Originally Posted by
TallFlyer
If you know how loans work that makes zero sense. If you look on Sallie Mae's website they'll tell you that interest accrues daily. So unless they're banking your extra payments and applying it towards later, not yet accrued interest (spoiler alert: they're not), any additional amount above the interest portion of you payment gets applied to principal.
https://www.salliemae.com/student-lo...ng-off-a-loan/
Sallie Mae: How To Apply Payment To Principal - Graduating in Debt
Google "Amortization Schedule." Bottom line, your payment is allocated to varying amounts of principal and interest across the life of the loan. You do pay more in interest earlier in the life of the loan, but anything extra above your calculated payment should be applied to principal.
Yep. From what I've heard, if you pay more than your monthly payment, Sallie Mae will apply the extra amount them to future payments. If you want them to apply the extra money to principal you have to call them and specifically ask for it. They are obviously not gonna make it easy for you to pay down your balance as quickly as possible.
Also, depending on your interest rate, refinancing might be a good option for a lot of people. I couldn't get a cosigner when I first applied for my Sallie Mae loan so my rate was a ridiculous 10%. A few months after finishing flight training and getting my first job, I was able to refinance it at about 6% with another bank.