Tracking my Student loan pay off starting Feb 2019
I am on a journey of paying off my debt. I have a car and student loans which total about 49k.
My student loans consisted of 4 loans, they are consolidated. So, 2 loans are undergrad loans and 2 are from my master’s degree.
In 2018, I paid off the smallest student loan which was about $3,500 from my undergrad loans. I sent all my extra money to that loan. I graduated in 2001 from undergrad. It crazy, it 2019 and I am still paying this loan. I don’t even know what was the original balance. The account has been moved a couple of times. I really wish I knew when I was 18 how much this loan would cost me.
So, I had 2 loans for undergrad but they were consolidated. So, every time I made a payment, I would have to call them to re-apply it to the smaller loan. It was annoying but I needed to see it getting it paid off. I did start to have payments taken out automatically so I could save some money on the interest. I used to pay 4.125% and now I pay 3.875%. The balance all of my student loans on February 1st is $29,728.28. It’s the first time in my life that I have seen it under 30k.
The beginning balance of my last undergrad loan as of February 1st is $6,595.70. My monthly payment is $39.06. I am on the graduate repayment plan because I couldn’t afford the regular large payments and even the income-based payments were too high. In the long run I am paying more because my payments are so low. The majority of my payments is going to the interest. I did this because these are the payments I can afford.
I have a written budget that I write every month. I allocate the extra money I have to go towards my student loans. My balance at the end of February is $28,873.96. I made $800.00 in extra payments.