Am I going about this the correct way?

[javonnj]

Hello,

I am wondering if I am going about this the right way and I have some questions about student loans.

http://imgur.com/a/6ptCq

My goal here is to have this amount paid off within 10 years, but ideally, I would like to have it paid off within five. I planned on going about it by immediately knocking off loan 1 while my loans are still in forbearance until the end of March. From there, I wanted to take care of loan 7 and then maybe 3,5, or 11 for this year. My thinking is that the faster I can get some of these loans knocked out, the lower my monthly payment will be. I will absolutely have the first loan paid off by the end of February, but how should I proceed?

I believe that my monthly payment comes out to about 375 per month with all 11 loans included. I am incredibly focused, FINALLY, on paying down my student loans.

I posted this on reddit as well so any feedback that can be given is always appreciated. Happy New Year to all. 

[Anonymous]

You are essentially where I was a year or so ago. There are typically two ways to go about it. 

Snowball: Takes the lowest loan and pays it off as fast as possible while paying the minimums on the other loans

This costs you more in the long run but you get the feeling of real progress when you pay off a loan and then take what you paid on that loan to attack the next one

Avalanche: Targets the highest interest loan for payment while paying the minimum on the others

This method should save you the most but it can feel like you are rolling a boulder uphill for awhile

I use a website called studentloanhero. I won't link to it because I don't want to potentially break any forum rules. The site allows you to import all of your loan data. It will give you a weighted average loan interest and show you both methods of payoff. There is also a payment calculator you can use to see how much more you need to pay to finish the loans off early. In your case 10 years with a base payment of $375 (guessed @ 6% interest) and also assuming you paid off that first loan would require you pay an extra $211 on either the smallest value or highest interest loan.

This should also save you a whopping 21k over normal repayment. I suggest checking out the website. I use nelnet and navient and I was able to import my data easily. 

I know you had questions about what order to attack the loans in. Given all of the various values and interest rates of your loans StudentLoanHero can make better sense of all your data.

[javonnj]

Thanks for your reply. 

I am thinking about doing the avalanche method. I would much rather pay off the loans with the higher interest rates first while paying the minimum on the other loans. I have looked at the calculations for just paying the minimum on some of my loans with higher balances, and I would be doubling the amount borrowed in some cases.

Also, if you don't mind sharing, have you made a dent in your amount since you started last year?

[Anonymous]

Yeah in hindsight Avalanche is the best method. My loans were 40k. They are now 28K. My new job allowed me to be super aggresive with my payments. I am paying with a 4 year payoff goal. I am thinking about paying off the loans completely and starting savings from scratch.

[javonnj]

I am going to do the avalanche method as well. I feel that I will still be able to put some money away, even if it is minimal.