My husband and I have come a long way and paid off a significant amount of high interest debt. There was a time where we had payday loans, affirm payments, best egg loans, etc.
We have a $1000 balance left on a chase credit card that we are paying down quickly. Aside from that what we will have left is: our mortgage, two car loans, and student loan debt. My student loans total 57k and I am currently paying $292 a month which it turns out is about $283 to interest and $9 to the actual principal. How the hell do I tackle this because that honestly seems insane. If we are in a better financial situation now, does it make sense to refinance for a lower interest rate? Should I just throw any extra money to the loan in lieu of savings? Would we benefit from a financial advisor or debt coach of some kind to help with our financial literacy? I really want to get out on top of this now that we are in a better position to do so.
Additionally we have been working on an emergency fund in a HYSA with a 3.5% return rate. We just have $3000 in there for now but after living paycheck to paycheck for a while it felt good to save that amount. I don’t know if it’s better to build the fund first and then throw more at the debt but feel that might be the way to go.
Any advice is welcome!
Pay Down High Interest Student Loans or Build an Emergency Fund?
byu/SpiritualStudy449 inpersonalfinance
Posted by SpiritualStudy449
3 Comments
Start here: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics.
$283 * 12 / $57k is about 6%. I wouldn’t consider that “high interest” or “insane”. Your monthly payment is just low compared to the balance.
Follow https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/w/commontopics
I would build up the emergency fund first. You can always go into forbearance if you lose your job but your daily living bills and costs will still be there.