Student Loan
Consolidation - How To Get The
Best Rates And Plans?
By Dean Shainin
Student loan consolidation can
have many benefits for the career
minded student. With the prices
of things going through the
roof, going to college can be
very costly. Many students dont
have thousands of dollars to
pay their way through college.
This is why many college students
use student loans to get themselves
through college. When it comes
time to pay back their student
loans, it can be a real burden
and a distraction from their
career.
Before you sign up on the dotted
line, you should know how to
get the best student loan consolidation
rate and plan for your financial
needs. If you are tired of too
many bills and monthly due dates,
it just might be time to find
the best student loan consolidation
rate and plan that you can qualify
for.
What Is The Idea Behind Student
Loan Consolidation?
When a student first applied
for several student loans from
several different agencies and
student loan providers, they
each gave a different interest
rate and term for paying back
the loans. The idea of student
loan consolidation, is to take
all the different student loans
and put them into one easy convenient
loan. You then only have to
make one monthly loan payment
every month, instead of several
loan payments every month over
time. This saves the student
both time and money. Having
a lower interest rate and less
checks to write every month
are a couple of advantages of
doing a student loan consolidation.
Credit Check Before You Get
Student Loan Consolidation Rates
And Payment Plans
The most obvious way to get
the best student loan consolidation
rates and payments, is by having
great credit. Its easy
to get great student loan consolidation
plans with a credit score, also
known as FICO, over 660. But,
there are several ways to get
the best student loan consolidation
rates and payment plans.
You can do a simple online
search on FICO and credit scores
to find the information you
need to check out your credit
score. Knowing your credit information
should be your first step to
getting the best student loan
consolidation rates. With knowledge,
you will get the best student
loan consolidation rates for
your financial and credit situation.
Student loan consolidation
rates and plans can vary from
person to person. The loan rates
offered will be based on your
financial situation and credit.
With a FICO credit score under
600, it can be a challenge to
get a good student loan consolidation
rate and plan in most cases.
7 Aspects To Consider With
Student Loan Consolidation Plans
1. Lower Monthly Payments.
Depending on your student loan
situation and the type of lender
you choose, you may be able
to lower your monthly payments
by up to 50%
2. Having Simple Loan Payments.
By consolidating your student
loans, you only have one loan
payment per month and one check
to write. This is very beneficial
if you are writing several checks
every month to multiple lenders.
3. Having Fixed Interest Rates.
With some federal consolidation
loans you can have a fixed rate
for the life of your student
loan. Its best to do research
to see what the best interest
rates and term you are eligible
for. You can check online to
calculate the interest rate
on a new student consolidation
loan based on the rates of your
current student loans. You can
then round up to the nearest
1/8th of a percent of the weighted
average of the interest rates
on your eligible student loans.
4. Extending Your Payment Period.
You may have a lot of student
loan debt. With federal consolidation
loans you may be able to extend
the payment term up to 30 years.
Its a good idea to realize
you will end up paying more
interest over the life of your
student loan consolidation.
The idea is to get some leverage
until your career takes off.
You can focus on making money
instead of several monthly loan
payments.
5. In School Consolidation
Programs. While still in school,
eligible students can lock in
a low rate. This would put you
into repayment status, but since
you are still in school, you
are automatically put into deferment.
The drawback of consolidating
your loans while in school,
is that you lose your 6 month
grace period. The solution to
this would be to request forbearance
for up to 1 year on your student
loan consolidation. Here again
you can do some research and
get more information online.
6. Lower Interest Rate. Student
loan consolidation can save
you thousands of dollars. You
may be using credit cards with
10% to 28% interest trying to
keep up with your bills. This
can cost you thousands of dollars
when you pay the minimum monthly
payments on high interest credit
card debt. Having a student
loan consolidation may be your
best option if you can get lower
interest rates when consolidating
your student loans.
7. New Interest Rates. With
a new student loan consolidation,
you may be able to get a much
better interest rate. Interest
rates are now at an all time
low. You may have been paying
on debt you built up from several
years ago, at high interest
rates. Things change over time
in the financial industry.
Resources Online For Student
Loan Consolidation Rates And
Payment Plans
With todays Internet
resources, you have an advantage
when looking for the best student
loan consolidation rates and
plans online. If you take some
time to do research on the process
of getting the best student
loan consolidation rates and
plans, you may be able to save
yourself the high costs on student
loan consolidation.
Online website services can
make it easy to see if you qualify.
There are many tools and ideas
online to help you get the best
rates and plans available for
your student loan consolidation
needs.
Copyright 2010 Dean Shainin
About The Author
Dean Shainin is a consultant
specializing in student loan
consolidation. Get valuable
resources, tools, information
and more articles on student
loan consolidation, visit this
site: http://www.studentloanconsolidationtips.com
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