To refinance or not to refinance, that is the question. 

Refinancing can be daunting for many. I know that personally, I did a lot of research before I chose to even start applying for refinancing options. Not all companies are created equal. Then when I started to apply…denied, denied, denied. I must have submitted applications regularly every few months for 3 years or so. TIP: Never apply for multiple options back to back, or too close to each other. These applications will pull your credit report and score, and each time it will be filed as an attempt. 

If you are currently being serviced under Navient or Sallie Mae, the answer is almost always, REFINANCE ASAP. Navient and Sallie Mae have high-interest rates and they have a lot of negative practices that lose you money. For example, when I would make extra payments to Navient, I would always have to call and ask that it would be applied to the principal. Even then, it was sometimes not allocated appropriately, and I would have to call back and call back. Rather than wanting your money to be applied to the principal, they will extend the payments to show that you do not owe for future months. This means that the majority of your money is being applied to interest. In turn, that means you are taking off very little of the actual loan amount. This process is killer, and unless you are aware or paying attention to how your payments are applied, you could be doing yourself no favors when in fact you think you are working hard to pay off extra. Another problem with Sallie Mae and Navient before refinancing, especially with your private loans, your interest rates are variable. This means that your interest rate can change without you being alerted or asked for permission. I had private loan interest rates jump from 7% to 11.25%. That is a HUGE difference! That is more of my hard earned money being paid to interest and not even touching my loan or principal amount. In fact, when I was with Navient for the year 2016, my interest paid out was over 10,000 dollars. YUP,  <gag>  $10,000 of my money paid to Navient on my private loans went to the interest. This is why paying down the amount I owed for the loan was so STINKING hard. 

In my personal opinion, I believe I was denied so many times for refinancing, prior to this year, for a few reasons. 1. I had a co-signer, and to Navient they were also responsible for the payments and they “made enough money to cover the loans.” 2. My debt to income ratio was really awful. 3. I did not have a long enough loan payment history. 4. I was lumping together my private and federal loans to refinance. 

So after about 5 years of paying on my loans to the devil’s company, having those payments be on time, and making overage payments, that showed on my credit and it helped the debt to income ratio even out slightly more. Another trick I believe helped me was separating my federal and private loans, and only seeking to refinance my private. 

Refinancing my private is more important to me anyways. Federal loans are regulated by the government and are so much more flexible. SEE HERE FOR FEDERAL VS PRIVATE LOANS 

Finally, in December 2016 I was eligible to refinance with Citizen’s Bank, which services loans through Nelnet First Mark Services. I have had an amazing experience with them so far, and I highly recommend them.  I was able to refinance 55k worth of private loans. I was able to pick the term length for how long I was going to pay, and my loans were consolidated and lowered about 5% overall on average. With Citizens, I have called them and I have had excellent and clear customer service. I do not have to call and beg for my extra loan payments to go toward the principal amount, it just does it automatically. 

Some other refinance companies that I recommend are below: 

Citizen' Bank 

SOFI 

Earnest

As for my federal loans, they are no longer being serviced by Navient either. Being a school teacher, I will eventually be considered to be eligible for some student loan forgiveness. The payments are tracked by MyFedLoan.org. So they are not my service provider. I do not currently have any concerns or issues with this service provider either. 

If you are wondering how much money you could save refinancing, or how changing the term of your loan or paying extra could help, CLICK HERE to use a student loan calculator. 

I'm Backkkk

So, the few of you who actually read the few of my posts, or those of you who accidentally stumbled upon me, may have noticed that I was m.i.a. for a while. Well, I have no real excuse. Life is busy, and I made other things a priority. No more. I set forth to start a blog, I designed a plan for myself, and I refuse to be a quitter. So, for your financial woes and enjoyment, I'm back. 

Since I've been gone there have been a few changes in my life. I am neck deep into my Reading Specialist Master's program. I attend a college class one night a week, and yes, I did take out loans to cover the cost. (More on that later when I can share my reasoning for taking out more loans, and how I weighed the pros and cons.) I will be finished with classes in April 2018, and I will graduate in May 2018. Seems like an eternity, but I am already about halfway through. Time flies when you're having fun (insert eye roll). I also have amazing news! After being able to finally refinance my loans, I have been able to pay down $55,000 worth of private loans that were transferred that is now $38,000. This was all in the past 6 months. I am not lying. I did not win the lottery. No random inheritance money, and no, I am not doing questionable things for money. With my new consolidated loan and lower interest rate, coupled with the strict 5-year term I applied for, I buckled down and I've been cashin' checks and breakin' necks. Okay, I have not broken any necks, but I am really winning at this "loan paying thing." Not that it's anything to brag about, I owe a company a lot of money, clearly, I am not the winner in the situation. 

What have I done to pay down so much you ask? On a teacher's salary no less. Well, it is not always fun or glamorous, but I am still able to enjoy life and have a social scene. I just have to be smart about when, where, and why. Mostly it is about planning out a budget and sticking to it. First things first, I make sure my loans get paid. Next, I pay my other bills; car note, cell phone, and insurance. I then budget for gas money, and grocery and personal need costs. Any amount left over gets divvied up between savings and entertainment. I just recently got back from a Florida vacation, and I had to plan and save for more than a year. It is about priorities, and for me, being debt free is first and foremost. Enjoyment comes second. 

This would be me on a Southwest flight at the ripe time of 5:00 am. Yup. That means I had to be at the airport at 3:30 am. Why you ask...because early flights are the cheapest. I want to vacation, but I still need to be smart about how I pay for it. 

Currently, I make extra income by working a summer job at a golf course.  It works perfectly with my teacher schedule, where I am off in the summers, and the golf course is a summer job. No brainer. I work off of a small hourly wage, and the rest of the money is in tips. It can be inconsistent, but I take my money and I use the envelope system. This is a system that is a recommendation from many financial gurus. I mark envelopes with needed money. I collect cash in the envelopes as I go. Once that money is gone, it's gone. It is also only to be used for the intended purpose. For example, I have an envelope to save money for a wedding I will be attending, and an envelope for a Disney fund (geeking out about this one....also more to come on how I plan to have the most inexpensive trip to Disney ever!), and one for Christmas. I mark how much I put towards the goal amount each time and hide it away so I forget about it until I need it. Other extra money that I make in tips at the golf course I use to live my day to day and pay extra on my loans. 

Live action work photo shot. Driving a golf cart around part of the day isn't an all that bad way of makin' some extra money honey. 

I promise you that I won't leave you without a post for that long again.....this is me wishing that more people cared. Haha, one day I will be saving the world one student loan oppressed person at a time. 

Money Making Apps

They say, “the best things in life are free,” and  I agree.

I love free. I also love cheap.

I’m the girl that brags about how cheap an item was.

With a small budget like mine, a girl has had to get creative to maintain sanity and fulfill a love for shopping.

First, let’s take a look at some free apps that can save or make you money. Yup. Make you money.

Shopkick: My favorite money making app. This app just needs to be open when you are out and about. The phone picks up that you are at stores, and gives you points just for walking in. You can gain more points by scanning select products. (Sometimes I look like a weirdo when I do this, so maybe do it when a store is not busy). You can redeem your points for gift cards to various places. I have earned over $40 in Target gift cards to date. Use my code to sign up http://get.shopkick.com/sphere15024

Ibotta: This app is a grocery store rebate app. You can upload receipts from shopping at various stores. The app highlights various groceries to return cash on if you have those items on your receipt you start banking money. You can cash out and use your money towards whatever your heart desires. Sign up for Ibotta here with my code

SwagBucks:

An app and website that pays you to complete tasks and take surveys. You can even earn points for watching commercials and short videos. I have set my phone to the side in the past and let them play, and just let the points roll in. You get Swag Bucks or points and then you can redeem them for gift cards. It is free to sign up and there are no strings attached. I have personally received multiple Amazon.com and Starbucks gift cards from using this site. Use my link to sign up: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/hilwab1

Givling:

An app that can eventually pay your student loans. A long shot, likely. But, why not download it just in case if there is nothing to lose. You sign up for free, and every day you get one free play. You answer trivia questions until you get 3 wrong, and then you interact with ads. Easy enough. You can use my code to sign up CK895855

EliteDailyDeals.com
On this site you can sign up to review items on Amazon. Shipped to you for a steep discount, and sometimes even for free. I have received countless supplements, beauty products, and odds and ends for nothing, or for under a dollar. Use my link below to sign up:

elitedealclub.com

There are a few apps where you can make side cash when you sell your items. We have all have items in the closet that we no longer want or use. Turn these unused items into cash to put towards your loans or use it for new items

 Now, these apps and sites are not "get rich quick" schemes. Rather, they are ways to make small amounts of side cash. I like to use this money towards grocery purchases, coffee, and in conjunction with couponing for free items. (More to follow) 

I will check back and add to this often!

Budgets are a Girl's Best Friend

Loans likely won’t disappear on their own. 

A girl could dream, though. 

So until I win the lottery I pay, pay, and pay those suckers. 

Here is a breakdown of what my month to month looks like for the last year and a half.

Every month I make roughly $2200.

You can see that the majority of my income goes to loans.

At 28, living with your parents is not cool, but it sure is helping me become debt free more quickly. I am blessed with parents who let me live rent free. I know that this is not a possibility for all. I highly recommend living with roommates and paying the least amount of rent as possible. If you own a place or roommates are not a possibility, I recommend cutting costs in other areas. (cutting cable, changing cell phone plans, strict grocery budgets, etc.) 

Car

I have a newer vehicle. I bought it in 2013 brand new and I signed up for payments for 75 months. In retrospect, I know that was not my best option, but at this point in the game, I am keeping it.  I plan on finishing out the payments, and holding onto the car for as long as I can. 

What I wish I would have done, bought a cheaper vehicle, kept my payments under $200, or no payments at all would be even more ideal with an older used car. 

Grocery

I buy my groceries at ALDI. If you don’t know this store, get to know it. I buy breakfast and lunch foods and only what I need. Another perk of living at home, food costs are also low. Again, I know this is not everyone’s reality. I will post more on frugal shopping, ALDI included, in the near the future. 

Credit Card

I really do not have credit card debt. I learned early on in my college career that credit cards are a slippery slope. I do, however, have a Chase Freedom rewards credit card. I charge my bills and some necessities on there (all in the budget) so I can get cash back rewards. Only consider this if you have constraint and you know you won’t charge excessively and unnecessarily. I allocate money in the budget in case of unknown purchases, or rollover balances. Credit card interest rates are typically higher than other interest rates so PLEASE do not abuse credit cards. 

Cell Phone

I have been grandfathered into the holy grail of cell phone packages. I get unlimited data and minutes for $70 bucks. I needed a new phone, so I also pay the $20 lease fee. Not ideal, but it's what I'm working with. If you haven't yet checked, you should google cell phone discounts. There are so many! I was able to get a student rate for having a college email account. You can find discounts for various jobs and unions as well. 

Personal 

Personal care encompasses a lot. It is for my hair, eyebrows, doctor visit co-pays, personal care and hygiene products, clothes (many future posts on shopping) and other personal necessities. This can fluctuate from month to month, but I always budget for it. Budgets are key. If there is excess at the end of the month, GREAT! If not, when the money is gone, it’s gone. 

Entertainment

Notice, my entertainment budget is low. Sucks. But, it’s the price I pay to secure my future. (More to come on frugal entertainment). 

This is another area where if there is excess, great and I carry it over to the next month, or when it’s gone, it’s gone. Also, this is an area where many people can cut costs drastically. 

Gym

I do not have a gym membership. I sometimes take advantage of going for free with family members or friends….okay, I do not actually work out all that much. But, if I did I could budget for $10 a month. $10 is a price many gyms offer for their basic package. I also can work out at home, or in the summer months, I like to run outdoors. There are options. 

Misc.

Miscellaneous is used for possible gifts, coffee (I have an addiction), cheap quick restaurant eats, and anything else. 

Do I ever blow my budget? I would be a liar to say no. But I try really hard to stick to it, and it helps me to stay on track. 

I have money saved in case of an emergency, or if on a rare occasion I go over my budget in a month. I try to take any money that is left each month (which you can tell is often little) to put aside for special occasions, dinners, or anything else that tickles my fancy. 

Anyone and everyone should have some sort of budget. Some have more wiggle room than others. You can download some ready to go budget templates here: Google Budget Templates

How do I plan on paying so much in a few months towards my loan principle? 

Well, any extra money I get goes to my loans. For example, my entire tax return will be applied to my loans. Any extra side hustle money (oh, we will talk side hustles!), and any gift money, etc. 

Also, being a teacher allows me to have summers off. I take advantage of that time off to work a few months for extra income. All of that money gets applied to my loans. Would I rather soak up the sun and hang by the pool, well duh! But, for the next few years, I plan to make that money honey and reach my goal of becoming debt free. 

Know Your Basics

Student Loans. A necessary evil for many students. Know your jargon. 

If you are a college graduate, currently in college, or applying for colleges, you may come across many new and confusing financial terms. Boring, but you can research yourself for a few hours, or read my nutshell versions.

FAFSA
AKA The Free Application for Federal Student Aid
is a form that can be filled out annually by current and future college students for both undergraduate and graduate students. This determines how much federal aid money you will get, which in turn is money that does not have to be paid for school.
More detailed information here.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/next-steps/how-calculated

Scholarships/Grants
This is a more common term. Scholarships and grants are awarded money amounts from various locations, that do not have to be paid back. Usually, scholarships take some researching and work on your behalf. You can do a search online for scholarships for almost any area. Examples; sports, academics, heritage, or even something like wearing glasses. Be prepared to write some essays! The more money you have from outside sources such as these, it is less money via loans, and less to be repaid.


Federal Loans 
Funded by the government. The interest rate is fixed and often lower than private loans. You can see the current rates here:
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/interest-rates
Federal Loans can later qualify for loan forgiveness programs and various repayment plans (more information later).

Unsubsidized Federal 
Your school determines the amount needed
You are responsible for paying the interest on a Direct Unsubsidized Loan during all periods.
Must be enrolled in school half-time or full-time
Most times no co-signer is required. Credit checks are not needed

Subsidized Federal 
Government pays the interest while you are in school
Your school determines the amount needed
Must be enrolled in school half-time or full-time
Most times no co-signer is required. Credit checks are not needed

Private Loans 
(the devil) or given by non-federal lenders like banks and credit unions.
Can be a variable interest rate and determined based on credit and current bank rates (some of mine before were over 10% SICKKKKK)
Requires a credit check. Often need a co-signer
Interest usually begins at the start of the loan

If you already have loans, get to know what types you have. I have both federal and private. My private are the killers (or were…I recently refinanced and they are way more manageable). 

It is important to become best friends with your loan servicer website. I log in a few time a week on Navient and Firstmark. I know my interest rates for each type of loan and I keep them separate when calculating payback amounts. 

I have 44k in private student loans. Those had the worst interest rate. Whenever I have extra money to throw towards more of a loan payment, I pay more towards the higher loans with the higher interest rates. This cuts away at the principal (or actual amount of the loan minus interest). 

26k of my loans are federal. I know that being a teacher I can eventually and hopefully qualify for some special education student loan forgiveness up to 17,500. I can also hopefully get Public Service Loan Forgiveness (more info to come). So, my federal aren’t my first concern and seeing as the interest rates are lower, I am tackling my private much more aggressively.



Coming Next > Money Making Apps and Budgets 

The Beginning of the End

Go to college, they said. Fill out a FAFSA and apply for student loans, they said. 

70% of college students graduate with an average of 37,000 in loans. 

Now, like most other post grads, I am in the midst of a personal financial crisis. Or was. No, I am not debt free. Yes, I am still paying back my student loans. But, I am doing so much more wisely and I can finally see a light at the end of the endless tunnel that is student loans. 

          When making the choice to begin blogging about my financial woes, I realized that I would have to be painfully honest. I would have to publish my income, budget, loan amounts, etc. in order to help others with their student loans. 

So here goes nothing. 

       I am 28 years old and I am a special education teacher in a low-income school district. Making the big bucks, not quite. Backing up, I started by going to a local community college for two years and then transferred to a local (overpriced) private Christian college. My community college was paid for by my parents. The rest was up to me. Hence, taking out student loans. I commuted to school each day so I did not have to take out extra money for room and board. I took out enough in student loans to cover classes and textbook costs. At the time I had no understanding of borrowing money. 
It felt free. SIGH
Interest rates and lender terms meant little to nothing, and I just signed on the dotted line. 

I did not intend to attend the private college for four years. Some community college classes did not transfer, and some medical issues held me there longer than planned. At the point of graduation, my loans had amounted to 60 some thousand dollars. Add interest and some regretted deferments (I'll explain more in future posts) and at the age of 25, I was up to a grand total of $90,000!

      I landed a teaching job not much longer after graduating. I was set to make $39,000 a year. That's when reality sank in. Even if I were to pay my entire salary to my loans for two straight years, I still would not amount to the loan total. Panic ensued, and the financially uneducated version of myself decided to pay as little of my loans as possible.  I did not research, and I saved my money instead. (Saving to start was not such a bad idea, I will also explain that later). 

        
 I am now in my 4th year of teaching. I am employed at the same school I started with, and I am now making $42,000 a year. My loans are currently at $70,000. Side note: many of you will have higher paying jobs. I went into teaching because it's a passion, not for the money. So I plan to stay a teacher regardless of my salary. I am proof you can make it work on any salary.

         You're thinking, you only paid down $20,000?! Why should I follow your blog or listen to anything you have to say? Well, I did not start paying down my loans successfully and in an educated manner until about a year and a half ago. In a year and a half, I have researched loans like crazy, and I have made some excellent moves. I will be debt free in 4 years max, 3 years hopefully.  At the end of this summer I plan to have my loans down to $55k. $15,000 paid in 6 months is the goal, and writing about it will hold me accountable. 

      I plan to share the mistakes I made with paying (and not paying) my student loans. If you do not already know I will give you insight into different types of student loans, and how to manage them differently. I will give frugal living advice, budget plans, refinance options, and so much more. I do not claim to be an expert or professional, but I have become obsessed and quite informed. I am actually living through this loan problem. I am not debt free and out of touch with current student loans. I am real, and honest, and transparent. I have learned that I am not "a-loan" and you shouldn't be either.