It’s time for another student loan update! Let’s look at the cycle between October and November.
(Here’s a video for your convenience!)
EdFinancial
The loan account in EdFinancial that I’m tackling right now is Group B. And in the last update, it had a balance of $1,777.45. One thing that I really hated about this particular account was that it was one of the two loans that had capitalized (my principal grew).
When I finished paying off Group D (the other one that capitalized), I was really excited because I finally had the chance to target the next one.
It felt like a chance to redeem myself from making that mistake many years ago of not paying my student loans and letting it grow.
I am steadily paying this loan every week with $180. And with 4 payments made, the total for this cycle is at $720. That reduced the balance for this loan to $1,057.45.
My 3rd payment here was supposed to be for the 1st of November, but I forgot to schedule my weekly payments and paid on the 3rd instead.
No other crazy things that I can think of. Just boring weekly automated payments.
This is quite a huge progress considering that my previous loans would average in monthly payments of around $400 to $500, not including extra payments.
I believe this is the result of following a Debt Snowball Method.
You start with paying minimums for your lowest loan amount. Then that same amount will be applied to the minimum of the next one.
While the Debt Snowball Method doesn’t save you as much as the Debt Avalanche, it gives you that momentum to keep going and stay consistent on your path — something that most people fall off from when paying their debts off.
Anyway, no changes have happened for the two high loan balances, Group A and C. I didn’t add any extra payments at all for this month since I’ve been refocusing those extra payments toward my savings goal.
When that goal is done, I’ll move back in to add extra to my student loans.
Weeks Left to Payoff
With my $1,057.45 loan balance in Group B, it is estimated that I will pay this off in 6 weeks.
I made a small change here and made the interest as 0% since we are still in the payment pause.
I’ve overlooked this in my previous updates, but it’s small mistake that didn’t have any impact to my strategy at all.
So 6 weeks until I fully pay off this loan and that is estimated to be on Christmas week. It’s a great gift to receive during Christmas!
Final Thoughts
The balance as of November 14, 2021 for my entire student loan is $9,968.91!
I have finally crossed below the $10,000 mark, and I’m at a 4-digit balance. Once Group B is done this December, Group C is the next one on my list.
The topic of student loans has been a hot one ever since and it became even a bigger topic throughout this pandemic.
Calls for student loan cancellation has become louder, with different representatives urging President Biden to act on it.
Proposals ranged from $10,000 to every student loan borrowers to as high as $50,000.
If you’ve been following me, you know that I don’t ever think a $50,000 cancellation will ever happen. While $10,000 may be a decent number, I still doubt whether that will happen too.
Cancellation, to me, won’t happen on a mass scale, but rather, to specific groups just like what we’ve seen these past months.
The Biden Administration have already cancelled $11.5 billion in student loans, but many are still waiting for the answer to the question: “Will our student loans be cancelled?”
But anyway, that’s my student loan update for everyone!