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Last Updated on April 11, 2021 by Work In My Pajamas
The average college grad will take up to 20 years to pay off their student loans.
That can sound intimidating and scary, but if you know ways to pay off student loans, you don’t have to be too worried. There are plenty of ways for you to do this, but if you’re wondering which ones will be most effective for cutting that 20 years down as much as you can, look no further.
In This Post:
5 Helpful Ways to Pay Off Student Loans
Here are the top five ways to pay off student loans quickly and effectively. If you apply these practices to your student loan payment strategy, you’re sure to decrease that time you’ll spend paying them off.
1. Be Strategic
In paying off student loans fast, the key is to be strategic. What does this mean?
Basically, it’s keeping track of what you’re taking care of. Making sure to be diligent in choosing a payment plan and understanding exactly how much money will be flowing in and out is key in staying on top of your loans.
It also means taking things one at a time, paying loans one after the other rather than all at once.
2. Keep an Eye on Interest
Paying off accrued interest as soon as possible, preferably during your grace period, is another way to lift the weight of student loans.
Interest can often be tricky as it accumulates gradually, but if you make sure to pay off your interest as soon as possible, you can lessen your load in the long run and save precious time.
3. More Than the Minimum
Another strategy is to pay more than your minimum monthly payment plan, when possible.
Doing this, like paying off your capitalized interest, will continue to save you time because you’ll end up making extra payments in a year. Most recommend making payments once every two weeks or at least paying a little extra to your loan’s principal whenever possible.
4. Use Autopay
Autopay plans help you stay on top of your payments, boosting efficiency in paying off student loans.
However, signing up for autopay (also known as automatic debit) generally earns you a 0.25% interest deduction with most loan services, which can end up saving you good money no matter how long you’re paying off loans.
5. Take Advantage of Forgiveness
Forgiveness here is more than just a virtue – it’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness, or pslf.
PSLF is a loan forgiveness process that works with qualifying individuals who are willing to make about 120 payments on a repayment plan made for working full time in public service. Using PSLF, you can have the rest of your balance in any of your direct loans forgiven if you are willing to do the work and make the payments – you just need to find out if you qualify!
Solve Your Student Loan Problems
So whether it’s through signing up for autopay or rolling up your sleeves to get some work done in public service, you’ll be one step closer and years ahead with these ways to pay off student loans.
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