STUDENT LOAN CONSOLIDATION PROGRAM

STUDENT LOAN CONSOLIDATION PROGRAMS are a smart option for the many students, parents, graduates and alumni that are now seeking to consolidate federal student loans debt. A federal school loan consolidation program will lower interest rates and save money. Student loan debt consolidation has become popular and many college student loan consolidation programs and services are out there to consolidate all types of school loans; be them federal, direct, medical, law, Stafford, PLUS, government and private student loans. Today's Interest rates are the lowest they have been in decades. Consolidating federal student loans allows you to lock into a federal consolidation loan at a low FIXED rate, as low as 2.85%.

Consolidating College Student Loan Debt

A study from the National Center for Education Statistics tells that roughly half of college alumni have an average student loan debt of $10,000 US. The average cost of a college education increases at two times the rate that inflation does. Public Universities are currently estimated to cost $13,000 a year, while private colleges and universities are estimated to cost $28,000 annually. These increasing costs of education leave both parents and students with increasing student loan debt.

How does school loan consolidation help save money?
By lowering your monthly payment and lowering your interest rate, which ultimately decreases the total loan principal and interest amount you pay over time.

How does college student loan debt consolidation actually work?
When your student loans are consolidated, all of the outstanding balances of your existing student loans are paid off, with the total balance rolling over into one consolidated student loan. The end result is that you have only one FIXED RATE student loan to pay on.

What types of student loans are eligible for Federal student loan consolidation?

• Federal and Federal Direct Stafford Loan (subsidized and unsubsidized)
• Federal and Federal Direct PLUS
• Perkins Loans
• Federal Perkins (formerly known as National Direct Student Loan or NDSL)
• Nursing School Loan (NSL)
• Health Professional Student Loan (HPSL)
• SLS (Supplemental Loan for Students)
• Loans for Disadvantaged Students (LDS)
• Federal Insured Student Loan (FISL)
• Federal Consolidation Loan
• Federal Direct Consolidation Loan
• In addition to the student loans mentioned above, all undergraduate, graduate, law medical and private student loans are also available for student loan debt consolidation.
  

Secure lower student loan rates.
Under the provisions of the Higher Education Act borrowers may be eligible to lock in the lowest rates in the history of the Federal Student Consolidation Loan Program. After careful evaluation and research, we've found these legitimate companies that provide secure service and some of the best deals out there. They are the Internet Student Loans Company, and STUDENT LOAN CONSOLIDATOR.

My colleagues and I have contacted them and found their customer service quite helpful. Here are some details on their programs:

• Borrowers can lock in rates as low as 2.85%
• Lower payments by 50% or more
• No application fees
• There are no pre-payment penalties
• Tax-deductible interest
• There are NO credit checks or co-signers required
  

School Work Recommends the following for School Loan Consolidation Programs:

*STUDENT LOAN CONSOLIDATOR - great customer service. Lowest rates!

*Speak with a Federal Student Loan Consolidation specialist @ Cology aka Collegiate Solutions and they will help you maximize your savings. Call them at 1-877-490-6639.

*Another student loan consolidation option is having the experts at Internet Student Loans Company do the work for you. To do so, simply click here to fill out a no obligation form and an experienced loan counselor will contact you within 24 hours.

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By consolidating student loans you will have fewer bills and less paperwork as the new consolidation loan combines all of your student loans into ONE loan with several advantages such as:

• Lower Interest Rates for "In-School" and "In-Grace" Student Loan Consolidation
  Which means borrowers who have a Direct Student Loan or FFEL loan in an "in-school" or "grace period" at the time their student loan consolidation application is received, may benefit from a lower fixed APR on the new Direct Consolidation Loan. NOTE: "In-school" student loan consolidation is only available with Federal Direct Consolidation Loans. Private student loans may not always qualify.
• Possible tax deductions when consolidating federal stafford loans.
• One Lender with a single monthly payment, with an option to receive an interest rate reduction if you enroll in "automatic payments" from your checking or debit card account.

CONSOLIDATION Q&A - Consolidating private student loans and federal loans

Q. Which companies offer student loan consolidation programs and what type of school loan consolidation programs do they offer?
A. Sallie Mae - Federal consolidation ; Citi - Citibank Student Loan Corporation - Federal and Private loan consolidation ; Chela ; AES - AES ; Nellie Mae ; Bank of America ; Wells Fargo - Federal and private loan consolidation ; Key Bank - federal ; TERI - TERI Federal Guaranteed Loan consolidation ; Next Student - Next Student Loans ; US Bank - U.S. Bank Federal loans ; Educaid, Wachovia - Consolidating Federal stafford loans. As web pages are everchanging, the best way to locate each lender and their loan consolidation product is to SEARCH FOR THEM ON GOOGLE

Consolidate with Nextstudent

College Graduates

Now that you’ve graduated from college, you have certain responsibilities—like the obligation to repay your student loans.

What you may not know is that you also have certain rights when it comes to student loans-such as the right to cut your payments by as much as 60%.

Federal Loan Consolidation

The Federal Loan Consolidation Program makes student loan repayment more manageable by allowing you to bundle your existing variable-rate federal loans into a single, fixed-rate loan-at unprecedented rates as low as 4.5%. It costs nothing to consolidate, and NextStudent makes it easy with a fast, online application and Education Finance Advisors who can answer your questions and help you through the loan consolidation process.

The NextStudent Private Consolidation Loan

If you’ve already consolidated your federal loans at a rate of 8.25% or higher, or you have private loans that you’d like to refinance, the NextStudent Custom Consolidation Loan™ may be for you. With a NextStudent Custom Consolidation Loan™, you can combine all your education loans, even previously consolidated federal loans (such as Stafford and PLUS Loans) into a new loan to take advantage of super low rates and a reduced monthly payment.

Continuing Your Education

If you’re continuing your education, you’ll want to check out our Federal Stafford Loans for graduate students and NextStudent Private Loans for graduate students, and continuing education students.
Most people can deduct interest paid on Federal Student consolidation Loans. Talk to your tax advisor, then begin the application process for a consolidation loan today.

	Quick Links » Graduate Students » Federal Loan Consolidation Program » Private Loan Consolidation Program » Federal Stafford Loans » NextStudent Private Loans for Continuing Education » NextStudent Private Loans » Current Loan Rates

	Related Terms » Student Loan Consolidation » Federal Student Loan Consolidation » Private Student Loan Consolidation » Consolidate Student Loans » Consolidate Student Loan » Consolidate Private Student Loans

Debt consolidation

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Debt consolidation entails taking out one loan to pay off many others. This is often done to secure a lower interest rate, secure a fixed interest rate or for the convenience of servicing only one loan.

Debt consolidation can simply be from a number of unsecured loans into another unsecured loan, but more often it involves a secured loan against an asset that serves as collateral, which is most commonly a house (in this case a mortgage is secured against the house.) The collateralization of the loan allows a lower interest rate than without it, because by collateralizing, the asset owner agrees to allow the forced sale (foreclosure) of the asset in order to pay back the loan. The risk to the lender is reduced so the interest rate offered is lower.

Sometimes, debt consolidation companies can discount the amount of the loan. When the debtorbankruptcy, the debt consolidator will buy the loan at a discount. A prudent debtor can shop around for consolidators who will pass along some of the savings. Consolidation can affect the ability of the debtor to discharge debts in bankruptcy, so the decision to consolidate must be weighed carefully. is in danger of

Debt consolidation is often advisable in theory when someone is paying credit card debt. Credit cards can carry a much larger interest rate than even an unsecured loan from a bank. Debtors with property such as a home or car may get a lower rate through a secured loan using their property as collateral. Then the total interest and the total cash flow paid towards the debt is lower allowing the debt to be paid off sooner, incurring less interest. In practice, many people are in credit card debt because they spend more than their income. If that habit continues, the consolidation will not benefit them much because they will simply increase their credit card balances again.

Because of the theoretical advantage that debt consolidation offers a consumer that has high interest debt balances, companies can take advantage of that benefit of refinancing to charge very high fees in the debt consolidation loan. Sometimes these fees are near the state maximum for mortgage fees. In addition, some unscrupulous companies will knowingly wait until a client has backed themselves into a corner and must refinance in order to consolidate and pay off bills that they are behind on the payments. If the client does not refinance they may lose their house, so they are willing to pay any allowable fee to complete the debt consolidation. In some cases the situation is that the client does not have enough time to shop for another lender with lower fees and may not even be fully aware of them. This practice is known as predatory lending. Certainly many, if not most, debt consolidation transactions do not involve predatory lending.

Student loan consolidation

In the United States, federal student loans are consolidated somewhat differently, as federal student loans are guaranteed by the U.S. government. In a federal student loan consolidation, existing loans are purchased and closed by a loan consolidation company or by the Department of Education (depending on what type of federal student loan the borrower holds). Interest rates for the consolidation are based on that year's student loan rate, which is in turn based on the 91-day Treasury bill rate at the last auction in May of each calendar year.

Student loan rates can fluctuate from the current low of 4.70% to a maximum of 8.25% for federal Stafford loans, 9% for PLUS loans. The current consolidation program allows students to consolidate once with a private lender, and reconsolidate again only with the Department of Education. Upon consolidation, a fixed interest rate is set based on the then-current interest rate. Reconsolidating does not change that rate. If the student combines loans of different types and rates into one new consolidation loan, a weighted average calculation will establish the appropriate rate based on the then-current interest rates of the different loans being consolidated together.

Federal student loan consolidation is often referred to as refinancing, which is incorrect because the loan rates are not changed, merely locked in. Unlike private sector debt consolidation, student loan consolidation does not incur any fees for the borrower; private companies make money on student loan consolidation by reaping subsidies from the federal government.

Student loan consolidation can be beneficial to students' credit rating, but it's important to note that not all federal student loan consolidation companies report their loans to all credit bureaus; SLM Corporation (formerly Sallie Mae) does not report to Experian or Transunion, which means that students will have differing credit scores at Equifax, Transunion, and Experian.