Paying Down the Student Loan

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Another month is wrapping up and happy to see some more progress made on the student loan.

It's one of our financial goals for 2013 and it looks like we're going to exceed our original plan.

Last year we sent in $3,244 for the student loan payments. That's an average of $270/month.

Not bad, but we felt we could do better.

Joining the Debt Free Movement

As part of The Debt Movement, we added the student loan to the pile to encourage us to be more aggressive with paying this debt down.

Since January we have sent in scheduled payments of at least $330/month.

When we started at the beginning of February the balance was $19,222.62.

I logged into my account today and found the balance now $15,185.54.

It's down by 21% so far this year!

How far ahead are we? If you look at the snippet from my last check on the loan, we don't have to make another payment for 3 years!

While we have no plans to even have this student loan in 3 years, it's nice to see that we have a bit of buffer should our job situation change drastically.

Speeding Up the Finish Date on The Student Loans

What does this progress mean for us? When I was looking at paying down the student loan in January I ran the numbers on how much we needed each month to pay off the balance between 2-4 years.

• To pay it off in 2 years, we’d need to pay an average of around $800/month.
• To pay it off in 3 years, we’d need to pay an average of  around $550/month.
• To pay if off in 4 years, we’d need to pay an average of  around $400/month.

With the progress we made so far, this means that our timetable can be shorten if we want to stay the course.

Our numbers now look like this:

• To pay it off in 2 years, we’d need to pay an average of around $633/month.
• To pay it off in 3 years, we’d need to pay an average of  around $422/month.
• To pay if off in 4 years, we’d need to pay an average of  around $316/month.

While paying it in 4 years was doable before, it looks like 2-3 years is possible if we continue with our scheduled payments and keep sending in any extra income we receive.

Once that's complete, we'll be completely debt free except for the mortgage.

Looking to Boost Your Debt Reduction Plans?

I know there a lot of people who would like to get out of debt, but don’t know where to start.

I think Ready for Zero can be a great option for them. I'm using them as we're working through The Debt Movement.

While their paid versions have their benefits, I recommend trying their free option first. I have found it quite handy and perfect for my needs.

If you’d like to try it out, you can sign up for an account with Ready for Zero today.

Thoughts on Paying Down the Student Loan

Until the student loan paid off we'll be working on staying motivated with paying down this debt.

For those who are part of The Debt Movement, how are you doing? What has been going well? Have you had any setbacks?