Direct Student Loan Consolidation

Direct Student Loan Consolidation

by Vivian Villalba

When you are thinking about student loan consolidation, you are probably worrying about how the loan officials figure out your interest rates. Your eligibility is the first thing that is looked at. The school will look at the original principal loan and subtract whatever payments that you have made. This will determine your eligibility of what kind of student loan consolidation you can have an exactly what loan programs you qualify for. After this determination the school will look at your balance toward subsidized or unsubsidized loans and how much you have previously borrowed.

The outstanding balance in both types of loans sets your loan rate. the process in which the school determines eligibly for student loan consolidation is simple. First the school will review the borrower's consolidation paperwork. Here your outstanding balances and the payments made will be weighted together to give them a framework in which to judge. Your student loan consolidation will be either accepted or denied according to the financial information that you provide your school. Here it will be determined if you have the right information and you truly qualify for the loan.

The next process in your direct student loan consolidation is for the school to contact the loan origination center and the direct student loan consolidation department. Here these departments will use the national student loan data system to find out if there if more loans out there than you have disclosed. Many students have multiple loans from different locations and after years of schooling it is sometimes hard to keep up with all the paperwork. Loans are bought and sold quite often and if you have moved around the notice of the sale may not find you.

By consolidating your direct student loan you will be able to pay one loan company one fee at a time. This will save you the hassle of keeping up with multiple bills and payment books when one check will be all you need. You can clean out that file in the file cabinet that is overflowing with correspondence from your student loan suppliers. Wouldn't it be nice to get just one statement and one bill in the mail instead of going through tons of paperwork that doesn't really inform you much and is just a waste of trees? You can even set up your statement and pay your bills online. This will keep your mailbox free of those notices that just tell you that you still owe them money.

Direct student loan consolidation can also lower your monthly payment and your interest rate. By using one company that you choose you can drop your monthly payments by at least 75% with some programs. The only warning is to make sure that the consolidation company has been around for a few years and that you are borrowing from a reputable company. There are a lot of new companies that have started up in recent years that do not have the experience or the know how to get you the best rates and lower your interest enough so that you can afford the payments.