Free Education Info: Affording Your Study Loan Payments

Throughout this book you’ll learn about various student loan repayment options as well as budgeting techniques that will make your student loan payments a lot more livable. But first you need to figure out if you can handle your student loan payments now. Why is this important?

Because if you take a few weeks to finish this article—or more—I don’t want you to default on one or more of your student loans because of lack of funds in the meantime.
To figure out how you’re doing with your student loan payments, take this pop quiz:
1. Are you making your payments on time each month? ___ yes ___ no
2. Are you making payments on all your student loans ? ___ yes ___ no

3. Have you had to incur credit card debt or withdraw money from your savings account just to pay your monthly student loan bills? ___ yes ___ no
4. Have you missed payments in the last six months because you couldn’t afford to make your payment? ___ yes ___ no

If you answered no to questions 1 and 2 or yes to questions 3 and 4, you need to figure out how to fix your situation—fast. Was it a temporary situation that you have since recovered from? If so, you have time to review repayment options while you work on tweaking your budget.

If the situation is ongoing, you have two options:

If you can find a way to make payments for a two- or three-month time period, you can take a week or two to review your budget and look at options such as consolidation that would extend your loan term but reduce your payment quite a bit.
If you can’t, you need to call your servicer immediately to discuss temporary reprieves from making payments or payment plans based on your income. If you get a temporary reprieve for six months, you’ll have time to tweak your budget and review all your payment options.

No matter what option you choose, double-check your Personal Student Loan chart to make sure all loans you still owe money on are factored into the equation. You may think you have plenty of time to review your options because you are able to afford all your payments, only to discover you’re making payments on just four out of five loans.
Checklist for Affording Your Payments ;

Determine whether you are managing to make all your student loan payments each month without charging on credit cards or dipping into your savings account.
If you are managing your payments well, you have time to review your budget and compare repayment options.
If you can’t afford your payments, take action immediately before a loan defaults. Talk to your servicer to discuss your options today.