Although President Obama signed the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2015 this year, making student loans easier to get, the relief from payments only kicks in after 10 years. So, if you haven’t hit that benchmark yet, you still have to make your monthly payments or risk damaging your credit. That’s why it’s more important than ever to get your finances under control to make those payments until you reach the forgiveness point. And if you’re anything like me, student loans aren’t the only debt you carry.
But I’m not worried about making my student loan payments anymore because I got help with my other debt, and you can too. All it takes is a bit of budgeting, organization, and a phone call to the right people.
Analyzing Your Budget
The first thing you need to do is review your income and expenses. Are you making enough money to pay all your bills? If not, you have to either increase your income or decrease your expenses. Even if the money you bring in pays everything you owe monthly, if you don’t have anything in savings or money set aside for investing, you’re still behind. That’s because you can’t get out of the debt cycle of owing banks and paying interest until you put a dent in your loans. So, reduce or eliminate unnecessary expenses from your budget, and increase your income by requesting a raise or picking up a side hustle.
Also, take a look at your debt. Besides your student loans, if you carry credit card debt, you need to eliminate it because it’s the enemy of your financial growth. Making the minimum payment on multiple credit cards not only drains your money but it keeps you on a debt treadmill where you barely get past the interest to pay down the bottom line. Before you know it, those $200 worth of groceries you had to charge end up costing you 5 times as much, depending on your interest rate.
But there is something you can do to solve that problem. You can look into debt consolidation and free up your money so you can easily make your student loan payments, just like me.
Looking Into Debt Consolidation
I contacted Brice Capital, they looked at my eligible credit card debt, and offered to roll all those obligations into a single debt consolidation loan. It might not have decreased the amount I owe overall, but it reduced three minimum payments down to one smaller one. That allowed me to redirect the money I usually pay toward my credit cards to my student loan debt, which made my life a lot easier.
If you’re looking for a way to get ahead and pay down your debts for good, you should give them a call and see what they can do for you.
Getting Ahead and Staying Ahead
A debt consolidation company can only do so much when it comes to your budget, and the rest is up to you. Using credit cards to make ends meet or buy that brand new tv you just have to have after you clear your credit card balances, will land you in the same place you are today. What you want to do is work with a balanced budget, ensuring your income always covers your expenses by revisiting your budget every few months and making adjustments where necessary. If you want that tv, save for it. Once you end the debt cycle, you want it gone for good.
When you set yourself on a clear path to living debt-free, you want to stay on that path so you can eventually grow your wealth through investing. Doing that will make your money to work for you and relieve the money stress that we all feel at one time or another.
