debt-repayment

Student Loan Repayment Guide: Plans, Forgiveness, and Payoff Strategies

A student loan repayment calculator estimates your monthly payment, total interest, and payoff date based on your loan balance, interest rate, and repayment plan. On a standard 10-year plan, a $35,000 federal loan at 6.53% costs $397/month and $12,680 in total interest — but income-driven plans can reduce payments to as low as $150/month, with remaining balances forgiven after 20-25 years. Use our Student Loan Calculator(/finance/student-loan-calculator) to model different scenarios. Consider a representative case: spending the first three years after college making minimum payments on $42,000 in student loans without exploring other options. Comparing repayment plans later reveals that an income-driven plan could have saved $340/month during the low-income years — roughly $12,000 overpaid simply from not knowing what was available. This is why every borrower should run the numbers before choosing a plan. !Student loan repayment plans compared showing Standard, Graduated, Extended, and SAVE/IBR plans with monthly payments and...