Best way to pay off US student loan while living in UK?

Hi,

I went to uni in London 2001-2005 and took out a student loan from the US to help pay my way through. I've been living in NY since graduation and my mom has been handling the payments but I am moving back to London (getting married!) in June and everything will be turned over to me.

Can anyone make any recommendations as to the best way to pay off the loans? Should I have them direct debit from my US account and send pounds over regularly or what?

Sorry if this a repeat- please direct me to the correct post if so.

Thanks so much,
Alyssa

If you can, set up direct debits/automatic payments for your student loans in your US bank account, and then transfer money over from your UK to your US account regularly using a service like XEtrade or Moneycorp.  That seems to be the most hasslefree way.

Have a read through these threads....

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=24183.0

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=40318.0

 

Great topic! I will likely be in this situation soon, as I'm preparing to move and my parents will be handing over my student loan payments to me.

Springhaze, would you recommend setting up direct debits for other debts as well? I'm wondering how quickly I can pay off my bills before moving, and if I can't, whether I should move anyway and be prepared to send small amounts to continue paying them. Thanks!

Springhaze, would you recommend setting up direct debits for other debts as well? I'm wondering how quickly I can pay off my bills before moving, and if I can't, whether I should move anyway and be prepared to send small amounts to continue paying them. Thanks!

I'm trying to juggle the whole debt paying thing from the UK right now and it is a nightmare without the direct debits set up!  My credit card is okay since I pay that online through my US bank's bill pay, but for the last couple of months I've been doing costly wire transfers and getting my mother to write checks for my student loans while I try to get a Moneycorp account set up.  My student loan companies all allow automatic transfers out of a US bank account every month, and once things get settled on the UK end I'm going to enroll in all of those programs so I don't have to deal with this nonsense.

Have a read through these threads....

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=24183.0

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=40318.0

 

I read through these- thanks so much. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all, but from what I gather, it is recommended to use XE or Moneycorp to transfer money from the UK to US (differences are minimal after weighing out fees/exchange rates) on a regular basis and then set up direct debit with the loans out of the US account.

Would you recommend I set up the XE/Moneycorp account now while I am in the US (although I don't have a UK bank account yet)? Is there a particular bank in the UK anyone recommends to use for this?

Also, are things like XE and Moneycorp recommended for transferring from the US to UK?

THANKS!!

Yup, or paypal.  DH and I are both paying off US student loans (my undergrad, his grad).  It's a great time to be paying them off since the dollar is so weak (only good thing about it, really).  Now hopefully the pounds stays reasonably strong....

Cool, thanks!

What about whether or not I set up the XE/Moneycorp account now while I am in the US (although I don't have a UK bank account yet)? Is there a particular bank in the UK anyone recommends to use for these transfers?

Thanks again!

I have been paying on my US student loan over here in the UK for years...i still have my US checking account....i access  my student loan info via their website and have linked my checking account so that I can go onto the student loan site - xpress loans - and just pay my loan each month...

i end up transferring/taking over a large amount of money like 600-1000 dollars a year

its a bonus that the exchange rate from pound-dollar is good rite now

only wish i could pay it off sooner 

I actually can transfer money directly from my UK lloyds tsb checking account to my US checking account which takes a few days and is only a small fee....i have to fill out a form at the bank and i think i use a US swift code from my charter one US account on this form

Cool, thanks!

What about whether or not I set up the XE/Moneycorp account now while I am in the US (although I don't have a UK bank account yet)? Is there a particular bank in the UK anyone recommends to use for these transfers?

Thanks again!

Not especially.  Any UK bank account should work.