Hi, I've been lurking these forums for a while specifically looking at the great advice people have been giving regarding student loans and now I may need a little advice from you experts.
I graduated with roughly 130k in student loans getting a BFA in animation (yeah I know I was a dumb young man). That was back in 2007. Since then I've been paying roughly $1110 a month in minimum payments and by the grace of Cthulhu (as well as some major spending cuts) I've been fortunate enough to keep my head above water and not miss a single payment. Currently I have around $63,000 left to pay off. I have 5 separate loans. 1 Federal and 4 private.
Federal (consolidated) $11,000 at 5.25% fixed interest
Private Loan 1 $12,500 at 4.25% variable interest
Private Loan 2 $17,600 at 9.25% variable interest
Private Loan 3 $14,000 at 10.25% variable interest
Private Loan 4 $10,700 at 5.5% variable interest
My current working situation is pretty touch and go at the moment. I currently work a temporary job that just barely pays these loans and my rent ($450 a month).
I have around $20,000 in savings (after taxes) from a well paying job I was laid off from a few months ago and around $30,000 in my 401k from when was contributing during steady work.
So I'm not in dire straits at the moment and only have around 5 years left to pay off the private loans, but I'm starting to feel that my debt is making the pursuit of my desired profession difficult. Specifically because all of the jobs are across country where it is expensive to live. I'm also terrified of falling behind on payments someday and seeing my balance balloon uncontrollably.
So basically my dilemma is should I keep taking this steady pace and hold onto my savings for emergencies or should I be more aggressive and spend my saving to paying off one of these loans?
Honestly the thought of just killing off one of the higher interest rate private loans at the sacrifice of my savings is tempting, just because that would give me back over $300 a month, which I could use to rebuild my savings. Yet I know I could be screwing myself over at a later date if I fall into hardship or can't find more work.
I want to make sure I approach this logically, so any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Submitted July 15, 2017 at 11:56AM by kern33 http://ift.tt/2uuV26g
