Best Student Loans

Student loans provide individuals and families with options for paying for college and can be used to pay for tuition and fees, books and supplies, as well as personal expenses. Depending on whether or not you choose a federal or private student loan, either the government or a private company will provide the loan, which must be repaid. Federal student loans can be repaid after you finish school, while some private student loans may require payments to be made while you’re still in school. 

A student loan will either have a fixed or variable interest rate, determining how high or low monthly payments will be. A higher interest rate means that you will pay more, and vice versa.

With all loans there is an attached interest rate which must be paid in addition to the loan premium, or loan amount that you originally borrowed.

To calculate how much interest is owed, divide your interest rate by the number of days in a year. The resulting number is called the “interest rate factor.” Multiply the interest rate factor by your loan balance (the amount borrowed) and then multiply by the number of days since your last payment was made. This final number is the amount of interest charged in that period.

Some lenders also provide “interest calculators” to make this process even easier.

Yes, but it depends on the lender. Most lenders do not have prepayment penalty fees, while some do. It is important to check whether or not a company has this fee before taking out a loan.

The first thing you should do is contact your loan servicer and see what options are available to you. Depending on your circumstances and lender, there may be an opportunity to defer payments or receive loan forgiveness, but that is up to the lender.

Another option is to consolidate or refinance your loans, cutting down on multiple payments and potentially reducing your interest rate.

Only federal direct loans qualify for forgiveness. This is not an option with private student loans.