thread: HECS debt

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  1. #1

    Jan 2008
    3,107

    ergh I owe just over 3 grand. I hope I havent earned enough to start paying it off yet, I need the tax money this year :/

  2. #2
    Registered User

    Apr 2007
    SE QLD
    2,321

    I didn't realise it had interest....

  3. #3
    Registered User

    Dec 2005
    6,706

    The interest on your HECS/HELP debt is only cpi, so very small.

    BW

  4. #4

    Jan 2008
    3,107

    Yeah I got mine in the mail it was 1. something percent

  5. #5
    Registered User

    Dec 2009
    605

    Haha all your replies made me laugh! I'm glad I can blissfully ignore it, probably for the rest of my life! Cheers for taking the weight off my shoulders ladies!

  6. #6
    Registered User

    Aug 2006
    On the other side of this screen!!!
    11,129

    If you have any other debt, ignore this one, its the "cheapest" debt (in terms of the rate at which the interest compounds) you will ever have. Pay the other debt off first.

    BUT (and I'm bucking the trend here) if you have no other debt, pay this off NOW while you have no other encumbrances because a) If you make voluntary payments you get a 10% discount and b) you can't predict how your circumstances will change. My sis has landed herself in a really tight position after she left her husband & started work, discovered she was really really good and got 3 promotions over 14 months, suddenly after paying little HECS the previous year she suddenly finds she is required to pay 10K on top of her regular tax...she has in that time bought a property and will not be able to make the payment. She is facing selling her home to fund the HELP debt because the ATO will show no mercy on the grounds of being a single parent. Even if you only pay off $500 a year then you reduce the likelihood of it coming back to bite you later.

  7. #7
    Registered User

    Jun 2005
    USA
    3,991

    That doesn't make sense Marydean- was her employer not taking out the right amount of tax? With pay increases her tax should have increased (including her HECS payments) and she shouldn'tbe so far out at the end of the year. What an awful situation for your sister!