Consolidating Your Government Student Loans

By: Dale Ronewicz

A Consolidation Loan allows you to combine your federal student loans into a single loan with one monthly payment, which can be significantly lower than the payment required under the standard 10-year repayment option. Under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, banks, secondary markets, credit unions, and other lenders provide the Consolidation Loans. Under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program, the federal government provides the loans. Most federal education loans are eligible for consolidation, including subsidized and unsubsidized Direct and FFEL Stafford Loans, SLS, Federal Perkins Loans, Federal Nursing Loans, and Health Education Assistance Loans. Private education loans are not eligible. PLUS Loan borrowers (parent borrowers) also can consolidate their loans. To apply for a Direct Loan Consolidation or an FFEL Consolidation the borrower must contact the lender and complete an application. Most lenders provide borrowers with the ability to apply on-line or request an application over the telephone. Once an application is completed and submitted, the lender will request information from the borrower’s other lenders or from its own system to determine the amounts outstanding on the borrowers loans. The borrower will then receive notification about the consolidation loan, normal consumer disclosures, the amount owed, and if appropriate, where to make payments.

Always Consider the Cost

You should keep in mind that although consolidation can simplify loan repayment and lower your monthly payment, it also can significantly increase the total cost of repaying your loans. Consolidation offers lower monthly payments by giving borrowers up to 30 years to repay their loans. So, you'll make more payments and pay more in interest. In fact, in some situations consolidation can double your total interest expense. If you don't need monthly payment relief, you should compare the cost of repaying your unconsolidated loans against the cost of repaying a consolidation loan. You also should take into account the impact of losing any borrower benefits offered under non-consolidated repayment plans. Borrower benefits, which may include interest rate discounts, principal rebates, or some loan cancellation benefits can significantly reduce the cost of repaying your loans.

About the Author:

For Part II of this article The Pros and Cons of Government Student Loan Consolidation please visit: http://www.american-lenders.org/goverment_student_loan_consolidation

Source: www.isnare.com

Student Loan Consolidation

By: Terje Ellingsen

Student loan consolidation is one of the most used methods for reducing and working off student debt. If you want to consolidate debt, whether it’s a student loan debt or not, you have to follow a certain process. However, this process is easy to follow and will absolutely not require big efforts from your side. Here is what you have to know about the consolidation process: You combine all of your various student loans into one large loan. Instead of paying toward all your loans each month, you make one payment towards this one loan. So, what will I gain with this, you may ask. If you compare the numbers before and after you have consolidated your student debt, you'll understand that it's a very good deal. To start out the working career with an overwhelming amount of debt is a daunting prospect to put it mildly. But the fact is that many college graduates unfortunately are facing this situation. Fortunately consolidating your student loans is a great way to meet the challenge of getting rid of the burden of debt from school or college. The main benefit of consolidation is that you’ll normally pay a lower interest rate then compared to what your various loans are already set at. This works the same way as refinancing a home in order to have a lower mortgage payment. And be aware of the fact that the current interest rate is the lowest it has been in almost 40 years. When you do a consolidation you’ll pay one interest rate, not several different rates. And at the time you took these loans, the rates were probably higher. And this means money saved: A lower interest rate on a relatively big loan can save you thousands of dollars in the long run. And in addition to this, some lending companies offer rate reductions for students consolidating their loans while they are in their grace period. A warning though: Stay away from companies that require you to start your payment immediately after the grace period. There are financing companies out there that don’t require this. Go to them!!! And as if this wasn’t enough, some companies even offer additional rate reductions. I have heard about companies that reduce your rate by one percent if you make all of your payments on time for two years. And this comes in addition to the discounts described above. One percent may seem small, but if you see it in a perspective of, let’s say 20 years, which is a normal payback schedule, it can mean lots of dollars saved. Another benefit with student debt consolidation is saving time and effort. It’s much easier to handle one payment monthly than several separate payments. A convenient way to do the monthly payments is to let the loan company deduct it directly from your bank account. Some companies allow that. And if it is a really good student loan consolidation, it will even give you a little interest rate reduction by handling your loan payments this way. So, if you find that loan consolidation is (in) for you, your challenge is to decide which loan consolidation company to approach and finally select. What I would recommend is that you make a list of all the questions you might have, call a few companies and speak with their representatives. Or you can go online to find a good student loan consolidation company. There are some great companies out there.

About the Author:

Terje Brooks Ellingsen is a writer and internet publisher. He runs the website http://www.1st-in-loan.net Terje gives advice and helps people with personal financial issues like consolidation loans, see http://www.1st-in-loan.net/debt_help.htm and debt help, see http://www.1st-in-loan.net/debt_help.htm

Source: www.isnare.com