There are a lot of ways to repay a student loan, but with out a doubt, the most important thing you can do, is simply pay it back. No matter what type of payment plan you have, just pay it back and save yourself a load of worry and angry creditors.
First thing you are going to get is your monthly bill. Truly you should never have to go past this step here. If you need to then set up an automatic debt payment plan to help you remember month after month.
You will continue receiving delinquent letters after the first bill statement for a while. Then eventually you are going to get a phone call in a couple weeks and this can be damaging to your ego because they can be an angry call at times.
Eventually after five or six months you will get a final letter that will demand you to pay back the loan or there will be a default claim on your loan. This isn't good because this is where they bring the guys who play hard ball with you until you pay up.
A guaranty agency will now have responsibility with your negligence and you need to negotiate some deal with them in the next two months or you are going to be in trouble. They will alert the national credit bureaus and then your future with credit will go down the drain.
This whole situation can get so bad that the federal government can stretch their long arms of justice into your paycheck and take some of it out until you have paid your debts back. The best way to handle all of this is to pay your debts and simply contact your lender if you have an issue in the first place.
You can pay in several ways such as standard pay where you make larger payments on a monthly basis to tackle a good portion of the debt and have a smaller interest. This is nice because it means you can have that loan taken care of in 10 years or less.
Next is the income-based payment where you have a commissioned based or seasonal job that is going to require you to pay more in some months based on your income and less in others. Think of this like taxes where the better checks get the bigger bites taken out of them by the government.
The graduated payment plan is a gradual increase for those that have to work their way up the corporate ladder and expect to be making a good income in a 5-10 years hopefully. This will allow you to pay off in 15 to 30 years depending on how fast you move up the chain.
The final option is long-term payment where you plan on being broke for a while and making small payments. This is going to require you to pay the most interest with the worst rates. Try to avoid this for your future retirement's sake.
