3 commentsby Tricia
Weekends are usually quiet around here, so I decided to fiddle around a bit and install a new template. It turns out there are a few bugs that I have to work out, so please excuse the dust. 🙂
9 commentsby Tricia
A reader emailed me with a question and asked for my thoughts and for yours as well.
“I am in the process of paying off my $5k in credit cards, (almost half done)…I made the mistake (I was ignorant at the time about money) of taking loans out for personal expenses, like my apartment and living money [while a student], with Sallie Mae as a private loan. Now I have 22k with them (the rest with Direct Loan) with 13% interest. Has anyone else made that mistake? What’s the best way to get this interest rate down?”
First of all, congrats for cutting your credit card debt in half!
As for lowering the interest rate, I’ve never worked with Sallie Mae so I’m not sure if you would have any negotiating power when it comes to the interest rate. One of my thoughts is to do a balance transfer to your credit card to get the rate lowered. BUT, there are a lot of unknowns that come with credit cards so you have to make that decision very carefully. If you miss a payment, the whole plan can backfire on you.
Another option is to try for a different personal loan to pay off the Sallie Mae loan. I’ve heard good things about credit unions so maybe that is an option. There is also Prosper.com, but the last I checked there is a bit of apprehension by some of the lenders over there.
Anyone else have any suggestions?
