Can you use student loans for anything?

Would it be a good idea to get a private loan to pay off my student loans...BUT...?

• Would it be a good idea to get a private loan to pay off my student loans and then just pay towards my private loan? Long story short I was told by my school that I was approved for 2 loans and all along there was 3 paying them out. I never checked on it or read my mail from Sallie Mae so I know it's my fault so here I have 3 loans. 2 are federal loans and 1 is a private loan. My problem is if I pay exactly the way the Sallie Mae wants me towhen I am fully done paying off the now 14,916.16 (it was 12,9something.00 but I didn't pay anything in my grace period and I still have a month left of grace period.) if I pay the amount off of the 14+k then it will come out to 27,342.74! over all! The 2 federal loans are at a fixed 6.8% rate but the private loan is at a 11.75% ADJUSTABLE rate! I bank with USAA, so I will use them for an example. USAA has private loans starting at 11.25%. If I can get a private loan to buy off the other 3 and just pay towards 1 loan will that be good or bad?

• Answer:

  DON'T take out a private loan to pay off those federal loans. THe interst rate is higher and you will lose all the benefits of having federal student loans to begin with. BAD IDEA. Put your checking account on auto draft and it won't take any more time to pay 3 loans than it does for two.