Lower Interest Rates On Student Loans

If you’re a student, you’re probably dealing with a lot of debt. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Americans hold $1.5 trillion in student loans—more than they carry in credit card debt and auto loans combined. Fortunately for those burdened by their college degree (and its associated debt), there are ways to reduce your interest rate on federal student loans. Here are four programs that offer lower rates:

Income-Based Repayment

If you have federal student loans, you may qualify for an income-based repayment plan. This means that your student loan payments are capped at a percentage of your income, so you don’t have to worry about paying more than what you can afford. These plans also help students who took out too much student loan debt and need help paying it back.

To qualify for one of these plans, the graduate has to be employed full-time or be in school full-time. The graduate must not be in default on any loans he or she has received from the government (including federal loans). In addition, graduates must not have more than $30,000 total in federal student loans outstanding at the time they apply for one of these programs; otherwise they will not qualify for IBR at all.[1] Graduate students who only attended part time during their undergraduate studies do not have an upper limit on how much debt they can carry over into an IBR plan either.[2]

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

If you’re a public servant, there’s good news. You may be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). If so, your federal student loans will be forgiven after 10 years of qualifying payments. That means that if you’re in the program now, it could take less than two full years until your debt is wiped clean!

To qualify for PSLF you must work full-time as an employee of a government organization or non-profit charitable or religious organization. Your employer must sign up with FedLoan Servicing to participate in the program and submit an Employer Certification Form stating that they are covered by Title 38 of United States Code Section 3702(c)(1) (a) through (k). In addition to this requirement, borrowers must make 120 monthly payments on their Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans while also having received a disbursement on their FFEL PLUS/FFEL Consolidation loans since October 1st 2007. Once these requirements are met, borrowers will receive all remaining eligible loan amounts (both subsidized and unsubsidized) forgiven tax free under PSLF after making the 120th payment under an income driven repayment plan such as PAYE or IBR plan type at any time during their employment term with a qualifying employer . This means after 10 years worth of payments made towards your student loans during which time those funds have been deducted from your paycheck automatically every month without fail .

Refinancing

If you’re not eligible for income-based repayment, there’s another option that can help you save money on your student loans. Refinancing is when you combine all of your existing federal student loans into one new loan. It essentially means that instead of paying several different lenders, you’ll be paying just one lender—and that lender usually has a lower interest rate than the original lenders.

There are two ways to refinance: through a marketplace or directly with an education loan company. Both methods have their pros and cons; it depends on what kind of borrower you are and what kind of repayment plan works best for your situation.

Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program

The Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program (TLFP) is a federal program that forgives student loans for teachers working in low-income schools and subjects. To be eligible, you must have been employed full time as an elementary or secondary school teacher for five complete consecutive years. This includes public, private, religious, or homeschool teachers. You’ll have to prove this employment by providing your employer’s name and contact information to your loan servicer.

You may also be eligible if you are currently enrolled in a teacher certification program; however, only individuals who received their original teacher certification prior to 2004 will qualify through this option (those who started before January 1st of that year).

If you think you might qualify for TLFP but are unsure how much of your loans will be forgiven or when exactly they’ll be forgiven—and whether it’s worth waiting around—you can read more about what happens after the deadline passes here: https://studentaid.edgov/sa/repay-loans/forgive-student#tlp

You can reduce your interest rate.

You can reduce your interest rate. The federal government is allowing borrowers to lower their monthly payments by consolidating their loans, which reduces the number of bills they have to pay each month.

Additionally, there are a lot of other ways to save money on student loans. Interest rates are lower than they have been in a long time and private lenders are competing with the federal government for business. This means that you could save thousands of dollars by refinancing or consolidating your existing debts into new loans with better terms and conditions.

These are just some of the options available to you if you want a lower student loan interest rate. There are many more, so do your research and find one that works for you!