Why You Shouldn’t Advance Your Due Date on Student Loans

If you’re ready to make extra payments toward your student loan debt to pay off your loan ahead of schedule, you’ll want to ensure the money is applied to your loan’s principal. Some lenders may automatically advance your due date if you don’t specify this intention.

We’ll explain how to ensure your lender doesn’t advance your due date so your payments are used most effectively.

What does “do not advance due date” mean on student loans?

When you make an additional payment to pay down your loan faster, you may see “do not advance due date” as an option. If you choose this option, you specify that you want to apply the extra payment directly to the principal.

If you do not select that option, your lender will apply your extra payment to late fees and accrued interest and then toward future payments (including interest).

Here’s how an advanced due date affects your loan

If you don’t select the “do not advance due date” option, your lender will apply the extra payment as an advanced due date. This means that your extra payment will be used in this order:

1. Late payment fees
2. Accrued interest
3. Future payments

Here’s how this would work for a $10,000 loan with a 6% APR and a regular monthly payment of $200 if you were to make an extra $400 payment.

Month	Expected payment	Accrued interest	Principal paid	Extra payment	Remaining balance
1	$200	$50	$150	$400	$9,850
2	$0	$49.25	$150.75	$0	$9,699.25
3	$0	$48.50	$151.50	$0	$9,547.75
4	$200	$47.74	$152.26	$0	$9,595.49

Implications

1. Temporary payment break: The extra $400 payment is applied to months two and three, so no payments will be due for those months. Regular payments will resume in month four.
2. Continued interest accrual: While you won’t make payments during months two and three, the loan balance is still growing due to accrued interest.
3. Higher total costs: Since the principal isn’t reduced as quickly, more interest accrues over the life of the loan as your repayment term is still the same length.

Here’s how not advancing the due date affects your loan

If you choose the “do not advance due date” option, your lender will apply the extra payment directly to the principal balance after covering any unpaid accrued interest for the current month. This means your extra payment will be used to reduce the principal balance immediately rather than advancing the due date.

Here’s how this would work for a $10,000 loan with a 6% APR and a regular monthly payment of $200 if you make an extra $400 payment.

Month	Expected payment	Accrued interest	Principal paid	Extra payment	Remaining balance
1	$200	$50	$150	$400	$9,450
2	$200	$47.25	$152.75	$0	$9,297.25
3	$200	$46.49	$153.51	$0	$9,143.74
4	$200	$45.72	$154.28	$0	$8,989.46

Implications

1. No payment break: The extra $400 is applied directly to the principal. You will continue making regular monthly payments as scheduled.
2. Reduced interest accrual: By reducing the principal balance immediately, less interest accrues each month, saving you money over the life of the loan.
3. Lower total costs: The extra payment will lower the principal balance, reducing interest accrued over the life of the loan and reducing the total amount you pay.

Why should I choose “do not advance due date?”

As demonstrated in the examples above, selecting “do not advance due date” will reduce your principal balance faster and lead to less interest accrual each month.

Here’s the remaining balance at the end of the fourth month of repayment for each:

Month	Scenario	Remaining balance	Paid down principal
4	Advanced due date	$9,395.49	$604.51
4	Do not advance due date	$8,989.46	$1,010.54

As you can see, the “do not advance due date” scenario resulted in a balance that was $406.03 less than if the due date had been advanced.

This strategy reduces your principal balance quicker, minimizes interest accrual, and decreases the overall cost of your loan. You’ll also be on pace to pay off your loan faster than your original term.

Tip

Whether you have federal or private student loans, you can use this debt payoff strategy.

If you’re worried about an extra payment mistakenly being used to advance the due date, contact your student loan servicer before submitting the payment to ensure there is no confusion.

Does it ever make sense to advance your due date on student loans?

There are no scenarios in which we would recommend using extra payments to advance your due date. While this may provide psychological relief knowing that future payments are covered, it isn’t the best use of your money.

If the two options above don’t meet your needs, talk to your loan servicer about lowering your student loan payments or check your eligibility for federal loan repayment plans.

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