Debt payoff apps are worth their weight in gold for one reason—they work! Sometimes they can just provide the little extra awareness and motivation that we need to knock out our debt.
And when it comes to paying off student loans, a lot of people could use some extra motivation. According to College Board’s most recent statistics, 43% of public-two year college students who entered repayment in 2011 hadn’t even paid one dollar towards the principal five years later. And a September 2019 study found that 25% of student loan borrowers defaulted over a 20-year period.
It’s clear that many student loan borrowers are struggling to shake off their student loans. If you’re struggling too, keep reading to see if one of these student debt payoff apps could help.
7 Debt Payoff Apps to Help Eliminate Student Loans Faster
Ready to start crushing your student loans? The 7 debt payoff apps on this list could help! Below, we dive into how each app works and explain its key features.
1. Debt Payoff Planner
The Debt Payoff Planner is a great all-round app for all kinds of debt repayment. This app lets users manage all debt repayment in one place, saving time and hassle.
The Debt Payoff Planner gives users three choices for tackling their loans: the debt snowball (paying off the smallest loan first while making minimum payments on other loans), the debt avalanche (paying off the loan with the highest interest rate while making minimum payments on other loans), or a method the user chooses.
Cost: FREE
Devices: iOS and Android
2. Pillar
Pillar is one of the newest debt payoff apps that’s good for paying down all types of student loans. A huge benefit of this app is that you can make all your student loan payments in one place—saving time and avoiding missed payments.
Pillar also claims on its site that users “save on average $6200 in student loan interest and pay off debt three years faster” which makes this student loan app a must-have. Pillar also provides customized recommendations to help you pay off student loans faster based on your current financial situation.
Cost: FREE
Devices: iOS and Android
3. Sallie Mae
The Sallie Mae app is an excellent award-winning app for private student loans. Not only is it super secure (it requires fingerprint or facial recognition technology to log in!), you can also set up notifications about when your loan payments are due, overdue, or posted.
In addition to seeing all your private loan details, the Sallie Mae app provides your quarterly FICO score and you can set up notifications so you know when your score has been updated.
When you’re ready to begin paying off your Sallie Mae student loans, be sure to check out the tips offered on their site for making this process as smooth and easy as possible.
Cost: FREE
Devices: iOS and Android
4. Debt Payoff Assistant
The Debt Payoff Assistant app allows users to track an unlimited number of debts or loans including a mortgage and isn’t for paying off student loans exclusively.
The Debt Payoff Assistant lets users choose from a few different methods to pay off their student loans including the debt snowball method and debt avalanche method (discussed earlier). The unfortunate drawback for some users with this app is that it’s not available for Android devices.
Cost: FREE
Devices: iOS only (including iPad)
5. FedLoan Student Loans
If you have a federal student loan through the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, you’ll want to get the FedLoan Student Loans app from FedLoan Servicing to help you pay off these student loans.
To set up federal student loan repayments on the FedLoan Student Loans app, you’ll need to know who your loan servicers are. To find this information, contact the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).
It’s important to keep in mind that there’s no penalty for paying federal student loans early or making extra payments on these loans.
However, federal student loans usually have lower interest rates than private student loans so you’ll save money in interest charges if you pay off your private student loans with higher interest rates first.
When it makes sense though, be sure to take advantage of making extra payments on federal loans when you can so you pay off these student loans faster too.
Cost: FREE
Devices: iOS and Android
6. Unbury.me
The name says it all! Unbury.me isn’t an app though—it’s an online loan calculator. Users simply find the Unbury.me site through an online search and then follow the steps on the site to have their student loan payments (or any debt payments) calculated for them.
Unbury.me lets users select either the debt snowball method or the debt avalanche method when calculating student loan repayments.
Calculating different debt payoff scenarios on Unbury.me will help you reduce the amount of interest you pay and help you pay off your student loans faster.
Cost: FREE
Devices: in-browser website
7. Mint
Mint is a great choice for those looking to pay off student loans as just part of the larger financial picture that includes budgeting, saving, and investing as well. Also, Mint uses two-factor authentication (2FA) to keep your account information secure.
Plus, there are many helpful articles on the Mint blog about student loan repayment from real former students that provide tips for paying off your student loans faster.
Cost: FREE
Devices: iOS and Android
Can Paying Off Student Loans “Hurt” Your Credit Score?
Your credit score is calculated using different factors and one of these factors is the mix of installment loans (like student loans) and revolving credit (like credit cards) on your credit report. This makes up 10% of your credit score.
However, when one type of credit is removed from this mix, it can’t be used to calculate your credit score any more. So your credit score may drop a bit after you pay off a student loan if you don’t have any other installments loans (like a mortgage or auto loan) on your credit report.
Is this a big deal? Not at all! It’s much more important that you have a really good repayment history (aka-don’t miss a payment if possible). Missing payments affects your credit score in a negative way—big time!
A temporary dip in your credit score from paying off a loan is not a bad thing. Instead, celebrate your accomplishment and know lenders will see you in a very favorable light going forward.
Which Student Loans Should You Pay Off First?
When looking at which student loan to pay off first, there’s a couple different ways to do this, depending on what your goal is and what keeps you motivated when you have to pay off debt. Both work.
Regardless of which student loan you decide to knock off first, keep in mind you’ll still need to make all the minimum payments on your other student loans and credit cards. Then after all your bills and living expenses are paid, you can throw more money on the student loan you want to eliminate first.
Option 1: Start With the Highest Interest-Rate Student Loan
To save the most money possible in interest charges and pay off student loans faster, follow the steps above. Then use any extra money you have to pay off the student loan with the highest interest rate first followed by the next highest rate loan until all loans are paid. This is known as the debt avalanche method.
This usually requires paying off private student loans first since they often have higher interest rates than federal student loans. Also, private student loans don’t come with as many benefits as federal student loans, like Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans or federal student loan forgiveness programs. So if you had to pick one type of loan to knock out first, private student loans are typically the safer bet.
Option 2: Start With the Smallest Student Loan
If you need motivation to pay debts off and like to see quick success, you might prefer the debt snowball method instead.
Using the debt snowball method, you would make all your minimum loan payments and pay your other bills and living expenses first. Then you would focus on paying off your smallest student loan first.
Ideally, any extra money you have would also be put towards paying off your smallest student loan first, followed by the next smallest, and so on until all your student loans are paid.
Before using these or any other repayment methods, it’s important to find out what the repayment terms are on each of your student loans. You don’t want to be penalized for paying down one of your loans faster than your loan servicer allows.
Regardless of which loan you choose to pay off first, there are several apps that can help you pay off student loans and other bills such as credit card debt in addition to budgeting, saving, and investing.
Check out the 7 apps below to help you get back in the black with your finances before you know it.
Which Student Debt Payoff App Is Best for You?
So which of these apps is best for you? The best debt payoff app for your student loans will depend on a number of factors such as:
- The type of device you want to use the app on
- The type of student loans you have (federal and/or private), and
- If you want to combine student loan repayments with your other budgeting needs (most people do!)
Start by making a list of the device(s) you’ll be using to pay off and track your student loans, the type of student loans you have, and any other “must-haves” you can think of when it comes to a student loan app. Then review the list above to choose the apps that’ll work best for you.
Author Bio:
Leona Werezak is a freelance writer who enjoys writing about personal finance and health & wellness. When she isn’t writing or wearing her nursing hat, she’s coming up with new business ideas or scoping out her next rental property.
