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!
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.
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!
No she got dudded because she had a package and when you have reportable fringe benefits they gross it the fringe benefits amount with some weird calculation that blows it right out...because it was the first year she'd had a package PLUS the increase in income (different tax bracket I think) she had no idea and it wasn't apparent until after tax time and the sickening reality was revealed.
Registered User
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks