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Tips of Student loans for people with bad credit
Loans consolidation
Under a new interpretation of the rules, students don't have to wait
until they graduate to consolidate.If you've just graduated and are in
your six month grace period, you can get an extra one-half of one
percent cut off the consolidation rate if you consolidate within the
first six months after graduation.Each Web site has online calculators,
and you can even apply for a consolidation loan online.Students still in
school can consolidate existing loans.Not too shabby!You can consolidate
Perkins, Stafford and PLUS loans (parent loans for students) and even
some previously consolidated loans.And by consolidating during the grace
period, you may also be able to retain the entire grace period.If the
lender delays disbursing the consolidation loan until the end of the
grace period, you get the benefit of the grace period and are also able
to lock in current interest rates.Unfortunately, you cannot consolidate
private loans that are not federally guaranteed.Note also that there is
no fee for you, the borrower, to consolidate.According to a recent
Nellie Mae study, the average student upon graduation owes an average of
$17,500 in student loans.
There are also added bonuses, for
instance, many lenders offer interest rate and payment reductions if you
pay on time over a period of months and/or have your monthly payments
automatically withdrawn from your checking or savings account.The main
benefit of consolidation is that it allows you to lock in a low fixed
interest rate for the life of the loan.What are the benefits of
consolidating your loans?Another benefit to consolidation is that now
you only have to make one monthly payment and to only one lender-saving
you a headache each month from sorting out to whom and what you owe.If
you subsequently take on more student loans, then you can consolidate
those loans either separately from the initial low-rate consolidation,
or as part of a blended package.
Also, most lenders will only consolidate loans for students with loan
balances of at least $6,000. For most of you, this threshold won't be a
problem.Understand though, that not everyone gets the lowest rate on
consolidation.For those of you that haven't graduated yet, there's
something new this year. |