Paying off a loan ahead of schedule is a great feeling. It means that you now have the freedom to spend that payment amount each month however you want. You can use it to pay down other debt, or even better, save it towards something else you want or need. How cool is that?

Before you get to experience that heady feeling, however, you have to pay off that loan. Paying a loan off early is easy; you just have to pay more than you are required to pay. Okay, maybe it’s not so easy. You’ll have to have a little discipline as you make those extra payments, but you can make it simpler by using one of these techniques to make your payments.

Round your monthly payment up a little. If your payment is supposed to be $321 each month, try sending a check for $330 each month. You won’t miss the extra $9, but over time that extra money will add up.

Automate your monthly payment at a slightly higher amount. Online bill payment makes it easy to send pre-determined amounts to your lender without having to write a check. Now you won’t be tempted to keep the extra portion of your payment if money is a little tight one month.

Pledge to send windfall amounts to the lender. Rebate checks, tax returns, and garage sale proceeds are all great sources of “found” money. Since you weren’t expecting this money, you won’t need it to pay your regular expenses. If it just feels too rigid to apply your entire windfall to the lender, send half. You can do something fun with the half you keep and still make some headway towards paying off your loan.

Make payments more often than you are required to make them. Check with your lender to make sure you can make frequent payments. If you can, divide your monthly payment by four and remit that amount weekly. Since four months out of the year have five weeks in them, you’ll end up making an extra payment every year.

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