Student Loan Challenge (2015 edition)

[frugalfanny]

Just had a mustachian moment on Mint.com while trying to update my goal for student loan payoff. The max total monthly payment is $1000... sorry that's just no going to cut it! I got a raise and it's all going to the loan.

Min payment is $301... add $900 on top of that for a monthly payment of $1201 (with $1201 I could rent another apartment in my town or a couple rooms in a group house in Downtown D.C.... freaking ridiculous!)

Student Loan Balance stands at $36,428

Paying $1201 per month the loan should be paid off in about 34 months but with tax refunds and raises I think I can do it sooner... I want to keep moving that date up!! 3 years is too long!

[FrugalShrew]

I'm not a Mint user so maybe I'm missing something, but how can it max out a student loan monthly payment at $1,000? My original minimum monthly payment on my (admittedly exorbitant but by no means unusual) law school loans was like $1,500 something. So a $1,000 cap doesn't just fail to envision mustachians -- it fails to envision average debt for law school, medical school, dental school, etc.

[frugalfanny]

Ahh actually just looked again and it was my own user error.  The default top amount is $1000 but you can increase that amount in the box to the right.

 Thank you for mentioning that. Fixed!

[FrugalShrew]

Yay for mustachian team problem-solving :) Glad you were able to work it out!

[Wanderlusting]

Total: $28,100
Loan 1: $2700 @ 5.35% - > $0
Loan 2: $12400 @ 6%
Loan 3: $11,300 @ 6% -> 10,300

Total: $27000 -> $22500

After the payout from my car insurance I frontloaded and killed off the small loan, so now i'm onto my final two loans after what seem like an eternity. I probably won't get to <20k on the student loans since I need to pay off a small credit card balance (~$1000, but it's 0% until april). After that I should be on track to be all done with my loans at the end of 2016, hopefully sooner.

It definitely feels pretty good to be in sight of the end of this mess.

[garion]

Officially done with Loan 1, before December payment! Loan two is now $31,492. We're planning to pay at least $500-1000 on it in December, plus whatever DH gets for a bonus. Looking forward to knocking this one out in 2016 and being DONE!

[dhiser]

I've been inspired by this thread, for all those who missed the 2015 version the 2016 version thread is now posted!!

[StacheInAFlash]

I'm late to the party, but DW and I have been mad at work on student loan pay down since March 2014, which is when we finished paying off our car loan (2.5 years early on the 5 year loan).
So, in March 2014 we were at $52000 at 6.125%.

Starting balance in 2015 was $36,000 so we made good progress in 2014. The goal at the start of the year was to pay it off by the end of 2015....

How it works is the autopay minimum payment is made on the 17th of each month of $360. Then, whatever is left at the end of the month that isn't needed for our monthly budget gets thrown at the loan. Sometimes that happens on the last of the month, but often it is the 2nd or 3rd of the new month, so the below values can get skewed some months just depending on when that payment was made.
New Year - $36,000
January - $34,900
February - $30,800
March - $29,400
April - $28,100
May - $25,000
June - $19,000 - Opened a HELOC for springy debt emergency fund so we through our $3000 emergency savings at the loan.
July - $18,700
August - $12,300
September - $9,200
October - $6,850
November -
December -

November - $5000

Normally, the extra payment is only made at the end of the month, but coming up in triple paycheck December (PAY OFF MONTH!) I'll be throwing money as the paychecks come in!

[slipnslide]

I am way late to this challenge but I feel as though I will jump in now and show my progress from when I started following MMM.

• Start of September: $26,254.97
• Start of October:      $25,936.03
• Start of November:  $24,365.97
• Start of December:   $23,655.97

Good luck to everyone! I hope to see you all at the finish line!

[Tig_]

4/27/2015: $14,171.43
5/22/2015: $13,307.82
6/24/2015: $12,728.95
8/23/2015: $11,603.73
9/27/2015: $10,538.20

Oops - I haven't been posting here.  Accepted into a MA program so these should go into deferment in January (majority Federal subsidized); have lessened my aggressiveness as a result.

12/2/2015: 9,980.00

[Sanne]

And here I was, thinking my loans were bad. I had approximately 25.000 in loans. I only paid the minimum for most years and last year I started paying more cause I want to get rid of it..

My goal is to have the remainder paid off in 2016. I do not have a high paying job so I don't think 2015 would be realizable (although it would be nice of course).. Interest rate is valid until 31 December 2016 so I think this is a nice goal. I want it to be sooner though.

To show you my "progress":
Start: appr 25.000
1 January 2012: 18.900,46
1 January 2013: 17.442,21
1 January 2014: 15.963,67
1 January 2015: 10.439,67 @ 1.39% (Netherlands)

I've got a debt of approximately 7.000 left. I also saved 4000 next to my regular payments so I will pay this off as well. So before 2017 this will be payed off in full.

[ontheroaderic]

3/5/15: $74,618.23 at 5.625% {Starting Balance}
3/5/15: $72,613.01 (- 2005.22)
3/7/15: $72,650.18  (-271.44)
3/9/15: $72,219.94  (-177.6)
4/9/15: $69,889.41 (-2600.00)
5/7/15: $67,086.58 (-3100.00)
6/12/15: $64,281.49 (-3100.00)
7/7/15: $61,917.04 (-2600)
8/7/15: $59,610.78 (-2600)
9/7/15: $57,385.37 (-2600)
10/7/15: $54,931.48 (-2600)
11/13/15: $52,325.25 (-2900)
12/9/15: $49,975.41 (-2600)

Woohoo! Under $50K now! Hoping to have some Christmas bonus money to throw a little more before the end of the year. Killing it, and 2016 should be even better.

[slipnslide]

3/5/15: $74,618.23 at 5.625% {Starting Balance}
3/5/15: $72,613.01 (- 2005.22)
3/7/15: $72,650.18  (-271.44)
3/9/15: $72,219.94  (-177.6)
4/9/15: $69,889.41 (-2600.00)
5/7/15: $67,086.58 (-3100.00)
6/12/15: $64,281.49 (-3100.00)
7/7/15: $61,917.04 (-2600)
8/7/15: $59,610.78 (-2600)
9/7/15: $57,385.37 (-2600)
10/7/15: $54,931.48 (-2600)
11/13/15: $52,325.25 (-2900)
12/9/15: $49,975.41 (-2600)

Woohoo! Under $50K now! Hoping to have some Christmas bonus money to throw a little more before the end of the year. Killing it, and 2016 should be even better.

Congrats on the progress this year! you are killing it!

[StacheInAFlash]

I'm late to the party, but DW and I have been mad at work on student loan pay down since March 2014, which is when we finished paying off our car loan (2.5 years early on the 5 year loan).
So, in March 2014 we were at $52000 at 6.125%.

Starting balance in 2015 was $36,000 so we made good progress in 2014. The goal at the start of the year was to pay it off by the end of 2015....

How it works is the autopay minimum payment is made on the 17th of each month of $360. Then, whatever is left at the end of the month that isn't needed for our monthly budget gets thrown at the loan. Sometimes that happens on the last of the month, but often it is the 2nd or 3rd of the new month, so the below values can get skewed some months just depending on when that payment was made.
New Year - $36,000
January - $34,900
February - $30,800
March - $29,400
April - $28,100
May - $25,000
June - $19,000 - Opened a HELOC for springy debt emergency fund so we through our $3000 emergency savings at the loan.
July - $18,700
August - $12,300
September - $9,200
October - $6,850
November -
December -

November - $5000

Normally, the extra payment is only made at the end of the month, but coming up in triple paycheck December (PAY OFF MONTH!) I'll be throwing money as the paychecks come in!

December 4th - $3800

December 10th - $0

NO MORE STUDENT LOAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - I'm incredibly happy, but at the same time, when I submitted the payment it kind of felt like no big deal. MMM has really changed my whole outlook on life, and paying off $52,000 in student loans in 21 months was just one step in the process of FIRE. I'm sure my mindset about what this loan payoff means is much different than if I were still a mindless consumer sucka'. I'd only be thinking about what else I could buy now that I don't have that loan payment, rather than seeing it as a load off my back that will never be replaced!

Good luck to everyone still trucking along on their own SL payoff journey!

[arpies]

Congrats on that insanely good payoff rate!

As for me:
Down to 24.6k total. Still aiming for debt freedom by June.

[slipnslide]

I'm late to the party, but DW and I have been mad at work on student loan pay down since March 2014, which is when we finished paying off our car loan (2.5 years early on the 5 year loan).
So, in March 2014 we were at $52000 at 6.125%.

Starting balance in 2015 was $36,000 so we made good progress in 2014. The goal at the start of the year was to pay it off by the end of 2015....

How it works is the autopay minimum payment is made on the 17th of each month of $360. Then, whatever is left at the end of the month that isn't needed for our monthly budget gets thrown at the loan. Sometimes that happens on the last of the month, but often it is the 2nd or 3rd of the new month, so the below values can get skewed some months just depending on when that payment was made.
New Year - $36,000
January - $34,900
February - $30,800
March - $29,400
April - $28,100
May - $25,000
June - $19,000 - Opened a HELOC for springy debt emergency fund so we through our $3000 emergency savings at the loan.
July - $18,700
August - $12,300
September - $9,200
October - $6,850
November -
December -

November - $5000

Normally, the extra payment is only made at the end of the month, but coming up in triple paycheck December (PAY OFF MONTH!) I'll be throwing money as the paychecks come in!

December 4th - $3800

December 10th - $0

NO MORE STUDENT LOAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - I'm incredibly happy, but at the same time, when I submitted the payment it kind of felt like no big deal. MMM has really changed my whole outlook on life, and paying off $52,000 in student loans in 21 months was just one step in the process of FIRE. I'm sure my mindset about what this loan payoff means is much different than if I were still a mindless consumer sucka'. I'd only be thinking about what else I could buy now that I don't have that loan payment, rather than seeing it as a load off my back that will never be replaced!

Good luck to everyone still trucking along on their own SL payoff journey!

DAMN dude that is some serious bad ass student loan payoff! 36k in one year is amazing. I hope to be half as bad ass as you in the next year! Cracking a celebratory beer for you tonight you deserve it!

[StacheInAFlash]

Thanks for the congrats! It does feel really good, and I appreciate you cracking the celebratory beer for me. I did the same! A prior version of myself would have celebrated that milestone with a $150 dinner out, but the stronger, leaner, mustached new version of myself was content with a beer and a regular night at home.

[hudsoncat]

November Update:

Aug. 14:   $17,176
Sept. 16:  $14,828
Oct. 19:    $12,876
Nov. 16:   $10,605

In December I will officially be under $10,000 and I can't wait. Still on track for a March pay off with a little side hustle money coming in Dec. and an expected bonus in March.

Dec. 15: $8,227

Dec. side hustle cash ended up mostly going to pay off an unexpected home repair. I was glad to have the extra money and be able to pay my normal extra amount, but also a little irritated. Ah well. I might still be able to make another extra payment this month if a couple other things pan out.

Regardless, still on track for a March pay off.

[Paul | pdgessler]

Since entering repayment Nov 2014, I did only scheduled payments until March 2015, when I decided to destroy my mix of subsidized and unsubsidized federal loans. In the next few days, I'll make a final payment to knock the balance down to zero before 2016.

Oct 2014	$28,337.95
Nov 2014	$28,438.31
Dec 2014	$28,227.44
Jan 2015	$28,011.43
Feb 2015	$27,781.58
Mar 2015	$27,563.47
Apr 2015	$26,189.30
May 2015	$24,797.13
Jun 2015	$23,424.96
Jul 2015	$21,046.06
Aug 2015	$18,791.91
Sep 2015	$17,375.24
Oct 2015	$14,063.54
Nov 2015	$9,916.39
Dec 2015	$4,428.03

[EllieStan]

I'm late to the party, but DW and I have been mad at work on student loan pay down since March 2014, which is when we finished paying off our car loan (2.5 years early on the 5 year loan).
So, in March 2014 we were at $52000 at 6.125%.

Starting balance in 2015 was $36,000 so we made good progress in 2014. The goal at the start of the year was to pay it off by the end of 2015....

How it works is the autopay minimum payment is made on the 17th of each month of $360. Then, whatever is left at the end of the month that isn't needed for our monthly budget gets thrown at the loan. Sometimes that happens on the last of the month, but often it is the 2nd or 3rd of the new month, so the below values can get skewed some months just depending on when that payment was made.
New Year - $36,000
January - $34,900
February - $30,800
March - $29,400
April - $28,100
May - $25,000
June - $19,000 - Opened a HELOC for springy debt emergency fund so we through our $3000 emergency savings at the loan.
July - $18,700
August - $12,300
September - $9,200
October - $6,850
November -
December -

November - $5000

Normally, the extra payment is only made at the end of the month, but coming up in triple paycheck December (PAY OFF MONTH!) I'll be throwing money as the paychecks come in!

December 4th - $3800

December 10th - $0

NO MORE STUDENT LOAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - I'm incredibly happy, but at the same time, when I submitted the payment it kind of felt like no big deal. MMM has really changed my whole outlook on life, and paying off $52,000 in student loans in 21 months was just one step in the process of FIRE. I'm sure my mindset about what this loan payoff means is much different than if I were still a mindless consumer sucka'. I'd only be thinking about what else I could buy now that I don't have that loan payment, rather than seeing it as a load off my back that will never be replaced!

Good luck to everyone still trucking along on their own SL payoff journey!

Congratulations!!!

[EllieStan]

November 20, 2015
Gov. student loans      $2,016.00 @ 3.20%
Student LOC:              $4,553.63 @ 4.20%
Total:                     $6,603.63

December 15, 2015
Gov. student loans       $1,693.53 @ 3.20%
Student LOC:               $3,667.56 @ 4.20%
Total:                      $5,361.09

Eeeek! In 1 week I'll fall under the 5K mark. Can't wait to be done with those debts. I'm tempted to empty my EF and get rid of the debt completely on my 30th birthday (mid-January) but I'm scared of an emergency or job loss before I can save up again. :/

[EllieStan]

Since entering repayment Nov 2014, I did only scheduled payments until March 2015, when I decided to destroy my mix of subsidized and unsubsidized federal loans. In the next few days, I'll make a final payment to knock the balance down to zero before 2016.

Oct 2014	$28,337.95
Nov 2014	$28,438.31
Dec 2014	$28,227.44
Jan 2015	$28,011.43
Feb 2015	$27,781.58
Mar 2015	$27,563.47
Apr 2015	$26,189.30
May 2015	$24,797.13
Jun 2015	$23,424.96
Jul 2015	$21,046.06
Aug 2015	$18,791.91
Sep 2015	$17,375.24
Oct 2015	$14,063.54
Nov 2015	$9,916.39
Dec 2015	$4,428.03

Great job!

[wtrfre]

Welp, over the past year I paid down 50% of the remaining balance.  Not bad.  Looking forward to what next year brings.

[cashstasherat23]

Wow-I haven't updated this for a while. It's been a hectic couple of months, lost my job at the end of September, so have been dealing with that and trying to find a new position, but still trying to stay on track!

Direct Loan-Sub 01 3.15%
     Starting Balance: $5,500
     September Balance: $4,588.34   
     December Balance: $4,429.80   

Direct Loan-Unsub 02 6.55%
     Starting Balance: $5,500
     September Balance: $5,313.35     
     December Balance:  $5,110.38   

Direct Loan-Sub 05 3.15%
     Starting Balance: $5,500
     September Balance: $4,649.71   
     December Balance: $4,488.32   

Starting Total (May 2013): $27,000
September 2015 Total: $14,551.40
December 2015 Total: $14,001.50   
Change: -$549.90

Heading into 2016 with a considerably smaller amount of debt-can't wait to crush it this year!

[Lanthiriel]

Less than stellar progress...

Loan 1: $8690; Pay off goal: June 2016
Loan 2: $7155; Pay off goal: December 2015
Loan 3: PAID

Total Student Loan Debt: $15,845

Well, I did not meet my goal of paying off student loans by the end of the year (or even close, really), though we did knock out about $15,500. Hopefully 2016 is our year!

Loan 1: $8441; Pay off goal: October 2016
Loan 2: $3545; Pay off goal: April 2016

Total Student Loan Debt: $11,986

[marty998]

Congrats to everyone participating in this thread.

Many of the outcomes here are outstanding. Well done.

[GetItRight]

I'll play. Realized school was a scam a bit late and dropped out instead of borrowing more money when school tried to screw me over yet again. These have been refinanced a few times down from high of about 16% interest, and hoping to refinance again soon. Was making serious payments around $2500/mo for a while then got sloppy, now pulled spending back in and getting serious again. Just finished paying off two government loans, so only private loans remain. Hoping to be free by end of 2017, projections say summer of 2017 is feasible. Looking forward to maxing the tax advantaged investment options once I get to that point.

Loans:

1	$7,297.46	4.99%
2	$44,506.15	5.75%
3	$26,927.85	4.5%
401k	$12,944.27	4.25%

Total:$91,675.73

Loans:

1	$3,947.39	4.99%
2	$43,026.36	5.75%
3	$26,670.61	4.5%
401k	$10,626.94	4.25%

Total: $84,271.3
Paid off since 4/28/2015: $7,404.43

Disappointing year for sure. I have had significant medical expenses since August, which I expect to be fully reimbursed for and then some, but that could be another year or two. At present rate not factoring reimbursement for thousands in medical expenses I expect Dec 2017 will be a stretch but do-able. I still have $1500 or so reimbursement for a business trip coming in the next couple weeks, if that comes this year I can put another $1k towards student loans. Aside from that and maybe a few hundred if I get bored or anxious, I'm probably tapped out for the year on student loans.

$25,028.12 total spent on student loans year to date. If it weren't for injuries and associated medical bills caused by someone else along with associated lost earnings it would certainly be over $30k. Hopefully those are all just deferred payments though. Credit score is now over 800, couldn't get a refi to lower interest when I was around 750 but gonna try again early 2016. It'll only save me under a grand but if I can I may as well.

Edit: $25,356.89 paid toward student loans for 2015

[JustGettingStarted1980]

3/24/15 -$59700 due
5/01/15 -$51278 due
7/05/15 -$40778 due
10/5/15 -$25318 due
1/1/16 -$18457 due

-as I'm coming to the end soon of my student loans, I'm going to add my wife's loans to this Challenge and start fresh in the 2016 edition
-new starting point (both his and her loans) = $83265.16 Due

[wintertell]

Jul 2014: 133,097
Jun 2015: 110,145 (-22,952)
Jul 2015: 109,587 (-558)
Sept 2015: 107,118 (-2,469)
Oct 2015: 99,967  (-7,151)
Nov 2015: 97,397 (-2,570)
Dec 2015: 96,867 (-530)

Total difference in student loans: 36,229 or 27% paid

Current Balances:
Direct Stafford 5.16 -20997   
Direct Stafford 6.55 - 9813
Direct Plus Graduate 6.16  - 23442             
Earnest 3.53 Variable - 42613 

Goals for 2016 are to pay off the 6.55% before August and to get the 6.16% down to under 10K before December.

[Cezil]

I'd love to join you on this challenge!  However, my two remaining student loans are at 1.95% and 2.5%, and at this point, I struggle between paying them off (about $12,500 left to go) or investing.  I haven't yet decided - they are variable rates, but rates might take forever to go back up.  So I don't know.

Can I just say that last year, on September 30th 2014, I made the final payment on my 6.8% FAFSA loans balance that was at $4,754 as of 1/1/14 (original loan amount was $8,500 - not including the interest that added up month after month while it was deferred throughout school)?  My boyfriend and parents and sister were happy for me, but I had no place else to gush about it.  So I'll gush here:  Squeeee!!!!!  :D  When I feel low about this remaining private loan balance, I just think about that one that I paid half of, in under a year!, and it warms my soul a bit.. :)

Since my April post, I am down to $10,757.  I just made a $1,000 payment last month to my smaller loan (Loan 2), which was my first large payment since I paid the other monster off over a year ago now.  I hope to be able to pay $800 - $1,000 towards Loan 2 each month and have it gone by January.  That would leave Loan 3 that I could hopefully have gone by next July if I am able to maintain those payments.

Loan 1: $0 (paid off 9/30/2014, started at $8,500)
Loan 2: $4,284 (1.95%, original amount: $13,000)
Loan 3: $6,473 (2.5%, original amount: $13,500)

So close, and yet, so far!

Loan 1: $0 (paid off 9/30/2014, started at $8,500 @ 6.8%)
Loan 2: $3,008 (1.95%, original amount: $13,000)
Loan 3: $6,213 (2.5%, original amount: $13,500)