Are you having trouble paying your student loans? The government has numerous different schemes to either defer, reduce, or forbear student loans. However, it is important that you evaluate your lifestyle before you opt for one of these options. The government doesn’t just hand these out but rather takes a look at your lifestyle to truly determine if you can’t pay the student loans. So if you have a lavish lifestyle but just don’t save enough money to pay your loans, chances are your request will be declined. We have some option of schemes for you to consider along with who can apply for them.

Consolidation of student loan

Student loan consolidation is a great option available to private student loans. The option is not great for federal students because it results in them leaving a lot of the benefits they have on the table from their loan, so we recommend you don’t opt for this option. By consolidating your student loans what you do is your request for a lower interest rate on the loan. While it reduces your monthly payments, it may slightly stretch the term of the payments. You can be smart about this to truly reap the benefits, you can request a shorter term of repayment.

Forbearance

This option is available for both federal and private students on their loan. If you are having trouble paying back your student loans then you can use forbearance as the last option. You will need to talk to your lender when you are having a hard time paying back the loans. This will notify them to not put the loan on default which can actually end up costing you more. While this isn’t the option for reducing student loans, it is helpful so that the loan doesn’t accumulate even more.

Pay before the payment term ends

There is numerous loan agreement that actually provides a grace period for you to pay back. During this period, interest isn’t applied to the loan. An example of this type of loan is the Perkins Loan. So if you pay during your college years and within the grace period after college, you can save quite a lot on the loan repayment. This is for any type of student loan, it just depends on the loan lender.

Loan Forgiveness

If you work in the public sector, government or not-for-profit, then you can apply for loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. You have to be a full-time employee and a certain amount of loan will be forgiven. It usually means that the amount after your 120th payment will be forgiven.

Student loans don’t have to be a burden if you take the right approach to them. It is understandable that with the current job market, it isn’t easy to find a job right after you graduate. That is why there are numerous different ways you can either defer or reduce your student loan repayment so that it is slightly easier on you. You just need to know how to approach it.