I created this Student Loan Planner review after getting lots of DM’s about whether a consult with the Student Loan Planner was worth the money, once we realized that we were going to save $200,000 on the student loan repayment plan that we chose. The short answer is that I think it’s worth it for a lot of people, but if you have less than $50k in student loans, you probably don’t need it.
What is the Student Loan Planner?
The Student Loan Planner is a website where you can get a personalized student loan debt plan to help you get on the path to debt freedom. It also has a blog that answers almost any question you could ever have about student loans. Basically, it’s a website of a few smarty pants people who have become the experts on the overly complicated system that is student loans in the United States.
Is the Student Loan Planner consult worth the money? A Student Loan Planner Review.
I’m Amber. I created this blog after my husband and I graduated dental and law school respectively. We had accumulated over $600,000 in student loan debt and didn’t have the first clue about how to pay it off.
By day I am a lawyer. My husband is a dentist who recently purchased his own dental practice. Our full time jobs keep us BUSY, but by night, we (royal we really. Mostly just me, Amber) blog here at Deeply in Debt about all things personal finance, especially as it relates to those of us who have six figures of debt.
Right after we graduated, it felt like someone physically placed a heavy, soul and body crushing weight on our shoulders. That weight was our student loans. While most of our friends had student loan debt, no one had as much as us. And we kept getting tons of conflicting advice about what to do with our student loans. We felt extremely isolated and confused about what the heck we should do with our crippling student loans. It got to the point where I literally could not sleep at night. I was so overwhelmed and conflicted.
After doing my own research (which took hours. Maybe even hundreds of hours?) we finally decided that we were going to refinance our student loans for a lower interest rate and pay them off as quickly as possible. We were determined. But then we told that plan to a few people who completely disagreed, and we felt like we were back at square one again. And right about that time, I found the Student Loan Planner.
Since we had more than $400k of student loan debt, Travis did our individual consult. He had a handy excel sheet and asked us some personal questions about our finances, our family, what our plans were for the next few years, and wham bam thank ya man in about 30 minutes we’d chosen the plan that was right for us. In other words, I could have skipped the hundreds of hours of research!! He walked us through each of our options and we all discussed the pros and cons of each. He didn’t pressure us any way in regards to what path to take, he simply made sure we understood each of our options. (Because there are A MILLION different options, it really can be SO frustrating and overwhelming).
Here’s a little glimpse into what the Student Loan Planner’s analysis looks like with each of the main student loan repayment plans:
I cannot overstate the peace of mind that we had after our consult. It was like someone came in and lifted that heavy weight off our shoulders. He made the whole overwhelming process seem really simple. Not to mention the fact that our custom plan literally saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars— really. I’m not exaggerating.
But, it is not for everyone.
With that being said, in this honest Student Loan Planner review, I’ll say that I actually don’t think a consult with the Student Loan Planner is for everyone. There are definitely people who don’t need it. If you have less than $50k of student loan debt, you probably don’t need the consult. Also, if you already know that you are going to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness and you know all the steps you need to take to get it, you don’t need a consult. Or if you know that you want to refinance your student loans for a better interest rate and pay them off on your own, you don’t need a consult. If you’re confident in the path that you are on for paying off your student loans, then I’d say don’t start stressing about it now, you probably don’t need the consult!
I recommend booking a consult with the Student Loan Planner if you have $50k or more of student loan debt and haven’t decided what to do with it yet and are feeling overwhelmed (like I was) by the whole process. If you have six figures of student loan debt, I *highly* recommend contacting them for a consult. Spending a little time with them could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars, like it did for us. There is so much conflicting advice on what to do with your student loans, and when you have a six figure balance, interest on your loans can get out of hand fast. Having personalized advice is totally warranted when you have a six figure balance.
Let’s recap.
You don’t need a student loan consult from the Student Loan Planner if:
- You have less than $50,000 of student loan debt.
- You are planning on Public Service Loan Forgiveness (and know how to qualify for it).
- You know that you want to pay off your student loan debt on your own.
- You are confident that you are on the plan that is best for you at the moment.
You do need a consult if:
- You’ve got more than $50,000 of student loan debt.
- You are feeling overwhelmed by your debt and want to make sure you’re choosing the best plan for you.
- You’re confused by your repayment options.
- You want peace of mind when it comes to your student loan repayment plan.
Is a Student Loan Planner consult right for you?
Thanks to my consult with the Student Loan Planner, we are literally saving hundreds of thousands of dollars on our student loans. Which is really nice. But for me, the best part about the consult was the peace of mind that it left us with. We left our consult with a solid achievable plan that has already saved us thousands of dollars over the course of the last two years! We’ve been able to pay off well over $200k of our student loan debt. I’m not the only one who has gotten amazing results from the Student Loan Planner by the way. They’ve saved thousands of student loan borrowers tens of millions of dollars. Literally. So, if you are like me, and you’re feeling completely lost, overwhelmed, frustrated, and or confused about what on earth to do with your student loan debt, definitely Click here to schedule an individual consultation at the Student Loan Planner. You’re 30 minute consult could save you hundreds of thousands like it did for us.
For the comments: what are your thoughts on having someone help you figure out what to do with your student loan debt? Have you benefited from it? Is it overrated? I’d love to hear your trips and thoughts below!
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Thank you for this. I was on the fence after seeing the hefty $450 fee. But I’m enrolling in a PsyD program that begins in August. I already have $190k from undergrad and my masters and feeling VERY overwhelmed. I’ll be using this service for sure.
That’s exactly how I felt but it was totally worth every penny for the peace of mine alone. Congrats on the PsyD program!
If you have law school debt of $103K and undergrad debt of $40K and no job (just graduated in May and am studying for the bar)is the consult still worth it?
Definitely Dee! They can help you decide what to do with it and lower monthly payments if you need it. If it’s too big of a stretch right now, you could also wait until you find a job. Congrats on graduating law school and good luck on the bar!
I’m curious why you didn’t do the PAYE option? We have nearly 600k of debt (dental school) as well and it seems like the best option though we are pretty fresh out of school so still researching.
We didn’t qualify for it! If you do qualify, that’s a great option. 🙂