Here to keep myself accountable. This is the year I finish it.
Initial balances 6/1/2018
Private loan: ~$62,500 @ ~9%, refinanced immediately to $62,060 @ 4.8%
Direct subsidized loan: $5,000 @ 5.2%
Stafford loans: $20,000 @ ~4% (averaged across 4 distinct loans)
School endowment loan: $5,000 @ 0%, no repayment schedule
TOTAL: $92,500
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1/1/20
Private loan balance: $11,800
Direct loan balance: $0
Stafford loan balance: $18,200
School loan balance: $5,000
TOTAL: $35,000
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I got myself a $200/mo raise, and it's all going to loans. January will be a 5-check month, and with luck that'll take $4.2k off the private, and I'll be done with that one within the next few months and onto the federal loans. We'll see what the tax refund brings, but I think it'll be good news. Paying the private one off has felt like a year and half long fever dream, but I feel like I'm waking up to find I've gone and beaten the mountain to dust with my fists. Just a little longer now.
I'll be updating my balances monthly.
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2/1/20
Private loan balance: $8,000 (-$3,800)
Direct loan balance: $0
Stafford loan balance: $18,000 (-$200)
School loan balance: $5,000
TOTAL: $31,000
MILESTONE: I have more money in the bank than I do outstanding balance on my private loan.
NEXT MONTH: 4 paychecks, and although I did get myself a raise, my max matching retirement contribution also went up. I'm not going to complain about that, given that it's free money, but it will set me back a bit. I'm cutting back on discretionary spending to try to maintain at least $3,000 in payments per month. Loan service is now a plurality of my spending.
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3/1/20
Private loan balance: $5,400 (-$2,700)
Direct loan balance: $0
Stafford loan balance: $17,900 (-$200) (chalk it up to rounding)
School loan balance: $5,000
TOTAL: $28,300
MILESTONE: Net worth is above the -$10k mark. Over 90% of the private loan is paid off after 21 months.
NEXT MONTH: 4 paychecks and a ~$1,300 tax refund. I'm also out about $800 on plane tickets that should get reimbursed next month. Hopefully a bit of cash for my birthday as well. With a bit of luck (and maybe some slight overspending), I may be able to straight-up KO the private loan.
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4/1/20 (or close enough)
Private loan balance: $2,600 (-$2,800)
Direct loan balance: $0
Stafford loan balance: $17,700 (-$200)
School loan balance: $5,000
TOTAL: $25,300
Tax refund didn't come in yet; state tax board said they couldn't verify my withholding. Hopefully it'll be fixed by... June, I guess. FFS. And I screwed up my calculations for my federal student loan interest deduction, which brought the federal side of my refund down to like $100. Also, I got a big ol' nothing for my birthday. Plane ticket reimbursements aren't in either, so I'm carrying the balance on long-term spending. Also, I'm going to qualify for the full stimulus this year, but I'm only going to get half of it up front. On the plus side, I'm still employed, and likely to continue being. Count my blessings, right?
MILESTONE: None, really. Unfortunate, but so it goes. Next month will be big though!
NEXT MONTH: Five paychecks! The private loan will be gone, and with a bit of luck my net worth will end up above $0. I'm really excited for it.
Also, a note to anyone in the thread with federal loans: I called my loan provider today and they said they'd be setting auto-payments to $0 automatically while interest is waived, that the zero rates would be backdated to March 13, and that all payments applied to interest past that date would be retroactively applied to the principal. They did NOT indicate that they'd try to refund any auto-payments already made.
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5/1/20
Private loan balance: $0 (-$2,600)
Direct loan balance: $0
Stafford loan balance: $10,400 (-$7,300)
School loan balance: $5,000
TOTAL: $15,400
Tax refund still not here; trip reimbursement still not here. Stimulus, or at least 3/4 of it, did arrive, so there's that at least. Parents finally paid me back that $5,000. I'm not gonna have a month like this ever again, but DAMN does it feel good.
MILESTONE: Above $0 net worth. Private loan paid in full. One federal loan paid in full.
NEXT MONTH: 4 paychecks, and my tax return should (finally) be here. Second federal loan paid in full.
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6/1/20
Private loan balance: $0
Direct loan balance: $0
Stafford loan balance: $7,000 (-$3,400)
School loan balance: $5,000
TOTAL: $12,000
All my reimbursements and tax money finally arrived - hooray! Unfortunately, I'm starting to see new expenditures from a new apartment I'll be renting in August and buying things for the move. Going to see up to 2k tied up in open accounts by next month, and I may order some items ahead and have them delivered to my parents. At least plane tickets are cheap. I wasn't budgeting for the move at all prior to the past month or so, and it looks like some of this debt may have to wait for next year's refund at this point.
MILESTONE: Second federal loan paid in full. No individual debts over $10k.
NEXT MONTH: 4 paychecks. Extremely unlikely to have the third federal loan paid in full, but it'll definitely happen by the end of July. Total debt will be under $10k.