 TITLE: Should You Continue to Make Student Loan Payments During COVID-19? CONTENT: What Are the Benefits of Continuing to Pay My Student Loans?\n------------------------------------------------------------\nIf you're in a position to continue making payments, you should consider doing so. In fact, with interest suspended on student loans, now is one of the best times to pay down your debt as all of your payment will be applied to your principal.\nIf you feel that you're financially stable enough to continue to pay your student loan bill, here are two ways you can tackle it:\n1.  Business as usual: You can continue to make monthly payments as you did before. While the payment will remain the same, remember that all of the money will go toward your principal as interest is not accruing at this time. The principal is the portion of the loan your interest payment is calculated on, so the lower that is, the less interest you will pay. Depending on the size of your loan and your interest rate, this could be a savings of thousands of dollars.\n2.  All at once: If you're even slightly concerned about your finances but want to take advantage of the 0% interest, put your student loan payment aside each month and pay it in one lump sum before the end of the suspended period. This will give you a pad of emergency money should your financial situation change before September.  \n    With this option, make sure you remember to make the lump-sum payment before September 30, 2021. Once your interest is reinstated, your interest payment will be determined based on your principal at the time—which will be the same as when the payments were suspended if you've held the payments to the side for that time.\nRegardless of which repayment option you choose, you'll need to contact your loan servicer to reschedule your payments, as this law automatically suspends scheduled automatic payments for qualified loan accounts. END