How to Be Ready for Student Loan Repayment

Student loan repayment started back in October 1, 2023, from a three-year deferment.  And I don’t know if you are like me, the last 3 years of not paying or even growing interest has helped me out tremendously. But the reality is we have a new bill, so what do we do?

 

Knowledge!

I know a lot of us want to hide from the thought of repaying our student loans, but knowledge is power. The first thing and best thing you can do is know what you owe.

You need to know your BILL AMOUNT. This sounds so basic and common knowledge, but a lot of people do not know the total amount of what is owed. *This is also important to know for your budget, which we will talk about later in the article.*

 

Your student loan amount due is your new bill and with this you need to know when your bill is due. Being late or not even paying the minimum amount can not only affect your ending balance with interest, but also your credit score!

 

Lately, there has been a lot of moving around of student loans to different loan servicers. So, it is very important you know what lender/who you owe your payment to, to officially pay.

 

Budgeting!

 

When knowing your new bill amount, know you have to incorporate that into your budget now. You have to ask yourself the necessary questions:

1. Can I afford this new bill?
2. If not, what can you adjust within your budget to get your to affording this new bill?
3. After you analyze your budget, if you realize you cannot afford it, then you can try 2 different things:

-Get a side hustle. (Some Options below)

• Door Dash / Uber Eats
• Selling items online
• Create a blog
• Baby Sitting
• Part time job at a retail store (especially during holiday season)

-Contact your service provider and let them know your income situation to see if you can lower your monthly payment. If you have a federal loan, you can also modify your payment plan to one of the following & see which suites you best:

• *PAYE (Pay As You Earn): Bill will be 10% of your discretionary income, but recalculated every year.
• *SAVE ( Saving On A Valuable Education) formerly known as REPAYE (Revised Pay As You Earn) : Bill will be 10% of your discretionary income.
• *IBR (Income Based Repayment Plan): Bill will be 10% or 15% of your discretionary income
• *Graduated Repayment plan: Payments start off low and gradually increase
• *Income Sensitive Repayment Plan: Bill based on annual amount & paid off in 15 years.
• Income – Contingent Repayment Plan ( ICR): Payment either less than 20% of discretionary income or fixed amount over 12 years

*Restrictions apply. Go to StudentAid.Gov to find our more information*

 

There is no other step that you can do other than taking the next step and making your first payment!