<prompt> Human: This may be a common question, but I have had student loans since November of 2010. Ill admit, Ive been flaky paying...being late, not paying at all for some months.I have two loans, one for 3500 at 5.6 and another for 6k at 6.8. As standing today, I still owe 3349 and 6188. After looking at how much interest paid throughout the years, my heart sank.Interest Paid as of 7132014 489.29 First loanInterest Paid as of 7132014 1,268.60SecondHow does the interest work exactly? Does it constantly tack on more for the unpaid balance or what? I now feel I will never get this paid off.Would it be better to try to get a loan with better interest to pay it off? Obviously, I need to get better paying it every month on time, which Ill be able to soon, my car will be paid off within 3 months so that will go toward these loans. Will this help in actually paying more toward the principle?I appreciate any help yall could give.Edit - grammar  <response>: This is a friendly reminder to visit our FAQ entry on Student LoansYou might also benefit from this common topic: I have X, what should I do with it? and Whats the best way to pay down my debt?This is a nice graphic to help provide visual context.Also, please visit our FAQ!I am a botrAutoModeratorcommentsq11puwhat_is_automoderator, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subredditmessagecompose?to2Fr2Fpersonalfinance if you have any questions or concerns. 