On Oct 31, 2019 I made my last payment on my Under-Grad Student loan.
The last payment of $493.44 paid to Navient. I couldn’t wait until 5:00pm to check the balance and it says zero. I paid off $7,704.30 this year. I am doing the debt snowball method, throwing all my extra money onto the smallest loan and paying the minimum on everything else.
I graduated in 2001 with my bachelor’s degree. I don’t even remember the original amount I owe. On the Navient site it shows about $17,000 was the original price from 2002 but I am sure it was more since I graduated in 2001.
In 2002 my 2 undergrad student loan was consolidated into one loan so I could afford a lower minimum payment. Every payment was split between both loans so that made it longer to see the balance go down.
Compound interest is real, and it grows quickly. I know I probably paid more than triple the original amount. I was only paying the minimum amount when I graduated. Also, I had my student loans in forbearance for over 5 years and didn’t pay the interest because I was laid off during the recession and it took me a long time to find a job. After I found a job, I had to put the loan on a graduated repayment plan in order to afford the payment.
So much I didn’t know when I originally took out my student loans. I was the first one in my family to go to college and was expected to go. I was told go to college so I can get a good job. I didn’t know it would take so long to pay off and a big debt over my head. It a took a while to find a job after I graduated and wasn’t making a lot of money. So, 4 years later I went to get my Masters. Adding more debt, trying to get in ahead in my career. Man, I was wrong. My college degrees didn’t guarantee a good paying job. This is all learning experience. I am making decent money and able to pay my bills. My goal is to pay off the rest of my bills in 3 years and build wealth.
I am proud of myself of sticking to a budget and putting extra money onto my debt. It did hurt to put all my extra money on my student loan. I know I could have done so much other stuff with that money. But that bill is paid off and now I am moving onto paying my car loan then will pay off my master student loans. Total of $41,000 roughly to go.
What debt are you paying off?
