This is the post where I break down my debt. This is not the post where I explain the entirety of my debt journey (that post comes later). My goal here is just to be as upfront and transparent as possible as to what constitutes my debt so that you can follow along as I make payments and work to reduce it.

Without further ado…

Ugh. Let me further break it down for you…

While the loan amounts, minimum payments, and interest rates are real, the titles of the loans have been changed to maintain what little anonymity is possible here on the internet. The loans are broken into five groups as follows:

Private Loans – Currently in repayment. This group consist of four loans with three different servicers. While I will get to my payoff strategy later, this group is currently ranked in order of interest rate and that is loosely tied to their payoff order. I have exhausted the forbearance/deferment period for all of these loans, save one, and these loans require repayment even in full-time student status. These loans compromise both my first and last student loan and generally have pretty terrible interest rates (possibly more on that later). They are listed here by descending interest rate. As several of these loans were co-signed by my parents, and would not be forgiven in the event of my death, I have had, and will continue to have, very cheap supplemental insurance to cover this amount in the event I predecease my parents. I know that is a morbid thought but I love my parents and would not ever want to cause them undue financial burden or hardship.

University Loans – Currently in repayment. I don’t know how common this is, however, I attended a very well funded private university in the northeast that actually lends university money to students in the form of student loans (in addition to grants and scholarships). While I will get into this later in greater detail, this university was very, very generous in terms of its financial aid (and even more generous to incoming students following my graduation) and I didn’t really need to take out any private loans or non-subsidized federal loans…I was just really stupid (again, more on that later). While the interest rates are high, these loans have very favorable repayment terms and while I have had these loans for at least ten years, I have paid less than $500.00 dollars in interests because they defer payments and interests if you are in financial need or enrolled in school (their bar for financial need is very low and you only need to be enrolled part-time to qualify for an in-school deferment). The loans are all serviced by one third party servicer the university, and while these are technically a private loans, because their repayment terms are so much more generous, which effects how I will pay them off, I have listed them separately here by descending interest rate.

Federal Loans – Currently on a income based repayment plan resulting in no minimum payment. This is the bulk of my loans but fortunately it is all with one really great student loan servicer *knocks on wood.* These loans include a mix of subsidized and unsubsidized loans and they are currently listed in terms of real interest (the amount I actually pay in interest each month). These loans represent some of my biggest hopes (and stupidity) but because they are federal loans, have very generous repayment terms.

Personal Loan – This was a loan from my best friend so that I could finish college. This loan had a fixed interest rate of 2% (I picked this…she wanted nothing but I think you have to be very careful when borrowing money from friends or family) that was calculated at the beginning of this loan and applied to the total payoff amount. The initial term of this loan was five years and while there were periods of deferment (like a whole year) I expect to have this paid off by the originally projected payoff date. The interest rate is listed as “0.00%” because interest doesn’t accrue daily on this loan.

Car Lease – This was just general stupidity. And not even the first time. Like the third round of stupidity. Including this month, there are 18 remaining payments on this car lease. While I have nothing against leasing cars, and might again do it in the future, it just doesn’t make sense for where I am, or have been, financially. Which is why this was stupid. The interest rate is listed as “0.00%” because interest doesn’t accrue daily on this loan.

A final note is that all of these amounts are the current remaining amounts. So while this means you can’t see how much I have already paid off, it also means I don’t have to look at how much higher many of them are after extended periods of neglect over a decade. At some point, I may do that grim autopsy but this isn’t that post.

Ugh. Look at that minimum payment amount. How much I pay to service my debt each month. And that doesn’t even include my federal loans. Every time I look at the amounts I feel scared and ashamed. Here is to hoping blogging here continues to bring me courage and determination.