Paying off student loans can be an unwieldy burden. Many students graduate with ten, twenty, thirty thousand or more dollars owed to both private and government lenders. It can be quite stressful, particularly when you’re barely making ends meet. Is the solution to turn to your credit cards to pay off your loans?

Is There Any Logic to the Idea?

With credit cards offering promotional 0% interest rates for a year, and student loan rates often between six and twelve percent, it can be tempting to use a credit card to make student loan payments. Additionally, many people believe that they can file for bankruptcy and discharge their student loan debt if they make payments with their credit card. For example, you owe $10,000 in student loans and you make payments on that $10,000 with a credit card. Then you file for bankruptcy so you don’t have to repay the credit card debt. The end result is a free education, right?

Wrong. Not only is this path fraudulent, it won’t work. Any refinancing of a qualified education loan is still considered a qualified education loan. Which means that if you tried to pay off your loans with credit cards and then file for bankruptcy, the credit card debt would be non-dischargeable.

It Isn’t Cheap

Generally, most student lenders will not accept credit cards for payment unless you’re in default. So it’s quite difficult to make this process work for you. Additionally, when you use a promotional credit card offer, it only lasts for a year. The interest rates will skyrocket once the promotional year is over. You can pay up to 30% interest on your credit card purchases. That’s much higher than your standard student loan rate.

Can It Ever Work?

In the event that a credit card offer tells you that you can use the card to pay off student loans, some people have been able to later discharge that debt by filing for bankruptcy. They did have to defend themselves in court and prove that the credit card company made that offer. Chances are, credit card companies don’t do that anymore. Additionally, if you can find a credit card company that provides a guaranteed lower rate than your student loans then it can make sense.

Student loans can be a heavy burden. The best approach to paying them off is to cut back on your spending and focus on paying them off as quickly as possible. You can often negotiate a better rate with the lender or consolidate rather than using a credit card for help.