Comparing the Different School Loan Consolidation
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When you’re looking for a school loan consolidation to combine your many student loans into one payment, there are a lot of rules that you must follow, especially if your loans are federal loans. Here, we outline some of these rules to help you navigate the school loan consolidation maze.
There are two different school loan consolidation programs; namely, the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and the Direct Consolidation Loan programs. It’s important to know the difference between the two. First, any school loan consolidation that you want combined have to be accepted by the Direct Consolidation Loan Program. Federal Family Education Loan lenders might accept all eligible loans for the FFEL consolidation, but some lenders might not include non-FFEL loans in the school loan consolidation. However, if a loan isn’t accepted in the Federal Family Education Loan consolidation program, lenders might offer alternative school loan consolidation programs for these debts.
School loan consolidation lenders under the Federal Family Education Loan program must offer several repayment programs. These include the standard repayment plan, the graduated repayment plan, an extended repayment plan, and an income-sensitive repayment plan. Keep in mind that although these four repayment plans are offered by all FFEL lenders, the actual details of the repayment can vary. For example, the income-sensitive repayment plan takes the borrower’s income and total debt load into account.
With the Direct Loan Program, you are offered the standard repayment plan, the graduated repayment plan, the extended repayment plan, and the income-contingent repayment plan. With this particular income-contingent repayment plan, the payment is based on a formula that takes the borrower’s income, family size, and total loan amounts into account.
If you default on an FFEL consolidation loan, some lenders might allow you to include the defaulted loan into a new consolidation loan. However, not all lenders will offer this option. The Direct Loan Program also has stipulations for consolidating defaulted loans into new loans. If you are eligible to consolidate your defaulted loans into a new loan, you will regain eligibility for federal student aid.
Under the Direct Consolidation Program, you may consolidate your loans while you are enrolled in school. If you are eligible for an in-school consolidation, you can get a six month grace period before repayment begins. You might also qualify for a lower interest. If you have only FFEL loans, you might still be eligible for a consolidation and grace period while still in school through the Direct Consolidation Loan program. With the FFEL consolidation program, you can only consolidate your loans after leaving school, and all your loans have to be in the grace period or repayment period.
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Help answer the question
What are the best private student loan consolidation companies?
I am getting ready to pay back my Sallie Mae student loans and they are expecting me to pay approximately $500 per month for my private loan. The only other alternative they gave me for a lower monthly payment was the Interest Only option, which I have heard is a horrible choice. Given today's economic condition and the difficulty of college graduates finding jobs, I don't know how they can expect people like myself to pay $500 per month. Are there any private consolidation companies out there right now that can significantly lower my monthly payment?
Thank you!
loan consolidation
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11 Comments
September 22nd, 2009 at 5:30 am
Try this first:
The first thing you will need to do is call the three major credit reporting agencies and request a free copy of your credit report.
http://www.equifax.com
http://www.experian.com
http://www.transunion.com
Then once you get those in the mail (7-10 days) there will be a dispute form attached to the reports. Fill those out for every negative account on your report regardless. Fax, mail go online whatever it takes to get those submitted as quickly as possible. Then those companies must answer your dispute within 30 days or it is removed from your credit report completely. So that will eliminate some things, hopefully.
Then make sure you pay all your revolving accounts to below 50% of your credit limits.
Make sure that you make all your payments no more than 20 days from the date it is due.
Good Luck!
September 22nd, 2009 at 5:48 am
If you have facebook, there is a group with 200+ thousand members called: “Cancel Student Loan Debt to Stimulate the Economy”
There is also a petition which you can find there.
September 22nd, 2009 at 6:14 am
Check out
loanconsolidation4student . co . cc
for more info
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:02 am
Wells Fargo might be the only one worthwhile these days. Look for ones that have little or no origination fees and have reductions if the money you owe is periodically auto-deposited.
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:59 am
Your chances are prob pretty good to consolidate federal student loans. Don't consolidate federal student loans in any non-student loan consolidation loans, your interest rate will likely be higher and the interest you pay would no longer be tax deduct able.
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:36 pm
A loan consolidation and a debt consolidation are the same. A bank loans you enough money to pay off credit cards or loans (like a car loan). They group it all into one single loan through them (hence the word "consolidation"). So they take all your outstanding "debt" and put it in one single loan with a fixed monthly payment.
A credit card consolidation can be one of two things:
First – You take a credit card and "transfer" the balances of all your other credit cards onto it. Then you have only one single credit card bill.
Second – A debt consolidation loan where you get a loan through a bank to pay off credit card debt. Sometimes the bank will want you to cancel the cards too. Not always.
Hope this helps!
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:05 am
The best time to consolidate is when interests are starting to get charged to you. (different according to the type of loan you get).
There's no catch, but you need to understand that you'll pay 2 times the loan if you consolidate over a long-time.
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:07 pm
September 24th, 2009 at 3:48 am
All of the banks should be doing that because student loans are protected from bankruptcy. You just need to find a bank with the capital to purchase your loans. Look at midwestern founded banks and some that really specialize in student loans like western union.
September 25th, 2009 at 9:16 am
All of my student loans were through Citibank initially, and last year I consolidated through them. They gave me a 5% interest rate which I think is very reasonable. They have also been very helpful on the phone when I had questions and they have never adjusted my interest rates without informing me first. Their website is http://www.studentloan.com and I would recommend them highly.
September 25th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
The federal consolidation loan has a fixed interest rate, based on the weighted average of the interest rates of the student loans being consolidated, excluding Health Education Assistance Loans (HEALs), rounded up to the nearest 0.125% or 8.25%, whichever is less.
The weighted-average interest rate calculation is based on the official interest rates for the student loans being consolidated, exclusive of any borrower benefit or other special rate discounts.
By law, all lenders are required to use the same interest rate formula for federal consolidation loans. Instead, you should consider customer service, flexible repayment options, online account access and applications, reputation and industry experience when selecting a lender.