Help! $47,000 student loan advice

[henrybemis]

Hi All,

I'm currently paying off a $47,000 student loan. I'm 35 and the interest is 6.50%. Do you have any advice on how I could pay it off quicker (of course pay more of a monthly payment). Or should I continue as is. Right now I can only afford $325 per month although I hope to increase it to $500 with a part time job.

I've seen plenty of books on getting out of credit card debt but I haven't seen too many about getting out of student loan debt (maybe that would be in the 'dummies' section .

I'm frugal with my money and looking for a couple of better jobs but would like any advice or response on this. I hate debt and hate college loans. I didn't know better then but now I do. Thanks.
hb

[akaivyleaf]

Thinking back to my days of a student loan, I think you have one time to ask for your interest rate to be lowered. I forget the terminology for this with the Student Loan people, but you might want to look into refinancing at a lower rate. Then, you just have to go at the debt with both barrels and any extra money you can throw its way is what you need to do. However if you're a believer in good debt vs bad debt, student loans are considered in the good debt category. A positive payment history on them is looked at as good.

[2moretrees]

I think you need to tackle it exactly the way you have been if the student loans are all at the same rate and one single loan. If there are several different loans, then you can take a credit card approach and pay toward the one with the highest interest first oe the one with the lowest balance.

[MrsChambers]

have you consolidated?

I think that you could get a better rate then 6.5%!!!

Yes, if you haven't consolidated I heartily recommend it. I shopped around and finally did it. I have a 3.85% rate!