Is there a way to lower your student loan payments?
Are your student loan payments making it hard to pay your other bills? Is there anything you can do to get some relief? On this Queer Money podcast, we tackle several ways to lower student loan payments. Break the cycle faster by getting the 5 Building Blocks of a Happy Gay Life here.
LGBTQ folks take on more student loan debt!
On average, LGBTQ college graduates have $16,000 more in student loan debt than the general population. And graduates with student loan debt are 60% more likely to have credit card debt too, according to a 2018 survey conducted by Student Loan Hero.
So, what can we do to pay off our student loans faster—or maybe even have them forgiven?
Listen to this week’s podcast for solutions:
Student Loan Payment Options
Howard Dvorkin is the Chairman of Debt.com, an educational platform and news site dedicated to helping people eliminate consumer debt. He is also the author of two books, Credit Hell: How to Dig Out of Debt and Power Up: Taking Charge of Your Financial Destiny.
On this episode of Queer Money, Howard joins us to explain what it means to consolidate your student loan debt and why now is a good time to do so.
He shares the difference between federal and private student loans, introducing us to the government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness or PSLF program and describing how to lower your interest rate on bank loans.
Listen in to understand why those of you on income-based repayment plans should still check into student loan debt consolidation and find out how where to go for help navigating the process!
Topics covered
- What it means to consolidate your student loan debt
- The difference between federal student loans and private student loans
- How people who work for nonprofits and government agencies can register to eliminate their federal student loan debt at the end of 10 years
- Where to go for help with student loan debt consolidation
- How to consolidate private student loan debt and lower your interest rate
- Why now is a good time to consolidate private student loan debt
- Why Howard doesn’t advise consolidating government and private student loans together
- How Debt.com helps you navigate the student loan debt consolidation process
- Why you should still check into student loan debt consolidation even if you’re on an income-based repayment plan or part of the PSLF program
Resources on student loan payment reduction
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
- Student Loan Hero Study on LGBTQ Student Loan Debt
- Credit Hell: How to Dig Out of Debt by Howard Dvorkin
- Power Up: Taking Charge of Your Financial Destiny by Howard Dvorkin
- Credit Card Pay Off Plan
- Filing for Bankruptcy on Queer Money EP226
- Debt Settlement on Queer Money EP238
- Debt Management on Queer Money EP258
- CreditWise
- Debt Free Guys on Facebook
- Debt Free Guys on Twitter
- Queer Money Facebook Group
- Queer Money on Instagram
- Subscribe on iTunes
- Email [email protected]
Previous 3 Podcast Episodes
- Geekstreamers are Gay Nomads!
- What’s LGBTQ Financial Independence?
- The Power in Aligning Our Values and Standards
We’re David and John Auten-Schneider, the Debt Free Guys (www.debtfreeguys.com) and hosts of the Queer Money® podcast. We help queer people (and allies) live fabulously not fabulously broke by helping them 1) pay off credit card debt, 2) become part- or full-time entrepreneurs and 3) save and invest for retirement.