<prompt> Human: Hi Redditors,Ive often read posts on personal finance, but this is my first time posting. For the last couple years, Ive had my federal subsidized Stafford load deferred while I finished grad school. The interest rate is 5.032 and the balance of the loan is roughly 11,000 10,000 in principal and 1,000in interest. This is the only debt I owe. With my grad school stipend, Ive managed to save up enough money about 11,000 so that I could actually pay this loan off in full right now. I do have a job for the next year, so Id still have a steady stream of income. My question is, when it comes to paying off this loan, what is my best course of action for future financial stability? To pay off the loan now would mean the absence of any emergency fund, and I would have to start rebuilding my savings from scratch. Furthermore, I wonder whether steadily paying off my loan by paying the minimum payment each month or perhaps slightly more is attractive to future creditors, as it may indicate reliability, trustworthiness, and stability on my part.Or is it better to just pay it all off as quick as possible? Perhaps its better to have more cash in hand and no debt when, say, applying for a mortgage.Although I dont know my credit score, one thing worth noting is that I have missed a few student loan payments in the past. I do know they were reported to a credit agency. I also had some trouble paying off a credit card about 7 years ago. It was only an amount of 500 dollars, but I was late with three payments. I eventually paid the thing off. I signed up for this Juniper credit card offered by apple to help me buy a macbook, only to discover later that not paying the full balance of the card each month, not just the minimum payment, resulted in a hefty penalty of 50 or something like that. Any one else fall into that trap?Any advice you would be able to offer is greatly appreciated! And if theres any more info you need that might useful in providing a better answer, please let me know!EDIT: Thank you all so much for your constructive advice! And especially in such a short amount of time! The consensus seems to have an emergency fund of about 5,000, while putting the rest towards my student loan debt. My deferment period ends in August, and Ill likely do just that and then try to pay the rest off as quickly as possible. I especially like the thinking that paying the loan off ASAP is a guaranteed return of 5, and in the last few hours Ive also checked my credit report for the first time. There are some blemishes, but I hope Ill be in a better position within the next few years.  <response>: If I were you, I would spend 2-3 months getting established while paying the minimum then pay it off in one payment, then rebuild your savings, money otherwise that wouldve been spent on interest payments 