Paying off Student Loans?

I'm not entirely sure this is the best board for this question, but I'm not sure where else to put it. I've just finished grad school and have landed a job (YAY!) but this also means it's time to start paying off my student loans (BOO). It's a non-issue now because I'm still in the US, but once British Fiance and I are married and I move, what's my best bet for paying off my loans? The only thing I can think of is to transfer money from my US to my UK account in large quantities so I don't get hit with the fee too often. Or is PayPal a better option? Or is there an option I'm not thinking of?  Would love to hear what all of you have done. Thanks!

Apologies if this has been posted recently and I missed it. If so, please direct me to the relevant thread and I'll delete this.

While I don't have an answer, figuring this out is on my list of things to do. I'll let you know what I find out. Hopefully Direct Loans will have an answer.

I paid mine online when I was the UK. Does your lender have that option?

XE Trade? Or a British "sister" bank?

I plan on using XE Trade for when my grace period runs out and I have to start paying back.

Or trusting my parents, and leaving a couple of checks for them to send out until I get it sorted out in the UK.

This thread should help you.

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=35675.0

 

I've heard lots of good things about XEtrade, so I'm probably going to use that once I need to start paying off my loans next April.

My small credit union in the US allows me to send checks from my HSBC account here, in ££'s, and they convert it to $$ for me, for free! All I have to pay for is postage.  It does take a week or so for the check to be converted and deposited.  I suggest you check with your bank in the US, as I know for me, I wouldn't have even thought of asking (but my mother told me to!)

I ran into problems because I consolidated and the new company didn't accept credit cards, or foreign debit cards...if yours does/will, I would consider just getting a credit card here and paying your loans monthly with that.  If you are good at repaying in full every month 

My best advice is to hunt around for the best rate.. because you could end up making alot more money if you find a better rate.  By using moneycorp rather than XE im making a few hundred dollars more a year on my transfers.. but am also transfering back larger sums.  So, dont hesitate to shop around.

Thanks to all for the advice and links, especially as I need to consolidate my loans ASAP. Checking out how my parents might help could be a good thing as I still have a joint account in their name as well as mine. It looks like I have a lot of options--thanks everyone!

My loans are consoldated with Direct Loans. Unfortunately for me, they do not accept non $USD, so my money needs to come from a US bank. Unless I can find a bank in the UK that has someway for me to wing this. 

Just set up a money transfer from your UK to your US bank account.  See the link i posted earlier in this thread.