Independent editorial research

Contributor

Sarah Mitchell

Consumer credit writer — personal loans, debt and credit scores

Sarah Mitchell covers borrowing outside the mortgage: personal loans, credit cards, student debt, debt payoff strategy and how credit scoring actually works. She uses CFPB guidance, the Federal Reserve's G.19 consumer credit release and the federal student aid rules as her reference points, and shows payoff arithmetic in full. She works with the Legamoney Mortgage & Lending Desk.

Areas of expertise

Personal loans and loan comparison maths
Credit cards, interest accrual and payoff plans
Debt management and consolidation
Credit scores, reports and disputes

Published

91 articles

How we verify what we publish

01Every factual claim is traced to a named regulator, government agency, or the provider's own published terms before publication.
02Figures that change — rates, limits, thresholds — link to the primary source that publishes them rather than being quoted as a fixed number.
03Worked examples are shown as full arithmetic so a reader can reproduce the result independently.
04Each guide is checked by the owning editorial desk before it is published, and again whenever the underlying rules change.

Articles by Sarah Mitchell

Loans & Mortgage (24)

Student Loans · 24

Student Loans

Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Four Eligibility Conditions

Qualifying employer, qualifying loan type, qualifying repayment plan and 120 qualifying payments — how each is verified.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 2 min read

Student Loans

Income-Driven Repayment Plans Compared: What Each One Costs Per Month

How each income-driven plan calculates a payment from discretionary income, and the forgiveness timeline attached to each.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

Federal Student Loan Programmes Compared: Limits, Rates and Who Qualifies

Direct Subsidised, Unsubsidised, PLUS and Consolidation loans side by side — borrowing limits, interest treatment and eligibility in one table.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$150,000 Student Loan at 7.5%: $1,208/Month Over 20 Years

Repaying $150,000 of student debt at 7.5% over 20 years costs $1,208.39 a month and $140,014 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$150,000 Student Loan at 7.5%: $1,781/Month Over 10 Years

Repaying $150,000 of student debt at 7.5% over 10 years costs $1,780.53 a month and $63,663 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$150,000 Student Loan at 6.5%: $1,118/Month Over 20 Years

Repaying $150,000 of student debt at 6.5% over 20 years costs $1,118.36 a month and $118,406 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$150,000 Student Loan at 6.5%: $1,703/Month Over 10 Years

Repaying $150,000 of student debt at 6.5% over 10 years costs $1,703.22 a month and $54,386 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$150,000 Student Loan at 5.5%: $1,032/Month Over 20 Years

Repaying $150,000 of student debt at 5.5% over 20 years costs $1,031.83 a month and $97,639 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$150,000 Student Loan at 5.5%: $1,628/Month Over 10 Years

Repaying $150,000 of student debt at 5.5% over 10 years costs $1,627.89 a month and $45,347 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$150,000 Student Loan at 4.5%: $949/Month Over 20 Years

Repaying $150,000 of student debt at 4.5% over 20 years costs $948.97 a month and $77,754 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$150,000 Student Loan at 4.5%: $1,555/Month Over 10 Years

Repaying $150,000 of student debt at 4.5% over 10 years costs $1,554.58 a month and $36,549 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$100,000 Student Loan at 7.5%: $806/Month Over 20 Years

Repaying $100,000 of student debt at 7.5% over 20 years costs $805.59 a month and $93,342 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$100,000 Student Loan at 7.5%: $1,187/Month Over 10 Years

Repaying $100,000 of student debt at 7.5% over 10 years costs $1,187.02 a month and $42,442 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$100,000 Student Loan at 6.5%: $746/Month Over 20 Years

Repaying $100,000 of student debt at 6.5% over 20 years costs $745.57 a month and $78,938 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$100,000 Student Loan at 6.5%: $1,135/Month Over 10 Years

Repaying $100,000 of student debt at 6.5% over 10 years costs $1,135.48 a month and $36,258 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$100,000 Student Loan at 5.5%: $688/Month Over 20 Years

Repaying $100,000 of student debt at 5.5% over 20 years costs $687.89 a month and $65,093 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$100,000 Student Loan at 5.5%: $1,085/Month Over 10 Years

Repaying $100,000 of student debt at 5.5% over 10 years costs $1,085.26 a month and $30,232 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$100,000 Student Loan at 4.5%: $633/Month Over 20 Years

Repaying $100,000 of student debt at 4.5% over 20 years costs $632.65 a month and $51,836 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$100,000 Student Loan at 4.5%: $1,036/Month Over 10 Years

Repaying $100,000 of student debt at 4.5% over 10 years costs $1,036.38 a month and $24,366 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$75,000 Student Loan at 7.5%: $604/Month Over 20 Years

Repaying $75,000 of student debt at 7.5% over 20 years costs $604.19 a month and $70,007 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$75,000 Student Loan at 7.5%: $890/Month Over 10 Years

Repaying $75,000 of student debt at 7.5% over 10 years costs $890.26 a month and $31,832 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$75,000 Student Loan at 6.5%: $559/Month Over 20 Years

Repaying $75,000 of student debt at 6.5% over 20 years costs $559.18 a month and $59,203 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$75,000 Student Loan at 6.5%: $852/Month Over 10 Years

Repaying $75,000 of student debt at 6.5% over 10 years costs $851.61 a month and $27,193 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Student Loans

$75,000 Student Loan at 5.5%: $516/Month Over 20 Years

Repaying $75,000 of student debt at 5.5% over 20 years costs $515.92 a month and $48,820 in interest. Includes the income needed to afford it and faster-payoff scenarios.

Updated Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Credentials shown on Legamoney author pages are entered manually and only listed where they exist. See our editorial policy for how articles are researched, reviewed, and updated.