How to Change Your Student Loan Repayment Plan
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When it’s time to start repaying your federal student loans, you’ll automatically be enrolled in the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan. But if your circumstances change or you want different repayment options, you can change the repayment plan you’re on at any time, for free.
While changing your repayment plan usually isn’t an option if you have private student loans, many private lenders offer a variety of repayment options you can choose from when you first take out your loans.
Here’s how to change your student loan repayment plan:
How to change a student loan repayment plan
Changing your student loan repayment plan is possible, but it can result in paying more interest on your loan depending on the plan you choose. For example, if you switch to a plan with a longer repayment term to lower your monthly payment and make it more manageable, you’ll pay more interest.
If you want to change your student loan repayment plan, follow these steps:
- Research your repayment plan options. You’ll have a few different repayment plans to choose from, so it’s a good idea to research what each one entails. If you aren’t sure which plan is the right fit, you can use the StudentAid.gov Federal Student Aid Loan Simulator to see which payment plans you’re eligible for, what your monthly payment would be, and how much you’d pay in interest for each one.
- Contact your loan servicer. Once you’ve researched repayment plans, contact your loan servicer to alert them of your desire to change. If you’re still not sure which plan is the right fit, they can discuss your options. If you have multiple loans with more than one loan servicer, you only have to contact the servicers associated with the loans you want to change plans for.
- Complete any required paperwork. Your loan servicer will walk you through any requirements that you need to complete in order to make the switch.
- Check payment due dates. Your new repayment plan may not start immediately, so double check when your next payment will be due and for what amount, as well as what your ongoing schedule will be once the new plan does begin.
- Update information for automatic payments. If you have your student loan payments set up on autopay, make sure the payment is on the right date in the event that your payment due date changed.
How to change your repayment amount
Your monthly payment amount can change when you switch repayment plans. This is why it can be helpful to research all your available repayment options. Here’s how each type of repayment plan can change your monthly payment amount:
- Income-driven repayment plans: With an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan, your monthly payment will be set at the amount that’s designed to be affordable based on your income and family size. For example, if you welcome twin babies into your family, your payments may go down. If your income increases, but your family size does not, then your payment may go up. The U.S. Department of Education offers four types of IDR plans: Income-Based Repayment, Income-Contingent Repayment, Pay As You Earn, and Revised Pay As You Earn.
- Graduated Repayment Plan: All federal loan borrowers are eligible to switch to this repayment plan, which has monthly payments that start lower and increase over time (usually every two years). You’ll finish paying off your loans within 10 years.
- Extended Repayment Plan: With this plan, you can extend your repayment term up to 25 years. You must have a minimum of $30,000 in federal student loan debt in order to qualify.
- Student loans refinancing You also have the option to refinance federal or private student loans with a private lender, which can change your payment amount depending on the repayment term you choose. Refinancing makes it possible for you to secure a new loan with a new interest rate. If that interest rate is lower than your previous one, you can save money as long as you don’t choose a longer repayment plan.
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How often can I change my repayment plan?
The repayment plan you start with may not suit you down the road. You may change jobs, which can affect your income, need to take on new expenses when you start a family, or move to an area with a higher cost of living. This can affect how much you can afford to spend on loan repayment each month. One of the major perks of federal student loans is that you can change your payment plan as often as you need to.
The key is to keep in mind how changing this plan affects your overall cost of borrowing. While lowering a monthly payment may take some strain off your budget, it may be worth changing that payment plan to be more aggressive in the future once your income increases so you can pay your debt off faster and save on interest.
Here’s an example of how much you’d pay in interest on a $30,000 loan under two different types of repayment plans with a 4.99% interest rate (the 2022 interest rate for Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans):
| Payment term | 10 years | 25 years |
| Monthly payment | $318 | $175 |
| Total interest | $8,166 | $22,561 |
| Total payment | $38,165 | $52,561 |
Student loan refinancing
Refinancing can be a great option if you’re looking to save money, under the right circumstances. If you’ve improved your credit score since originally applying for student loans, you may be able to qualify for a lower interest rate when you refinance your student loans with a private lender. Unfortunately, when you consolidate federal student loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan with a federal loan servicer, you don’t get a new interest rate:You just gain the convenience of consolidating multiple loans into one.
Refinancing student loans is generally only desirable if you can secure a lower interest rate and can save money. That’s why it’s important to not take on a longer repayment term that can cancel out the lower interest rate. The longer you make payments, the more interest you’ll need to pay, which may cancel out the savings you get with a lower interest rate.
It’s worth noting that refinancing federal student loans into private ones results in losing valuable federal benefits, like access to loan forgiveness programs and income-driven repayment plans.
The student loan consolidation companies in the table below are Credible’s approved partner lenders. Because they compete for your business through Credible, you can request rates from all of them by filling out a single form. Then, you can compare your available options side-by-side. Requesting rates is free, doesn’t affect your credit score, and your personal information is not shared with our partner lenders unless you see an option you like.
| Lender | Variable rates from (APR) | Fixed rates from (APR) |
|---|---|---|
 Credible Rating  Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
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N/A | 2.94%+ |
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 Credible Rating Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
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4.82%+ |
2.49%+ |
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||
 Credible Rating Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
|
3.99%+1 |
4.49%+1 |
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||
 Credible Rating Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
|
3.69%+2 |
4.49%+2 |
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||
 Credible Rating Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
|
5.91%+5 |
5.91%+5 |
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||
 Credible Rating Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
|
2.48%+3 |
4.29%+3 |
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||
 Credible Rating Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
|
3.67%+4 |
5.18%+4 |
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 Credible Rating Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
|
N/A | 4.5%+ |
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||
 Credible Rating Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
|
N/A | 5.49%+ |
|
||
 Credible Rating Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
|
N/A | 4.29%+ |
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| Compare personalized rates from multiple lenders without affecting your credit score. 100% free! |
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All APRs reflect autopay and loyalty discounts where available | 1Citizens Disclosures | 2College Ave Disclosures | 5EDvestinU Disclosures | 3 ELFI Disclosures | 4INvestEd Disclosures | 7ISL Education Lending Disclosures |
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Check Out: When to Refinance Student Loans
Published at Fri, 28 Oct 2022 17:00:46 -0500
Prismagons
History of the World Kite Museum, Long Beach, Washington
The World Kite Museum and Hall of Fame has its roots in the local community. In the mid 1980’s a group of kite enthusiasts began to discuss the idea of forming a museum dedicated to kites and kite flyers.
The group met informally and developed a plan of action. They researched building opportunities, nonprofit status requirements, storage facilities, and other basic details that were needed to establish a museum. The group was eager to create a place where people could go to learn about kite history and see kiting displays.
Several auspicious things happened during this period of development: 1989 was the Washington State’s 100th birthday and with this celebration came an initiative focused on developing museums and history preserving organizations.
There were many workshops offered by the state to encourage upgrading and fostering museums. Our developing museum board picked areas that interested them and attended. We learned about how to run a gift shop, accession artifacts, write a mission statement, goals, and objectives, recommended storage techniques, 501 c 3 status – all these topics of importance to an new museum organization.
Also in 1989 the David Checkley’s widow donated his collection of 700 Japanese, Chinese and Malaysian kites to the World Kite Museum. The 300 Japanese kites in the collection are considered the most complete collection of Japanese kites outside of Japan.
Our first exhibit, “The History of Kites in Washington State”, was a week long affair in the Long Beach City Council rooms during the 1989 Washington State International Kite Festival. This same year a famous Japanese kite maker Eiji Ohashi also brought kite-making materials to Long Beach. With the help of World Kite Museum volunteers every child at Long Beach Elementary made a flyable Japanese kite. The Museum had begun with an exhibit, a unique kite display on the beach, and a school kite making class.
Due to the success of these exhibits and activities the museum believed a freestanding building was necessary to house the collection. Jim Buesing went to the City of Long Beach with a proposal for the use of the Coulter home in the southwest corner of the one half block of beach cottage vacation rental property the city had acquired. Through the assistance of the City of Long Beach this building became the Museum home from 1990-2004.
By August 1990, led by Buesing, the inside of the home plus the two rental rooms attached became a four-room exhibit space. The kitchen morphed into an admission desk and gift shop. The bathroom, tub and sink removed were computer room and print, picture, video and book storage. The laundry room stored kites not on exhibit. One of the exhibit rooms was designated as the Long Beach room. It was a nostalgic place for festival participants. Admission included the ability to make a kite to fly, from materials provided by the museum, a tradition which the current museum still promises.
During the 14 years the World Kite Museum was in this location the museum grew their community partnerships – using the Long Beach Elementary gymnasium for adult workshops and bringing cultural experiences to their students. We also worked closely with Long Beach Peninsula Merchant Associations, providing programs for local clubs and libraries. We developed in house programs and activities like membership drives, quarterly newsletters, demonstrations, and traveling exhibits. Little did we know that running into each other in our crowded building cause us to make so many new and wonderful friends.
As the museum grew we began to search for a larger space to accommodate the needs of the collection and the visitors. A 10,360 square foot, two-story building was available on Sid Snyder Drive in late 2004. By November 2005, the Board of Directors was able to purchase this building that provides over 6,000 square feet of exhibit space, room for storing research artifacts, both photos and printed ephemera, plus workshop and office space. The current World Kite Museum collection now houses over 1500 kites from 26 countries around the world. The American Kite Association combined their archives with ours in the late 1990’s. These materials coupled with our active oral history program makes the World Kite Museum resource for research on kites around the world. Textbook companies and freelance writers have utilized our ephemera to create articles and books about the history of kiting. The History of the World Kite Museum and Hall of Fame now proceeds with educating and entertaining visitors, protecting and increasing our collections plus researching and discovering more about kites past and present.
kitefestival.com/about/
By A.Davey on 2022-10-22 15:09:00