managing your debtContent provided by Sallie Mae |
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You'll have new sources of income, different types of expenses and, very soon, you'll begin repaying your student loans. Here are some things you may need to account for.
Make a plan
You're on your way to a new career and new financial challenges. It's time to update your budget based on your post-school life. Make sure you include the following items in your new budget:
- Your salary
- New expenses (rent, groceries, utilities, entertainment, etc.)
- Transportation (bus fare, gas, maintenance, car insurance)
- Student loan repayment
- Retirement savings
Use College Answer®'s Monthly Budget Calculator to identify key budget items to better understand your financial situation.
Consolidate student loans
Once you've drafted a realistic budget, you may find that you have two or more loans to repay. If you consolidate your loans, you can pay off your original loans and get one with lower interest. You'll have more money left over to pay other bills.
Build good credit
Your credit report details your credit habits from the day you began purchasing items on credit to the present. To ensure a good credit history, do the following:
- Pay your bills on time. If you don't have a long credit history, this is the most important thing you can do to get a high credit score.
- Don't have too many open lines of credit, particularly revolving credit such as credit cards.
- Pay credit card balances completely each month.
- If you must keep balances on your credit cards, don't max out one card while maintaining smaller balances on others. Try to keep a small balance on each card.
- Avoid bankruptcy and tax problems.
- Regularly monitor your credit report for identity theft or reporting errors. You can get one free copy of your credit report per year. Visit AnnualCreditReport.com for details.
Deduct interest payments
Get federal income tax relief and take advantage of education-related tax credits and deductions. These benefits can significantly reduce your tax liabilities, by thousands of dollars in some cases.
This website may contain information from a third party or links to third party websites as a convenience to users. Upromise does not endorse or take responsibility for any such information. Such information is general in nature and not intended to be the opinion of Upromise.
