Your Money, Your Goals - A financial empowerment toolkit for social services programs.

Tool 4:

Student loan debt

The CPFB has a section on its website dedicated entirely to helping you plan for ways to pay for
postsecondary education. In fact, the tool will help you think through the entire process of
planning for and paying for school including:

 Researching schools

 Filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), a first step in figuring

out how to pay for college

 Choosing a loan

 Comparing financial aid packages and college costs across more than one school

 Managing your money while in college

 Repaying your student loans

If you have student loan debt, start with the Repaying Your Student Loans section of the tool,
which can be accessed at: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/paying-for-college/repay-student­
debt/#Question-1.

Repaying federal student loans

There are two general kinds of student loans: federal student loans and private student loans.
Federal student loans are loans that are funded by the federal government. Private
student loans are nonfederal loans made by a lender such as a bank, credit union, state
agency, or a school. In both federal and private student loans, delinquent payment will impact
your credit history and scores and may result in collections. Private student loans do not offer
the flexible repayment terms or borrower protections featured by federal student loans.

There are many options for paying back federal student loans. Do not ignore student loan
paperwork—nonpayment and delinquency reduces options for payment plans as many require
loans in good standing to qualify. Some of the repayment options include: