Paying student loans: Need Advice
 

My grace periods for my student loans ended last month. I consolidated and got various repayment plans. I'm living on my own working a entry level job. I don't like having to pay off my loans right beccause it takes a small chunk out of my overall savings each month while I'm trying to save money. Anyone have advice on paying off my student loans while saving money at the same time or do I just have to suck it up?

i dont see how else you could pay off a loan and save money... but hey i only have a regular loan so im not sure

uh... get a second job?

you have to either get more money coming in or have less money going out... or both...

pay minimum payments on your loan if you can invest in something else or pay off other debt first. There aren't better interest rates on any other debt, especially if you consolidated recently and locked those rates in.

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.

Think of it this way. You are actually making whatever the interest rate on the loan is as a return on the money you pay back. It is a safe investment actually. You won't see money in your pocket but you reduce your overall indebtedness.

Student loans survive bankruptcy. Back in the day, people used to declare right out of college, when they had sixty grand in debt, and no income. Worked like a charm, but let's just say the banking industry has a few friends in Washington.

you'll have to pay it off. take all the time that they give you because you can "write off" a percentage of the interest up to a certain amount based on your total income for the year. Contact an accountant for details, and i'm not referring to HR BLOCK but real accountants and have them do your taxes. It may seem like a waste to spend money to get a refund, but I'll tell you what, my refunds outpace what I spend on the accountant vs. me doing the return myself.