How to pay off your bank loan

Finding it difficult to manage your finances and debt? The following are some tips on how to pay off your bank loan.

• Put together a budget. Calculate the amount you spend on food, bills, etc, each month and take this away from the income you receive. This will give you a target for how much you can afford to repay. Remember the most important thing about a budget is that you stick to it!
• Make extra repayments as often as possible. Try putting all extra money you earn from overtime and bonuses towards paying off your loan. Making extra repayments will mean that your loan gets paid off faster and you pay less in the long run. If you get a tax refund then use that to make an extra repayment.
• If you have some money left over in your budget then you should make a higher repayment than normal. Every little bit helps when trying to reduce your loan debt.
• If you are really struggling to make repayments then it is worth trying to renegotiate a cheaper interest rate with your bank. Banks are often surprisingly sympathetic if you plead your case so you may be able to reduce the rate by a couple of percent.
• Do your best to make payments on time. The last thing you want is to get charged a late payment penalty fee on top of your regular repayments.