I have been out of college for about 2.5 years now and made a little bit of progress on my private student loan. I took out a loan four out of my five years of college and am really paying for it now. To make matters even worse, during the six-month grace period after I graduated, I threw my money around at the same rate that Nicholas Cage consumed alcohol in the movie “Leaving Las Vegas”. I can not go and change the past, all I can do is look towards the future and learn from my mistakes.
The big moves begin this year in 2009 and are starting with my first pay period this week. My required amount owed every month is $471.27. For all of this year, I will be making a minimum payment every month of $1,400. I am going to make two payments every month, specifically, one payment of $700 every time I receive a paycheck.
Sound like a good plan? I figure it will help me plowing away at this evil woman known as Sallie Mae. Ask anyone who has student loans with this witch and I guarantee they do not have anything nice to say!
The goal is to keep this up the entire year and also try and throw any lump sums I receive (Tax return, mid-year/end year bonus/Powerball lottery winnings/generous gifts from you) against my private consolidation loan. So the goal is looking at a minimum of $16,800 going towards my loans. With my interest rate currently at a tiny 3.5% (Thanks to the economy), I will pay $2,915.11 in interest this year, leaving me with a principle payment of $13884.89 for the year and a remaining balance of $69,421.11. My real goal was to end up next December in the low $60k range, so for me to do that I have to make some serious strides to make some cheddar. Going to be hard but not impossible.
How are your numbers looking for student loan debt remaining? Private or federal? I have some Federal loans left, however, they do not kick in until grad school is done in March 2010, I will worry about then that, for now I have this whale to deal with! I figured it would be appropriate to share some links related to the topic, so break through the Student Loan Quick Links Edition and don’t forget to share your thoughts!
Student Loan Quick Links
-Prime Time Money shares his Plan to Be Debt Free in 2009
-The Simple Dollar shares 7 Financial Mistakes I Made During College
-Single Guy Money gets rid of his student loan debt in 2009 Financial
-Studenomics says Taking the Semester Off From College is an option
-Moolanomy talks Financial Aid Tips for College
-Young Money Mogul shares the Top 10 Traits of a YMM
One Comment
I can tell you that when I started paying down $60k in debt, it wasn't easy. But the last cheque was anti-climatic because I had worked so hard during the past 18 months that the final payment didn't matter…
maybe thats just me
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