need help with student loan interest numbers

[Snydley]

Hi-
I have a loan with a current balance of $15,997 at 2.625% interest. According to the company that holds the loan, my monthly payment of $164.21 will lead to a July 2024 payoff and $4,665 paid in interest at the end.

This is not making sense to me. When I use a student loan calculator and type in my balance owed and interest rate, and payment of $164/month, it tells me I will pay $2,005 in interest and have the loan paid off nearly two years sooner.

I've called the company 3 times and they are not getting what I am asking.


Any thoughts?

thanks a lot
Jen

[bigdaddybus]

What was the duration of the student loan?
What was the beginning balance ?
have you made any payments over the $164.21 payment amount? As that some lenders apply the overage right to the principal and that will impact the total interest paid.

If you plug all your beginning loan info into a loan calculator that provides an ammoritization table....then look down the table where you are in the loan (ex. 45 of 180 payments) you will see the interest paid to date, remaining interest, etc.

What you intially provided, isn't enough info for me to provide a response on the differences between the your loans interest and your calculator results.

[JuniorTT]

Hi-
I have a loan with a current balance of $15,997 at 2.625% interest. According to the company that holds the loan, my monthly payment of $164.21 will lead to a July 2024 payoff and $4,665 paid in interest at the end.

This is not making sense to me. When I use a student loan calculator and type in my balance owed and interest rate, and payment of $164/month, it tells me I will pay $2,005 in interest and have the loan paid off nearly two years sooner.

I've called the company 3 times and they are not getting what I am asking.


Any thoughts?

thanks a lot
Jen

More than likely your interest rate was originally higher and you are now getting a discount for enrolling in automatic payments and/or making your payment on time X months in a row? Their calculation is probably still using the original interest rate since if you were to make a late payment in the future your rate would jump back to the originally agreed upon rate (possibly even retroactively depending on the terms).

Keep making payments on time and you can assume your calcs will come to fruition.

[snafu]

At any point was your loan in forbearance, deferral or delinquent? Those factors affect cost of interest and length of loan.

[Snydley]

Hi-
It's always been the same rate, and I was never delinquent. I was, however, on a 7 year interest only plan where I paid ~$62/month. I didn't make any principal payments during those first 7 years.

Does this explain the difference?

thanks