phaedrus

You will need to pay at least the minimum payment on time every time it is due or you will screw up your credit. Not something you want if you ever want to finance a car or home or anything else for that matter. If it becomes a significant hardship that is temporary, such as you hours are cut back or are laid off, or you have unexpected justifiable expenses, or something of the sort, you should contact the loan company and ask if they will give you a hardship deferment. Most will if you contact them before you become delinquent on the loan. Interest will accrue while the loan is in deferment, which means you will end up owing them more. You will have to pay the loan back in full eventually, there is no getting around it, student loans will not even be forgiven in a bankruptcy (or so I've been told). How is your credit and what are the terms of your loan? You may be able to extend it, but I suspect you've already done that when you consolidated.

Keep in mind, if you are saving money and it is making less interest than is being charged on your debt, you are actually loosing money. A rainy day fund is good and everyone should have one, but chances are the quickest way to greater net worth is to pay off your debt.