Supertramp Loan Servicing:
| First Disbursement Date | Loan Program | Current Balance |
| 2003-07-02 | SUBSIDIZED CONSOLIDATION LOAN | $0.00 |
| 2003-05-13 | UNSUB CONSOLIDATION LOAN | $0.00 |
| | ||
| Total Current Balance: | $0.00 | |
The payment scheme I adopted for my student loans has varied over the past few years. When I worked in Chicago, I paid more than the minimum payment. But I put a lot more of my money into investment accounts, since the interest rates back then meant that I was earning more money than I was paying on my loans.
After coming to Japan, that changed. Interest rates crashed, investments were losing money, and in a practical sense, investing from abroad became harder to do. So I shifted my priority to paying off my debt. I slowly ramped up the payment amounts, looking for ways to squeeze my budget to make it happen.
When I passed below the $10,000 debt mark, I made a concerted effort to pay the loan off as quickly as possible. I was helped by the rise of Japan's yen against the dollar, meaning that a transfer for 100,000 yen, typically understood to be about $1,000, would turn into something closer to $1,200 or $1,250. These little "bonuses" helped the loan drop more quickly than expected.
And so last week, I submitted my loan payoff payment of $1,233.55 and eliminated my debt.
There were no fireworks. No special feeling, really. Just the realization that from now on all the money I was paying to a lender I can now pay to myself. And the savings are going to be fantastic.
