Sallie Mae Has Free Tips and Tools to Help College Grads Manage Student Loan Payments

November Brings First Student Loan Payment for Those Who Graduated
Last Spring

Sallie Mae’s ‘Manage Your Student Loans’ Resources Help Students
Adopt Responsible Personal Finance Habits

NEWARK, Del.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–College students who borrow to pay for school typically don’t have to
start repaying their student loans until six months after leaving
school. For most, that means November is the month their first payment
comes due, and Sallie Mae — the nation’s saving, planning, and paying
for college company — has a variety of free tips, tools, and resources
to help recent grads prepare for that transition, reduce the total cost
of their loan, and successfully manage their payments.

Sallie Mae’s “Manage
your student loans” is a one-stop source of straightforward,
comprehensive information. It features practical tools, including a
monthly budget worksheet and a loan payment estimator, as well as
easy-to-understand explanations of complex subjects, like how interest
accrues, how payments are allocated to principal and interest, and how
to build a strong credit history.

“The advice I give recent graduates is to create and follow a realistic
budget, talk to your student loan servicers about repayment options, and
put a few extra dollars towards your loan each month if you don’t
qualify for public service loan forgiveness. Don’t forget free ways to
repay your student loans, such as shopping with free rewards program
Upromise.com, where you get cash back from your purchases, and the
student loan income tax deduction, where you can get back $625
annually,” said Reyna Gobel, student loan and paying-for-college expert
and author of “Parents’ Guide to Paying for College and Repaying Student
Loans.” “The information on Sallie Mae’s website, in addition to talking
to your loan servicer, can help you be informed instead of overwhelmed.”

Whether their student loans are federal or private, Sallie Mae
recommends the following tips to help new graduates manage their
payments:

Know who and how much you owe. Keep track of lender and servicer
contact information and other important details on a spreadsheet. Check
out Sallie Mae’s “Organize
Your Student Loans” list for suggestions on what to include.

Tap technology. Set up automatic payments, and you’ll never have
to worry about missing a payment, you’ll avoid late fees, and you might
qualify for a discount on your interest rate. Sallie Mae customers, for
example, may be eligible to receive a 0.25
percent interest rate reduction when they pay on-time via auto-debit.

In addition, Sallie Mae’s award-winning mobile app for Android and Apple
devices lets customers make and manage payments anytime, anywhere,
including from an Apple Watch or by using Siri, and it supports iPhone X
and Android Oreo. Sallie Mae is the first major student lender to accept
payments from an Apple Watch or Siri, and among the first to let
customers log into their accounts using Face ID on the iPhone X.

Save money. Make more than the minimum payment each month. You’ll
pay off your loan faster, and you’ll pay less interest. Sallie Mae’s accrued
interest calculator can estimate how much you might save.

Think long-term. Paying on time consistently can help you
establish and build a favorable credit history, and that can make a big
difference when you apply for a car loan, credit card, lease, mortgage,
or even a job. Learn credit basics in “Understanding
Credit,” a handbook published by Sallie Mae and FICO.

Be responsible. Open any mail you receive from your servicer or
lender and read it carefully. Update your contact information when it
changes, such as when you leave school and “edu” is no longer part of
your email address. If you run into trouble, contact your lender or
servicer, touch base with your cosigner if you have one, and look for
solutions.

Sallie Mae helps its customers avoid repayment surprises from the start.
When they’re approved for a loan, Sallie Mae customers may choose a
repayment option that best fits their needs. They may make monthly
interest-only payments or fixed-amount payments while in school, or
defer payments until after they leave school. More than half of Sallie
Mae’s customers opt to make payments while in school, which means they
reduce the amount of interest they pay over the life of the loan, and
they leave school with less debt.

In addition, Sallie Mae offers a Graduated
Repayment Period (GRP), which allows graduates with eligible Sallie
Mae loans in good standing to make 12 months of interest-only payments
before they transition into making full principal and interest payments.
Sallie Mae is the first private student lender to offer a GRP option.

“Our commitment to helping students and families succeed at every step
of the saving, planning, and paying for college process extends well
beyond graduation,” said Martha Holler, senior vice president, Sallie
Mae. “Our student loan repayment tips and tools are designed to help new
grads adopt responsible personal finance habits now that will serve them
well throughout their lives.”

For more information about saving, planning, and paying for college,
visit SallieMae.com.

Sallie Mae (Nasdaq: SLM) is the nation’s saving, planning, and
paying for college company. Whether college is a long way off or just
around the corner, Sallie Mae offers products that promote responsible
personal finance, including private education loans, Upromise rewards,
scholarship search, college financial planning tools, and online retail
banking. Learn more at SallieMae.com.
Commonly known as Sallie Mae, SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are
not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.

Contacts

Sallie Mae
Ellen J. Roberts, 302-451-0428
Ellen.roberts@salliemae.com