Common Student Loan Questions

What If I Don’t Know My Student Loan Information?

No sweat—we know keeping track of your student loans can be confusing. If you have federal student loans, you can log into your studentaid.gov account to see who your loan servicer is, your current loan balance, your interest rate and more. If you have private student loans, you’ll need to contact your specific lender(s) to get your loan information. If you don’t know what private student loans you have, you can request a free credit report to find out.

How Do I Pay Off My Student Loans Early?

Kudos for asking this question! The fastest way to pay off your student loans (and any other debt you may have) is with the debt snowball. Here’s how it works:

 

Step 1: List all your debts (including your student loans) from smallest to largest, regardless of interest rate.

Step 2: Make minimum payments on all your debts except the smallest.

Step 3: Throw as much money as you can on your smallest debt (that means paying more than the minimum payment).

Step 4: Repeat until each debt is paid in full and you’re debt-free!

 

When you pay more than your minimum monthly payment, be sure to let your student loan servicer know that you want the extra payment to go toward the principal. Otherwise, they may just put it toward the next month’s interest. (It’s their sneaky way of trying to keep you in debt longer.)

How Can I Increase My Monthly Payment?

There are lots of ways to make extra payments on your student loans—like taking on side hustles, cutting back your spending, and saving money in other areas. Just get creative and use the time and talents you already have.

 

Yeah, it’s going to take some sacrifice. But it’s only temporary while you work to get those student loans out of your life! Just imagine how amazing it will feel to never have another student loan payment stealing money from your bank account ever again. Totally worth it!