Student Loan Blues

What company would be willing to consolidate my Sallie Mae and Dept. of Education government student loans?

Looking to consolidate all my student loans into one affordable monthly payment. Any suggestions. Sallie Mae no longer consolidates student loans and many other companies will not consolidate a Sallie Mae loan because it is secured and government backed. Thanks in advance.

I’m looking for loan consolidation help as well. So far, I’ve found this information on one of my current lender’s websites.

https://www.mycampusloan.com/static/html/infocenter/LoanConsolidation.htm

They reccommend http://www.EdLoanConsolidate.com. I havent tried anyone yet, but its worth a shot. Good luck!

powered by Yahoo Answers

I want to consolidate my student loans. How do I go about that?

I have student loans from a few different lenders. I know this sounds stupid but I'm not exactly sure how much I have out! First, how do I find that out and second, who consolidates student loans these days? It seems a little hard to find someone willing to do it.
Ok, talk to me like I'm 10 years old. I am not good at understanding this stuff! I need an answer that I can understand please.

Okay, Artsty - let me see if I can explain this so that you can follow it easily.

First of all, I'm assuming that you are receiving statements from one or more loan companies every month. If not, you must at least be receiving a statement from one (or several companies) in January of each year - that's when they send you a summary. The first thing you'll need to do is find all of these statements and look them over.

Many of the actual lenders may not be contacting you directly, because it's very common for lenders to use another type of company, called a "loan servicing agency" to help them stay in touch with you. The largest loan servicing agency, and one that you're almost certainly dealing with is a company called "Sallie Mae". Check and see if you have correspondence from Sallie Mae.

When you have found as many of the statements as you can, you can call the customer service number on your statements for more information, particularly about your loan balances.

You should also have copies of the "Promissory Notes" that you signed every time you agreed to a new loan. The lenders are required to send you a copy, and you should have kept these in a very safe place, because these are the legal contracts that you signed - the terms of the loan(s). Each promissory note will tell you how much the loan is for, and they'll also tell you how much you will eventually have to pay back on each loan.

As for consolidation - this is a very complicated lending question that I would REALLY REALLY REALLY recommend that you discuss with a knowledgeable financial advisor. Your mom and dad are fine if they know a lot about loans and interest rates and repayment schedules and things like that, but if they're also a little intimidated by loans, you should make an appointment to speak to a family friend, or an accountant, or a loan officer at your bank.

Consolidation loans are promoted with the "pitch" that they make your life easy by allowing you to take a bunch of loans from different lenders and gather them all together into a single loan with just one lender and one payment. They are also "sold" with the suggestion that consolidation can save you a lot of money by lowering your monthly payment.

Whether a consolidation loan is right for you depends on a lot of factors that the consolidation lenders don't always tell you about in their ads and emails. You asked me to keep this simple, so I won't go into a lot of detail about what those factors are.

Just keep a few things in mind:

Consolidation loans do not cut your monthly payments because they are "nicer" loans. Consolidation loans cut your monthly payments because you will make many, many more payments over a longer period of time.

Suppose you owed me $100 and promised to pay me back $50 a week this week and $50 a week next week. Your car broke down and you had some other bills due, and you come back to me and say that you can't pay me the $50 this week - is there any way we can make another arrangement?

"Oh, absolutely." I say. "Let's do this. Instead of paying me $50 the next two weeks, you can pay me $10 a week for the next 15 weeks.".

You think "Wow, only $10 a week. That's much better than $50. I can afford that!".

But look what's happening - I'm not just being 'nice'. You're only going to pay me $10 a week now, but you'll be paying me $10 a week for the next 15 weeks. What's that mean? It means you'll be paying me back $150, not the $100 that you originally owed me.

I did you a "favor" by letting you pay me less, but we stretched it out over more weeks, and you wound up paying me a lot more for the "privilege".

That's how a consolidation loan works - your payments will go down, but you'll pay the loan for a lot longer and you'll almost certainly wind up paying a lot more in the end.

That's why I say - get some good advice - make sure you understand just how much it's going to cost you to make lower payments for a longer time. Then decide if the consolidation loan is worth it for you.

It might be, but it might not.

Good luck!

powered by Yahoo Answers

Student Loans : Student Loan Consolidation

Student loan consolidation is a great way to get a lower interest rate, as a reputable consolidation company will buy each loan off of the original lenders, lump it into one loan and offer lower interest and even deferment plans. Consolidate student loans to get them paid off more quickly with financial advice from a guidance counselor in this free video on student loans.

Expert: Cheri Ashwood
Bio: Cheri Ashwood has a Bachelor’s Degree in psychology and education, and she has been a guidance counselor for nearly a decade.
Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz

Duration : 0:1:51

Continue

Technorati Tags: Aid, college, Credit, Debt, finance, Financial, financing, Interest, loan, loans, scores, student

Should I and how do I consolidate my student loans?

I have several Sallie Mae Signature Student Loans out, and I'm supposed to begin repayment in late November.

I know nothing about finances, but I've heard that if I consolidate my student loans, it can lower monthly payments, and it puts them at a fixed interest rate. Is this right?

How do I go about getting my Sallie Mae loans consolidated? Is it hard to qualify for it?

Also…do I have to have full-time employment before I consolidate?

Lastly, has anyone ever heard about student loan interest being tax deductible?

wow - a lot of questions. let's start with the easy ones, first.

Student loan interest IS tax-deductible. The maximum amount you can claim each year is $2500. If you paid more than that, you can not deduct anything over $2500.

(Can I assume that your starting salary won't be in excess of $55,000? If you do make more than $55,000, you won't be able to take the full deduction for student loan interest.)

Do you have to be employed full-time in order to consolidate? No.

Should you consolidate your students loans? Ah, now that's the tough one.

Here's what the Department of Education has to say about consolidation loans:

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.

Once made, Federal Consolidation Loans cannot be unmade. That's because the loans that were consolidated have been paid off and no longer exist. Take the time to study your consolidation options before you submit your application. This checklist has been designed to help you determine whether and how you should consolidate your loans."

I hope that helped, good luck!

powered by Yahoo Answers

Questions To Ask Before You Consolidate Your Student Loans

Federal student loan consolidation is a free federal program that allows anyone with outstanding federal student loan debt to combine their loans, extend their repayment term, and lock in their interest rate. The terms and conditions on all federal student loan consolidations are set by the U.S. Department of Education, meaning that all federal student loan consolidations are, at least initially, created equal. There are no prepayment penalties or fees, and every lender has to offer the same federal forbearance and deferment options and the same initial consolidated interest rate. This rate is based on a weighted average of the interest rates of all the outstanding student loans rounded to the nearest 1/8th percent.

So, if every lender is offering the same federal terms and conditions, and every consolidated loan will have the same initial rate, what’s the difference between consolidation lenders? The difference between lenders is in the borrower benefits that are offered. These differences can be pretty substantial, and by asking the right questions, smart borrowers can get the best deal on their federal student consolidation loan.

Interest Rate Reductions

The most common benefit offered on a federal student loan consolidation is an interest rate reduction. This benefit is usually offered in two parts: a .25% reduction for auto debit and a 1% interest rate reduction after 36 months of on-time payments. This is a great benefit that can greatly reduce the total amount of interest paid on the consolidated loan. On a $30,000 loan, this benefit alone can save a borrower over $6,500 in interest! Although this is an attractive benefit, there are a couple things to ask your consolidation lender before proceeding with the loan:

1. Ask the lender if the benefit will lock in after you’ve made 36 months of on-time payments. This means that, after the 1% interest rate reduction is awarded, the benefit can never be taken away, even if payments are made late in the future. Most consolidation companies will add the 1% back in if any payment is late after the benefit has already been awarded. Many people don’t worry about this, assuming that they will always make their payment on time. However, most consolidation loans will take over 10 years to pay back and the odds are a payment will be late eventually. Clarify with the lender when a payment is considered late. Any reputable company should provide at least a 10-day grace period before a payment is considered late. Remember, just because you have your payments set up to be auto-debited from a bank account doesn’t mean they will always be on time. If there are insufficient funds in the bank account, the payment can be rejected and considered late.

2. Ask the lender if the on-time payments have to be consecutive to receive the interest rate reduction. Many companies will take away the benefit if you put the loan into a forbearance or deferment. This can even include a deferment on payments if you decide to go back to school. Reputable lenders will not take away your benefit for exercising your federal right to put your consolidation loan into a deferment or forbearance.

3. Ask the lender what will happen to the benefit if the loan is sold. Regardless of what a lender tells you, many consolidation loans are sold. Make sure that if your loan is sold, you will not lose your rate reductions. There are horror stories of borrowers making 30 on-time payments to find out that their consolidated loan had been sold to a new lender who will not honor the 1% rate reduction they were initially promised.

Cash Back Rebate

A relatively new benefit being touted by consolidation companies is the cash back rebate. This is usually a percentage of the principal loan balance that is either applied to the outstanding loan or sent to the borrower as a cash payment. This can be a very attractive offer, especially when in the form of a cash payment to the borrower.

It’s hard to resist a check for thousands of dollars, but when compared to the savings from the interest rate reductions, the cash back rebate is usually not the best financial discount.

For example:

One lender is offering a 1.25% rate reduction for on-time payments, and the other lender is offering a 3% cash back rebate on a $60,000 consolidated loan. The lender offering the cash back rebate will mail the borrower a check for $1,800 after they make 10 payments on time. The other lender will give the 1% rate reduction after 3 years of on-time payments. The cash rebate sounds tempting, but when you realize that the 1.25% rate reduction could save over $32,000, it is clear the interest rate reduction is the superior benefit.

1. If you decide to go with a company offering the cash rebate option, make sure to read the fine print. Many companies require that a rebate form be submitted by a certain deadline to process the cash back benefit. If the cash back rebate form is not received, they will disqualify the borrower from the rebate.

2. Ask the lender what exactly is required to receive the cash back rebate before submitting a signed consolidation loan application. Many companies combine the cash back rebate with other borrower obligations. One company requires that a borrower enroll in their electronic newsletter with a valid email address before the rebate is awarded.

The federal student loan consolidation program is an excellent way to manage student loan debt as well as save thousands of dollars in interest payments. By asking the right questions and knowing what to look for, you can maximize your savings and make sure that you get the best deal possible on your consolidation loan.

Student Loans - The Joy of Consolidation: Episode II

Three friends band together to find the best student loan lender that can alleviate their pain from student loan debt. Episode II concludes their journey to freedom.

Duration : 0:7:47

Continue

Technorati Tags: college, consolidate, Consolidation, curse, Debt, education, Financial, graduate, joy, loan, student

Is there a way to un-consolidate student loans that you already consolidated?

I consolidated my student loans and now am finding out that by doing so I may have voided my ability to defer them in the future. Is there some way to undo this?

No. Your consolidation loan is binding. There is no going back once you've done all the paperwork and the process is complete. However, double check with your lender. I don't believe you lose deferment options (like if you return to school) but you do lose many cancellation provisions by consolidating.

Consolidate Your Student Loan

HOME Main Categories Consolidate Your Student Loan Student Loan Consolidation School Loan Consolidation Student Loan Consolidation Program Federal Student Loan Consolidation Student Loan Debt Consolidation College Loan Consolidation Private Student Loan Consolidation Student Loan

Continue