Payments

• To reduce the amount you pay back in interest on the life of the loans, specifically make a point to pay back more than the minimum monthly payments. The amount you consistently pay above the minimum payments every month will directly affect how quickly the balance disappears.
  
  Traditional installment loans usually abide by what is known as the Rule of 78s. This means that when you pay your minimum monthly payments as scheduled, you end up paying two-thirds of the interest of the loan in the first third of the total term. To keep it simple, if you borrow $300, with 30 months to pay it back, you will end up paying two-thirds of the interest charged on the money in the first 20 months of payments. Typically, each time you make a minimum payment, the payment will satisfy the above rule first. Anything you pay over the minimum payment will be applied to the actual principal balance of the loan and not interest helping you to pay down the debt faster.
  
  

Insurance

• If you have elected to purchase payment protection or payment insurance at the time you originated your loans, you may be able to use them now. These policies will either suspend or make your minimum monthly payments for you if you are unemployed, become disabled, are on active military duty and deployed or die. You want to check with the payment protections terms and conditions for details. Student loans can be put into forbearance or deferment depending on the situation. By activating these options, you can take pressure off some of your debt load and divert your monthly payments to paying down the rest.
  
  

Extra Income

• Consider taking any extra income you receive and applying it to your loans. Some individuals apply the extra funds toward the loans with highest interest first. Once that balance is paid off, they will then apply that same amount of money for the next loan with the next highest interest rates. When that is paid off, they go onto the next and so on. The idea is that the extra amount currently applied toward one bill can then be applied toward the next as if nothing had changed rather than just spending the extra money.
  
  Taking on a second job, part-time or full-time, working with an establishment that provides temporary work or saving holiday or other celebratory cash gifts received can create extra income. Others have found part-time and full-time work from home with child care or work on the Internet.