Let’s talk about Student Loan Hero — and no, this isn’t a new (and horrifying) Marvel movie. It’s a fintech company whose goal is simple: help you manage, track and eliminate your student loan debt. Pretty heroic, right?
Student loans are such a big part of our millennial money lives that it makes sense for companies to try to help us handle them. Student Loan Hero tackles the problem from three different angles: it helps you figure out all the numbers, it helps you figure out the best course of action for your student loans and it’s got a calculator for everything.
How do I figure out the numbers?
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to connect all of your loans to your Student Loan Hero account.
That’s right: No more logging into five different places to check up on your current balances. Just connect your loans and Student Loan Hero will show you how many loans you have, what the total balance is when you add them all together, and what the average interest rate is on your loans.
If you’ve never added up your total loan balance, you may need a drink for that part, but knowing is always better than not knowing. You’ll also be able to easily see how much your total monthly payment is, which should help answer the “But where does all my money go?!” question for you.
What’s the best way to handle your student loans?
You’d be forgiven for thinking that “Always refinance! Interest rates!” was the name of the student loan game right now, but sometimes sticking with your current loans really is your best bet.
The best way to handle your loans really comes down to you: Specifically, what type of loans you have, what your current financial situation is and what your goals are. Student Loan Hero helps walk you through that process using actual data from your loans.
Once you’ve got everything connected, you can use their tools to DIY a custom loan repayment plan that works for your life. If you’ve got federal loans, Student Loan Hero might suggest looking at income-based repayment plans for which you qualify. If you’re rocking a high-interest rate private loan, they might point you in the direction of refinancing to save more money.
This is where those calculators come in handy
It’s not always crystal clear whether refinancing or increasing your monthly loan payments is going to be a good move financially. If you’re not up to doing the mental math after finding out how much you really owe across all of your loans, don’t worry. Student Loan Hero built calculators for almost every student loan situation out there.
And I do mean every situation.
They’ve got calculators to help you figure out:
- Loan prepayment
- Loan refinancing
- Public service loan forgiveness
- Income-based repayment
- Monthly payments
- Deferment
- Interest deductions
Yeah, I’d say they have you covered on the math front.
One of the best parts about using these calculators is the sheer motivation it can provide. If you’ve been waffling about sending an extra $25 to your loans every month, just pop over to their prepayment calculator.
If you owe $35,000 at 5.7 percent interest, and you currently pay $300 a month toward your loan, you could save $1,860 in interest over the course of your loan by upping your monthly payment by $25.
You’ll also pay off your loan a full 1.5 years early, and you can’t tell me that 1.5 years of loan freedom isn’t going to feel amazing. All that for the low cost of skipping one happy hour with friends sounds pretty good to me.
It’s not just about the numbers
At the end of the day, student loans are a bundle of both numbers and feelings. Paying off your debt is hard, no matter what situation you’re in, and sometimes you need a bit more information or a bit more help when you’re staring at your six-figure loan balance and crying into a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. (That can’t be just me.)
Student Loan Hero gets that, and they’ve got a whole blog chock full of resources to help you with everything from making more money to comprehensive reviews of banks and lenders. They’ve even got you covered on the feelings side, with pieces like this recent feature on how “shoulds” can lure us all into massive amounts of debt.
They know you can tackle this stuff with a bit of help, and crush your student loan debt like a champion, or … dare I say it … a Student Loan Hero. (Groan.)
This article was originally featured on GenFKD.org
Photo by CollegeDegrees360