Monday, January 02, 2012

Sallie Mae Pay off Tips I used

Tips in paying off Sallie Mae sooner:

1. Key is to make multiple payments each month. EDIT!! Please make sure the minimum due gets there before the due date. No use in making multiple payments if they don't get there on time.

2. If paying by check or money order please write specific instructions with your payment. "apply to principal only" or "principal only payment" etc. Anything that would let them know the extra payment is to be used to pay down your balance immediately, and not applied to a future payment. See #3

3. Keep an eye on your due date. Sallie Mae will sometimes move your due date months into the future when you start making extra payments. Please call and have this corrected. At the same time continue to send in extra payments. Check your payment history to make sure the principal vs interest breakdown is correct.

4. Please remember a due date months into the future isn't your friend. Make a payment each and every month or bi-weekly until your balance is 0.

5. I used to send my multiple payments a day apart. A $200 payment would be sent $100 today, and $100 the next day. Why? Just a preference. Both payments usually got applied same day, with the second payment going entirely to principal.

These are the things I did. They worked for me. Applying laser focus to Sallie Mae was key in getting rid of her. I sacrificed savings in 2011 in order to achieve this pay off goal.

Was it worth it? Hell Yes!!!

4 comments:

Organized Noise said...

With my first payment of the year due next week, I will definitely begin to apply this tips.

Tired of being broke said...

Key to sending multiple payments is to make sure the full amount due gets there before the due date.

Cryssy said...

interesting and i'm going to try this. applying payments to the principle make so much more sence... I'm so tired of sallie mae and acs. ugh! thanks for sharing the tips.

Anonymous said...

What do you do when you can't afford your payments? They keep raising ours and even though we have been paying for over 2 years our loans have grown, not gone down. And they are raising the payment again. We are behind already. My husband has all of this debt with them and even has a job with the degree he got but still we cannot afford the payments. Now they are wanting to send us to collections. I have no idea what to do it is ruining our life and causing so many other problems...