okay, author, perspective. it will hurt more if you are late with payments! i never did understand why people pay for insurance and don't use it. i would still defer the student loans for about 3/6months to give you a little breathing room. with the 12k, i would not tie up the entire amount in a cd. maybe put a third (4k) in a money market . i would seriously consider paying down some of those personal loans... i know it is none of my business but what exactly is the deal with those?
Curious about the personal loans too... Congrats on getting a job but you might want to see if you qualify to still use the insurance. You have been paying for it. And the companies offer it w/ the hope that you'll never use it so they just make money on the monthly amount they charge you.
Well, no benefits. About 1/3 pay cut. And I'm grossly overqualified. But for now while I look for better choices, it will pay those bills and then I'm chopping up some cards. And I do some independent contract work for like Belk (basically mystery shopping) and other places so I'll be decent for now.