Direct Student Loan Consolidation Plans Available Posted on 2010-06-16 | 0 Comment

A good education comes at a high cost these days. A collegestudent loan is sometimes the only way someone may be able to afford a decent college education. There are different types ofstudent loans. Many times, due to high interest and other unexpected situations that may be out of your control, it is hard to handle the monthly payments. If you are having problems making your student loan payments on time, you should look into a direct student loan consolidation program.

This type of loan will take all of your student loans and consolidate them into one low interest loan. The consolidationwill allow for lower payments at a fixed interest rate that is determined by the average of your loans being rounded to the closest.125 per cent.

If you are having a hard time paying your student loans, thisloan will give you some relief. This will become a new loan and your other loans will be paid off and reported as such on your credit report. Consolidation loans come in many configurations, each one with a different repayment plan. Consider your current situation, what you can afford, and learn about the different plans available before making a decision. This is a fresh start and you want to take advantage of the best possible alternative that fits your finances.

A standard repayment plan will give you ten years to repay, with a fixed monthly payment, tailored to the amount that you owe.

A graduated repayment plan option will have a period of 12 and 30 years to pay off the loan. As its name suggests, on this loanyour monthly payment will increase every two years. This is something to take into consideration if you don't think that your financial situation will change much during that time, as you will be faced with bigger payments eventually.

An extended repayment plan spreads the loan over 30 years. Your monthly payments will be smaller however, at the end of the 30 years, you will end up paying more in interest. This is something to keep in mind. An income contingent repayment plan allows you to repay the debt in 25 years and it takes into consideration the amount owed, your annual gross income, and the size of your family. If you have a steady job, this may work for you.

When you use a direct student loan consolidation, you are starting a new loan for a new period of time and at a new interest rate. If you are almost done paying your student loan off, this may not be an appropriate alternative for you. This alternative should be considered if you are having trouble making yourstudent loan payments. Consider carefully your current situation, both the pros and cons, before deciding on this type ofloan.

Student Loan Consolidation Tips and Tricks Posted on 2010-06-14 | 0 Comment

Students across the nation are having troubles with their studentloans. If you are experiencing similar problems, you don't have to be ashamed or afraid at all. There are actually options and solutions provided by different parties; these solutions are being made available with the sole purpose of helping students like you cope with their loans after graduating. If you get employed as soon as you finished school, you can easily assess your income and the monthly payments to see if you can afford the current repayment plan. If you can't or you feel that it is too expensive -- due to high interest rates or other charges -- you can easily opt for a student loan consolidation.

To make your first step into solving your problems with the help of loan consolidation, find reliable and trustworthy institutions that are offering beneficial student loan consolidation plans. After sorting out a couple of available offers, you can easily calculate and compare each solution to see which one is the most profitable for your current situation. Don't forget to take your time and find reliable online resource center to gain valuable information and additional useful tools that can help you find thebest loan consolidation plan in no time at all.

Make sure you take monthly payment, interest rate, and other charges into consideration. You would want the consolidationplan to be affordable and not just cheaper than the originalstudent loans you are dealing with. No matter how cheap theconsolidation plan is, it will not work for you if you cannot afford the monthly payment. Plus, you would also have to consider the length of the loan; generally, after being consolidated, they still have the same loan period.

The actual student loan consolidation application process is very swift. You wouldn't have to wait a long time to get approval, and shortly after that they'll be converted into one consolidatedloan. Make sure you know exactly what you are getting into by reading terms and conditions as well as the consolidationagreement before closing the deal, and you will have no trouble at all repaying the loan.

Federal Student Loan Consolidation for Teachers Posted on 2010-06-06 | 0 Comment

The average teaching student graduates with over $18,000.00 in student loan debt. After interest is added you could be paying a total of almost $40,000.00, so it is extremely important to make sure you are getting the best deal possible with your loanconsolidation. You will probably have both federal and privateloans but for this article we will be dealing with only your federalloans.

Grace period -
One of the benefits to a federal student loan is you don't have to start making payments until 6 months after graduation. Perkinsloans have a 9 month grace period. You do still gather interest during this time on your unsubsidized loans so you may want to go ahead and start making payments anyway.

Forgiveness -
There are a couple programs that offer student loan forgiveness for teachers. With the Stafford Loan Forgiveness program you could be eligible for up to $5000.00 in forgiveness and up to $17,500.00 if you meet certain requirements such as teaching math, science or special ed to low income students. Eligibility doesn't start until you have taught for 5 years, and there are other requirements such as -

o You must not have had active student loans on Oct 1, 1998.

o Your must be employed for 5 consecutive complete years and your school must have been designated a low income school at least the first year you taught there.

o You are not in default on the loans you are seeking forgiveness for.
Consolidation will not affect the right to forgiveness for Staffordloans.

The Perkins forgiveness program will forgive up to 100%
of your loan if you are:

o a full-time teacher employed in public or nonprofit elementary or secondary schools in districts eligible for ESEA Title I-A funding, where the percentage of children from low-income families enrolled in the school exceeds 30% of total enrollment, or

o a full-time special education teacher in public or nonprofit elementary or secondary schools (including teachers of infants and toddlers) or qualifies professional providers of early intervention services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), or

o a full-time teacher of math, science, foreign languages, bilingual education, or other fields determined to have a shortage by the state educational agency.
The Perkins forgiveness loan is forgiven based on the following scheduled:
For full-time teacher

o 15% for each of years one and two

o 20% for each of years three and four

o 30% for year five and each successive year

For full-time special education teacher

o 15% for each year of service

Perkins loans are not eligible for forgiveness if they have been consolidated.
In addition you may be eligible for forgiveness by state. Check for the availability in your state here.

Consolidation -

Once you have decided if you will be eligible for forgiveness or not it's time to start making those payments. A federal student loanconsolidation can help you do that more affordably by extending your repayment term and lowering your payment and interest rate. Compare the terms of several consolidationcompanies and choose the one who will save you the most money and has the best customer service. It can be hard to compare different types of repayment incentives programs so ask for the bottom line - how much will you be paying in total interest. The company should have actual people available to answer your questions and they should be courteous and knowledgeable. You have many choices in lenders pick one that will deliver for you.
You must give up what is left of your grace period when you consolidate so if you aren't ready to start making the payments time it so your consolidation is funded right at the end. Generally a consolidation takes 4-6 weeks so you should have your company picked out and an application underway by about 4 months after graduation..

Repaying your student loans can be a daunting task but with a little forgiveness and the help of a good student loan advisor we can take some of the sting out of it.