Got student loan debt? Fifth Third has developed an easy way to help pay it down with the new Fifth Third MomentumTM app that will automate “micropayments” toward your student loan balance!
Fifth Third Bank customers with a Fifth Third debit card can link student loans held by over thirty different service providers to the app. Once the loan is connected, customers can choose to round their debit card purchases up to the next dollar or add one dollar to every purchase. Either way, the extra amount is applied to the balance on the designated loan on a weekly basis once a minimum of five dollars in round ups is achieved.
Customers who choose to round up using Fifth Third Momentum can, for example, apply 55 cents to their designated loan balance when purchasing lunch for $9.45 for a total of $10. The same customer who chooses the dollar pay-down would pay $10.45 for the same lunch, with $1 of that being applied toward the student loan.
Fifth Third estimates that customers who round up $25 a month using the Fifth Third Momentum app could pay off a 20-year loan three years sooner and pay 8 percent less in total by avoiding interest that would have accumulated (based on a loan amount of $37,172 with a fixed interest rate of 6.80%).
Family members can help, too
The Fifth Third Momentum app allows graduates’ family members to use the app, too. They can sign up with their own Fifth Third debit cards and connect their purchases to help their loved ones pay down the student debt they owe.
How to use Momentum
Fifth Third Momentum can be used with more than 30 major student-loan service providers — public and private. Fifth Third Bank does not offer student loans. Because the app is easy to set up and doesn’t require much daily thought, the bank hopes the automated micropayments platform will make reducing debt something as easy and inexpensive day-to-day as buying a cup of coffee.
Fifth Third Momentum is available to any Fifth Third debit card user. To get started, customers can download the Android or Apple app and enter the name of the institution servicing the student loan. The app gives tips to help locate the loan number. Customers then decide on their preferences — whether to round up purchases or contribute $1 for every debit-card transaction. Once $5 in payments is accumulated, the money is automatically sent to the student-loan account at the end of the week. To keep our customers motivated, they earn badges, called #Wins, for continuing to stick with this new habit. Learn more at 53.com.