Oh Happy Day!

The Letter I've Been Waiting For

I've done it! I graduated in May 2008 and it took me nearly four years, but it's all paid off! No more college loan!


For government Stafford Loans, there is a six month grace period after graduating until the first payment is due. I was in South Korea at this point. With all the fun and new experiences I was having, I completely forgot about it...resulting in building interest. I started to get my act together paying $250-$500 per month. I had a little over $16,000 in loans and by the time I got to Australia, I had a little over $10,000*.


*This is a fairly decent loan amount considering Fordham University costs over $40,000 per year in just tuition costs, not to mention room, board, food and travel.


For the past few months, I've been watching the Forex rate like a hawk. In January 2012, Australia saw the Aussie dollar come into parity with the US dollar. Week after week, the Aussie dollar continued to surpass the US dollar cent by cent. I promised myself that when the Aussie dollar hit $1.07, I'd transfer. There's always the worry that after transferring the rate could go higher like $1.10. On the other hand, there's the worry that if I didn't transfer now, tomorrow it could be $1.03. A dollar and seven cents was the happy medium. The truth is that I needed to add some cents padding because the bank's rate is always lower and there is about a $30 transfer fee.


In late January, I transferred $8,000 hard earned Aussie dollars to my bank account in the US. Once transferred, I logged into my Sallie Mae account to make my last payment**. After clicking 'submit' I expected fireworks and a huge CONGRATULATIONS sign...but there was nothing, just the figure $0.00. Mostly people would be satisfied with that figure, but I needed written proof from my loan provider. I wrote them an email asking if there was anything left for me to do. A month later (today), I received that confirmation. It's indeed a happy day.


**When I paid off my loan in January, I also finished my 3 month probation period and received a promotion to Marketing Manager. 2012 is shaping up to be a very exciting year!