questions about repaying student loans?
I got a stafford subsidized student loan from wachovia for college this year. It’s my first student loan so I’m not exactly sure how this whole process works.
1.Could I start making some payments on it while I’m still in school instead of waiting until I’m graduated so I won’t have to pay so much back (I’ll probably need like another $8,000 by the time I graduate)?
2. If I can how do I know where to send my payments to?
3. How can I pay it back like with a money order, check, etc?
4. Right now my loan is for $4,500 (my interest rate is 5.6%) is that all I owe or will the amount go up some because of interest and/or fees?
I’m not positive about all of your questions, but I hope what I do know will help!
You can definitely start making payments early, but the total cost depends if you signed for the whole amount with interest, or if the interest will only add up depending on how long it takes you to repay the loan. For example, you said your loan is for $4,500. It is possible that you will only owe 4500 if you pay it back by the day you graduate, and that the interest will take effect afterwards–so the faster you pay, the less you pay. But it is also possible that you signed for the whole amount (if you selected a certain amount of time to pay off the loan) then the interest might be added into the total already (you’ll have to look at your statement). It all depends on what you signed.
If you go to a Wachovia branch and talk to a manager or the “information” guys, I’m sure they could give you all of the details about your loan, or at least tell you where you could get the information.
I’m sure that Wachovia doesn’t care how you pay it back, as long as you pay it back. I would suggest a check or money order just so that you can keep a paper trail of what you’ve paid off, in case some dummy “misplaces” your money. Believe me, it happens all the time.
Depending on your loan agreement you can find out if your interest will go up or not. One of the Wachovia guys will probably be able to help you with that as well.
I’d bet you can find out a lot of the specifics about your loan on their web site, too
Hope that helped! Good luck!
