Student loan debt elimination
Some experts claim that student debt has grown at an exponential pace in the last decade. This is in part due to the rapidly increasing tuition costs across the country. It is also due to the increased credit card usage among college students. This is a trend that is affecting a great number of students and mounting an almost impossible amount of debt on many.
If you're one of the tens of thousands of students or graduates who has accrued a massive amount of student loan debt, then chances are you are greatly concerned with eliminating this debt. When you take a look at your various loans, it may seem like an impossible task ever to completely eliminate them. It is possible however, and you don't have to win the lottery to do so.
Credit cards in particular are dangerous forms of debt because they are so easy to use. Some credit card companies are specifically targeting college campuses and reducing the financial requirements for their services so that most college students can have access to one of their cards. With the increase in the costs of tuition and the general increase in the costs of housing, many students are forced to use their credit cards to cover their expenses.
Credit cards, unlike student loans, usually have an exceptionally high interest rate. On top of that, these cards usually carry stiff charges and penalties and almost no flexibility regarding payback schedules. For those who happen to have both student loan debt and credit card debt - which is by no means, an uncommon situation - it can be difficult at best to know where to start.
The key to eliminating student debt is being smart. This may sound tautological, but it's really not. You have to look at your various loans and their respective interest rates and give a good objective assessment as to whether you will honestly be able to manage each of the loan repayment schedules.
One very powerful tool you have in your corner is debt consolidation. Many aren't even aware that there is such a thing as student debt consolidation, or that it's a Federal program. Direct Student Loan consolidation is a program whereby you lump all of your various student loans into one low interest loan. This is helpful for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that it levels out your various interest rates.
Eliminating student debt is all about making the payments. Even if you've consolidated your student loans, there are still some really flexible repayment plans available to you. Some are fixed, while others adjust according to financial need. The primary key to solving credit card debt problems is to pay off the loans that carry the highest interest rates first. Luckily, through consolidation and flexible repayment schedules, you can adjust your student loan payments so that you can dedicate more of your monthly income to reducing those credit cards debts as fast as possible and still not go into default on your student loans.