How to Refinance a Sallie Mae Loan

If you took out a student loan to pay for collage or graduate school, chances are you're looking down the road at years of endless, consistently large payments--or are you? For loans serviced by the Sallie Mae company, there are a variety of payment plans that can help tailor your repayment to your life and goals. Here's how to get started.

Instructions

1. Log onto the Sallie Mae Web site at http://www.salliemae.com/ and click "Manage your loans." If you have not used the site before, you may have to enter or confirm some personal information such as your birthday, phone number and address.

2. From the top bar on the loan management web page (showing your current balance), click "change your payment plan" and then "lower your payments."

3. When you see the "repayment options" section, click "check eligibility." You will be asked to enter some very basic information, such as your monthly income and the date your loans were disbursed.

4. Choose whether you wish to increase or decrease your monthly payments, and click on the appropriate link.

5. If you are increasing your payment, use the calculator that's provided to evaluate payment amounts, the total amount to be paid over the length of the loan, and the time to full repayment. When you are satisfied, click "submit." If lowering your payments, choose from among the payment plans that are offered, and click "apply."

Tips & Warnings

• If you would prefer to change your repayment terms over the phone, the number is (888) 2-SALLIE or [phone]. If you make your monthly payments by bank draft and you are not the holder of the bank account from which the payment is made, you won't be able to increase your payment online. In that case you should send your request to this address:

• Sallie Mae

• ATTN: Correspondence

• PO Box 9500

• Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-9500

• If you are lowering your monthly payments, take care to note the lengths of the various stages of repayment. In the Grad Choice payment option, for example, payments start low and rise after a time to meet your income (which will also presumably increase).

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Sallie Mae Web site