Happy May Day  everyone!  Today is also student loan payment day in my house. Many people might groan at the idea of paying their student loans, but for me it is something I look forward to at the beginning of every month. I like to see that I am on track.

I use a debt repayment calculator to track the payments I make, see the date when my loans will be completely paid off, and update any changes in interest. I started out with $76,000USD in student loans after I finished my Master of Arts in Teaching in October 2010. In less than four years I have paid $15,700 toward my loans.

Nobody likes student debt. photo cred 

So I was really surprised when I stumbled across a site called Tuitionbites.co. This website sells products and 25-30% of sales go directly toward paying student loans (or toward a college saving plans if you are a parent)!

I decided to check it out and went ahead and signed up for it! Check out my storefront now: https://tuitionbites.co/profile/amanda-isberg/. Right now they are selling Starbucks $25 gift cards for $22.50. Lots of people love Starbucks, and if you are one of them, please go ahead and consider buying one at my storefront.

I will do a full review of it in September, but right now I can offer a short pro and con list:

Pro: It is completely free for me to use. It didn’t require me to enter my SSN or any banking info- only my student loan account number. The company estimates that people might make an extra $100 per month toward their student loans.

Con: I could only sign up with one of my student loan providers at a time and I have two providers.

Can an extra $100 a month make a difference? Photo cred 

The Tuitionbites.com blog goes on to explain:

“In this image (click it to enlarge) you can see that paying $150 extra per month saves over $3K and more than 5 YEARS off the repayment term!  Just $50 extra per month can save almost $2K and shave about 3 years off your repayment term.  And $100 extra per month saves you almost $3K and cuts about 4 1/2 years off the term.   So while paying what seems like a nominal amount extra each month on a 5 figure loan may seem like throwing a brick in the Grand Canyon, the impact is really quite remarkable!”