5 Ways To Save On Your Student Loan Repayments

With the end of another semester looming on the horizon, and the thought of all those student loans looming over your head like a bad hangover, many students are left wondering how to pay for the past few years of higher education without breaking the bank, or stretching the payments out for the next 10 years of their lives.

Here at MyCreditGroup, we understand the stress student loan repayments can have on new college grads, so we put together 5 tips for helping you wipe them out in a timely fashion.  Pay attention – there might be a quiz after:

Don’t Put Off Your Student Loan Repayments

Okay, that’s not the most groundbreaking piece of advice, but that doesn’t make it any less true.  As soon as you’re able, you’ll want to start making efforts to pay your loans off as quickly as you can so you won’t have to worry about it again.

This is easier to do if you’re already working.  Commit as much of your income as you can afford to paying your loans down.  Any other extra cash you may see, from extra cash from mom and dad to birthday cards from grandma, put them towards your student loans.  Yeah, the money could be spent on worthwhile ventures like excess partying, but using it to you’ll be surprised at how manageable your loans will start to seem.

Take Up A Part-Time Job (Or Two)

If you don’t already have a job, even a part-time one, consider looking for a gig after classes or on weekends to help you start paying your student loans.  Anything from a retail job or freelance work, to tutoring or even babysitting (hey, it’s money…) will not only help you bring in some extra cash for yourself and your bills, but it’ll help you build up an employment history as well, and give you an advantage over unemployed students at graduation!

Join The Public Service.

If you borrowed federal funds to help pay for your education, the Department of Education’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program may be able to help you out.  If you’d rather join the Peace Corps than become another office drone, or go into any government agency for work, your loan may be forgiven after 10 years of service and on-time payments.

If you’ve got a lot of student debt that needs to be paid, and you’ve always wanted to see the world, this could be a great way to take care of two birds with one stone.

Tack It Onto Your Income

Another option for those with federally-funded student loans, and one that doesn’t require 10 years of service, is to check if you qualify for Income-Based Repayment, a program that caps your loan payments based on your income.  Typically, these amount to 10% of your income, and will forgive any remaining debt after 25 years of payments.

Stay On Target

Finally, no matter what you decide to do to try and pay off your student loan debts as quickly as you can, remember to always at least pay the minimum balance on time every month.  Debt is an easy thing to slip into, and student loans are no different.  Unless you want to spend a good chunk of your adult life paying for college, keep paying your bills on time.

This is a guest post from Marc Chase, President of Product Development for My Credit Group, a website offering credit repair services and education.

photo by renjith krishnan