Sunday, March 25th, 2007...8:13 pm

Make Micropayments to Sallie Mae: Get Out of Debt

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I stumbled across the 3 Things About Money blog today and I found the author’s post about how she sends micropayments each Friday to Sallie Mae. These payments are made based on whatever she can pull together.

Pulling together one dollar a month extra (204 dollars total over the life of the loan) and paying it to principal saves me 2 months of payoff, netting a $710.13 savings. Just for squeezing out four quarters a month. Noodling up an extra 50 bucks a month makes a huge difference. I intend to pay this off by September 1, 2008 and the journey so far has been intense. But even if I don’t make it, I will be leaps ahead, and will save thousands of dollars for the effort. Makes doing without take out coffee, selling off old textbooks, and scrounging change worth it.

Check out her site for information on calculators and the decreased life of her loan based on even 1 dollar more per month.

Micropay Your Way To Student Loan Freedom

A recent follow up on Micropayments to Sallie Mae

13 Comments

Filed under Loan Advice, Loan Links, Sallie Mae

13 Comments

  • 3 Things About Money
    March 25th, 2007 at 8:37 pm

    Hey, thanks for the shoutout! When I get back from my little trip, I will add your blog to my links. I’ll tell you how to do the meters then too. Love the title of your blog.

  • Vic
    March 29th, 2007 at 12:56 pm

    Hey,

    I used to work at Sallie Mae in a customer service call center. Whenever I had a call with a person who expressed despair and doubting ever seeing the loans paid off, I would suggest this strategy to them - except I suggested once every two weeks, but the principal is the same.

    Basically, your interest builds up daily based on your principle balance (the actual money you originally borrowed). If you make these small payments more frequently than once a month like you are required, you are getting rid of that interest and a chunk of principle - reducing the amount of interest that builds up before your next payment. Ergo, your next payment goes more towards what you actually borrowed and less towards what they charge you. Keep it up and you’ll pay off debt like this 75% times faster.

    This strategy works with credit cards too!

  • smithj
    March 29th, 2007 at 1:08 pm

    Vic, Thanks for the info!

  • Alex
    May 16th, 2007 at 6:55 pm

    Thanks for this info! I’m eager to ditch this albatross called Sallie Mae ASAP.

  • lynda
    September 7th, 2007 at 11:50 pm

    Okay, I’m a little freak out. I just got a letter from AES claiming that Sallie Mae consolidated my student loans. I’ve never talked to a Sallie Mae representative, I usually hang up on them when they call. I’ve never signed any documents that would suggest I would consolidate with them. I don’t understand how they can do that to me. Does Sallie Mae do this often?

  • Cynthia
    November 28th, 2007 at 11:46 pm

    Thanks for creating this site. My husband now owes more to Sallie Mae than he did originally, thanks to his 16.25% interest rate and their incompetence and greed. We’re drowning. You’ve given me a little hope though.

  • Christopher Zeman
    December 13th, 2007 at 1:17 pm

    That is awesome advice, Vic. Thank you!

    I’ve been doing that with my credit cards automatically through my bank’s online bill-payment system. I started doing that just because it was easier to budget those bills per check rather than per month. I should start doing that with the rest of my bills. :)

    Chris

  • cayenne
    December 13th, 2007 at 3:43 pm

    Thanks for the link, but it leads to a private blog. How do I go about getting an invitation?

    Thanks,
    Cayenne

  • joe perez
    December 18th, 2007 at 2:29 pm

    The interest rate is insane. And the late fees are silly.

    Sallie Mae wants people to default. That is where they make more money.

  • mel
    January 23rd, 2008 at 1:43 am

    …what if i cnt even send them the min,? should i just send my $5 a month and hope it adds up? i have good intentions to try to pay this loan back but seriously it will take me till im about 89 years old p.s. im 26 now HELP

  • smithj
    January 23rd, 2008 at 8:27 am

    You should call and see if you can get a forbearance or work out a smaller minimum. Simply sending less will not absolve you from late fees and credit damage.

  • Angie
    March 3rd, 2008 at 5:26 pm

    Those bastards from Sallie f***** Mae had the gall to send me a letter in regards to a complaint I made on the BBB.org website
    Those turkeys were the ones to keep me upset by sending me delinquent notices everytime I paid through their stupid website, but they don’t seem to do that when I mail them a freakin check. I don’t know what their problem is. Anyway, I didn’t even read the letter they sent as I opened the letter just a bit to see that their stupid letter was regarding the BBB complaint. How dare them!!! Who do they freakin think they are!!? They better NOT ever harass me again

  • roxanne_ artuz@yahoo.com
    April 27th, 2008 at 11:21 am

    help my mother sign a loan for my daughter about 10 year ago. she just did not understand the ramifications of her doing. my daughter hide all the notice and took off. now my mother whos 63 years old shi live on a fix income is being sued. they even froze her 300.00 from her checking account for this mothers rent. sallie mae really believe she has money. how can they destory peoples lives like this.

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