The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Saving Money With Personal Loans
As the old saying goes, if I knew then what I know now, I probably would have saved a lot more money. In this case, I am referring to my student loans. I went to a community college and was able to graduate with no debt. For the next two years, for my Bachelors degree, I decided to go to Loyola University Chicago.
Of course, out of pocket, I could have never afforded it, but they were the university that offered me the most amount in scholarship money, and so I made my choice to go there. While I have no regrets and I would probably do it all over again if given the choice, I managed to graduate with $40,000 in student loans.
I utilized the 6-month grace period, as I was living in another country volunteering my time and teaching English, but was not making any money doing so. It was time to get serious and pay my student loans, so I moved back home, and found a job. I was making $12 an hour and sending almost $1,200 to $1,500 a month towards my student loans. Lucky for me, my mom charged me very little rent during the brief period I was living at home, which afforded me to do that.
My loans had been consolidated from Sallie Mae and Chase to Nelnet, who was charging me around 7% in interest every month. I assumed this was how it had to be and there was no way out of it, other than to pay whatever I could every month. Little did I know I could have probably re-financed for as low as 3% which would have probably saved me thousands of dollars. Eventually, I did pay off my student loans, but I can imagine all the money I could have saved had I just known that I could have refinanced them.
What is refinancing and what can it do for you? Basically, refinancing is another company that agrees to buy your debt, usually at lower interest, and you will now pay them what you owe. I have since done this for several things, including personal loans and credit cards and this has helped me save tens of thousands of dollars over the course of years. Rather than paying 25% APR for a credit card, I would pay 0% for a certain amount of months. On other loans, instead of having 25% 23% 20% 19% 16% APRs, I can consolidate everything into a 10% personal loan. This saves money and helps you get your budget in order.
I recently reached out to SoFi loans and took out another loan. As I had the APRs listed above, I was able to consolidate a personal loan from them for 10% APR, and as long as I pay a few hundred dollars above the minimum, I will save a lot of money in the long run. Instead of paying $20,000 in interest, I will now only pay about half that. If you find yourself in debt and are unsure about what to do, there are companies out there that can help you. They will gladly buy your debt at lower interest and you can pay them and save more money in the long run.
I highly recommend SoFi personal loans and student loans, and if you join through the link on this page, they will credit your account with $100 on approval which should cover your first month’s interest, depending on how much you borrowed. That might not sound like a lot, but SoFi is giving you $100 for free if you take out a personal loan with them. Who else is going to give you $100 for free? Obviously, if you do not need to do so, you should not take out any loans, but if you find yourself in a bit of a financial heap, personal loans and student loans at a lower interest can certainly help.
If you have a bit more debt than you can handle, consider taking out a personal loan, using that money to buy all your credit card debt and other debt, and budgeting so you are just paying one company every month. It will make your life easier, prevent some major headaches, and save you money in the long run. Whatever your loan is, you will always need to pay it back, so depending on what amount you take out, make sure it goes to where it needs to go. This money is not for gambling or financing your addiction. It is not free money. It is a company offering to help you out and pay for your high interest loans. Be grateful companies like SoFi exist to help you get out of your financial rut. Good luck and looking forward to seeing you debt free!
