<prompt> Human: So I keep reading about paying off loans early to save money on interest and I am trying to stay motivated. I have student loans at about 6.8 interest rate and I am checking through previous monthly payments and it says this:260 paid, 160 principal, 100 interest. That is roughly the same for the past 6 months. Obviously 100 is not 6.8 of 260, so I must be paying interest upfront. If I am paying all the interest right away, how is rushing to pay off 22,000 going to help? This is frustrating..  <response>: It sounds like you are confused on how interest works. 6.8 doesnt mean that you are going to pay a total of 6.8 of the original loan in interest. It means that you are paying 6.8 every single year on the remaining principle. APR Annual Percentage Rate. So if you take 10 years to pay it off, you are getting charged interest for 10 years. If you take 1 year to pay it off then you are only charged interest for 1 year. 