Archive for January 19th, 2010

Loan Consolidation Student Get the Information you Need

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Troy Morrow


Become a Loan Consolidation Student, if you’re about to graduate you may want to start thinking about becoming a Loan Consolidation Student early that way are ahead of the game. Every Loan Consolidation Studenthas a six month grace period after graduation before payments begin, but the consolidation loan application process can take several weeks, especially if you haven’t gathered all your loan information and decided on a lender. It can take many weeks to get through the loan process, however when it comes to repaying your loan the lender gives you six months after you graduate to start pay back your student loan consolidation. Inventory your student loans. Document all your loans, including type of loan, lender, the amount of your loans, interest rates and the amount of your payments. Analyze your loan documents, contact your lenders or loan servicers or go to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) website. Hopefully you never lose your pin number but if you do, you can ask for a new one and they send it to you. Expect to wait a week or two for the PIN to arrive, so best to get it done early.

Add up If you are already in a repayment status, you will know your exact monthly payments. However, if you are still in school or in your grace period, you should estimate your monthly non-consolidated loan payment based on the current interest rates and your loan balance. If you’re still going to school or still in your grace period, you can estimate your non-consolidated loan payment using the balance and interest of your loan. Your lender can also provide you with the details of finding the approximate amount of your monthly repayment. What’s a Budget? Sounds like a crazy question, but you’d be surprised at the amount of people who never use one, and it’s such a great benefit, loan consolidation students, knowing if a Student Consolidation Loans will help you. Once you have a source of income, set aside funds to use for repayment of your loan. This amount should be based on a realistic budget. Then see if the estimated loan payment amounts you calculated above will fit into our budget.

Sometimes you’ll find that your budget isn’t working out as planned, if that becomes the case just go over it again until it makes good financial sense. What ways can you adjust your finances? Weather its more money in or less money out. If it’s a short term issue (expected raise in pay, getting a part time job, etc.), consider your deferment or forbearance options. Select loans for consolidation. Determine which of your loans are eligible for federal consolidation. A number of loan consolidation student loans can be consolidated in addition to Stafford and Private student loans are not eligible to be consolidated through the Federal consolidation programs. You might lose some discharge or cancellation benefits or deferment benefits if you include certain types of loans in your loan consolidation student loan like Federal Perkins Loans, for example. You can contact the lenders of your loans to find out what the impact of your loan consolidation student will be on your current benefits. If you want to consolidate your loans try going through the Federal Direct Loan Consolidation Program. You can get the application online.

If you have graduated, but are still in the grace period, begin the consolidation process approximately two months before the end of the grace period. This will allocate enough time to have your loan consolidation student loan processed before the grace period expires, yet not so early that you lose too much of your grace period if you have a FFEL consolidation loan. (If you consolidate FFEL loans during the grace period, you will give up whatever portion of your grace period remains. You get to keep all of your grace period, even if you get a Direct Consolidation Loan.) Some FFEL lenders offer to hold off on disbursement of consolidation loans until the end of the grace period to give borrowers opportunity to minimize their interest rate and maximize their grace period. Check with your lender to be certain. Keep in mind that if you consolidate during your grace period, you can lock in an interest rate at least a half percent lower than the current repayment rate. Most banks will grant you a discounted rate if you agree to sign up for auto- pay and make a certain number of consecutive on time payments, about 36 of them. When filling out the consolidation application, make sure you provide all your complete and correct addressand personal information, you may be asked to include two references, and sign the promissory note. Overlook any of these and you will delay the processing of your application. If you are already in repayment, continue making payments on your loans until consolidation is the completed application. If you need immediate payment relief you can always ask the lender for a deferment or forbearance until you are able to start repayment or until your deferment time is up.

By: Vernosha Anderson



Cormac

Comparing the Different School Loan Consolidation

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Xavier


When you’re looking for a school loan consolidation to combine your many student loans into one payment, there are a lot of rules that you must follow, especially if your loans are federal loans. Here, we outline some of these rules to help you navigate the school loan consolidation maze.

There are two different school loan consolidation programs; namely, the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and the Direct Consolidation Loan programs. It’s important to know the difference between the two. First, any school loan consolidation that you want combined have to be accepted by the Direct Consolidation Loan Program. Federal Family Education Loan lenders might accept all eligible loans for the FFEL consolidation, but some lenders might not include non-FFEL loans in the school loan consolidation. However, if a loan isn’t accepted in the Federal Family Education Loan consolidation program, lenders might offer alternative school loan consolidation programs for these debts.

School loan consolidation lenders under the Federal Family Education Loan program must offer several repayment programs. These include the standard repayment plan, the graduated repayment plan, an extended repayment plan, and an income-sensitive repayment plan. Keep in mind that although these four repayment plans are offered by all FFEL lenders, the actual details of the repayment can vary. For example, the income-sensitive repayment plan takes the borrower’s income and total debt load into account.

With the Direct Loan Program, you are offered the standard repayment plan, the graduated repayment plan, the extended repayment plan, and the income-contingent repayment plan. With this particular income-contingent repayment plan, the payment is based on a formula that takes the borrower’s income, family size, and total loan amounts into account.

If you default on an FFEL consolidation loan, some lenders might allow you to include the defaulted loan into a new consolidation loan. However, not all lenders will offer this option. The Direct Loan Program also has stipulations for consolidating defaulted loans into new loans. If you are eligible to consolidate your defaulted loans into a new loan, you will regain eligibility for federal student aid.

Under the Direct Consolidation Program, you may consolidate your loans while you are enrolled in school. If you are eligible for an in-school consolidation, you can get a six month grace period before repayment begins. You might also qualify for a lower interest. If you have only FFEL loans, you might still be eligible for a consolidation and grace period while still in school through the Direct Consolidation Loan program. With the FFEL consolidation program, you can only consolidate your loans after leaving school, and all your loans have to be in the grace period or repayment period.



Allison