How to Pay Off Student Loans Fast

Whether you’re a recent college grad or you attended college years ago, there’s a good chance student loans have impacted you.

The current American student loan debt burden is $1.75 trillion — with 11.1% being delinquent or in default.

While mortgage debt has risen with inflation by about 3.2% since 2009, student loan debt has more than doubled over the same time frame.

The stats are painfully depressing. But what does all that mean if you’re an average person trying to get by and have some promise of a future?

It means you need to prioritize paying back your student loan payments, and fast.

Why You Should Prioritize Paying Student Loans Off Fast

Easy enough to say, right? It’d be nice to pay off student debt, buy a house and not have to stress about money every month.

But to make it happen, you need to know how to pay off student loans quickly. It’s the best way to get out from underneath their burden and get your financial life on track.

If you aren’t convinced, here are some concrete reasons:

Student loan debt — whether it’s private student loans or federal — is almost never dischargeable in bankruptcy. In the rare cases that you can get them discharged, most bankruptcy courts will require you to prove three things in what’s known as the Brunner test:

1. Based on your current income and expenses, you can’t maintain a minimal standard of living if forced to pay off student loans.
2. Your inability to pay is likely to continue for a significant portion of the repayment period of the student loans.
3. You have a history of making loan payments.

Even if you eventually qualify for forgiveness, you’re likely to owe taxes. Unless your federal student loan debt is discharged under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) programwhich is only available to government and nonprofit employees, you’ll have to claim the forgiveness on your taxes in the year your student loans are forgiven and pay taxes on that amount as if it…