Paying off student loans?

Paying Stafford student loans more often = less total interest?

• I have a few options to repay my student loans. 1) I could set up weekly automatic payments with my bank (not giving them any more money than on a monthly payment plan...just paying more often). I suspect this will make it so I will pay less total interest over the life of the loan. I believe Stafford loans accrue Simple Daily Interest. 2) I could set up monthly automatic payments with the loan servicer. They give you a 0.25% interest rate reduction for doing so. My loans are currently at 6.8%. I'm set up on the 10 year repayment plan. I have some loans with another servicer, but these loans are about ~$20,000. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

• Answer:

  Take the monthly auto payment. If you ever have extra cash you can send that separately and mark it as extra principle. That is more effective in decreasing the total amount of interest you pay. Doing it at your convenience covers those months when money is tight.