Paying Off Student Loans Faster: A How-to Guide

Whether you’re facing a mountain of student loans or you’re just a few thousand dollars away from finally doing away with the debt, several methods and tactics could help you pay off student loans faster. However, every solution does not fit every situation. Depending on which type of loans you have, what your other debt and financial obligations are and how much disposable income you have, paying off your student loans aggressively may not be the best option.

Consider the pros and cons before you dive in and send every extra penny to your loan servicer.

Pros of paying off student loans quickly

Cons of paying off student loans quickly

9 ways to pay off student loans quickly

You can save money on interest. Your student loans could be accruing interest every single day, and the quicker you pay off your loans, the more money you could save on interest. Unlike with some other types of loans, student loans don’t have any prepayment penalties, meaning you don’t need to worry about extra fees for paying off your loans ahead of schedule.

It could be easier to qualify for other financial products. Having a student loan payment due each month can impact your debt-to-income ratio (DTI) — your monthly financial obligations divided by your monthly income. Paying off the loan and lowering your DTI could help you get approved for more financial products, such as other loans or credit cards, and may help you qualify for better rates or terms.

It may make more financial sense to pay off other loans first. If you have several types of loans, you may want to focus on other debts before paying off your student loans.

For example, you may have credit card debt that has a much higher interest rate than your student loans. Paying off the credit card could save you more money, and you could then put those savings toward your student loans (or the next highest-rate debt).

It also may make more sense to pay down a secured loan, such as an auto loan, first. Falling behind on your auto loan could lead to your vehicle getting repossessed, which could then snowball into other negative impacts, such as having trouble getting to work. While falling behind on student loans may lead to fees or even wage garnishments, your physical assets aren’t at risk.

If you deplete your fund, or put off building one to focus on student loan payments, you may have to turn to more expensive forms of debt (such as credit cards) if you’re faced with an emergency.

You may qualify for loan forgiveness. Federal student loans may be eligible for forgiveness and cancellation programs. If you’re on a path towards loan forgiveness, paying off your loans early could lead to paying more than you need to and getting less debt being forgiven.

Paying off student loans ahead of schedule can require planning, hard work and dedication. There’s no single path to success. But whether you can make double your normal payment or are having trouble affording payments at all, there are options and tactics that could speed up the process.

Making extra payments when you can or increasing your monthly payment will help you pay off your loans sooner. However, simply sending more money to your loan servicer(s) may not be the best approach.

First, be sure that those extra payments go toward the loan with the highest interest rate. Ask if your loan servicer will allow you to designate which loan the extra funds should go to. Depending on the servicer, your extra payments may be evenly divided amongst all your loans by default.

Also, the servicer may credit your account for future payments instead of putting your payments towards your a loan’s principal. As a result, you might not owe anything next month, but you also won’t be saving as much on interest. To make matters even more confusing, the servicer may continue to withdraw automatic debits from your account even if you’ve already prepaid next month.

Contact your servicer and find out how you can make sure additional payments go toward the principal balance of the loan with the highest interest rate. You may be able to send instructions for how it should apply all your extra payments. Or, if you don’t want to give it a blanket rule, there may be ways to specify how you want each payment applied.

Another option if you can’t afford to make more than your required payment each month is to send loan payments every two weeks rather than once a month. Paying half of the amount early can decrease how much interest accrues during the month, leading to paying less overall in the long run. Make sure you make both payments before the due date to avoid a late payment fee.

You don’t need to wait until after you graduate, or until your grace period is over, to start repaying your student loans. Making payments while you’re in school and during the deferment could lead to significant long-term savings.

Aside from subsidized federal loans, interest will accrue on your loans while you’re in school and during other deferment period. Once you start making full payments, the interest could be added to your principal balance (i.e. capitalized) and your interest rate will now apply to that larger balance.

If you can afford to make payments on your loans while they’re in deferment, you can limit how much interest will accrue and capitalize.

You may qualify to temporarily stop making payments and place your loans into deferment or forbearance for various reasons, such as returning to school, losing your job or following a medical emergency. However, as with the initial in-school deferment, unsubsidized loans will continue to accrue interest that will capitalize once you start making full payments. Even subsidized loans accrue interest during forbearance.

Continue making payments if you can afford it. Or, even if you have to put your loans into deferment or forbearance, try to make at least partial payments when you can. Doing so will limit how much interest accrues and could keep your loans from growing.

If you’re having trouble affording your payments, you also may be able to switch your federal student loans to an income-driven repayment plan. Depending on your income, doing so could decrease your monthly payment amount and let you continue paying down your loans and avoiding debt default or placing them in deferment and forbearance.

Even if your monthly payment is only a few dollars, with four of the income-driven repayment plans, the remainder of your loan’s balance could also be forgiven after 20 to 25 years of payments. Your monthly payments may also qualify you for other federal forgiveness and cancellation programs.

If you keep your loans separate, however, you can focus on paying down the loan with the highest interest rates first. Doing so could help you save money, which you can then put toward paying down the next highest rate loan. But that’s not an option if consolidate all your loans together.

Also, consolidation could result in a much longer loan term and lower monthly payment. While you can still make extra payments each month and pay off the loan early, it may be easier to stick to your plan if you don’t have to regularly schedule extra payments.

There are pros and cons to this approach. Consider whether it’s worth it based on your unique situation.

In some cases, it may make sense to switch to an income-driven repayment plan and decrease your monthly payments to take advantage of a forgiveness or repayment program. You won’t necessarily pay off your loans as quickly as possible, but it could be a worthwhile trade-off if you can pay less out of pocket overall.

Many student loan servicers offer a 0.25 percent interest rate discount if you sign up for automatic payments. It may not make a huge difference in your overall costs, but every little bit counts.

You may be able to refinance your student loans by taking out a new private loan and using that loan to pay them off. There are lenders that specifically offer student loan refinancing.

Just keep in mind if you use a private loan to refinance federal loans, you will be forfeiting your option to use federal repayment programs and may not be able to apply for federal loan forgiveness programs.

If you refinance with a private lender, your loans could still be considered student loans for tax purposes and the interest payments may qualify you for the deduction.

Borrowers who have a good credit score and high income may qualify for the lowest rates when refinancing their student loans. However, don’t assume you can’t get a good rate if that doesn’t describe your situation. You can at least apply for preapproval with a soft credit check from some lenders and see your estimated rates and eligibility without affecting your credit scores.

Also, compare your options before you go through with refinancing. You may find that lenders offer you different rates or terms, and you won’t necessarily get the best rate from the company with the lowest advertised rates.