with a C.C. You cannot pay a surplus. Which sucked for me because I was on an IBR plan of $58 a month. Not real helpful there to put some spend on my cards.

3) If you have the funds and want all your payments to go on your card you can request (which I did) your monthly payment to be higher, and from there you can pay that balance with a C.C. For instance, I was on IBR of $58 a month. I requested to be removed from the program and to pay the normal rate. You have to make your 1st normal rate payment (for me it is $282) and pay with a C.C. (which I did). At that point (again, I did this) I requested my monthly payment due to be $1,000 so I can pay $1,000 a month on my credit card. It has to be approved first and you can either up it or lower it at your request. Once approved you can pay the full $1,000 on your C.C. I'll do that for a few months and reevaluate my funds and try to increase it even more if I can.

4) Any payments made after your standard montly payment is due (on your C.C.), will have to be from your checking account. So say if I pay $1,500 this month. The max I can pay (if approved) is $1,000 on my C.C. and then $500 will come out of my checking account. So now I'm going to get some nice spend on my C.C. and some rewards I'd be missing out on with spending I'd do normally!
as someone with over 10 loans with navient, I find this hard to believe. I am 100% unable to pay anything on any of my loans with a credit card. It is with a debit card or a checking account ONLY. Doesnt matter if its interest payments or regular loan payments, credit cards are not allowed. I just called to confirm this. Doesnt matter if its IBR, regular repayment, deferrment, whatever.

The only way to circumvent this would be to use a credit card convenience check. Honestly I would like to know why there is this discrepancy. My loans were previously serviced by Sallie Mae.

A few of my loans are at 6.8% and I pay the interest on those. I would love to start transferring these to a 0% card and amp up the payments one day.

I am just shocked here because I am basically reading that I could set my payment to 2 grand, throw on to my double cash, pay off, repeat, or earn MR points. I gotta figure this out. Sorry if I sound skeptical!
I have navient loans and made multiple payments with credit cards over last few months, so it most certainly is possible. I'm not sure why you are speaking to representatives about it. You call in and its an automated system that lets you pay with your credit card. You should not be talking to anyone if you are calling in to pay.

I didnt call in to pay. I called in and asked about my options. I will call again later and see if the response is the same. Is there a difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loans or something? Why would this rep tell me absolutely no credit cards are accepted, only debit cards or checking accounts....

Well anyway that is awesome news and good to hear something to look forward to!

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:18:39 GMT

Below is a conversation i had with another user on private mail...hope it helps:

I found out some interesting information today when I called Navient regarding credit cards (and now can answer my own questions I just sent you)

1) There is NO fee when giving a C.C. over the phone, at any time.

2) You can only pay your 'due' amount with a C.C. You cannot pay a surplus.

3) If you have the funds and want all your payments to go on your card you can request (which I did) your monthly payment to be higher, and from there you can pay that balance with a C.C. For instance, I was on IBR of $58 a month. I requested to be removed from the program and to pay the normal rate. You have to make your 1st normal rate payment (for me it is $282) and pay with a C.C. (which I did). At that point (again, I did this) I requested my monthly payment due to be $1,000 so I can pay $1,000 a month on my credit card. It has to be approved first and you can either up it or lower it at your request. I'll do that for a few months and reevaluate my funds and try to increase it even more if I can.

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:19:27 GMT

I always pay with a CC with no fee BUT i use the automated robot lady.

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:21:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I always pay with a CC with no fee BUT i use the automated robot lady.

Woah! So you earn base points or whatever too on the card? Man oh man this is going to make churning next year a freaking cake walk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Paying student loans with credit

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:22:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I always pay with a CC with no fee BUT i use the automated robot lady.
Woah! So you earn base points or whatever too on the card? Man oh man this is going to make churning next year a freaking cake walk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes you do get the points as well.