Nelnet student loans wont do principal only payments?

[Permanent Temp]

While I was checking out what I should do about my debts I spoke to a Nelnet rep online (which is where my federal loans were transferred to) and they told me that to them there is no such thing as a principal only payment and that any money they get even if I applied it to a specific group would be applied to the interest left first so I should just make any extra payments online instead of sending in a check marked principal only.

Has anyone else had this answer from Nelnet or is this a misinformed agent?

And if it is true then is the only recourse I'd have to just make my payment as early as possible in the month to ensure its applied mostly to the principal?

[Permanent Temp]

I just looked at the FAQ's and totally answered my own question. Sorry guys. I'll read before asking next time!

[edg126]

Nelnet was always confusing to me with things like that. I hated how it would deduct the principle then push back the due date. I had to call a few times to doubly confirm. However when it comes to being paid in full they are much easier than aes with notifying final amount and confirmation. I paid off all of mine and my wife's undergrad and grad loans earlier this year (we are 31). Feels great to be done

[Permanent Temp]

My government loans got sent to them. My first payment was about 250 after it came out of deferment this time. So I fixed the payment to a little over 250 and each month the payment due has been dropping but I keep paying them 250.

After reading your post I checked to see if they were doing the same to me but it seems that they are applying the overage to interest on one of the loans as the amount I paid out equals the amount that they applied for the month and the due date never goes up. Right now I have an extra 35 being paid in over what the payment currently is and it just keeps dropping. It looks like that is going well so I'm happy that that is taking care of itself while I'm off paying off my credit cards. I hope one day I'll get a full-time job so I can keep paying off my debts.

[stoney508]

I actually have to figure this out because I maybe cashing out some investments to pay down one of my loans through nelnet and am kinda debating if I just put the whole amount to all my loans through nelnet or send it in to pay off one specific loan. It will be after my private student loan is paid for so I could then add about 100 each month to my payments. I just wish I knew what to do with that and how my extra payments would be distributed.

[edg126]

Online payments you can specify what loan to pay down if you want. Otherwise I think it does it as a % of each type. I paid paid down non subsidized first. If saved me a little when I was in grad school and the subsidized was tax deferred, and plus it was the smaller amount owed on it.

[stoney508]

Im running into problems with that because I can only pay to certain groups of loans and there is 2 loans in each group one low interest rate the other higher and by selecting a certain group and paying extra you move the due date back and I have tried to not do that by selecting the box they provide but it still moved the due date back

[Permanent Temp]

I'll have to watch out for that when I get to the point that I can make extra payments. This has been enlightening.

[mbell624]

I actually have to figure this out because I maybe cashing out some investments to pay down one of my loans through nelnet and am kinda debating if I just put the whole amount to all my loans through nelnet or send it in to pay off one specific loan. It will be after my private student loan is paid for so I could then add about 100 each month to my payments. I just wish I knew what to do with that and how my extra payments would be distributed.

Payments are applied to fees (if applicable), then interest then principal. You can definitely make a large payment to go to your whole account or just to one specific loan. The difference in how it would affect your balance is if you just have your lump sum applied to the whole account it would advance your due date, meaning you wouldn't have anything required of you for a number of months, but interest does accrue on these accounts daily. If you go that route I would recommend still making your regular monthly payments.

If you choose to make a payment to pay off a specific loan it would reduce your monthly payment by eliminating a loan that you would have to pay on. .

As long as you continue to make your regular payment if you choose to make the payment to the entire account, both options would save you money.

[stoney508]

I currenlty have auto pay set up and I do not want to advance my payments I would want to probably pay down a single loan. The problem I have is they are in groups. One group has 2 loans in it with a payment of 57 a month and the totals are I believe something like 1500 and the other 1200 I want to pay the 1200 off but I do not believe it will reduce my monthly payment. At least that is the way it looks. I never have fee's so my payment goes to interest then principle but I have had it in the past just push my due date further back which just bothers me. I have to contact them when I get to that point im waiting for my next statement for my mutual fund to get an idea of were it is at.

[choz3n24]

Nelnet Quick Pay-off

You can always pay more than the minimum due with no penalty. Per regulations, all payments are applied to fees first, then interest, and finally principal unless your current repayment plan is Income-Based Repayment. In this situation, your payments would first be applied to interest, then to fees, and finally to principal.

When you pay more than the minimum due, then you've covered future payments (called paid ahead), and your due date may advance more than one month. Any payments you make while paid ahead are still applied to your account as we receive them, which means you pay your loan balance down faster!

If you have paid ahead, not only will you pay down your debt quicker, saving you money in the long run, but your due date advances, leaving you some time to catch up on other bills if you find yourself falling behind