Overwhelming Student Loans

[drsmith41]

This is a little embarrassing but I am not sure what to do so I'll ask.

Unfortunately, I have about $100k in student loans. The high balance is tough but the worse part is that I am not sure if I even know about all my loans. I graduated last May in 2010 and I have been making payments since shortly after graduating. I just got a bill in the mail for a new student loan that I didn't even know about and it has me wondering, are there anymore that going to be coming due that I don't even know about yet? When I was in college I didn't keep the best records but now that am out in the real world and trying to pay off debts and build wealth, I am better about it. My main question is if there is anything I can do to see a list of ALL the student loans under my name? I think I could check my credit report but I read one a long time ago and found it very difficult to read. I am thinking about consolidating but I can't even do that because I might leave some out if I try to do it.

My financial situation isn't great but I guess it could be worse. I have no CC debt and neither does my wife. My truck is paid for but we owe about $7k on her car. She has a few thousand in student loans and that is the extent of our debt. If I could just get my student loans under control I would feel a lot better.

So can anyone lead me to a place where I can see all of my loans quickly and easily?

[kork13]

The simplest place to look is, as you already stated, on your credit report. You can pull it for free from the FTC's Credit Report website http://www.annualcreditreport.com. Near the top of your credit report, look for a section that says "Installment Loans", then immediately under that should be a section called "Open Accounts". Depending on which company the report is from, it might be under different headings, like "Loans in good standing" or simply "Account Summary".

Each loan you have will list the 'Account Name' (the company that owns your loan), the date opened, and the total amount of debt on the loan. If you see any listed there that you don't recognize, call the company who owns the loan, and they will be able to pull up your loan information and send it to you as necessary.

To help with reading your credit report, you may try looking through this: How to read your credit report - About.com

[disneysteve]

I would contact the financial aid office at your school. They should have a record of everything they received payments from.

[drsmith41]

Okay, I never even thought about calling the financial aid office. DisneySteve is an inspiration to me after seeing in another thread that he paid off over 100 grand in student loan debt. I'm not a doctor but I do have a decently high earning potential after a while. Until then, my wife and I net about 40k a year. I am only 25 though, patience, patience...

[Fizgig]

Here is the website for federal student loans. You'll have to create an online account and apply for a PIN. It's all referenced to your social security number, so don't worry about hunting for loan account numbers.

https://www.dl.ed.gov/borrower/BorrowerWelcomePage.jsp

That covers FEDERAL loans but not PRIVATE student loans if you have any. For those, like the others said, your credit report will tell the story.

Good luck - you can make it through!

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by drsmith41

DisneySteve is an inspiration to me after seeing in another thread that he paid off over 100 grand in student loan debt.

Thanks. And keep in mind that I graduated in 1990 when 100K was a lot of money.

The best advice I can give is to live as frugally as you can and devote every spare penny to getting rid of the debt.

[rachellazar85]

As stated above, i would contact your financial aid office to see what records they have. They will be able to point you in the right direction, and take care of all known and unknown loans you have.

[neguy11]

All FEDERAL student loans will be listed on NSLDS:

National Student Loan Data System for Students

All PRIVATE student loans will be listed on your credit report:

http://www.annualcreditreport.com

[justinblake]

Well, you really do have to trace up your loans to make sure they were really yours to begin with. But I say you just graduated and have some years to build up your finances and pay them off.

[whey2big4u]

check online to see if the company you took loans from has a website such as Direct Loans. You can log in and check to see every single loan you have taken out and the total along with the monthly payments