MONEY HACKS: Tackling Student Loan Repayments: Practical Strategies for the Fall Season

As we embrace the crisp air and vibrant colors of fall, there's another less-welcomed return happening - student loan repayments. After a rollercoaster ride of changes in student loan policies over the last few years, many of us are finding ourselves back at the starting line with repayments. In this Money Hacks episode, I will review the complexities of student loan debts and provide some insightful tips on managing them effectively.

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Video Transcript:

Hey, it's Alex Assaley and this is episode number 107 of Money Hacks. And as we're getting into the fall, the last part here of September one of the things that's now come back into a lot of our lives to the dismay of many is student loan repayments. So, I don't need to go through all of the sort of rollercoaster ride over the course of the last few years of student loan repayments.

But the reality is now for the first time in three-plus years, borrowers are going to be required to make payments towards their student loans again. Really important that you go onto your servicer's website and go through a process to review your student loans. Make sure you know the balance of each loan, the terms and repayment schedule of each loan, and the interest rate. There are some new options when it comes to repayment programs. The White House recently announced a new income-driven repayment program, so it's important that you look into the different programs that are available and find one that's right for you. But also make sure that you're making payments large enough to cover the entire interest of those loans.

So, you're actually paying down the balance, paying down the principal of those loans. One of the biggest frustrations that we've heard from individuals when it comes to loans is that you know, I've been paying this loan for five years and I owe more now than I did five years ago. I think that's one of the negatives around a lot of the public loans in which the programs are set up where you can make small payments, but you're not covering the interest and you're just kind of ballooning that debt.

We don't want that to happen. We want to make sure you've got a strategy to pay down and pay off your loans over time. If you have specific questions, you want to schedule a one-on-one coaching session with one of our coaches, feel free to reach out, but make sure you go in in the next couple of weeks because loan payments are required again, starting in October. Thanks! See you next time.