Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Save Money By Consolidating Student Loans By Jay L White

Students who are facing a challenge to pay for their education find a good financial aid in the form of student loans. A majority of students have to leave their college with a huge debt burden quite unfortunately. Apart from this, most of these students have to write multiple checks for their loan repayment each month as they are often obtained through various lenders. Consolidation is certainly a good solution to their problem.
Loan consolidation - What is it actually?
Loan consolidation is about adding all your student loans into one so that you have a single repayment plan and a single lender. Home mortgage refinancing and student loan consolidation are quite similar to each other. During consolidation, your current balances are met while the total balance rolls over to the consolidated loan. Thus, all you need to deal now is just a single student loan. Besides students their parents may also get their loans consolidated.

Can I consolidate my loans?
You should meet the following criteria:
You must fall within the 6-months grace period after your graduation, or you need to have started with your loan repayment.
The total balance of your loans that meet the criteria should be over $7,500.
You should have 2 or more lenders.
Your student loans have not yet been consolidated, or when you have returned to school and acquired fresh loans since your consolidation.
The following types of loans can be consolidated:
Federal Perkins
National Direct Student
Unsubsidized and Direct Subsidized
Unsubsidized Federal Stafford and Federal Subsidized
Direct PLUS and Federal PLUS
Federal Consolidation and Direct Consolidation
And many more.
Where can I get a consolidation loan?
You may get your loans consolidated through the U.S. Department of Education or a credit union participating in the Federal Family Education Loan Program or through a bank. Irrespective of where you get your loans consolidated, the terms and conditions usually remain same. Make sure you get in touch with the lenders who currently hold your loans regarding this.
If you have all loans through a single lender, you should get them consolidated with him.
While deciding about consolidating, make sure that you choose to do it only when you aren't going back to school and applying for fresh loans. In this way you might try to be sure that you'll achieve the best deal out of consolidation. The rate of interest doesn't usually vary between lenders, but you might achieve discounted rates through some of them for prompt repayments. Some of them will even offer discounts for obtaining the right to debit your account for monthly payments.
Your student loans may be consolidated any time during the grace period of 6 months or once you begin with your loan repayment. You may achieve a lower rate of interest if your loans get consolidated within the grace period. However, it is a better idea for you to wait till you reach the fifth month of your grace period and then consolidate your loans. This way, you won't lose the remaining grace period. It takes about 30-45 days for the entire consolidation process to get completed.

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