SoFi

There are few things more exciting than finally meeting the love of your life after suffering through blind dates and swiping right on your share of mismatches.

Whether you get engaged after dating for seven months or seven years, planning a wedding with your person is exhilarating. But it’s also not cheap. Planning your big day means coming to terms with some bracing cost realities. Before you start, you’ll want to understand how much things typically cost and ways you and your partner can manage to pay for it all.

Obviously, everyone’s wedding is different. You might not need a doughnut bar AND a chocolate fountain, and you can opt to have your uncle run the photo booth, but you might still end up having to pay for things like food and a venue.

According to a study by The Knot , which polled nearly 13,000 couples who wed last year, couples spend an average of $33,391 on their weddings. And that doesn’t even include the honeymoon! The good news? That number is actually down a little from a high in 2016, when the average came out to $35,329.

If that amount is making you sweat or wonder what else you could buy with all that cash, don’t worry. You don’t need to have all the wedding bells and whistles. We’ll walk you through a wedding cost breakdown that will help you see where you can save.

What Goes Into the Cost of a Wedding?

So, where does all that money go? There are so many costs that just don’t come to mind right away. This wedding cost breakdown will help you see where almost every penny is spent. (Most of these totals are courtesy of The Knot and have been rounded when necessary.)

First, the biggest chunk of cash goes, unsurprisingly, toward the venue. Including the space and rentals you need to fill the space (tables, chairs, etc.) couples spend an average of nearly $15,200.

For catering costs, most couples pay about $70 per guest. For a 100-person wedding, that’s about $7,000.

The engagement ring can also set you back a cool $5,700 on average. Brides also spent an average of $1,500 on their wedding dresses.

Couples often pay big money for things like the reception band which can cost around $4,000, or if you choose a reception DJ it can come in around $1,200, flowers at about $2,400, and the ceremony site, separately from the reception venue, which might cost around $2,300.

Documenting the wedding can be yet another big expense. Photos can set you back an average of $2,600. And a videographer will be an additional $1,900.

And then there’s all the little things that add up. A wedding planner costs an average of almost $2,000, the rehearsal dinner typically costs about $1,300, and hair and makeup averages another $1,000.

Related: The Cost of Being in Someone’s Wedding

The rest of the costs are that couples were surveyed on were under $1,000, but they add up. You can estimate about $800 for transportation, $540 for your wedding cake, $400 for invitations, $280 for the groom’s suit, and $250 for favors.

One way to lower your costs could be to decrease the number of guests you invite, since the average cost per guest is up to $268 per person. The cost per guest is so high these days because plenty of couples decide to spend money on sparklers, selfie booths, lawn games, and other fun reception additions. So, if you want to keep your costs in check, you might have to skip some of the extras, too.

Who usually ends up paying for the wedding?

These days, figuring out who pays for the wedding (and how) can sometimes be unclear. Back in the day, the bride’s family was expected to pick up the whole tab, but that’s pretty antiquated at this point.

Now it’s much more common for both families to chip in, but often the couple pays for a large part of the costs on their own. In fact, The Knot reports that couples pay for 41% of wedding costs themselves.

If you and your partner are on the hook for 41% of the wedding, then going based on the average costs, that will be about $13,690. That’s not pocket change. Given that many parents might not be able to contribute financially to the wedding, you could be looking at a much larger bill.

Looking into Smart Wedding Financing Options

A bigger question than who pays for the wedding is: How do they pay for the wedding? Often couples use their savings. But not all couples have cash sitting around that they can easily tap into. And even if you do, you don’t necessarily want to deplete your emergency fund or take money away from saving for a down payment on a house.

That’s why taking out a wedding loan or turning to some kind of wedding financing option can make sense. Usually couples end up charging wedding expenses to a credit card, but paying off that balance can be pretty costly. The average interest on a credit card is around 16%. Do you really want to be paying 16% interest on your entire wedding? The fact that all the deposit costs come at the same time makes it even more difficult if you’re charging everything to a credit card.

Related: If you have credit card debt, consult our Credit Card Interest Calculator and find out how much you are paying in interest alone.

You have to deal with credit card maximums, and to keep your favorable credit score, you should only use 20% to 30% of the available credit on your card. If you’re looking to buy a home soon, the ding your credit can take from carrying that wedding debt on a credit card could cost you when it’s time to apply for a mortgage.

Using a Personal Loan to Fund a Wedding

What are wedding loans? They’re exactly what they sound like. Essentially, a lender just offers you an unsecured personal loan to cover your wedding costs.

A personal loan will give you a broader range of options than a credit card when it comes to the term length on your loan, the amount you can borrow, and the interest rates offered. Interest rates on personal loans tend to be pretty reasonable, so they’re likely to be lower than rates on credit cards.

With a personal loan, you can choose how long you want your term length to be. If you need a few years to pay off the loan, your lender will probably be able to accommodate that. You can also choose a fixed interest rate, so that you lock in a manageable rate with the guarantee that it won’t shoot up later.

One of the benefits is that a personal loan can also help you build your credit. That’s not just because you won’t be using too much of your available credit, it’s also because you’ll be diversifying the type of credit you have. This could make it easier to get approved when you apply for a mortgage loan on your first love nest.

While swiping a credit card is an option that’s available immediately, you can get your personal loan disbursement fairly quickly. If you know you want to start making deposits on your wedding soon, you and your partner can apply for a personal loan today, and get the money you’ll need usually within a week.

SoFi Lending Corp. or an affiliate is licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Financing Law, license number 6054612.
The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement.
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If you recently got a bonus or just sold off the antique nutcracker collection you inherited from your Uncle Leo, you might consider putting that extra cash toward paying off your loans or getting ahead on your mortgage. After all, one frequently given nugget of financial wisdom is to use unexpected windfalls to pay down your debt. But what happens when paying down your loans comes with a prepayment penalty?

Loan prepayment penalties are fees lenders might include in their terms to ensure you pay a certain amount of interest on your loan before paying it off. It might sound crazy, but making extra payments or paying your loan off early can actually cost you more because of loan prepayment penalties.

The best way to avoid prepayment fees, of course, is to choose a personal loan or mortgage loan without prepayment penalties. If you’re stuck with a prepayment penalty on your loan, however, all is not lost. There are ways to avoid paying loan prepayment penalties. Here’s what you need to know in order to avoid prepayment penalty fees:

What is a loan prepayment penalty?

A loan prepayment penalty is an extra fee that allows lenders to charge you a fee for paying off the loan before the end of the term. The term of your loan is the repayment time period that you and your lender agreed on when you applied for the loan.

Personal Loan Prepayment Penalties

For example, if you take out a $6,000 personal loan to turn your guest room into a pet portrait studio and agree to pay your lender back $150 per month for five years, the term of that loan is five years. Although your loan term says it can’t take you more than five years to pay it off, some lenders also require that you don’t pay it off in less than five years.

The lender makes money off the monthly interest you pay on your loan, and if you pay off your loan early, the lender doesn’t make as much money. Loan prepayment penalties allow the lender to recoup the money they lose when you pay your loan off early.

Mortgage Loan Prepayment Penalties

When it comes to mortgages, things get a little trickier. For loans that originated after 2014, there are restrictions on when a lender can use prepayment penalties, which has made the penalties less common on mortgages. If you took out a mortgage before 2014, however, your mortgage may be subject to loan prepayment penalties. If you’re not sure if your mortgage has a prepayment penalty, check your origination paperwork or call your lender.

How much are loan prepayment penalties?

The cost of the prepayment penalty can vary widely depending on whether you took out a small personal loan or a substantial mortgage, and how your lender calculates the penalty. Lenders have different ways to determine how much of a prepayment penalty to charge. It behooves you to figure out exactly what your prepayment fee will be, because it can help you determine whether the penalty will outweigh the benefits of paying your loan off early. Here’s how the penalty fee might be calculated:

1. Interest Costs. If your loan charges a prepayment penalty based on interest, the lender is basing the fee on the interest you would have paid over the total term. To take our example from above, if you have a $6,000 loan with a five-year term, and want to pay the loan off in full after only four years, the lender may try to charge you 12 months’ worth of interest as a penalty.

2. Percentage of balance. Some lenders use a percentage of the amount left on your loan to determine your penalty fee. This is a common way to calculate prepayment penalty fees on mortgages. For example, if you buy a house for $500,000 and want to pay off the remaining balance six months after purchase, your lender might require that you pay a percentage of your remaining balance as a penalty.

3. Flat fee. Some lenders also simply have a flat fee as a prepayment penalty. This means that no matter how early you pay your loan back, you’ll have to pay a previously-agreed-to penalty fee.

How can you avoid prepayment penalties?

Trying to avoid prepayment penalties can seem like an exercise in futility, but it is possible. The easiest way to avoid them is to take out a loan or mortgage without prepayment penalties. If that is not possible, you still have options.

First, you can stick to the loan terms you agreed to. It might feel like you’re letting the lender win by making monthly payments for the full term of your loan, but it ensures you avoid penalty fees.

You can also take a look at your loan origination paperwork to see if it allows for a partial payoff without penalty. If it does, you might be able to prepay on a portion of your loan each year, which allows you to get out of debt sooner without requiring you to pay a penalty fee. For example, some mortgages allow larger payments of up to 20% of the purchase price once a year—without charging a prepayment penalty. This means that while you might not be able to pay off the full mortgage, you could pay up to 20% of the purchase price each year without triggering a penalty.

Finally, some lenders shift their prepayment penalty terms over the life of your loan. This means that as you get closer to the end of your original loan term, you might face less harsh penalty fees, or no fees at all. If that’s the case, it might make sense to sit on Uncle Leo’s nutcracker fortune for a year or two until the prepayment penalties no longer apply.

If you’re looking for a loan or mortgage, remember that there are lenders like SoFi that don’t impose prepayment penalties. With no prepayment penalties, you can use an unexpected cash windfall to pay down your debt fast without worrying about fees.

SoFi Mortgages not available in all states. Products and terms may vary from those advertised on this site. See SoFi.com for details.
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When you walked down the aisle, you never dreamed that you would one day be Googling divorce attorneys. But, unfortunately, life doesn’t always turn out the way we planned.

Deciding to get a divorce is difficult enough without having to worry about the expense of it. But all those internet searches likely showed you something you already suspected: Getting divorced can be costly.

So, just how expensive is a divorce? According to a survey by Nolo , the average cost of a divorce is $15,500. The total costs of a divorce can range from as little as a few hundred dollars to well over $100,000, or even into the millions if you’re a Hollywood starlet or Wall Street tycoon.

Why so expensive? In addition to obvious costs like attorney’s fees, there are costs for other things like time off work, court costs, mediator costs, real estate fees, a financial planner’s fees, accountant’s fees, and maybe even a plane ticket to the Bahamas so that you can take a break from it all.

Before you get worried about your divorce costing six figures, let’s break down the real cost of divorce and discuss some ways to finance it.

A Breakdown of Typical Divorce Costs

Are you crossing your fingers and hoping that you’ll have one of those divorces that only costs $400? If your divorce is not contested, or you agree on everything from the distribution of your assets to who gets your kids during the holidays, it could be relatively simple and inexpensive. Often couples draft up their own agreement and just bring it to a lawyer to make it official.

But let’s be honest, when was the last time you agreed on everything with anyone, let alone with your ex-spouse about things that important? Couples often need at least a mediator to help them come to an agreement.

If you disagree over dividing your finances (and you don’t have a prenup), or you can’t decide who should have custody of the kids, then you’ll likely both look to hiring attorneys.

Further, you could end up going to court if you’re not able to reach a settlement. Attorney’s fees make up the bulk of divorce costs with the average couple in Nolo’s survey paying $12,800 in lawyer’s fees to break up.

After that, there are court costs, and the cost of experts to bolster your case. Not sure what experts you could possibly need? Think child custody evaluators, accountants, and real estate evaluators. Speaking to any or all of them can continue to rack up a tab.

The Hidden Divorce Costs You’ll Need to Prepare For

Unfortunately, the total costs of your divorce are broader than just what it takes to reach a financial settlement and custody agreement. You might have to sell your home even if the market is not so great, or sell investments during a downturn.

There are real estate and closing costs, down payments on new houses, and moving costs. That alone could cost thousands and might include one costly trip to Ikea. If you have kids, you might even need to buy extra clothes and toys for both houses so that your kids don’t feel like they’re living out of a suitcase.

There are also other hidden costs that come with going to court. You might miss out on work and income in order to meet with lawyers, or have to pay for child care while you’re both meeting to finalize the details. You might also need help from your financial planner or accountant as you separate your finances and plan for your own financial future. If you have shared debt, there could even be costs associated in figuring out how to divide it or pay it off.

Then there are ongoing costs related to child support or alimony. If one partner used to stay home with the kids but is now re-entering the workforce, day care or after-school care could be another added ongoing expense. Counseling could also be necessary to deal with the difficulties and changes in your life—for both yourself or your kids.

That’s not even counting all the pints of chocolate ice cream or books about restarting your life after divorce that you may or may not impulse buy.

How a Personal Loan Can Help Finance a Divorce

The challenge with divorce costs is that they are often all due around the same time. Since we don’t generally save for a potential divorce in an account labeled Divorce Fund, there’s often not enough cash on hand to cover everything.

Many people resort to using credit cards, but expensive interest rates only make your divorce cost more in the long run. Getting a divorce loan might sound strange, but it’s often a crucial way to pay for your divorce without going into credit card debt.

A divorce loan is essentially a personal loan that you take out to finance your divorce. If you have good financial history and a good job, you’ll be might be eligible to qualify for a much lower interest rate on a personal loan than a credit card would offer.

A personal loan can pay for divorce attorney’s fees or allow you to pay the movers. It can help you pay off existing joint debt, and even be put towards a new budget.

Having the funds from a personal loan can give you time to space out the costs over a longer period of time so that you don’t have to sell that painting your Aunt Mary left you. A personal loan to fund divorce costs could mean breathing room, peace of mind, and respite in a difficult time.

The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement.
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The average Class of 2016 graduate walked down the commencement aisle with $37,000 in student loan debt . We all know that higher education is expensive, but that’s a big responsibility for a 22-year-old to be saddled with as they start their career. The interest payments on a $37,000 loan alone could afford the average new grad a whole lotta revolutions through the Taco Bell drive-thru and pairs of polyester work slacks. (Or better, the ability to start saving some money!)

If you have student loans, there is a way to reduce the amount of interest you pay over the lifespan of your loan or loans; It’s called student loan refinancing. There are people who have refinanced their loans and saved tens of thousands of dollars—and it’s possible you could too.

You’ll often hear the terms student loan refinancing and student loan consolidation used interchangeably, but they’re technically different. Only student loan refinancing has the potential to reduce how much you pay in interest. If your goal is to reduce what you owe, you’ll need to learn how to refinance student loans. Because it’s important to understand which is right for your situation, let’s hash out the definitions and details of both options.

Student Loan Refinancing Breakdown

Okay, so your current loans are either obtained through the government (that’s the most common route) or a private lender, like a bank (less common). Each loan has an interest rate—likely, a fixed rate of interest—set at the time you took out that loan. (If you have loans issued before 2006, there is a possibility that rates on your loans are variable, which means the interest rate may fluctuate.)

When you refinance one or all of these student loans, you’re basically just swapping out the old loans and replacing them with a fresh, new one in hopes of getting a better rate or more favorable terms.

Quite literally, the new lender pays off your old loan(s) and provides you with a spankin’ new loan. Now, the reason it’s worth it to learn how to refinance student loans is because it can lower your interest rate or term, thereby saving you money. A better interest rate or term can either lower your monthly payments or reduce the time it takes to pay off the loan, respectively.

Getting Started With Refinancing

The first step is to explore whether refinancing is the right option for you. Refinancing has historically only been available for federal loans, but there are a handful of lenders who refinance private loans as well. This is not the case for simple loan consolidation, which can only be done with federal loans.

If you’ve got federal loans and are taking advantage of income-based repayment or the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, it may not be worth learning how to refinance student loans; Those programs (and other benefits) won’t transfer to your new loan . If you have no plans to take advantage of any federal debt-relief program, it’s time to look into refinancing.

Local banks and credit unions often offer student loan refinancing, but online lenders like SoFi tend to offer more competitive rates. Each lender has its own criteria for determining your rate, but it’s generally based in part off credit score and income.

Student loan refinancing is generally available to folks who are in better financial situations than when they first took out loans, whether through increased salary, improved credit score, or another circumstantial shift, like marriage. Refinancing can also help if you have loans with exceptionally high interest rates.

Even a seemingly small improvement in your loan’s interest rate could save you a lotta scratch in the long run. (Which could amount to hundreds, potentially thousands more T-Bell odysseys! Or some extra money for retirement or a down payment, your call.)

Often, you’re able to get pre-approved for refinancing online in a matter of minutes. After pre-approval, you select the loan you want, fill out a full application, upload or mail in some key financial documents, and voilà! You’ve done your part.

Here’s the Difference Between Student Loan Refinancing and Consolidation

Consolidation is exactly what it sounds like; You’re consolidating multiple loans into one loan. And that’s it! Because you’re just smushing all of your (federal) loans together without any accompanying re-evaluation of your credit, your interest rate won’t change. The rate on your new consolidated loan will simply be a weighted average of your current loan rates. Your monthly payment would only decrease if your payback period was extended, which would actually cost you more in interest over time.

Loan consolidation is typically done using a Direct Consolidation Loan through the government. This is why you can only consolidate federal loans and not private ones. The benefit to consolidation is creating one payment instead of dealing with multiple loan payments. It is also possible to detach or add cosigners and switch from a variable to a fixed rate.

It’s worth noting that refinancing is sometimes referred to as “private loan consolidation.” And yes, when you refinance multiple loans, you are inherently consolidating them. But for the sake of keeping the two mentally separated, consider consolidation and refinancing as two different actions.

Benefits of Refinancing Student Loans

Ideally, a student loan refinance would benefit you in the following ways:

1. You could pay less in interest over time, which can mean lower monthly payments.

2. It can also shorten your loan term, allowing you to pay debt off sooner.

3. You get to enjoy the benefits of consolidation with one monthly bill.

4. There are both variable and fixed rate loans available. The benefits of having a lower monthly payment or a shorter payback period need no championing, but it is pretty sweet to think about what you could do with all that extra cash. SoFi estimates that the average customer saves $30,069 in interest over the lifetime of their loan.

Additional Refinancing Considerations

When you refinance, not all lenders will give you the same repayment options that federal loans offer. This is important to consider, especially if you work in an industry sensitive to economic cycles. As with any financial decision, refinancing should only be done after considering all of the trade-offs.

The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement.
Notice: SoFi refinance loans are private loans and do not have the same repayment options that the federal loan program offers such as Income Based Repayment or Income Contingent Repayment or PAYE. SoFi always recommends that you consult a qualified financial advisor to discuss what is best for your unique situation.
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You might be the kind of person who relishes spending money on exciting purchases, but can’t stand paying for boring things, like $8 shipping or a $25 oil change. And while it’s fair to be stingy sometimes, it doesn’t make sense to stress out about the inevitable costs of living while ignoring the far more important kind of spend: how much of your money goes toward accruing interest on debt.

The average American family has approximately $16,000 in credit card debt , and even more if you’re counting other types of consumer debt. If they’re paying the average credit card interest rate of 16.4% APR, they’re shelling out thousands of dollars per year on interest charges alone. That’s worth putting some thought and action toward. If you have credit card debt, use our Credit Card Interest Calculator to see how much interest you are paying.

With interest rates running into double digits, it’s no wonder people are seeking out ways to lessen interest payments. That’s where a debt consolidation loan comes in. Here’s how to determine if it is the right choice for you.

What are debt consolidation loans?

A debt consolidation loan is another name for a personal loan that you use to pay off other sources of debt, such as credit card debt. You’re basically just taking out a new loan out from a bank, credit union, or other non-bank lender and then using that money to pay off existing debt.

This is not the same as debt or credit relief, where a credit counselor helps you reduce interest rates or eliminate debt altogether. Credit relief programs can help you consolidate your debt, but they aren’t getting you a new loan—it’s only consolidation.

With a personal loan—also called a debt consolidation loan—you can merge multiple payments into one streamlined payment and potentially lower the combined interest rate. To put it in perspective, the average credit card interest rate is 16% APR.

When should you take out a personal loan for debt consolidation?

Most people considering a personal loan—also called a debt consolidation loan—feel overwhelmed by having multiple debt payments every month. A personal loan can lighten this load for two reasons. For one, you can lower the interest you pay on your debt, which means you could potentially save money on paying interest over time.

For two, it can also make it possible to opt for a shorter term, which could mean paying off your credit card debt years ahead of schedule. If it’s possible to get lower interest than you have on your current debt, or a shorter term on your debt to pay it off faster, a personal loan could be worth looking into.

On the other hand, you’ll also want to be careful about fees that might come with your new loan, separate from the interest rate you’ll pay. For example, some online lenders charge a fee just to take out a personal loan, and some don’t, so you’ll want to do your research.

How are personal loans used for debt consolidation?

Generally, people seeking debt consolidation loans have multiple sources of debt and want to accomplish two things: First, lower their interest rate—and thereby pay less each month—and reduce the amount they have to pay over the life of their loan. Second, they are trying to merge multiple loans into one, making it easier to keep track of monthly payments.

With a lower rate of interest, you are able to lower your monthly payment, shoring up money for other expenses or financial goals. You can also opt for a shorter repayment term, which shortens your payback period and gets you out of debt faster.

Who is eligible for a personal loan for debt consolidation?

If you have one or more sources of debt where the interest rate is higher than 10%, it’s worth exploring a personal loan. While there’s no guarantee that you’ll find a lower interest rate, you can’t know unless you get quotes from a few lenders. (And these days, it’s a pretty painless process. If it proves difficult, find yourself a different lender.)

Those with the best credit scores will typically qualify for the best rates on their new personal loans, but don’t let an average or even poor score keep you from requesting quotes. This is especially true if you have more than $10,000 in credit card debt and those cards charge exorbitant interest rates, which most of them do.

Also know that your credit score isn’t the only data point that’ll be considered in determining whether you qualify for a loan and at what rate. Potential lenders typically also consider employment history and salary, and other financial information they deem important in determining loan-worthiness.

A personal loan isn’t for everyone. If you’re doing it only for convenience and there isn’t a legitimate financial motive, it’s probably not worth it. Instead, focus that energy on paying back the money you owe as efficiently as possible.

While personal loans can be a great tool to reduce interest payments, it doesn’t reduce the actual debt you owe. If you’re looking to get out of debt so you can focus on other financial goals, but the interest rates on your debt are making it nearly impossible, a personal loan could be exactly what you need.

The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement.
Disclaimer: Many factors affect your credit scores and the interest rates you may receive. SoFi is not a Credit Repair Organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. SoFi does not provide “credit repair” services or advice or assistance regarding “rebuilding” or “improving” your credit record, credit history, or credit rating. For details, see the FTC’s website on credit .

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