Paying student loans with credit

dapps06 · ‎01-19-2015

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?

Imperfectfuture · ‎01-19-2015

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).

Signature needs updating

dapps06 · ‎01-19-2015

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.

Anonymous · ‎01-19-2015

@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.

Anonymous · ‎01-19-2015

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

dapps06 · ‎01-19-2015

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.

dapps06 · ‎01-20-2015

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.

Anonymous · ‎01-20-2015

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

Anonymous · ‎01-20-2015

@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...

dapps06 · ‎01-20-2015

@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.