Oh Joy!
I have a $20K Fedloan for my daughter. Started paying on it April 2018 and have made regular monthly payments of $360 Usually I send in more, it least $400 Since all Fedloads were placed in forbearance in March 2020 I have made regular monthly $800 to $2,000 in monthly payments.
As of today, that $20K loan balance is $8500 I don’t have the numbers with me now but I have paid, with including the last 16 months of no interest, about $11,000 in interest (on a $20K loan).
My plan is to make a $2,000 payment Sept 1st and another $2,000 by Sept 30th. I’m not at all convinced that the administration will extend the forbearance past Sept 30. Still this would leave me with a balance of $4500 subject to interest.
I should have this loan paid by the end of Dec of this year. Which means in rough numbers it cost me $12K for a $20K loan that I paid off in 3.5 years (or 6.5 years early). If I had made the recommended $360 monthly payment for 10 years, the interest would have amounted to 23K which is more than the principal. This is, don’t forget, a Fedloan.
It’s great there’s been no interest on student loans since covid. A silver lining.