If you’re new to Money Manifesto, in December 2012 we decided it was time to open up to you, my readers, and shared our very first debt update.
Wow, time flies. I can’t believe it has been a month already since our last debt update. I’m happy to report that we’ve had another awesome month in our quest to destroy my wife’s student loans.
Tori has been working in her new job now for about a month. It helps that her new, higher hourly rate allows us to put more money in our monthly extra debt payments.
Other than that, we’ve just been watching the interest payments shrink as we pay more principal off. It is an amazing feeling and we can finally see the end of the student loan debt quest just a little bit further down the road.
Enough talk, time to see how much student loan debt we paid off this month!
Private Student Loan 1 – 8.0% Variable DESTROYED!
This loan was originally over $20,000 but was destroyed in the August 2013 update.
Federal Student Loan 3 – 6.8% Fixed DESTROYED!
This was a smaller loan than the first, but it too was destroyed in the August 2013 update.
Private Student Loan 2 – 5.75% Variable
The current balance on this student loan is $4,342.47. This is a decrease of $6,408.84 since the last debt update. We had another awesome month. If we can keep this up the debt will be gone in no time!
Private Student Loan 3 – 4.75% Variable
The current balance on this student loan is $8,082.01. This is a decrease of $23.42 since the last debt update. This loan is just stuck on minimum payments until the higher interest rate private loan has been destroyed.
Federal Student Loan 1 – 6.55% Fixed
The current balance on this student loan is $7,315.10. This is a decrease of $56.15 since the last debt update. This student loan will be the last one we vanquish in our journey to total student loan debt annihilation.
Federal Student Loan 2 – 6.55% Fixed
The current balance on this student loan is $6,872.10. This is a decrease of $53.03 since the last debt update. After the private student loans are gone, this will be the first federal student loan that we attack.
Total Balance – $26,611.68 (-$6,541.44)
Well, we’re very happy with our progress over the last couple of months. In fact, we’re so happy that we’ve made an adjustment to our plans…
New Student Loan Payoff Date Goal!
Our new goal is to have all of our student loan debt gone by the end of 2014, which is 100% possible. No doubt in my mind. If we’re lucky, we can go into the summer of 2014 with no student loan debt at all. Time will tell if things go well or if we’ll still be in debt one year from today.
Lance Cothern, CPA holds a CPA license in Indiana. He’s a personal finance, debt and credit expert that writes professionally for top-tier publications including U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Investopedia, Credit Karma, Business Insider and more.
Additionally, his expertise has been featured on Yahoo, MSN, USA Today, Reader’s Digest, The Huffington Post, Fast Company, Kiplinger, Reuters, CNBC and more.
Lance is the founder of Money Manifesto. He started writing about money and helping people solve their financial problems in 2012. You can read more about him and find links to his other work and media mentions here.
Terry @EasyFinancialTips
Monday 18th of November 2013
This is great news!! Thanks for sharing this post, it shows that paying off student loans isn't an impossibility. Your positive attitude toward the situation is an added plus!
Lance Cothern
Monday 18th of November 2013
Thanks!
Michelle's Finance Journal
Monday 18th of November 2013
You're doing great! Looking forward to see you get rid of all your student loand debt.
Lance Cothern
Monday 18th of November 2013
Thanks Michelle, we can't wait!
Emily @ evolvingPF
Sunday 17th of November 2013
I love seeing your snowball roll! Great job!
Rebecca @ Stapler Confessions
Saturday 16th of November 2013
Nice work! I can't wait to get back to paying off our loans. We're keeping it in a liquid E Fund for now until I get stable employment. But then we're going to kill one of those suckers in its sleep ;)
LifeorDebt
Friday 15th of November 2013
This is awesome!
Lance Cothern
Saturday 16th of November 2013
Thanks!