Posts by Maria Martin9

coastalmoose35 said:Alright, so I just got my repayment schedule in hand and decided to go ahead and overpay on that first installment. Turns out, they automatically knocked that extra amount off my next payment—pretty slick, right? Now what I’m wondering is, if I pay the difference next time, plus the upcoming installment, and maybe toss in a little extra just for kicks... will I be able to skip that one month I already covered?

Also, I'm trying to wrap my head around how they handle the interest. Like, how does that actually get tacked on? My logic tells me I'll basically be paying the installment plus the interest charge... seems like the only way it makes sense, anyway.

If you keep making those larger payments and eventually cover an installment ahead of schedule, sure, you can skip a month since it's already paid. You won't owe anything that month. Just keep in mind, that only works if no new fees pop up. If there are new charges, they get rolled back into the repayment plan based on your agreed terms. So, you might skip a payment of the old amount, but then you'll see something like 1/36th of the new charge hit your bill.
Interest is calculated quarterly on the principal balance during those three months. It shows up as a separate line item on your Fee Statement and has to be paid along with your regular monthly installment.

An extra payment just hits the upcoming installments in order, following the standard repayment schedule—it’s not some weird recalculation. So, if there aren't any new fees popping up, your monthly payment stays the same, but you're chipping away at the principal. Since interest isn't baked into those monthly amounts anyway, a smaller principal means your quarterly interest hit will be lower too.