If you’ve graduated or otherwise finished your college education, you’re facing repayment of your student loans. Once your six month grace period is over, you must begin making payments. But you’ve probably got lots of questions about the best way to repay your loans, and especially how much the payments will be and how much it will cost over the life of the loan. This is where a student loan repayment calculator can be very helpful. Fortunately, there are lots of Internet sites that contain student loan repayment calculators. Many of these sites are loaded with other information, too, such as federal student loan forgiveness, payment options, and suggestions for working with your loan provider in the event of financial hardship.
Not Just Student Loans
YouCanDealWithIt.com has a variety of calculators, including a student loan repayment calculator, that can help you get on top of your financial situation. In addition to the repayment calculator, they also offer a budgeting tool (very important to help you know what you can afford), an interest savings calculator to show you how much you can save by making early or extra interest payments on your loan, a grace period calculator (you can save tons of money by making non-mandatory payments during your post-graduation grace period), and a consolidation calculator that lets you figure out how to save money by consolidating your student loans into a single master loan. The student loan repayment calculator at this site is geared toward the level repayment option that most people use.
Ask the Government!
The official U.S. Federal Student Loan site, www.ed.gov, offers lots of useful information (especially for Stafford loans), including a student loan repayment calculator. They also feature calculators for standard, extended, income contingent, and graduated repayment plans. Everything you need to compare the various plans, all in one place! Not only that, but there are also tons of links for information on avoiding default, special forbearance and deferment options for persons in hardship situations, information on current interest rates, and loads of helpful background information on the federal student loan programs.
Versatile Tools
Www.FinAid.org has a handy student loan repayment calculator that can also be used to figure your car payment, mortgage, or other monthly payments you might be thinking about. It won’t help you with graduated repayment or income contingent repayment plans, but for standard repayment and lots of other practical uses, this is a good tool to use.