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Student Loan Repayment Tips to Help You Succeed

Before you apply

1. Plan, plan, plan

As with any major life decision, the first step you’ll need to take to help keep your student loan repayment process as smooth as possible is to make a plan. Whether you’re switching careers or boosting your current career, keep in mind what your potential new salary could be and when it might take effect. This way, you can have a financial strategy for a possible job hunt period or for some time before any raise takes effect.

Knowing what timeline you might be looking at, and the impact of the education you’re investing in, will get you prepared financially.

2. Know how much you really need to borrow in tuition and living expenses

With some programs, students may have the option to borrow for living expenses in addition to tuition financing. If you do find yourself borrowing for cost of living expenses, you’ll want to look closely at what you have, and what you really need, in order to be sure you’re taking out the right amount for your situation.

While you don’t want to borrow so little you can’t cover tuition, you also don’t want to borrow so much you’ll have trouble paying it off. Remember: everything you borrow, you’ll have to pay back with interest.

3. Make a budget

Then, once you’ve got a good idea of your financial situation, it’s time to make a budget. Yes, we know, putting together a budget is on few people’s lists of favorite activities. But doing so will help build up your savings, cut costs, and give you lots of buffer to make loan payments — especially for the period before you receive any income benefits of the education.

If you need a little extra push to get going, check out this list of popular budgeting tools and methods. And get practicing today; a habit takes time to stick!

Student Loan Repayment Tips

During your application

4. Read loan documents carefully and know your monthly payment due dates and amounts

No one likes getting caught off-guard, especially when it comes to due dates and monthly payment amounts. So, it’s crucial to read over all your loan documents carefully and ask questions if you need any clarification. Note what you’ll owe each month and when, as well as if there’s a fixed or variable interest rate.

If you have a Climb loan, there are a few places you can find this information. We’ll email you loan documents both when you’re approved and when your loan is finalized. Additionally, all forms and documentation can be found in your online Climb Student Portal!

5. Get to know your lender and loan servicer

Sure, you may know the name of your lender, but do you know who your loan servicer is? That’s the company who sends you your monthly bills and manages your account after the loan has been disbursed, and it’s not always the same as your lender.

For Climb loans funded before 10/16/23, the servicer is University Accounting Service (UAS), and for Climb loans funded on or after 10/16/23, the servicer is Launch. Keeping contact information both for Climb and your loan servicer readily available will make it much easier to get any questions issues taken care of quickly, as well as to make any updates to your account. Whatever questions you have, don’t hesitate to reach out!

During loan repayment

6. Make payments on-time

Of course, the most important of the student loan repayment tips is to make those payments on-time. Check your balance frequently, and set reminders on your phone or calendar for your payment dates.

By being punctual with your payments, you’ll not only prevent your principal from piling on, but you’ll also keep your credit score up. Besides your loan application, a strong credit score could benefit you with insurance companies, potential employers, landlords, and even cell phone companies!

7. Set up automatic payments

Do you find it difficult to remember to make all your payments by the time they’re due, even if you set reminders? Don’t worry — you’re not alone. But a very effective way to help ensure your bills are paid on time is setting up autopay. By connecting your bank, you’ll have the amount due withdrawn each month automatically, so you won’t have to worry about remembering it yourself.

And as an extra bonus, many lenders (including Climb) offer an interest rate discount when you connect your account to ACH. When you set up automatic payments for any interest-bearing Climb Loan, you’ll receive a 0.25% interest rate discount,* which can really add up over time!

8. Prepay, or pay more than the minimum amount due

Finally, if you’ve been making on-time payments and have some room to spare, we suggest prepaying or paying more than the minimum amount due. This will reduce your principal quicker, and the faster you pay off your principal, the less you’ll pay in interest overall. Try making loan payments every two weeks instead of once a month, and use every windfall (bonuses, tax refunds, gift money, etc.) to pay down your loan.

There’s no prepayment penalty for a Climb loan, so you can pay off your loan at any time — and if you pay it off quicker, you’ll have to pay less interest!

Have your student loan repayment tips in hand, and are ready to begin?

If you have any additional questions about student loan repayment tips, your loan application, or student financing in general, our team is available 10am–8pm ET, Monday–Friday, to help you get all the information you need! You can reach out to us through live chat at climbcredit.com or email at hello@climbcredit.com.

*The 0.25% auto-pay interest rate reduction applies as long as a valid bank account is designated for required monthly payments. This discount only applies to interest-bearing products, not 0% APR Financing products.

5 thoughts on “Student Loan Repayment Tips to Help You Succeed

  1. I’m extremely impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your
    blog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself?
    Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing, it is rare
    to see a nice blog like this one today.

  2. Repaying a loan seems like it can be tricky if you don’t have a plan. Thanks for explaining that it might be smart to set up automatic payments. That would definitely help you from missing one. If I was going to get a loan I would want to talk to a professional to an expert about coming up with a plan for paying it back.

  3. I like what you said about making on-time payments. That way the creditor can see that you are reliable as an investment. I’ll have to contact a loan officer to make sure I can get a low-interest loan from the bank.

  4. You brought up a really interesting point when you mentioned that it is a good idea to set reminders on your phone so that you can pay your student loans on time. My younger sister is going to have to take out a loan when she starts college because our parents don’t have enough money to help her. I’ll be sure to share these tips with my sister so that she doesn’t get behind on her payments.

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What to Expect: Realistic Outcomes

Climb’s Comprehensive Access Solution can offer a strategic balance of increased enrollments and upfront cashflows compared to traditional lenders. While no financing solution guarantees 100% collection, our data-driven approach maximizes both upfront cash and long-term repayment rates.

Typical Partner Results:

  • 15-30% of students qualify for Climb Loans with upfront tuition delivered to the school shortly after course start
  • 45-60% of students qualify for 0% APR* payment plans
  • Enrollment increases of 20%+ reported by partner schools**

**Results vary by school and student demographics. This represents performance reported by individual school partners and should not be considered a guarantee of your specific outcomes.

The bottom line: CAS is designed to maximize your net tuition recovery while eliminating the administrative headaches of student financing.

Maximizing Your Results

Pro Tip: Schools that require student deposits and set up automatic payments during enrollment see significantly better repayment performance across all financing options. These simple steps can meaningfully improve your outcomes.

FAQs

We use a comprehensive, AI-driven assessment that goes beyond traditional FICO scores to better serve career training students:

  • Climb Credit Score: Over 150 data points specifically designed for vocational students
  • Debt-to-Income Ratio: Reliable predictor of payment performance
  • FICO Score: Used primarily for interest rate assignment

Key advantages of our approach:

  • Soft credit pull until loan funding (no credit impact during application)
  • The majority of students receive instant decisions
  • Students can apply with co-borrowers directly in the application
  • More accurate placement into appropriate financing products

We use a comprehensive, AI-driven assessment that goes beyond traditional FICO scores to better serve career training students:

  • Climb Credit Score: Over 150 data points specifically designed for vocational students
  • Debt-to-Income Ratio: Reliable predictor of payment performance
  • FICO Score: Used primarily for interest rate assignment

Key advantages of our approach:

  • Soft credit pull until loan funding (no credit impact during application)
  • The majority of students receive instant decisions
  • Students can apply with co-borrowers directly in the application
  • More accurate placement into appropriate financing products

Students are placed into funding brackets (Elite, Standard, Enhanced) based on our AI assessment. Higher-credit students generate higher upfront payments to your school, while students with limited credit are seamlessly directed to our 0% Payment Plan.

These brackets are established using data from over $1 billion in career training loan originations and may be adjusted periodically based on updated repayment trends.

Important note: Regardless of which bracket a student falls into, they are considered fully paid by your school once funded. The student’s repayment obligation exists exclusively between Climb and the student.

Elite Access not available for Computer Science programs. Upfront percentages vary by industry and loan terms.

Once Climb disburses upfront funding for a student loan, that student is considered fully paid by your school. You will not receive any additional payments for that student—the single upfront payment is complete and final.

From that point forward, the student’s repayment obligation exists exclusively between Climb and the student. Your school has zero liability if the student defaults, and you keep the full upfront payment regardless of the student’s future payment performance.

They’re automatically offered our 0% Interest Payment Plan, ensuring no student is turned away while maintaining steady monthly cash flow for your school.

Higher-credit students generate larger upfront payments (75-100% of tuition), while students with limited credit use our 0% APR* Payment Plan for consistent monthly revenue. Both options are risk-free for your school

Absolutely. Climb complements existing payment options like scholarships, employer-sponsored programs, and internal financing.

Absolutely. Climb complements existing payment options like scholarships, employer-sponsored programs, and internal financing.

Typically, within 5-10 business days after your partnership agreement is signed.

Comprehensive onboarding webinar, continuous partner support via AI-assisted chat and live email—and real-time borrower assistance with our live-chat-available student success team.

No. Climb fully manages the administrative responsibilities—your team simply monitors your school’s performance via our intuitive School Portal.

Your school is fully protected either way. For Climb Loans, you keep the entire upfront payment with zero liability. For Payment Plans, you only receive what students actually pay, with no risk to your school.