Many Americans are struggling to keep up with their monthly bills, which is not surprising given the skyrocketing cost of living and general economic unrest. While there’s no way around the fact that you have to pay your bills, there may be a better method for how you pay them — and in what order.
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While you should ideally pay all of your bills, Suze Orman, host of the “Women & Money” podcast, believes there is one bill you should always prioritize.
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Don’t Neglect Your Student Loan Payments
After student loan payments were paused for so long due to the pandemic, it was a challenging adjustment for many to work on that specific debt repayment once they resumed. Many people struggled to reintroduce this expense back into their budgets — but you can’t just ignore your payment and hope it goes away.
“It should be a priority,” Orman told GOBankingRates. “People need to remember to not put off paying your student loans. It’s not going away and it should be the first monthly bill you pay. It’s not going to disappear. You can’t bankrupt your student loan.”
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How To Prioritize Student Loans in Your Budget
“Make a plan/budget that works so you can pay [your student loans] each month,” Orman said. “Give up eating out or other unnecessary expenses so you can start making your payments.”
Orman noted that under former President Joe Biden’s income-driven repayment (IDR) plan, called the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, your payments may have been significantly lower than they were before the payment pause. However, now with President Trump back in office, every financial system seems to be on the chopping block.
President Trump vs. The Department of Education
It looks like Trump’s threats to sign an executive order aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education will soon come true. This means that functions under that umbrella, such as federal student loans, could be managed by another agency soon. How this could affect your student loan payments remains unclear, but that doesn’t negate the fact that you should prioritize this bill every month.
Jaime Catmull contributed to the reporting for this article.
Editor’s note on political coverage: GOBankingRates is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. You can find more coverage of this topic on GOBankingRates.com.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Suze Orman: This Is the First Bill You Need To Pay Each Month
