I do not have the $1000 EVERY month. It's built up over the last 6ish months, along with a stronger emergency fund. After moving in with the handsome boyfriend, gasoline usage and rent went down AND he pays all the utilities :) Which is fine by him, because he's still banking too - his rent went down more than mine did and we no longer have to use coin-op laundry.
If I can get myself more disciplined about taking more overtime at work, I know can make a bigger dent. My full-time class load (which comes with horrible expenses like books, mandated shoes, mandated shirts, etc that Work isn't paying for) on top of >full-time work leaves me exhausted, though. Last year I was able to save up enough to get (much needed) repairs on my car and buy my mother a small refrigerator (hers died in an unsalvageable way) just on overtime. Each overtime will only get me about $160 after taxes, so the cost/benefit ratio is...siiiiiigghh.
So some searching and password resetting revealed this information:
If I do the payment online (and ONLY if I do it online), I can allocate specific payments to specific loans with Holder 3. So I could get rid of 3D ASAP.
Thank you for the info Karl. I looked at the website with the Loan Consolidation Calculator - incredibly helpful.
I can consolidate, but ONLY the ones under Holder 3. This would bring all of those smaller loans under one payment, and an interest rate of 5.5%. That is (calculator time) just a hair below the current weighted average of all Holder 3 Loans (5.65%). Without Loan 3D in the mix, the new rate is still lower than the weighted average (5.5% compared to 5.64%). The minimum monthly payments will go down by $40. Oh, and the rate is fixed.
One last fun fact: the interest rate of 5.5% is only if you do auto-pay. Otherwise it would be 5.75% (which is HIGHER than the weighted average). Auto-pay scares me a liiiiittle. There was a time when I was out of work (on disability) and I was scraping at the last $50 of my checking account. Not being able to postpone a payment by a week if I desperately need to is frightening. Then again, living with my boyfriend (who makes more than me) gives me a little more leeway in living expenses, so maybe I shouldn't be so afraid. But that's easier said than done, right?
Of course, these are the estimated values. Once I get my taxes done, I'll also be able to put in data for income adjustment. Then find someone's hand to hold while I click the big "Consolidate now" button.
So, with this new information, I think the best option may be to pay off 3D now (because I can), consolidate all the Holder 3 loans into one, then...well, keep working away.
After that, Loan 3 will be just over 21k and it will have the highest interest rate. If I get to a point where I can kill off loans 1A or 2A, (because 4k in my bank account is far more likely than 21k), should I? Their rates are lower, but they are also easier to get rid of in one blow.
Vote!! I call for a Vote!! Snowball effect - if I work my butt off and get a magical "extra 3-4k" later this year, should I Chip away at the biggest loan with the highest interest or does it Slay smaller dragons completely?
If you use math in your argument (and I can understand it), it might lend an extra point to your view.