Author Topic: paying off student loan  (Read 10908 times)

Offline est

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paying off student loan
« on: November 21, 2012, 10:31:31 PM »
This is an issue ive been dealing with for awhile but never thought of posting. I now saw so many helpful posts on another thread(digging out of debt) I decided to give a shot.

I took out a $30,000 student loan a number of years ago. I finished college 3 yrs ago and have been paying $420 monthly since. The interest is about 6%.
I have another 8 yrs til I pay off and cannot handle how much interest I will be shelling out and that I will finish the payments in so long. I do not have the money now to pay it off but I can keep up with the monthly payments. I know there must be a way to pay it off without such high interest by either doing 0% transfers... I dont really have the ideas but im assuming there must be a way to pay the same $420 but end sooner with less interest.
any ideas?

Offline Centurion

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2012, 11:29:08 PM »
how much do you still owe?
do you own a home?
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Offline MarkS

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2012, 12:23:48 AM »
Personally, I bought a car, and was planning on paying for it outright with money I saved up. I realized that you can borrow money when buying a car at just 1.75% here so I applied for and got approved for a loan and used the money to pay off my student loan. Basically, I turned my 6.8% loan into a 1.75% loan. This only worked in my case since I had cash on hand. I wonder if even without that there would be some way to do a similar thing....

Offline AsherO

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2012, 01:20:23 AM »
@est, is it a government loan?
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Offline meshugener

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2012, 08:39:09 AM »
A home e-loc is probably a good idea for you. (if you don't rent).
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Offline est

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2012, 08:29:40 PM »
@meshuganer - I rent
@AsherO - not sure exactly but I did not start paying til i finished college. some was subsidized and some not - stafford loans. im not really sure but I applied through FAFSA
@MarkS - I bought a car last yr and took out a loan so that wont work, but thats the kind of thing im sure must be available, I jst cant seem to find it.
@centurion - I still owe close to 30,000.

Offline churnbabychurn

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2012, 02:52:26 PM »
if you have the time and patience, start churning cards and selling points, you can pretty reliably make 10 a year.
Also is a balance transfer cc an option- many have zero apr for a year plus

Offline est

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2012, 12:06:40 AM »
I do have patience and do churn although not for 10k a yr! But I need that money for other things! If I had extra money I'd just pay off the loan up front!
Can u give me more info on what to do with balance transfers I thought along thos lines but am not familiar enough.

Offline CholentTheTraveler

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #8 on: November 25, 2012, 12:48:33 AM »
I do have patience and do churn although not for 10k a yr! But I need that money for other things! If I had extra money I'd just pay off the loan up front!
Can u give me more info on what to do with balance transfers I thought along thos lines but am not familiar enough.
Have you tried reaching out to a gemach as they have many loans and that is interest free.

Offline michael

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #9 on: November 25, 2012, 06:44:40 PM »
I'm thinking about doing a balance transfer for a year to save on student loan interest. I looked around, and none of the BT cards say how much transfer they allow.

Can I simply transfer up to the total credit limit on the card (say 20k), or is there a maximum?

Offline izrib2

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #10 on: November 25, 2012, 07:03:41 PM »
i heard you can get student loans around 1 or 2 %

Offline eliteflyer

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #11 on: November 25, 2012, 07:45:07 PM »
i heard you can get student loans around 1 or 2 %

Where? Confirm that you're  not talking about a home-equity line of credit.

Offline churnbabychurn

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #12 on: November 25, 2012, 08:09:47 PM »
I'm thinking about doing a balance transfer for a year to save on student loan interest. I looked around, and none of the BT cards say how much transfer they allow.

Can I simply transfer up to the total credit limit on the card (say 20k), or is there a maximum?
you dont want to use up to much of your available credit as it would negatively affect your score, unless its a business credit card where utilization does not affect personal credit score. But yes generally you can max it out.
thing to remember is that at the end of the promo rate-ie a year or two you will pay standard apr unless you transfer out to a new low apr balance transfer card- from another bank. you cant transfer balances in same bank. -you wont be able to take out another student loan unless your still in school so only transfer a manageable amount.
also make sure there is no 3% fee on the transfer-
good luck

Offline michael

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #13 on: November 25, 2012, 08:19:31 PM »
you dont want to use up to much of your available credit as it would negatively affect your score, unless its a business credit card where utilization does not affect personal credit score. But yes generally you can max it out.
thing to remember is that at the end of the promo rate-ie a year or two you will pay standard apr unless you transfer out to a new low apr balance transfer card- from another bank. you cant transfer balances in same bank. -you wont be able to take out another student loan unless your still in school so only transfer a manageable amount.
also make sure there is no 3% fee on the transfer-
good luck

Thanks. I plan on paying it back in 15 months, per Slate terms. Slate also seems to offer no fees for transfers within first 60 days.

I'm out of school now, so no new student loans, although I hope to refinance (can't cash out as low equity). Any reason that a balance transfer would make it more difficult for me to refinance--after all, I still owe the money, just now it'll be to Chase, and not Nelnet?

Also, how would I get the money from Chase to Nelnet, my student loan provider?

Offline churnbabychurn

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #14 on: November 25, 2012, 09:14:15 PM »
dunno about refinance.
  many BT Cc give you "checks" to write out to creditors.

Offline michael

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #15 on: November 25, 2012, 09:14:54 PM »
dunno about refinance.
  many BT Cc give you "checks" to write out to creditors.

Can I use those checks to the tune of 20k?

Offline churnbabychurn

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #16 on: November 25, 2012, 09:15:52 PM »
wy not

Offline michael

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #17 on: December 11, 2012, 03:32:58 PM »
Different question.

I know I can get the Slate and use it to pay off 10k of my student loans. I plan on repaying it in full in 15 months, when the promo ends. Given that I owe the money to the bank anyway, is it worse for my credit/utilization ratio to owe it on a balance transfer, or to simply owe it as a student loan? Or does it not matter?

Offline AJK

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #18 on: December 11, 2012, 03:40:16 PM »
Worse to have your CL maxed out, especially for churning purposes.

Also -- how do you pay your student loans with CC?
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Offline michael

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Re: paying off student loan
« Reply #19 on: December 11, 2012, 03:42:19 PM »
Worse to have your CL maxed out, especially for churning purposes.

Also -- how do you pay your student loans with CC?

With a balance transfer check. Says it can be used anywhere.

Is it worse to the tune of $655 a year? I'm currently paying 6.55% on that 10k.