Student Loan Update…

So I called my student loan provider because I submitted an application for interest only on my private loans and the payment seemed much higher than anticipated at $641.00. I applied for the Easy Pay 3 Plan where you pay interest only for 2 years, followed by 3 years of interest and ½ principal and then the remaining term is straight-line amortization principal and interest. My private loans have a 20-year or 240-month term.

I learned that only 3 of 8 private loans qualify under the plan because my payment has to be at least $50.00. So, I am forced into straight-line principal and interest payments on the remaining 5 private loans. The representative was really nice on the phone. Apparently, the student loan company is not budging on the private loans but they are willing to work with borrowers on their federal loans.

Right now, the representative said she is seeing no limit to the time borrowers get to forbear their federal loans. I am toying with the idea of requesting another year of forbearance for my private loans so that I can more aggressively pay off my private loans.

I may also get a salary increase because I am currently not receiving anything close to equal pay for equal work. My responsibilities at work have grown in size and complexity so I am hoping for a salary adjustment in the coming months. This would really help out a lot. My current salary is $72,000 and I am trying to get to $90,000 in the next few years where I will be more comfortable and able to support my entire student debt loan on a principal and interest payment. If I get a $12,000 - $15,000 bump, I won’t consider trying to jump ship to another financial institution. I really like my job, place of work and the people I work with. We’ll see.

For now, I automated payments to my credit card each month at $325.00. The $11,000 balance is fixed ½ at 2.99% and ½ at 3.99% until 5/2011 and 11/2010, respectively. I also automated savings of $300 per month. My current savings account balance is $2,000. My first $641.00 student loan payment is October 5th.