If you’re looking to pay off your student loans faster, there’s an easy hack to make it happen: paying student loans biweekly. That’s right, if you split your monthly payment in half so you’re making payments every two weeks, you’ll end up making one full extra payment each year. You won’t have to change your […]
Keeping up with student loan payments can be tough, especially if you’re working with a limited income. Although most loan servicers will give you 15 to 30 days to make up a late student loan payment, you don’t want your bills to go unpaid for long. If they do, your student loans could end up […]
Federal student loans come with a number of flexible repayment plans — eight, to be exact. Unless you choose an alternative plan, your loans will automatically go on the standard 10-year plan, which will get you out of debt the fastest. But if you need more affordable payments, you could opt for an alternative plan, […]
If you owe $30,000 or more in federal student loans and need extra time to pay them off, the Extended Repayment plan could help. This plan extends your loan terms to 25 years, which is 15 years more than the standard 10-year plan. It also allows you to make fixed or graduated payments during this […]
As a new college graduate, you’ll likely start with a low salary and boost your income over time. That’s why the Graduated Repayment Plan can be appealing, since it involves low student loan payments in the beginning which gradually increase over the years. While this approach can make your initial payments more affordable, it may […]
When you graduate college, your student loans automatically go on the standard 10-year repayment plan. But if your payments are too high, you can lower or pause them completely by pushing back your repayment deadline. In fact, you have several options for getting an extension on student loans, including income-driven repayment, extended repayment, deferment or […]
What’s the difference between delinquency and default? Well, both refer to falling behind on your student loan payments. But default is more severe than delinquency, since it means you’ve missed payments for 270 days on your federal loans and could face wage garnishment. In this guide, we’re going to take a closer look at delinquency […]
If you’re feeling crushed by the weight of your student debt, it can feel impossible to see a way out. Fortunately, you might have the option to pause payments temporarily on your federal student loans through deferment or forbearance. Generally speaking, deferment should be your first choice if you have subsidized loans, but forbearance works […]
As one of the four income-driven repayment plans, Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) adjusts your student loan payments to 20% of your discretionary income. But it probably shouldn’t be your first choice of income-driven plans, unless you have parent loans. Read on to find out why. How Income-Contingent Repayment works What loans are eligible for ICR? […]
Introduced in 2009, the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan adjusts your student loan payments to 10% or 15% of your discretionary income, depending on when you borrowed. If you’re not bringing in any income, your payment could be as low as $0 per month on IBR (score!). Read on to learn exactly how the IBR plan […]