How to Avoid Paying High Interest Rates on Your Student Loans for College

How to Avoid Paying High Interest Rates on Your Student Loans for College

When I first went to college, I took out several student loans. These were called Stafford loans and after I finished my two year degree I ended up having to pay them back at a very high interest rate. Here's how you can avoid paying high interest rates for your college education.
I remember sitting in front of my counselor at my college when they initially told me that it was a bad idea to take out student loans for all of my college education. I was destitute at the time and I was able to get Pell Grant and the Stafford loan so that I could continue to take care of myself.

Years later, once I had completed my Associates degree, I had to pay back all of my student loans. Of course, there is a nine-month waiting period, but I have not found a job in order to begin paying the loans back in a timely manner.

It was at this point I realized that I had done a couple things wrong after I had left college.

First of all, there were several people that offered to refinance my loan that were reputable companies. I did not take the time to do this. Today, most loans are sold without the student actually having a choice as to whether or not the new company should hold their note.

If this had been the case for me, I would have had a much lower interest rate and would have been much happier but in the end I found a way to pay all of them off. Unfortunately, the higher interest rate could have been avoided if I had simply refinance my loan using the people that had offered to do it for free in the first place.

Second, my largest mistake was not going back to school and finishing my bachelor's degree after I had finished my Associates degree. By waiting more than nine months, I ended up having to pay back my loans at a higher interest rate and could have have been deferred as I earned my bachelor's.

If you have any intention of going to college and earning a bachelor's degree or even higher, make sure you do this synchronously so that there are in between the times that you take out student loans and going to school.

With the interest rates as low as they are today, he would be in your best interest to find out if you can stop paying the high interest rates that you may be paying right now and refinance them for a lower monthly premium. Avoid these mistakes that I made, and you will have more money every month in your bank account.