Student Debt Consolidation - An Overview

Student Debt Consolidation - An Overview

by apurva

Student debt consolidation is an effective way to reduce the burden of student loans wherein concurrently running loans are paid off with the help of a student debt consolidation loan. The type of student loan consolidation option you can select of course depends on the type of loans you have taken. Since the federal student loans are guaranteed by the government of the US, the process of federal loan consolidation is tad different from normal debt consolidation loans.

Student Loans - Advantages And Consolidation Options

Interest rates for student loans can be anywhere from 9% for Plus Loans, 8.25% for Stafford Federal Loans to a low of 4.70%. The student debt consolidation program allows students to consolidate loans the first time with a private lender. However, they can then reconsolidate but only if it is with the permission of Department of Education. Interest rates are set as per the prevailing guidelines at that time. The thing to note here is that rates remain the same when a student's loan reconsolidation is done. Here, an average of all loans taken previously is calculated, and compared with the current rates of interest on these loans taken.

People make the mistake of calling this student loans refinancing, though this is not true, as rates in student debt consolidation are locked, and not changed. The Federal Government offers incentives and subsidies to companies that handle student debt consolidation. This is why they do not charge the student any extra charges.

The US Department of Education gives loans to the tune of $60 billion a year through its various student Federal loan consolidation Programs. The department's Federal Student Aid program offers the best and easiest way of getting student loans. These give you the opportunity to be able to further your education and pay the government later. Leading financial lenders provide standard student debt consolidation programs. These offer you easy unsecured loans, but such loans come at a price of higher interest rates than those offered by federal loans.

The biggest advantage of student debt consolidation is convenience, as you make only one payment for your loan as opposed to multiple payments every month. This drastically reduces paperwork, and you don't have to remember due dates every month. If you are lucky, you may also end up making a slight gain from paying less when you consolidate loans sometimes. For example, you may be making three payments of $100 each for three separate loans every month, but when you consolidate them, you may end up paying $290 for all three loans under the students' debt consolidation program. Doing this also gives you a longer time to re-evaluate your options and repay your loans over a longer period of time. This can buy a student much wanted time to settle down after he/she has finished studying to pay back the loan.

When a student goes in for student debt consolidation, he/she technically pays off all his old loans and takes out a new one, so the older loans are considered paid off. Hence, credit ratings of students who opt for students debt consolidation is also higher, but only if the student loan consolidation company in question submits the data to credit bureaus.