PENNSYLVANIA, USA — A survey by the Student Debt Crisis Center found that 89% of borrowers are not prepared to begin making payments again.
Borrowers in Pennsylvania specifically have racked up $63.9 billion in student loan debt.
This is why Mary Jo Lambert-Terry, managing partner with Yrefy, shared some tips on getting ready for student loan payments again.
"One of the biggest things that we struggle with is there's a lot of anxiety around student loans," she said. "It's a big number. It's really scary, whether you're by yourself or you have a family. So what you want to do is know that knowledge is power, so you at least know what steps you need to take, and you know what programs are available for you."
Over the past two years, those payments you'd been making have probably been allocated elsewhere in your budget, so taking the time to update your information is key.
"You want to make sure you're not on auto debit. Right? If you were making $200 payments, you don't want money to come out of your account that you weren't expecting to happen," she said.
Lambert-Terry advises looking into the federal program options available if you're unable to pay what you used to. Some of that federal aid includes the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which forgives the remaining balance on your direct loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer, according to the official Federal Student Aid website.
You might even want to consider a loan consolidation, Lambert-Terry says, which is a form of debt refinancing that entails taking out one loan to pay off many others.
"It definitely is not the time to wait and see what happens," Lambert-Terry said. "Take five or 10 minutes, late at night, early in the morning, see what you can get yourself into in a positive way. You don't have anything to lose."