Friday, February 20, 2009

Student Loan Consolidation Rates

Are you career minded and want to further your education, but you don't have the funds available? Do you have a million dollar itch, but you can only scrape up $40 to scratch it with? Thanks to the many different types of student loans that are available, you can get the money you need for college. The only trouble is that when you're finished with your education, you're left with a bunch of loans to pay off.

You'll be interested to know that you can manage your loan repayments a lot easier when you consolidate your student loans. You can get a consolidation loan which will pay off your other individual student loans, so you'll have a single loan and single monthly payment instead of several.

The great thing is that since the loan is for a larger amount, the interest rate will be lower, with will help to lower your monthly payments. Combine that with the increased length of the life of your loan and you can sometimes save as much as 50% on your monthly payments. That can really help, especially if your career is just starting and your salary is low.

If your student loans were government loans, you can even apply for a government consolidation loan, which means you'll get a very good loan rate. The rate of a government loan is usually somewhat lower than the loans offered by private lenders.

If you don't have government loans, you'll have to obtain a consolidation loan from a private lender, so you should shop around for the best rate. Rates will vary among lenders and you want to get the lowest rate you can because that will translate into lower payments.

There are two basic types of student consolidation loans and each have different rates. One type is a fixed rate, which will remain the same for the life of your loan. You can also choose a repayment plan which will keep your payments the same each month until your loan is paid off in 10-30 years.

You might prefer to take out a flexible loan so your payments are lower at the beginning of your loan, when you're just starting your new career. Which ever type of loan you choose, you'll need to take into consideration the amount of your loan, the length of the loan, and the interest rate, so you'll know who has the best deal for you.

Rates on smaller student loans are typically higher and if you have several small loans, you could really be paying a lot out in interest. Consolidating your loans will lower your rate, and will also increase the length of your loan, so you might pay out more over time.

Finding a good rate for your consolidation loan is important and you can be assured you are getting a good deal if you shop around first. You can find out quite a bit about current loan rates by searching online. You can even find financial calculators to determine payments and other relevant information.

About the Author
Carson Danfield is an "Under the Radar" Internet Entrepreneur who's been quietly selling various products for the last 8 years. If you'd like to get the more info about student loan consolidation be sure to visit at
http://student-loan-trix.com/
Published At: www.Isnare.comPermanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=174975&ca=Finances

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Direct Student Loan Consolidation

Student loans are like a double edge sword - without the loans you wouldn't be able to get your college education and degree - but with the loans, you're often saddled with a huge mountain of debt right as you are starting out with a new career. That doesn't leave much money left over from the new job you got your degree for!

If you're in a position where student loans are putting a strain on your budget or actually making your finances go into the red and giving your credit score a turn for the worse, then you may want to look into consolidating your student loans into a single loan that has a lower interest rate, longer life, and lower monthly payment.

A direct student loan consolidation might be for you if you're struggling to meet your monthly obligations and have used your deferment options already. Especially if you are about to default on your loan, you really should check into consolidating to save your credit rating. A direct student loan pays off all your old individual loans and leaves you with a new loan to start all over again. It's like wiping the slate clean and getting a fresh new start.

The deferment options become available to you again with the new loan in case you ever need it again and you'll usually qualify for a much lower interest rate since the consolidated loan will be for a larger amount. Also, when you consolidate, the old loans show up as paid on your credit report, so that will help to improve your credit standing as long as you pay your new loan on time each month, which should be easier to do with a lower payment amount.

There are actually four plans to look into when it comes to repaying your student loan consolidation -

- Standard repayment plan: This gives you a set monthly payment amount for a period of up to ten years.

- Extended repayment plan: This plan also has a fixed payment amount each month but the life of the loan can be extended to between 12 to 30 years, depending on how much you borrow. This makes the payments automatically lowered since they are spread over such a longer period of time, however when you do this the actual total amount you repay in the end will be larger due to more years of interest.

- Graduated repayment plan: This option will also allow you to stretch your payments over a longer period of 12 to 30 years. The difference is that your payments will increase every two years. This could be beneficial to you if you are just starting out in your career and not making as much money now as you will be in the future. Just make sure your job performance qualifies you for all those big raises you're expecting!

- Income contingent repayment plan: The payment plan is designed for those with a job and family because it takes a look at your annual income and total student loan debt, along with the size of your family, and then comes up with a payment amount that's spread out over a 25 year period.

If you're still a student in school when you consolidate, it's possible that you'll qualify for a six month grace period before you have to start making payments. A consolidation loan will benefit those who are looking at many years of payments ahead. If your student loans are almost paid off and you're having financial difficulties, you may want to look into forbearance and deferment first, because if you refinance, your loans will be spread out over more years and that will increase the total amount you will have to repay.

About the Author
Carson Danfield is an "Under the Radar" Internet Entrepreneur who's been quietly selling various products for the last 8 years. If you'd like to get the more info about student loan consolidation be sure to visit at
http://student-loan-trix.com/
Published At: www.Isnare.comPermanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=174973&ca=Finances

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Direct Student Loan Consolidation

Direct Student Loan Consolidation is something with which most of us are aware of. What we are trying to do is to give another angle to what is known about Direct Student Loan Consolidation.
If you think that gathering information is all to article writing then any statistician would have been a great article writer. It is all about arranging what you know and that is what we have done here in this article about Direct Student Loan Consolidation.

If writing were a difficult task, there would not have been so many articles on each and every topic. What is difficult though is writing articles with quality content and after reading this article, you would also agree to that.

Student loans are two-edged swords. Without them, you couldn't pay for that degree you worked so hard for. On the other hand, without them, you might actually get to keep the amount you pay out every month for yourself. You might get to pay your other bills on time, afford a more reliable car, or find a better place to live.

There are so many reasons why one writes an article. We also had a reason. It was simple enough. We knew that we could write better about Direct Student Loan Consolidation than what is being presented on the net.

If repaying your student loans is challenging your budget, or worse, putting your finances - and credit rating - in the red, you might want to think about a direct student loan consolidation.
There are many who think that they would not find anything new in any article but now when you have read so much about Direct Student Loan Consolidation in this article, do you still think that the same is the case with this article also?

With a direct student loan consolidation, you exchange your outstanding student loans with their higher interest rates for one loan with a more manageable, fixed interest rate.
Being interested in any topic means that one tries to have as much information about it as possible and that is why you must be reading this article. Well we have tried to make your task easier by gathering all the relevant information at one place.

A direct student loan consolidation may be the answer to more than one problem. If you have struggled to meet your monthly payments and in fact have used every option for deferment or forbearance your current loans offer, or find yourself about to default on your loan, a direct student loan consolidation can mean a fresh start. A new loan is often a clean slate.

Not only do deferment and forbearance options become available in case of need again, but often direct student loan consolidation gives you a much lower interest rate - as much as 0.6 percentage points - thereby lowering your monthly payments. And when you consolidate those student loans under a new loan, those loans show up on your credit report as paid off, and your credit score benefits.

There are four plans for repaying a direct student loan consolidation that you many want to investigate as you consider which is best for your needs.

The first plan is a Standard Repayment Plan and gives you a fixed monthly payment for up to 10 years. The Extended Repayment Plan also sets fixed monthly payments, but the repayment period is set between 12 and 30 years, according to the total amount you borrow. In this plan your payments are lower because they are spread across a long period of time. Keep in mind, however, that making payments over longer periods of time means you will end up paying out a larger total amount.

The third option is the Graduated Repayment Plan. This is another direct student loan consolidation plan with a repayment period between 12 and 30 years, only in this plan the amount of your monthly payment will increase every two years.

Finally, if you have a job and family, the Income Contingent Repayment Plan may be what you're looking for. This plan sets a monthly payment based on your annual gross income, family size, and total direct student loan debt, and spreads those payments over a period of 25 years.
While direct student loan consolidation may be the best way to get on top of student loans for some, if you are close to paying off your existing loans, it may not be worth it in the long run to consolidate or extend your payments.

However, if you are still seeing loan payments coming out of your pocket well into the future, consider the direct student loan consolidation seriously. If you consolidate your loans while you are still in school, you may qualify for a 6-month grace period before repayment begins. You may find you will be able to keep any subsidies on your old loans.

Lower your monthly payments, improve your credit rating, gain control of your loans, and give yourself peace of mind about the future with a direct student loan consolidation.

Beginning and ending of any article are considered the toughest job and now when we have come to the end of this article about Direct Student Loan Consolidation, we would like to share with you that we have put every effort to make this article amongst the best and this could only be judged by you.It is not that we wanted to write this article just for the sake of it. We sincerely want you to make use of the info provided and if you do so, we would feel satisfied.

About the Author
For More Hot Tips and Latest Information, Hurry On to: Student Loan Consolidation Rate Federal Student Loan Consolidation
http://mydomainname101.com/Consolidation/
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Thursday, February 5, 2009

How Does Student Loan Consolidation Work?

Nowadays, the cost of higher education is getting more and more expensive. Some families may not be able to afford to send their son or daughter for further education. Getting a student loan will help.

There are 2 broad categories of student loans available. Government student loans and private student loans.

Government or federal student loans are funded and administered by the US Department Of Education. It is classified under Federal Student Loans Aid Program. They have very few requirements other than you are studying in a US college or university. International students may also apply though approval is on a case by case basis.

Every year, the student loan aid program disburse nearly 60 billion dollars so it is a good choice for get a student loan from the government. Thus the interest rates are pretty low.

Private student loans are funded and administered by banks and other financial institutions. These lenders provide student loans at a higher interest rate compared to federal student loans. Some common student loans available are from Citibank and Sallie Mae
You are allowed to apply for both private and federal student loans for your education needs although I would not recommend it.

For some students who have a few student loans to repay concurrently, it can be a financial drain on their family finances. That is where student loan consolidation comes in.

Student loan consolidation basically consolidates all your student loans into one loan so that it is easier to manage and make payments. When you are getting a student loan consolidation whether from the government or the private market, your existing student loans are paid for and erased by the student loan consolidation lender. The balances are transferred to the new student loan consolidation. Thus you start a new loan and only needs to make a single payment each month.

There are many advantages to using student loan consolidation. The interest rates will be lower since it takes the average interest rates of your previous student loans. Thus due to government legislation, the maximum interest rate cannot be higher than 8.25 percent.

It becomes a lot easier to manage a single student loan and payment are easier. The repayment options are quite flexible. For federal student loan consolidation, you can opt to start repaying after you have graduated from school. There are also several other options.

Another beneficial side-effect of student loan consolidation is that it can also improves your credit score. Since you are effectively clearing all your old student loans and taking a new one, your credit score will increase and is important if plan to take other types of loans in the future.

About the Author
Ricky Lim works in a finance company specialising in
direct student loan consolidation. Visit his site for student Loan
Published At: www.Isnare.comPermanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=98414&ca=Finances

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