Comments on: Why Student Loan Consolidation?

By: waverly2468

waverly2468 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:21:05 +0000

These are all relevant comments now that Calif. is broke and fees at Cal-State universities have gone up 30% this year. High school guidance counselors (if they care) should be honest and tell students that maybe college is a RIPOFF and you might be better off working at Best Buy and Burger King and not being a fugitive from Sallie Mae for the rest of your life. Some degrees like computer science will be obsolete in just a few years.

By: tuttt99

tuttt99 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:24:57 +0000

You must have went to RPI…

By: esweetie01

esweetie01 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:22:39 +0000

Private student consolidation loans are not guaranteed by the gov't – so they're a much higher risk to the lender. Therefore, they're typically based on the credit history of the borrower. It's unlikely you'd get a significantly different interest rate if you shop around to different lenders.

What you can do is get your credit in as good shape as possible before you consolidate, and/or find a cosigner with good credit. This can help bring the interest rate down. The rates may *seem* high, but they're probably lower than a typical credit card or car loan rate, plus the interest on them may be deductible on your taxes.

By: Dirk L

Dirk L — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:55:10 +0000

All of my student loans were through Citibank initially, and last year I consolidated through them. They gave me a 5% interest rate which I think is very reasonable. They have also been very helpful on the phone when I had questions and they have never adjusted my interest rates without informing me first. Their website is http://www.studentloan.com and I would recommend them highly.

By: diktaytor

diktaytor — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:56:25 +0000

we’re behind you 100% serge

By: BunnyHanyou

BunnyHanyou — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:13:57 +0000

Thankfully I got AWESOME aid! And I have a fulltime job and go to school fulltime, to pay off some of my loans. : ).

Im a junior and only have 10,000 in loans not that much, HAZZAH！

By: redcomusic

redcomusic — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:15:35 +0000

you can try consolidating them through US dept of education’s direct loan program. they’ll buy it all out and you pay only 1 loan with a renewed lower interest. and you get your credit cleaned up.

By: blueyedwoman2006

blueyedwoman2006 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:03:39 +0000

Generally, a consolidation loan lumps all your student loans into a new loan, with up to 30 years to pay back and a fixed interest rate. It really makes it easy if you have student loans scattered across different lenders/servicers.

The key word in your statement is 'up to $2000', if you have a lower balance, you probably will not get that much as a credit. Yes, you would get a credit, not cash back.

And if you do get 'up to $2000', believe me, you will pay for it eventually. There's no such thing as a free lunch (imo).

By: complicatedtallblonde

complicatedtallblonde — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:35:31 +0000

Thx for serving our country (soon to be). Honestly I would never consolidate with anyone other then the FED. Consider this, if you want to go back to school they will defer your repayment, a bank won't. With the FED you don't need a cosigner. If anything were to happen to you your co-signer would be responsible for your debt, but with a federal loan it would be zeroed out. If you have automatic withdrawls the fed will deduct I think .25 or.50% off your interest and plus they will take a few k $$$$ off your loans for making payments on time for 4yrs or something. The fed also has a repayment plan that goes off your income, odds are 1/2 that it will work for you. They have good programs, check into them. And w/ a federal loan you also get a 6 month grace period before you have to start repayment.

If your going into the Navy and you have a degree I would hope your going to be an officer, they should be paying off your loans for you anyway. Those sneaky lil bastards, you can tell your recruiter you will go to the Air Force if they don't pay off your loans. I do not know your situation, but if your degree will be used in military service to fulfill your duties, they better pay that off for you!!

Hope this helps and GL.

By: redcomusic

redcomusic — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:23:39 +0000

private message me. i can teach you how to eliminate MOST of your debts. and/or rehabilitate a student loan gone bad.