If you are like many people, you have a student loan.
Now if you have done your homework you first have taken two or three loans and have consolidated them into one.
Second, you've contacted your lender and explained your full intentions to pay back the damn ...er generous loan if they would only negotiate the outstanding balance down to the lowest possible interest rate.
Third, if you didn't like the newly negotiated rate, you found another lender to take over the debt at a more acceptable rate, right? So now all that said and done you have say ... a $94,000 outstanding balance.
Now for those who are ready to go forward, let's proceed. You got this huge "nut". It's ugly and you can't stand to see it every month. So you get the brilliant idea to throw some extra money at the principle, even make double payments! And after two years you don't seem to see that principle move much at all and you think "Hell, I'll be in a wheel chair paying this off."
But don't despair. If you have done steps 1, 2, and 3 listed above, your student loan is lower than any other type of loan you can get on the market today.Your principle is not going down real fast because just like a mortgage the first few years most of your payment is going to interest and not principle.
If you do decide to make extra "principle payments," always make out a separate check with the words saying "extra principle payment" and each month you call the lender to make sure they have applied it to your principle.
Now if you don't make that extra payment, don't sweat it. You probably have better things to do with your money than pay off a low cost lone. Like paying off that 23% credit card. How about funding that retirement every month with the maximum contribution. How about keeping you life insurance policy paid up for your wife, kids etc.
I know, pay that child support so you can get your karma together! What, don't own a house? Let's get that down payment together, cause it's hard as hell to get those no money down mortgages right now!
Whatever, you do -- handle it folks, and make your life a little easier!