How To Pay Off Student Loans Fast

The fastest way to pay off your student loans is by paying more than your minimum every month. The more you pay, the less interest you’ll owe and the faster the balance will disappear. In this blog post, we tackle the big question: How to pay off student loans fast.

Start a Budget and Stick with it

If you’re not already doing this, there’s no better time to get started. By sticking to a budget, you may find “extra” money that you wouldn’t have noticed that you had. This is much better compared to finding the odd $10 in your old pants if you’re seriously looking to pay off student loans quickly. The easiest way to get started with budgeting is by downloading a budgeting app, where you can also see the progress you’ve been making as you pay off your student loans.

Refinance if You Have a Steady Job

If you’re looking to pay off student loans fast without making extra payments, you can refinance your student loans. When you refinance, you can replace various student loans with one private loan, and should ideally be at a lower interest rate. You can also speed up your loan by choosing a new loan term that is lower than what remains from your current loans.

Ensure Your Payments are Made the Right Way

While there are no penalties for paying student loans early or for paying more than the minimum, there is a caveat for prepayment. Student loan servicers are there to collect your bill and may collect extra payments for the next month. While this may advance your due date, it won’t pay off your student loans quickly. Instead, have your servicer apply overpayments to the current balance and keep the next payment within the planned due date.

Make Payments Twice a Month

This is an easy strategy that you can do to push yourself into paying more towards your debt. You can start by paying for half of your payments every two weeks rather than making one lump sum payment every month. In this way, you can make extra payments every year, taking away dollars from interest and time off your repayments.

Enroll Yourself for Autopay

If you’re not a big fan of refinancing your loans, autopay is another option you can look into to lower the interest on your student loan. You may contact your federal student loan servicer to get a quarter-point interest rate discount, provided that you let them make automatic deductions from your bank account. This is also an option that many private lenders offer for students.

Prepare to Make Sacrifices

When looking for solutions on how to pay off student loans quickly, be sure to analyze your lifestyle and see if there are any things that you can do without. Consider eliminating things such as:

Cable TV
Netflix Subscription
Takeout food
Movies
Expensive gifts

You can also cut the cost of your housing in half by looking for a roommate, so if you have a guest room or extra space in your home, be sure to rent it out. You can also sell things that you no longer need — look through your closet, storage, or garage to see what you can put on eBay. You could also have a garage sale.

Use Chipper for Lower Payments

Chipper can help you find a student loan repayment plan that actually fits into your budget. You simply fill out your information and link your student loan account for us to generate your options in seconds. We help the average student loan borrower save over $300 a month off their student loan monthly payment. Lowering your monthly payment plan can game changing for your personal finance and can be done in minutes! Sign up for Chipper today to get on track with your student loans.

Use Chipper for The Best Path to Forgiveness

Finding your path to student loan forgiveness is easier than ever before. Chipper helps members find better Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans every day. Once enrolled in an eligible repayment plan, we can help you explore your forgiveness options and understand your path towards forgiveness. Sign up with Chipper today and get on track with your student loans.

Use Chipper for Round-Ups

Paying off your student loans doesn’t have to be a long and painful journey. Round-Ups are a way to directly pay off your loans with your everyday spending! By tracking your linked spending account(s), we will calculate the rounded up amount from each transaction in a week (IE spending $4.28 would add $0.72 to the weekly amount). We then initiate a payment towards your student loan for the weekly amount. Get chipping away on your student loans with Chipper today.

Use Chipper for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program was created to provide relief to borrowers aiding the public sector. Unfortunately, 30% of applicants are denied due to incorrect paperwork. We can help! Chipper was created to solve this issue by assisting borrowers in understanding their options as well as allowing forgiveness eligible users enroll into the best forgiveness program available. Sign up for Chipper today to see your student loan forgiveness options and get the forgiveness you deserve.

Use Chipper for Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF)

The Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) program was created to enable teachers working in Title 1 schools to receive student loan forgiveness of up to $17,500 (depending on their teaching subject). Chipper has helped teachers from all over the country qualify for TLF program and can help you get the forgiveness you deserve today. Find out if you qualify for forgiveness in minutes with our employer search tool.