Options With Student Loan Consolidations
Congress has recently decided to change rules for student loan consolidations.
One of the changes effects the payment of student loan consolidations, both for federal and for private student loans. The payments will now be based on the student’s income. If a student can show that he or she suffers from ‘partial financial hardships’ then the payments made monthly on a student loan consolidation will be limited at about 15 percent taken from a students current income, instead of a set price for every student. This is a part of their College Cost Reduction Act along with their Access Act. Those changes will take effect the year 2009 as of July first.
For those students that spend at least ten years in what the government considers to be a qualifying public service position, for example teaching or maybe charitable work, then the remaining amount of a students current loans can be forgiven. Unfortunately, it is only with the loans that are funded directly by the federal government. This option became available for students on October first of the year 2007.
As of July 1st 2008, those students who move FFELP or Federal Family Education Loan in a direct loan program by using a loan consolidation plan can also qualify for the above.
Just pain consolidating student loans is also an option. A lot of the time students will consolidate funds in order to extend the amount of time they have to pay, and lower the monthly payments that they make. When they go to consolidate their loans, students have many things to look for, and many benefits they can get from consolidating their loans.
One reason why students use student loan consolidation is the escape from changing interest rates that randomly go up. Some are just looking to make fewer payments a month and a lower payment at that.
When choosing to use student loan consolidation, timing is essential. Instead of just picking one at the spur of the moment, a student should wait until after the US Treasury Bond Auction. This generally occurs in the very last week of May, and takes effect on the first of July. This usually gives each of the loaners to take a month to decide if it would benefit them to do consolidations under their current rates, or if it would be better to wait until the new rates take effect in the beginning of July. And it will give a student a chance to look for lower fixed rates.
Since private loans are not the same as federal loans, therefore these new rules that apply to federal student loan consolidation do not apply to private student loan debt consolidation. For this reason federal loans can be used only to consolidate the loans that are backed federally and private loans must be consolidated using other private consolidation methods.
If you are, or know a student who is currently looking for student loans, it is always better to use federal student loans, and federal student loan consolidation options. If you go to consolidate all of your loans you need to be sure to have two groups, one federal student loan consolidation and one for private student loan consolidation.
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COMPLAINT #1 (Office of Inspector General / Department of Education) “Anyone suspecting fraud, waste or abuse involving Department of Education funds or programs should call or write the Inspector General’s Hotline.. OIG Fraud Hotline” ~ ed.gov Sallie Mae was the _only_ financial lender involved in the diploma mill fraud… and now ask Congress for a bail out?? GO TO GOOGLE AND RESEARCH THESE 2 THINGS: 1. Westwood Diploma Mill Scam 2. 60 Minutes Sallie Mae Fraud Students say college misled …
Help answer the question about student loans
What kind of loan can I get to consolidate private student loans?I have $100,000 in private student loans from two lenders. The interest rate is over 10%. Is there a way to get another loan to pay this off at a lower interest rate? What kind of debt consolidation program should I consult? Most student loan companies only deal with Federal loans it seems. I keep seeing ads for mortgage loans with low monthly payments– is there something similar I could get for a personal loan? THANKS!
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11 comments
Consolidation loans have all but disappeared in the last year or so… even in the big companies like Sallie Mae and Wells Fargo. It is simply not worth it for these companies to make these loans anymore. (Why loose money by consolidation when they are already getting 15% interest from you). I'm sorry I'm not much help…. but you couldn't have combined your loans with his anyway. My advise is to pay them off quickly.
A home equity line of credit isn't a viable option either, unless of course you own a home and actually HAVE $100,000 worth of equity in it. With the housing market as it is, most folks are upside-down on their mortgage. (Owe more than the house is worth). If you have this much in equity in your home (owe only 25K on a 125K house, for example), than more power to you. Go visit the bank Monday and ask. Personally I would not want to risk my house for private student loans, but that decision is up to you.
Also keep in mind that the interest you pay on student loans can be deducted off your income at tax time (without itemizing)…. this is simply not the case with a home equity line of credit.
Sorry I was not much more help.
Sounds too good to be true, the only thing a college grad needs to do is live in poverty and report their income until they are 55 or 70 years old.
Maybe you can try below website to get the information you need. It's about student loans consolidation articles for your second opinion.
This furthers the scam, allowing them to make MORE money by prolonging your payoff. My original debt
$30,000. Paid to date $14,000. How much do I owe?
$50,000! Good luck! Right now I’m paying $700.00
per month. Final cost of my loans at time of payoff $90,000. WELCOME TO THE DEBT TRAP!
Hi There,
You are absolutely right… Your credit can be greatly increased immediately by consolidating…
The reason is as follows..
Picture your situation if you dont consolidate.. You have say 10 loans, all with a different monthly payment ans interest rate all of which obligate you to a minimum payment each month..
So, the way the credit bureau's see it, you have alo tof obligations each month to pay for, which gives you a high DTI or debt to income ratio…
Now, once you consolidate, it does manyu thngs… First and foremost, it comnines the multip-le loans into one large loan… The one large loan will have a SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER monthly payment which is huge in determining your credit score…
So, the answer is YES it woul have an immediate impact on your score.. It could raise it as much as 100 points depending on your credit situation…
The next question you should be asking is where to go to get the best rate for consolidation..
The thing that most people dont realize is that the Department of Education regulates and determines EVERYTHING about the consolidation process..
Every lender has the exact program to work with ther eis no difference in the type of qualifications from one lender to the next because we are all administered by the departmen tof education..
The ONLY difference BETWEEN LENDERS is the department of education chooses ALL RATE DISCOUNTS offered to students…
Currently the government only offers 3 rate discounts.. Most lenders (sallie mae, nelnet,) choose to only give 1 or 2 of the rate discounts (because they lose $$ by giving)
My company is a little different.. To set ourselves aside from the rest, we offer ALL 3 RATE DISCOUNTS TO CLIENTS..
It actually adds up to 1.85% OFF YOUR RATE FOR CONSOLIDATING…
Other lenders will only offer yo to 1-1.25% off…
I am a licensed student loan advisor with Student Aid Lending, we are a nationwide title IV lender administered by the Department of Education… I would be happy to assist you with the consolidation process..
Take a look at my yahoo 360 profile.. There is alot of helpful information there for anyone to view.. You can also find the direct link to my website..
http://360.yahoo.com/my_profile-hluduhmi...
It is actually a VERY SIMPLE process, it can be completed in 10 minutes over the phone and internet…
Feel free to call or email me at any time.. Im available at all tiem to answer any questions or concerns you may have..
I hope this helps!
Jason Fry
Student Aid Lending
1-800-964-0642 ext 114
jasonf@StudentAidLending.com
You could get a regular bank Loan to pay them off, However your student Loan Interest is deductible from your Federal Income taxes, and a Bank Loan would not be, also the default rules are better for a student loan, you can also postpone student loans.
Wells Fargo might be the only one worthwhile these days. Look for ones that have little or no origination fees and have reductions if the money you owe is periodically auto-deposited.
Have you spoken to both the Wells Fargo and Peace Corps people? Perhaps you have been misinformed.
If you're interested in overseas volunteering, you might investigate church-related groups. You can probably get a shorter committment than with Peace Corps (which is for two years). Church-related work doesn't have to be the typical preaching and evangelizing of the missionary. I think Habitat for Humanity (non-secular) has overseas volunteer possibilities.
If you stay in the US you should look at AmericaCorps.
The other option is to simply default on your student loan. Don't pay it. Wells Fargo has gotten all kinds of government subsidies, and they certainly can afford to take the loss.
You must cure the default before you can take out more loans. The only way to do this is to make the successful series of payments they are requesting. You do not have the option to consolidate, defer, or put them into a forbearance. Once a loan is in default, you MUST make the series of payments. Once you have completed 9 consecutive months of on time payments, then you can look into consolidation and other options. Good Luck!!
Edit **
You need to verify what you are able to pay, and they will renegotiate your payment amount. Good Luck!!
Yeah, what ronnie said
Sallie Mae will not consolidate loans if they are federal (student) and private together. What will end up happening is they will do two consolidations. (one for private and one for federal stafford) Who better to answer that but Sallie Mae…have her contact them and they can tell her in a matter of minutes what they can or cannot do. 1-888-2SALLIE (888-272-5543)
As far as for the rest of the question…here goes.
First off, she needs to go to a website to access all of her federal loan information.
http://www.nslds.ed.gov
This website is the U.S. Department of Education's database of students federal student loans. When she logs in…she will be asked for a pin number. If she doesn't know it, go to the FAQ section and follow the instructions on how to obtain one. DO NOT GIVE IT OUT TO ANYONE!! NOT EVEN TO FINANCIAL AID!!
Secondly, if Sallie Mae is her lender and she wants to stay with themthrough consolidation…she needs to get the facts. 1-800-448-3533 / http://www.smartloan.com
This will give her the information she needs on consolidation. She needs to make sure that one of the questions she asks is:
I want to consolidate my loans so I only have to make one payment a month but I do not want to lose any of my grace period. When is the best time for me to start the process of consolidation?
If Sallie Mae says no to consolidating the other loans…ask them if they can "combine them." Unless she would rather make 3-4 payments a month depending on how much they consolidate.
Keep in mind also that if she has a bank account and has an automatic withdrawal…she may be able to reduce her interest rate. I would have her ask Sallie Mae for details.
Not yet Disbursed. You are correct, the monies have not been sent to the school on her behalf yet. She needs to contact the school to find out if it has now been done or if they do not need it. Sometimes, the data on the databases does not get updated right away. The best way to find out is to ask her financial aid office. There may even be a final balance that the school is awaiting the funds to cover it. This is called a late disbursement. Best person to answer that is financial aid.
Student Consolidation Loans are for when you have graduated. You will not receive funds for college with a consolidation loan. What it sounds like you need is a private student loan to cover the gap between what your federal aid covers and what your total cost of attendance is. Consider visiting http://www.istudentloan.com/private/ for details on the iStudentLoan private student loan affinity brand loan from Chase.