topic How should I approach this? in Student Loans

How should I approach this?

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 00:42:02 GMT

How should I tackle this? I'm thinking I should pay off the highest interest loans first? I appreciate it.

Re: How should I approach this?

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 00:45:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

How should I tackle this? I'm thinking I should pay off the highest interest loans first? I appreciate it.

Agreed, pay the ones with the highest interest first and then the ones with the lowest rate.

Re: How should I approach this?

bigblue7722 — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 00:58:31 GMT

yeah theres not much else you can do those rates are pretty solid. maybe try to consolidate them so you have less payments thats a lot of loans.

Re: How should I approach this?

CreditCuriosity — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 00:59:46 GMT

consolidate IMO for a nice fixed APR. I think mine are around 4% fixed

Re: How should I approach this?

Anomalous — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 01:01:46 GMT

@CreditCuriousity wrote:
consolidate IMO for a nice fixed APR. I think mine are around 4% fixed

Re: How should I approach this?

FinStar — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 01:07:55 GMT

@bigblue7722 wrote:
yeah theres not much else you can do those rates are pretty solid. maybe try to consolidate them so you have less payments thats a lot of loans.

Re: How should I approach this?

HiLine — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 02:43:32 GMT

@CreditCuriousity wrote:
consolidate IMO for a nice fixed APR. I think mine are around 4% fixed

+1. Way easier to manage this way.

Re: How should I approach this?

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 03:03:48 GMT

Thanks everyone for your input. It's definitely a lot of loans, but it was the only way to pay for school..

The average interest rate it lists on the website is 4.6%. I'm assuming that will be the fixed APR once I consolidate? And is it a good idea to consolidate if I have both subsidized and unsubsidized loans because I don't need to pay the interest for the subsidized loans? thanks again!!

Re: How should I approach this?

CreditCuriosity — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 03:29:55 GMT

School isn't cheap, but hopefully those loans will pay off with the education you are getting or have gotten! I know mine have, although I have made many other mistakes in my life. School wasn't one of my many mistakes and have payed way more then I could ever count 1000x's back!

Re: How should I approach this?

SCF — Sat, 22 Nov 2014 04:19:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks everyone for your input. It's definitely a lot of loans, but it was the only way to pay for school..
The average interest rate it lists on the website is 4.6%. I'm assuming that will be the fixed APR once I consolidate? And is it a good idea to consolidate if I have both subsidized and unsubsidized loans because I don't need to pay the interest for the subsidized loans? thanks again!!

Your interest rate will be the weighted average of all the loans (weighted by amount owed), so you effectively pay the same amount interest either way if you follow the same repayment plan. When you consolidate, your subsidized and unsubsidized loans will be put into separate tradelines so that you don't give up the benefits of the subsidized loans in terms of interest being paid if you defer them in the future.

Re: How should I approach this?

Anonymous — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 23:57:01 GMT

What are both the pros and cons on consolidating or not consolidating?

Re: How should I approach this?

SCF — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 03:34:28 GMT

In general, the pros are that all of your loans will be handled by one servicer. That means that applying for income-driven payment plans, deferment and forbearance, as well as tracking your debt and payments is greatly simplified - you only need to deal with one servicer to accomplish any of this. Consolidation may also make all of your loans eligible for PSLF if they were not already.

There are no major "cons" because all of your benefits and your effective interest rate stay the same. If you are trying to pay off the smaller loans that make up your debt individually as part of a debt snowball or similar plan, you may want to hold off consolidating until you take care of your target tradelines.

Re: How should I approach this?

Pat94108 — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 20:49:34 GMT

Personally, I think it's a lot of loans if you have different servicers. I used to have 12 different loans but with the same servicer so only one payment. As others have said already you should consolidate, have one payment only.

If you choose not to consolidate, my advice is to tackle the smallest loan first, for a faster reward and then the second small one, and so on and so forth. I prefer this method, but if you worry more about saving money then, by all means, tackle the one with the highest interest.

Re: How should I approach this?

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 02:04:12 GMT

What do your minimums look like and how much extra are you able to contribute toward payments?