Hey everyone. This is an ugly situation and I'm trying to own up to it. Here's where I'm at.
Expenses:
College debt (bachelors and masters): $62k
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Loan A: $13,730 6.8%
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Loan B: $5,714 3.86%
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Loan C: $7,824 3.86%
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Loan D: $23,506 6.2%
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Loan E: $11,193 5.84%
Credit cards:
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Card 1: $1512 17.99%
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Card 2: $3928 23.99%
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Card 3: $983 26.24%
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Card 4: $382 25.99%
Other:
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Auto Monthly payment: $235 6.9% ($5879 left to pay)
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Insurance: $112/month
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Phone: $91/month
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Rent: $450/month
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Gym: $60/month (2 memberships)
Income:
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Biweekly pay: Salary (pre-tax $44,500 (in April of 2018 will increase to $52,000). Currently net $1120 biweekly ($24.55/hr, 35 hr/wk)
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Also, I have a per diem job where I net about $1,200 a month 8 months a year.
Regarding my student loans, they are federal loans are are eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. I've contacted my loan company and informed them I am in the process of completing the paperwork for it.
My loan company suggested I do an income based repayment plan.
Essentially, I can make minimum payments using my full-time salary and have about $200 left over for food, gas, and other expenses. What I want to do is make the best out of this additional $1200/month I'll be making for September-December and February-May (I lecture these semesters). This semester, I got lucky and am teaching two courses, so I expect to make about $7.5k, paid out over the course of 4 months.
My understanding is to get down the highest percentage loans first... I know either way, it's going to take a while to get rid of this. I want to make the best of this "additional" $8k a year. If I put it towards the credit cards, I can pay off all of them by December. Is that my best course of action? My short term goal is to get my total monthly bills down.
Burning questions:
- Should I pay off all credit cards first? (I can do that within the next 4 months)
- Should I consolidate the student loans?
- Does the loan forgiveness program benefit me in this situation? As in, making monthly payments based on my income for 120 payments and waiving the rest. Or, should I bite the bullet and pay it off in less...
Thanks everyone.
Submitted September 07, 2017 at 07:32AM by Murt__Backlin http://ift.tt/2xcSvyP
