Student loan consolidation

I think I am going to do this but am totally clueless. Any info anyone has would be greatly apprecitated!

Re: Student loan consolidation

all you have to do is get the consolidation application from your bank or whoever services your loan (e.g. sallie mae). fill it out, i know sallie mae lets you do it online, and then they'll notify you when it's all done and send you new payment info and stuff. you also should know how you want to do your payments, equal, gradual increase (they start low and then when you make more money get higher) and i think there's some other options. you can also pick to repay over 10 or 25 years, at least i could anyway. good luck.

Re: Student loan consolidation

i did this through college loan corperation and they were very nice to deal with.

Re: Student loan consolidation

Contact your lender first to see if they consolidate. I know that a lot of lenders require you to go through them and will not allow you to consolidate with an outside lender unless they don't offer it. It's really very simple. Call them, tell them you want to consolidate your loans, and get the info from them. I know when I consolidated my loans, I was only allowed to consolidate my Stafford loans and not my private loans. There is also a certain time period that I had to consolidate, so you may need to make sure that you are eligible.

Sorry if that's not too straightforward, but you really should start with your lender.

Also, I have no clue if anyone else posted anything while I was typing this and I'm repeating or contradicting anything, as the phone rang in the middle of typing this.

Re: Student loan consolidation

These are who I consolidated with, I have the lowest rate known to man. The rate is flexible.

Check them out
Direct Student Loan

Re: Student loan consolidation

Thank you!
Shamma- I will check them out.

I keep getting things in the mail for different companies and banks. I heard this is the best time to do it because interest rates are so low.

My grace period is just about up.

Re: Student loan consolidation

just wondering? why do you want to consoladate? after 2 years of ontime payments...mine dropped 2 points...and they are under 4% now...

Re: Student loan consolidation

I used Direct Loan also.

Re: Student loan consolidation

I used Direct Loan as well. They were very nice, loan rates, and EASY!!!

Good luck!

Re: Student loan consolidation

I consolidated and its the best thing I could have done.

I just reconsolidated b/c I added a different loan to be consolidated and the payments went up a little, but the interest rate I got is unbelievable.

Of course I'll be paying my student loans till I am in my 50's, but it is definatly worth it.

I did everything through Sallie Mae. Talk to your lender they will be of help for you as well.

Re: Student loan consolidation

I shopped around and sallie mae had the lowest fixed rate, and after you pay 2-4 years, forgot which by direct debit from checking it will drop another 1/4 point or so

Re: Student loan consolidation

Definitely shop around to find the best terms. I consolidated mine last summer at 4.25%, but then I got 1/4% reduction for paying by direct debit. Also, after 3 years of on time payments I get another 1% decrease, so it will only be 3%. It's saving me a ton of money. A lot of lenders offer this, but for some the % decrease is not as much and for most I looked into you had to pay on time for 4+ years before it would take effect.

Re: Student loan consolidation

Yabbo- I want to consolidate because I have a freind who did hers a couple of years ago, and got locked in at an interest rate that she though was low at the time, now she is upset because rates are so much lower now.

Everyone is telling me this is about as low as interest rates get, so now is a good time to do it.