Comments on: Should you pay off your student loans?

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:26:16 +0000

Seems like this post is assuming that the debt in question is a joint debt. If you are solely liable for a debt (that is, no joint obligor, no guarantor or co-signer), once you die, the creditor has recourse ONLY against your estate. No one else has to pay your debt. This is true whether it’s student loans, a car loan, credit cards, etc.

By: The 149th Carnival Of Personal Finance Is Live | Girls Just Wanna Have Funds

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:35:00 +0000

[...] presents Should you Pay off your student Loans? – livingalmostlarge asks should you pay off your student loans? Or are they last on the list after [...]

By: Carnivals and linkage — Bumblefucked

Carnivals and linkage — Bumblefucked — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:57:39 +0000

[...] Should you Pay off your student Loans? [...]

By: 149th Carnival of Personal Finance - Chasing Dreams Edition | The Happy Rock

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:43:51 +0000

[...] presents Should you Pay off your student Loans? – livingalmostlarge asks should you pay off your student loans? Or are they last on the list after [...]

By: Lucy

Lucy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:28:32 +0000

I know it’s been a few days, but I thought I’d add this thought into the mix: Not all student loans are written off when you die. A good friend of mine took out both federal and private loans to go to her top choice school; unfortunately, she died last year in a car accident right as she was finishing up. Her federal loans were forgiven, but her private loans were not. Her mother has to make that payment every single month until they can pay it off. It devastates her over and over again.

By: dogatemyfinances

dogatemyfinances — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:19:42 +0000

I think it depends. I graduated with 80K in student loans. It was paralyzing to me. I thought about it all the time. I checked the website every day. It was more money than I could contemplate.

For me, I had to pay off that 80K for my own sanity. Oh, and many (but not all) private student loans do NOT go away when you die. I couldn’t get a straight answer out of dear old Sallie about mine.

By: Livingalmostlarge

Livingalmostlarge — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:17:47 +0000

Thanks, Nope the point is to not pay back the loan quickly. The point of the post, it is not a joke, is to pay off the mortgage, credit card debt, retirement, savings, and cars, etc first.

Student loans, especially large student loans should be last. Even after a mortgage. That way you’ve paid down more of the mortgage rather than an education which is of no use if you die.

Fabulous, I know you are single without a house. In that case perhaps it’s a better idea to pay off the student loan. However, how would you feel marrying an MD/JD with $200k in student loans? Would that be a goal to paydown before the mortgage, retirement, etc?

I’ll edit the post to say pay it off last.

By: Get Rich Or Die Trying » Blog Archive » Posts of Interest

Get Rich Or Die Trying » Blog Archive » Posts of Interest — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:32:08 +0000

[...] Should You Pay Off Your Student Loans? @ Living Almost Large – This post goes into detail about whether or not it is a good idea to pay off student loans or if it would be put to better use in an IRA or paying down a mortgage. [...]

By: Fabulously Broke

Fabulously Broke — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:38:16 +0000

Love the new layout btw..

As for not paying off loans…. I dunno. I feel weird having debt hanging over my head and I still do.. plus the interest that piles up for .. 10 years…. no, I can’t plan on dying in 10 years to clear everything…

wait was this a joke? LOL

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:03:36 +0000

The point was not to ever pay them off and defraud the lender, it was not to pay them off early.

And I think paying them off on schedule, as intended, is a fine way to go about it. We currently putting extra dollars to our car loan and then will pay extra on the small amount left of our student loans.

It really depends upon the situation.