This is the last week to make interest-free payments on federal student loans. Starting September 1st balances will begin accruing interest again and starting October 1st payments will be due for the first time in 3 years. When it comes to how to best tackle those payments Lending Tree applied pay-off methods used for other types of debt. They found the 'debt avalanche' and 'snowball' strategies could help borrowers get their balances to zero 100 months sooner.