Student Loan Calculator – Student Loan Tips For College Graduates.
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| Student Loan Tips For College Graduates |
It doesn’t matter whether you just graduated, or if you are taking a break from school, or have already started repaying your student loans, this tips will help you keep your
student loan debt under control, will help you avoid fees and other interest costs, helping you keep your payments affordable as well as protecting your credit rating, using a student loan calculator. In any case you are having trouble finding a job or keeping up with your payments, here is important information that you will need.
- Know Your Loans – it is very important to keep track of the balance, lender, and repayment status of your student loan, this is even much more important for students who have multiple students loans – hence the more need for a student loan calculator. It is the information in all these details that determines your options for loan repayment and forgiveness. In any case you are not so sure; ask your lender or lenders as the case may be so that you can know your repayment status for all of your federal loans.
- Find Out Your Grace Period – I am sure that by now, you will know that different loans have different grace periods. A grace period is the period of time that you can wait after graduating from school before you have to make your first payment. Take note that the grace periods for private student loans vary, so consult your paperwork or contact your lender to find out. Do whatever you can and make sure that you do not miss your first payments or any of your payments.
- Endeavor to Pick the Right Repayment Plan – when your federal loans come due, your repayment plans will automatically be based on a standard 10-year repayment plan. However, is the standard payment is going to be hard for you to cover, there are other plans you can choose from, and you can also change plans down the line if you need to or want to. Extending your repayment period beyond ten years will lower your monthly payments, but the disadvantage is that you will end up paying more interest, sometimes even more than the loan itself. Another important option is the Income-Based Repayment program (IBR). What it does is to cap your monthly payments at a reasonable percentage of your income each year, and forgive any debt remaining after 25 years of affordable payments. For borrowers in the public and nonprofit sectors, forgiveness may be available after just 10 years of these payments.
- Try As Much As You Can To Lower Your Principal – when you take a federal loan, your loan repayment covers any late fees first, then interest, and finally the principal. If you can be able to pay more than your required monthly payment every now and then, it means you will be able to lower your principal. This has a positive effect on your interest as it reduces the amount of interest you have to pay over the life of the loan. You may write to your lender to make sure that the extra amount is applied to your principal in order to prevent it from being applied to future payments instead. Make sure you keep copies of your records and be sure to also check back in order to make sure that the overpayment was applied correctly.
- It Is Best To Pay Off the Most Expensive Loans First – if you are a student who took multiple loans to support your college education and your payment time is due, there is only one advisable thing that you can do, and that is to pay your most expensive loans first. At that point or loan repayment, I am sure you will be considering paying off one or more of your loans ahead of schedule, or trying to reduce the principal, so like I said earlier, start with the one that has the highest interest rate. In addition to this, if you have private loans in addition to federal loans start with your private loans first, because they almost always have higher interest rates and lack the flexible repayment options and other protections of federal loans.
- Steer out of Trouble – no matter what happens, it is better to seek help instead of getting into trouble. Bear in mind that ignoring your student loans has serious consequences that may even last a lifetime. Not paying your student loan can lead to delinquency and default. In any case you do not know, for federal loans, default kicks in after nine months of non-payment. When you default, your total loan balance becomes due, your credit score is ruined, then the total amount you owe increases dramatically, and the government can garnish your wages and seize your tax refunds. However, for private loans, default can happen much more quickly that in federal loans, it may also put anyone who co-signed for your loan at risk as well. It is better to talk to your lender right away if you find that you’re in danger of default.
