Even though it is convenient to pay your student loan with a credit card, this process is not highly recommended as it can be tedious and expensive. Student loans generally form up for a majority of the consumer debts in a country. In the USA for instance, approximately 45 million people have a student loan debt totaling roughly to $1.56 trillion (Forbes, 2020).
The graph below shows the total student loan debt in the USA from 2004 to 2018.
Source: Fortune
If this is your first time applying for a student loan, you must be wondering where exactly the process of payment for student loans starts. Most people prefer paying off student loans using credit cards to earn cashbacks and rewards. But there’s more to that than just rewards and discounts.
In this article, we answer some questions you may have about paying a student loan via credit card.
Here’s How You Pay Your Student Loan With A Credit Card
The first thing that you need to do is apply and be eligible for a credit card with bonus and on-going cash back offer. Some credit card companies may offer generous cash backs and this is what usually attracts most people towards this route of repayment. Apply for a card that gives you significant rewards, for example, Look for cards that give a $700 cash back after you spend $10,000 or something with similar rewards.
Even though you may want to pay your student loan with a credit card, there are a few things you must remember before you opt for this mode of repayment.
The first and most important thing to remember is,
The Terms And Conditions Differ For All Loans and Cards
You need to make sure that you apply for the correct card. Not all credit cards are created equal and this is why not all cards will allow you to transfer loans from one bank to another. Following are the companies that offer students the option to transfer their student loan balance over to their credit cards in the USA: Bank of America, Barclay’s, Capital One, CIT, Discover, Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed), USAA, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, and SunTrust Bank.
Tap Into Bigger Loans First
Before you figure out a way to pay your student loans, you first need to calculate how much you owe in total. This means collecting financial information from all sources and planning months in advance. Moreover, paying off your student loan with a credit card can be an expensive affair. For example, charging your student loan bill onto a credit card through a third-party provider like Plastiq requires you to pay a transaction fee on each payment you make ranging between 2-3%. This means that every $10,000 you pay will come with an additional fee of approximately $250.
Weigh The Pros and Cons Of The Credit Card You Are Choosing
If you want to pay off your student loan fast, you must do a thorough research to get the best credit card that matches your needs. As mentioned above, each credit card is created differently. This means that while some may offer you the basic functions, such as using the card to make instant payments, some credit cards are created with the intention of making things efficient and easy. However, this convenience comes at a cost and is usually in the form of fees or high interest rates.
What Happens After You Pay Your Student Loan With A Credit Card?
The first thing you need to make sure is that your transaction is a purchase and not a cash advance. . Once you have weighed the pros against the cons, you may be aware of any cash benefits that you are eligible for. In order to make the most of your situation, you must pay your bill on time in order to avoid overdue fees or charges. Additionally, once that is done, you must explore the benefits you are eligible to receive. This is one of the most important things to consider if you are searching for a funding option for postgraduate studies
If your student loan servicer accepts credit card payments for any amount with no fee, you can pay your student loan with a credit card every month, as long as you’re not carrying a credit card balance.
Alternate Plans For Paying Your Student Loan Via Credit Card
If you get in touch with a professional loan service provider, they will invariably mention that there are alternative repayment plans for student loans. You may want to pay your student loan with a credit card, but it may be helpful to check out some alternatives to it.
Income Contingent Payment
This method calculates payments based on your adjusted gross income at no more than 20% of your income for up to 25 years. At the end of 25 years, any balance on your debt will be forgiven.
Extended Repayment
Allows you to stretch out your loan over a longer period of time, such as 20 years rather than ten years, which will result in a lower monthly payment and as a result improved financial health.
Graduate Repayment Scheme
Through this you can increase your monthly payments every two years over the ten-year life of the loan. This plan allows for low payments early on, accommodating entry-level salaries and assuming you will get raises, or move on to better-paying jobs, as the decade progresses.
Thanks for reading this blog on Can You Pay Your Student Loan With A Credit Card? If you are interested in learning more about funding options for students, the following should be of interest to you:
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