So you took the plunge. You considered all the angles and all your options, got your student loans consolidated, and are feeling better about things. Finally, you got a little bit of much needed breathing room. That’s fantastic, and congratulations! You should know though, that the real work is only just beginning. Most of the articles you’ll see on the topic of student loan consolidation go to great lengths to talk about the pros and cons, and talk a lot about the process of doing it, but it’s a little harder to find good information about what happens next. Here, you’ll find a blueprint you can use, molding it to the particulars of your situation so that it serves you well.
For most people, the primary goal of a loan consolidation is to lump all their loan payments in one place, maybe lower the interest rate, but definitely rein in the amount of money you’re spending month to month on your debts. That’s a great way to begin, but if all you do from there is make your minimum monthly payments, then you’re still going to be saddled with, and choking on debt for a very long time to come. If you want to really get ahead of the curve, then that’s going to take some planning and strategy. Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to take advantage of your newfound breathing room and turn it into an even bigger windfall.
Your first stop should be to investigate technology. You’ve heard the saying, “There’s an app for that!” and in the case of student loan repayment and budgeting in general, that’s absolutely true. There are tons of great, high quality apps on the market that will help you put together a comprehensive strategy to not just stay on top of your finances, but to help get those debts cleared faster than you ever imagined possible. One great example is the College Finance Professional (http://appcrawlr.com/android/college-finance-professional).
It’s not a free app, but well worth the $4.99 price tag. Essentially, it provides you with a neat dashboard style view regarding all your student loans, whether State, Federal, or Private. It also gives you a handy amortization chart for reference, a comparison tool, and a variety of graphing and charting options. You’d expect all of that in any decent financially oriented app, but this one raises the bar by also offering a “What If” scenario constructor, enabling you to build test strategies for rapid repayment and see what their impacts would be, and how much savings would result.
One great way to use this is to pull up the on-board amortization chart, scan down and find the payment you’re about to make. Then, look at the payment for the following month and see how much the principle amount is. When you send in your regular monthly payment, also send in the amount of next month’s principle payment. It’ll probably only be a few dollars if you’re in the early part of your loan repayment, because at that point, most of the money is going to interest. The thing is though, if you do this every month, it can literally save you thousands of dollars and you will wind up paying the loan back in about half the expected time. You can test it, and any other strategy you devise with the “What If” tool. Combine that with the “Debt Snowball” trick, and you’ll be well on your way to a much more comfortable, debt-free life!
Disclosure:
Studentloanservice.us is not affiliated with any apps and makes no representations or warranties about any apps. Studentloanservice.us provides links to other websites not affiliates with Studentloanservice.us, and is not responsible for the content of linked websites and cannot be liable for any injury or damages in connection with any of these apps or from visitors’ ability/inability to access the linked websites. App details are provided for informational purposes only.
