Reduce Your Monthly Payment Amount

Repayment Essentials

Introduction

Chapter 1:
Manage Your Loans

Chapter 2:
Making Your Payments

Chapter 3:
Interest Rates for Student Loans Repayment

Chapter 4:
Customize Your Payment Terms

Chapter 5:
Help During Repayment

Chapter 6:
Questions About Repayment

Chapter 7:
Student Loan Financial Terms

Reduce Your Monthly Payment Amount

If you are having difficulty making payments, you can reduce your monthly payment amount. Login to your MyLoan account, and go to Customize Payment Terms. Choose 'Regular Payment Schedule' to see how you can adjust your payment amount, and the impact it will have on the rest of your repayment.

When you reduce the monthly payment amount, you automatically extend the amortization period and it will take you longer to pay off your loan.

There are limits to how much you can reduce your payments:

Maximum amortization period is 174 months (=14 years, 5 months)
Minimum payment amount is $25/month

Benefit of reducing your monthly payment amount:

You will have a little more breathing room with a lower monthly payment.
You can increase your payment amount as soon as you feel comfortable doing so.

Downside:

It will take you longer to pay your loan.
You will pay more interest in the long run.

Make Interest Only Payments

Another repayment assistance option is to pay only the interest on your loan. You can make interest only payments for up to six months if you are having difficulty making your scheduled payments.

During this time your payments are applied to interest, not to the principal. This means that you are not making any progress towards paying off your loan, but your loan is still in good standing.

To change to interest only payments, login to your MyLoan account and go to Customize Payment Terms. If you are In Repayment, you can choose 'Interest Only Payment' from the drop-down menu.