Mahi Sall, Advisor, Fintech-Bank Partnerships, Payments and Financial Inclusivity
January 25th, 2023
Guest Post | Jan 21, 2023
An average student’s life is more than hectic. Urgent assignments, extra-curriculars, seminars, workshops, and lectures don’t leave young learners enough time to earn some extra money. But college students are an amazingly resilient, resourceful, and adaptable category that can make it in combining studies and work. If you avail yourself of a reliable essay maker for students, chances are you’ll also find some time for a part-time job, which will help you pay more than your minimum due.
Your student loan officer will tell you how much you owe each month. And lots of people just pay exactly what they are told. But did you know that paying even a little bit more than your minimum due can seriously reduce the time that it takes for you to pay off your student loans? This is because the extra money can get applied directly to the principal balance of your debt instead of your interest. So, if you start paying just 10 dollars more than your minimum monthly payment, chances are you will be able to actually shave up to an entire year off of your repayment period.
Unfortunately, there’s a twist to this trick. Sometimes, loan officers can get a bit sneaky and apply that extra money you gave them to future payments instead of to the chunk of debt that you’re trying to pay off. You do need to consult with your student loan servicer directly and prescriptively tell them that you want the extra money applied to the principal balance of your debt.
A slightly trickier but highly effective strategy would be making bi-weekly payments.
If you get paid on a bi-weekly schedule, you know that there might be a couple months out of the year you get those sweet-sweet three paychecks in a month. It’s because there are 52 weeks in a year, which actually ends up shaking out to 26 bi-weekly pay periods. You could apply the same principle to your student loan debt and actually squeeze out an extra monthly payment without having to pay more. Here is how it works.
A fictional Sarah owes $400 a month in her student loan payments. Typically, she pays that $400 on the last day of every month. But instead, Sarah decides to split that in two and pays $200 on the 15th and another $200 on the last day of the month. Because she’s paying bi-weekly, Sarah actually ends up paying an extra $400. So, she’s making 13 payments instead of 12 monthly payments. Just be sure that you’re paying both parts of your bi-weekly payment before your monthly bill is due. Otherwise, you can end up being delinquent on your student loan. There is on flaw, though. Not all services allow borrowers to do bi-weekly payments. So, call your servicer directly and clarify this issue.
For those who are still in college or recently graduated, start making payments now or during your grace period. There is no rule that says you have to wait until your loan servicer sends you the first bill in order to start making payments. Chipping away at your student loan debt early before you’re required to start making payments is a great way to reduce both the amount you owe and overall interest you’re going to pay.
Paying even just a little bit every month is really going to help yourself out post-graduation. And just because you start making payments early doesn’t mean you have to keep going. You can always switch back until you’re required to pay your bills after the deferment of your loan while in school or during your grace period.
These are just three simple tricks, which, nonetheless, can help alleviate your financial burden and get out of debt sooner.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Support NCFA by Following us on Twitter!Follow @NCFACanada ![]() |
Leave a Reply