Student Consolidation Loans

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Author:
Ricky Lim

If you have several student loans to pay concurrently, it can be hard and financially difficult to manage. Luckily for students, there is the option to consolidate all your student loans together. We called it Student Loan Debt Consolidation.

What is student loan debt consolidation?

It simply means consolidating all your student loans into one so you only have to make monthly payments to one lender instead of several. The advantage is that you pay lower interest rates and most student loan debt consolidation have higher repayment periods.

There are many financial institutions and banks that offers student loan debt consolidation. They will pay off your existing student loans to their respective lenders. They will then consolidate the loans into one. The interest rate of the new student loan debt consolidation is then calculated by taking the average of the interest rates of your previous student loans. That is why your student loan debt consolidation’s interest rate is lower.

Some student loan debt consolidations are payable at a fixed rate though so be sure to check with your lender first.

There are 4 different types of student loan debt consolidation plans available from lenders each with its pros and cons.

1. Standard Repayment Plan

Standard Repayment Plan offers a maximum of 10 years to repay your student loan debt consolidation at a fixed rate. Payments are calculated by dividing the loan amount within that time period at a fixed interest rate.

2. Extended Repayment Plan

There is also the option of an extended repayment plan. It is the same as standard repayment plan except it stretches the repayment period to a maximum of 30 years. The length of repayment is dependent on the total amount borrowed.

You should note that you may ended up paying more by opting for an extended repayment plan because of the fixed interest rate. On the other hand, the monthly payments would be easier to handle so you will have to decide how much you can afford to pay each month.

3. Graduated Repayment Plan

The Graduated Repayment Plan has a maximum repayment period of 30 years which is the same as extended repayment plan. However, the amount of your monthly payments will increase every two years.

4. Income Repayment Plan

For income repayment plan, the monthly payment is not fixed. Rather it is determined by several factors such as your total student loan amount, the size of your family and your income level. The maximum repayment period is 25 years.

So how do you decide which student loan debt consolidation is suitable for you? Here’s a few tips. If you are close to repaying your student loans, then there is no need to get a student loan debt consolidation unless you foresee some cash-flow problems in the coming months. Consider your financial status now and in the coming months or years. Are you able to comfortably pay the loan? Getting a new student loan debt consolidation is also a good way to improve your credit score since you have effectively cleared your old student loans and getting a new one.

Ricky Lim works in a finance company specialising in student loan consolidation. Get more information, tools and resources on student loan consolidation, visit this site: http://about-studentloan.com

He also operates a Home Loan Information site.

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Student Loans... Federal Student Loan Consolidation Facts and Information You Can't Miss Federal Student Loans are easier to pay and brings less long term hassle and panic if these debts are converted into Federal Student Loan Consolidation. Consolidating your loan means that all the different types of student loans you acquired will be combined in one loan. Doing so has many advantages. Since federal student loan interest rates are currently at their lowest, loan consolidation actually means that the interest rate used for the whole duration of your loan is fixed. However, there are also disadvantages when one avails student loan consolidations. It all depends on you, really. If you think it would take you a longer time to pay off your student loan, you will then consequently pay more interest during the course of your whole loan repayment. However, since in consolidating your loans, there are really no penalties in prepayment and if you continually pay the same amount of payments before actually consolidating your loans, the interest you will incur would not increase. You will be able to pay the student loan off faster than when you did not consolidate your loans. One category you could take into consideration regarding federal student loans is availing of the FFEL consolidation loan. This loan program helps any borrower via multiple repayment schedules. Through the FFEL loan consolidation program, only one payment is made each month. In the FFEL program, the student loan consolidation you will be acquiring will be made by a commercial lender, after which credit bureaus will tell you that you already have a zero balance in your account, after doing so you will then sign a fresh promissory note indicating that you will have a new interest rate and schedule of repayment. But, in order to avail of the FFEL student loan consolidation, you must...