How to minimize monthly interest ($550/month) accruing on student loans?

[Anonymous]

I have $125k in student loans at 5.125% interest. The minimum payment is $1,630 and I pay an extra $900 monthly for $2,530 total. In the past year, I've paid almost $7,000 in interest (about $550 a month) and I was wondering if there was a way to change my payments to minimize interest accruing? Would it make a difference if I paid $225 weekly instead of $900 at the end of the month? Is there anything else that I can do?

[Anonymous]

Do you have any home equity that you could refinance them into?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any home equity that you could refinance them into?

If these loans are federal, be very careful about doing this. There are protections available for federal student loan borrowers (including the opportunity to discharge the loan in case of disability or death) that will not be available to you, or to heirs, if you refinance or consolidate these loans with other kinds of debt.

[Anonymous]

Yes, if your loan provider will let you pay that way, paying 225 a week will pay it off slightly faster than $900 a month.

Better is to play around in Excel with the PV, nper, pmt and FV functions to figure out how much more in payment gets it down after.

Better still is to find 2-300 more a month to pay it down even faster.

Do you own a home and aren’t moving for a while? You could take out a home equity loan at a lower rate, and then pay that off. That is more likely to be tax deductible, depending on your income level.

You could also roll it into a low or temporarily low interest credit card but only you know if you can pay it off within the terms.

Both of those options above are a little unorthodox but do have a lower rate associated with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any home equity that you could refinance them into?

Uh why would you change unsecured debt into secured debt?!?!?

[Anonymous]

Thanks, all. They have already been privatized with SoFi (last year) and we aren't interest in a home equity loan. We live well within our means, but currently have some significant additional medical expenses that are eating up our "extra" monthly income. I'm intrigued by the idea of opening a zero/low interest credit card and paying off chunks of the loan that way. We did that for a home renovation and it worked well.


I have NO idea what this means, can you break it down for an Excel novice, please?

Anonymous wrote:Better is to play around in Excel with the PV, nper, pmt and FV functions to figure out how much more in payment gets it down after.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any home equity that you could refinance them into?

Uh why would you change unsecured debt into secured debt?!?!?

+1. Plus, depending on OP's income, the interest on the loans may be deductible. But the home equity loan interest won't be if they use it for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any home equity that you could refinance them into?

Uh why would you change unsecured debt into secured debt?!?!?

Especially with little to no improvement in interest rate.

[Anonymous]

OP, what kind of degree do you have and do you make? Just trying to wrap my head around the amount of student loan debt you have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, what kind of degree do you have and do you make? Just trying to wrap my head around the amount of student loan debt you have.

Not OP but my husband had almost this much student loan debt.

Just from law school, since he had a full ride to college.

This was twenty years ago.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure that the extra payments are being applied to the principle and not just being counted towards future payments? Student loan companies are notorious for not correctly applying extra payments.

If you pay $225 every week, it will also work out to an extra monthly payment a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any home equity that you could refinance them into?

Uh why would you change unsecured debt into secured debt?!?!?

Do student loans count as unsecured debt when they're not dischargable in bankruptcy?

[Anonymous]

OP here - it's law school (HYSCCN) debt. Three years of loans to cover tuition only with interest accruing before I went into repayment. I took out $150k, decided not to do big law, and graduated with $175k because of interest. I'm a government attorney now making very low six figures with a combined HHI around $250k. My consolidated interest rate was about 7.5% before I refinanced with SoFi and the interest was just making it impossible to put a dent in the principle.

Yes, the extra payments go toward the principle. I spoke to Mohela (SoFi) today and they gave me instructions for spreading out the additional payment. They have to be individual payments, so I'll set up a weekly auto bill through my bank and have already designated that all payments go to the principle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - it's law school (HYSCCN) debt. Three years of loans to cover tuition only with interest accruing before I went into repayment. I took out $150k, decided not to do big law, and graduated with $175k because of interest. I'm a government attorney now making very low six figures with a combined HHI around $250k. My consolidated interest rate was about 7.5% before I refinanced with SoFi and the interest was just making it impossible to put a dent in the principle.

Yes, the extra payments go toward the principle. I spoke to Mohela (SoFi) today and they gave me instructions for spreading out the additional payment. They have to be individual payments, so I'll set up a weekly auto bill through my bank and have already designated that all payments go to the principle.

Government attorney? Apply to become a DOJ lawyer. They pay off student loans for attorneys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any home equity that you could refinance them into?

Uh why would you change unsecured debt into secured debt?!?!?

because the "disruptor" geniuses at SoFi are trying to sell that as a great new financial productn...