Student Loan Consolidation Programs

There are several different types of student loan consolidation programs including graduated, extended, income based, and more.

The worst thing you can do is run around filling out all types of forms all over the Internet without doing your research and comparing the different student loan consolidation programs available to you.

Some student loan consolidation programs will allow you to base your monthly payments on your gross income and other will just extend your payments for a set number of years. There is no way to know what applies to you personally without researching the ins and outs of student loan consolidation programs.

Do your research then call the lenders you are interested and speak with someone directly. Determine and understand the specifics of the loan so you don't lock yourself into a long term financial mistake.

Posted by nicod3mus at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

First you must determine the status of your current loans and gather all the specific loan information from all of the lenders. If you are in good standing on all of your loans then you can move on. If any of your loans are in default status then you have some other work ahead. If you have defaulted student loans then you must return them to good standing and my recommendation would be to use the Federal Student Loan Rehabilitation Program. You can easily find all of the info you need on this program here.

Once you have all of the info on all of your student loans and you have verified that they are all in good standing you are ready to start looking at the different types of student loan consolidation programs. There are 4 basic types of student loan consolidation programs:

1) Standard Repayment - A standard repayment student loan consolidation program can consolidate all of your loans into one payment spread out across up to ten years depending on student loan amounts and other variables.

2)Extended Repayment - An extended repayment student loan consolidation program allows the balance of all of your student loans to be spread out over 30 years. Obviously the payments would be smaller but you will pay more in interest.

3)Graduated Repayment - A graduated repayment student loan consolidation program can range from 12-30 with your monthly payment increasing every 2 years.

4)Income Contingent Repayment - An income contingent student loan consolidation program sets a monthly payment based on gross income and several other factors including size of family and total loan amount.

Look at your personal position and determine which of these types of student loan consolidation programs would be right for you. No one can make this decision for you and keep in mind that every different type has different positives and negatives.

Now you have to choose a lender. This is obviously the tricky part. My personal suggestion is to call every single lender that you are interested in and talk to them over the phone. There are many "incentives" and "benefits" available based on specific criteria and the only way to find out what every lender can offer you is to talk to them. Keep in mind that every time you apply for a loan of any kind your credit gets hit. Be sure to find out the specific credit requirements and be honest when telling reps from lenders about your credit and loan status.

Make a list of the different student loan consolidation programs that you are considering ranking them from most desirable (based on benefit and likely hood of approval) and apply for them one at a time awaiting a response from each lender before applying for another. The worst thing you can do is run around online filling out forms without doing any research.

Posted by nicod3mus at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According the WSJ article many lawyers are working jobs reviewing documents for as little as $20 an hour without benefits, hardly enough to pay off student loans ranging from $100,000 to $160,000. The law industry is suffering from a supply-and-demand crisis.

This is just another example of how important it is to weight the risk vs. return when deciding your profession and considering student loans and student loan consolidation programs. It is becoming more and more apparent that rising cost of education is negating the entire goal of the educational process. In many cases you find degreed professionals with $100,000+ in student loan debt making the same amount as their high school graduate peers in professions such as plumbing or construction.

Posted by nicod3mus at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

35 year old Jason Yoder was pursuing his master's degree at Illinois University and took his own life in the chemistry building. Jason owed more than $100,000 in student loans and felt trapped by his student loan debt. Collectors asked him things like," Can't you sell your car?" or "Can't you get your mom to sell her house?"

Jason Yoder is tragic and extreme example of the negatives associated with driving this country's students deep into student loan debt before they even land a job. Nothing has been done to curtail the exponentially rising cost of education and even with the new laws passed by congress the student loan and education industries need major regulation.

It's time that we put stock into the actual goal of education instead of profiting as much as possible on every student that comes through the system. Our government must put a stop to this and ensure that every citizen of this country can get the education they deserve without sacrificing the main goal of the entire process, financial and cultural stability. A $100,000 burden is easily the cost of a first home in almost any part of the country....

Posted by nicod3mus at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Unless you have been under a rock for the last several weeks you  have undoubtedly heard of the highly controversial visit by the president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Columbia University. American Jews are outraged and groups all over the country have been protesting in various ways. A Jewish leader in New York today called for civil disobedience as a response.

The visit has lead to so much outrage that congress is looking into the ways that Columbia gets it's massive student loan and federal grant guarantees undoubtedly looking for any way to deny funding or at least threaten to. This is how the United States government comes after you when you provide a soap box for it's enemies. At any rate I consider free speech an inalienable right to us citizens that adhere to our laws. A man who denies the holocaust and openly kills civilians as a means to further a political agenda has no such right. I also sympathize with the criticism of the school for letting Ahmadinejad speak while denying the head of the Minute Men group who have taken border security matters into their own hands because our federal government refused to do anything the looming immigration crisis.

Should students pay for Columbia allowing Ahmadinejad  to speak? I don't think so, I don't think they will. I think this is the federal government's way of saying, "You see, we can get to you if we want to." I see it as a warning and I hope that there are no cuts to Columbia's federal student loan and grant guarantees. I believe Columbia to be one of the great academic institutions outside of this reckless decision.

Posted by nicod3mus at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We have posted some pretty harsh criticisms of this bill but there were a few specific points in this SavannahNow.com article that we didn't mention.

1)Student Loan 529 savings plans will no longer be exempt from assessments.

2)The budget cuts will eliminate the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant.

3)The increase in Pell Grants will actually benefit colleges more than students saving them $1,875 over two years on first-year and second-year students.

Here's a link to the full article:

http://www.savannahnow.com/node/361695

Posted by nicod3mus at 05:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The most recent bill increasing federal student loan amounts and lowering interest rates has been criticized as a blow to the middle class. There is yet another bill waiting in the wings that could possibly make it even harder for students who do not qualify for the need based assistance to get the student & consolidation loans that they need to complete their education.

This new bill sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., could make it more difficult for students that do not qualify for the need based assistance to get loans. It could also make it more difficult for students to get the loans they need to complete their education even if they do qualify for need based programs. It is common knowledge that Stafford Loans, Pell Grants's and other guaranteed student loan programs are most often not enough and they are used in conjunction with private loans.

This new bill would allow people to discharge student loans when they declare bankruptcy. Normally I am all for debt forgiveness programs and the easing of the requirements to file bankruptcy in this case I feel the bad outweighs the good for several reasons.

The bill set to be in front of George Bush soon and expected to pass has already hit the  middle class hard enough by taking the money to increase need based student loan programs from private lender subsidies. In other words private loans become less profitable so naturally the credit requirements will go up. In addition as the pool of available cash is diminished the gross amounts of loans will diminish as well. All of this equals to working students or middle class students not getting enough money to finish college.

In my opinion we don't need to mess with this market any more in this manner. While I agree that there needs to be an out for a borrower who can prove hardship, I also realize that this is not the only way. I do not believe that lumping student loan debt with other debt is the answer. I would prefer a specific debt relief program designed to deal with student loans that has some assurances for the lender and at the same time provides relief to the borrower. One could place regulations on the amount and methods of debt collection by lenders and provide a comprehensive system and procedure for student loan debt relief similar to the federal student loan rehabilitation program but much more robust and complete.

Posted by nicod3mus at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Student loan and student loan consolidation borrowers must be aware of the tax credits and deductions available to them, this information is literally worth thousands of dollars. In this article we go over the different tax credits and deductions available for student loan and student loan consolidation borrowers.

This year student loan tax credits and deductions have been increased and here are some facts you need to keep in mind when filing your return.

       Hope and Lifetime Learning Education Credits:  These are two popular
       credits that help supplement the cost of education.  The Hope Credit
       allows up to $1,650 per student for qualified tuition and fees paid
       during the first two years of higher education.  The Lifetime Learning
       Credit is available for 20% of tuition expenses (up to $2,000) per tax
       return for any courses students take (such as those to acquire or
       improve job skills).  The cap for both credits increases to $57,000
       ($114,000 if Married Filing Jointly) this year.

       Tuition and Fees Deduction:  An alternative to the Hope Credit or
       Lifetime Learning Credit, this deduction covers up to $4,000 in
       expenses for enrollment or attendance at an eligible educational
       institution.  This deduction is available to those with a modified
       adjusted gross income of $65,000 or less ($130,000 or less if Married
       Filing Jointly), but no more than $80,000 ($160,000 if Married Filing
       Jointly).

       Coverdell Education Savings Accounts: This account, which functions
       like an education IRA, can be established for a child under the age of
       18.  Contributions can be made to the account at any time but have an
       annual limit of $2,000.  The investment appreciates tax-free as long as
       it is used to cover education expenses.

       Education Savings Bonds: A taxpayer can exclude interest on qualified
       U.S. savings bonds from gross income if he or she has paid qualified
       higher educational expenses during the redemption year.  Remember that
       there are income limits: you do not qualify for the exclusion if your
       modified adjusted gross income for 2007 is greater than $65,600
       ($98,400 if Married Filing Jointly) in the year the bond is redeemed.

Once a course of study is completed and a loan is paid off borrowers can receive deductions of up to $2,500 in 2007. A borrowers modified adjusted gross income must be less than $70,000 or $140,000 if filing jointly to qualify for this deduction.

It is also a good idea to pre-pay your 2008 tuition before December 31, 2007 to increase the amount that can be claimed under the Hope or Lifetime Learning Credits and Tuition and Fees deductions.

Thanks to Jackson Hewitt for all of this great information. The only way to know if you are getting all of the deductions and credits that you are eligible for is to work with a professional like Jackson Hewitt. You can locate a Jackson Hewitt office near you by calling 1-800-234-1040.

Posted by nicod3mus at 03:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Criticism and back-patting regarding the new bill congress is going to pass regarding federal student  loans and aid aside, no one is doing anything to subsidize colleges or regulator the incredible explosion in cost of education that we have witnessed over the last 20 years.

Colleges raise tuition to "cover rising costs" and therefore student loans and expenses rise as well driving our graduating students deeper into debt. It doesn't take an economist to tell you that the level of debt among our college graduates has massive ramifications across our entire economy.

The 35% rise in inflation-adjusted tuition and fees since the 2001-2002 school year has fueled an $85 billion student loan & consolidation industry according to bloomberg.com.

Something needs to be done about the rising cost of education in this country. The government needs to regulate it or subsidize colleges and probably both. Once again we are dealing with big business. Every politician in the country would be skewered for even mentioning the reigning in of cost of education in this country. Moreover families and students seem to be putting up with it, when encouraging your child to attend the best school he or she can get into it's pretty hard to say, "oh that one is just too expensive."

As long as the cost of education continues to rise at a ridiculous rate our students with continue to graduate with exponentially more debt burden. The student loan and student loan consolidation industry will fight any and all regulation of cost of education right along with every college and university in this country. We only care about our citizens education if we can turn a tidy profit, yeah it's capitalism but unbridled capitalism is a scary thing.

Posted by nicod3mus at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Mr. Kinsley covers how ludicrous our student loan programs are in this country and sheds some light on how things managed to get this messed up. I did as much research as I could in the few hours I meddled with some of his statements and as far as I could tell they were all accurate.

He paints a great picture of the political history of the student loan program and gives credit where it is due both good and bad.

Thank you Mr. Kinsley for bringing some logic into this conversation. I would love to know his thoughts regarding the new student loan bill. I realize all the great things the new bill does but I have a sneaking suspicion that he would see it's faults in a similar light. The link to the article is below and it's a great read.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/14/AR2007091401549.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Posted by nicod3mus at 06:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The article goes on with quotes about helping the poorest students and states that lender subsidies will be cut dramatically and the majority of that money will be poured back into Pell Grants and other programs designed to help the lowest income students afford college. Great, you got that all right.

Now on what the bill really does and the flip-side of that coin. It takes money away from middle class and working students who do not qualify for much of the need based assistance. It does wrong exactly what our welfare system does wrong. It penalizes the working student and the middle class. We need laws and regulation that award hard work and progress not penalize it.

This is a compromise of the highest order and at the very least that deserves to be said. Believe it or not this country can afford to give more money to the poorest students without taking it away from the working students and the middle class families in this country. The Blatimore Sun jumped on the bandwagon on this one and in my opinion this is an example of shoddy reporting not an attempt to mislead anyone.

Here's a link to the article:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/investing/bal-bz.ambrose16sep16,0,7308198.column

Posted by nicod3mus at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

FFEL Consolidation Loans

A FFEL Consolidation Loan is designed to help student and parent borrowers consolidate several types of federal student loans with various repayment schedules into one loan. With a FFEL Consolidation Loan, you will make only one payment a month. Under this program, your consolidation loan will be made by a commercial lender, credit bureaus will be notified that your account has a zero balance, and you will sign a new promissory note that will establish a new interest rate and repayment schedule. To receive a FFEL Consolidation Loan, you must be in repayment on your defaulted loan (that is, three voluntary, on-time, full monthly payments). Depending on the balance due, the repayment period may extend up to 30 years. If you owe no other delinquent or defaulted debts to the United States, you will again be eligible for other federal funds, including FHA loans, VA loans, and Title IV student financial aid funds.

Posted by nicod3mus at 05:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You may want to consider rehabilitating your defaulted loan(s). Advantages of rehabilitation include:

• Your loan(s) will no longer be considered to be in a default status.
• The default status reported by your loan holder to the national credit bureaus will be deleted.
• You will be eligible for the same benefits that were available on the loans before the loans defaulted. This may include deferment, forbearance, and Title IV eligibility.
• Wage garnishment ends and the Internal Revenue Service no longer withholds your income tax refund.

If you are a Direct Loan Borrower:

To rehabilitate a Direct Loan, you must make at least nine (9) full payments of an agreed amount within twenty (20) days of their monthly due dates over a ten (10) month period to the U.S. Department of Education (Department). Payments secured from you on an involuntary basis, such as through wage garnishment or litigation, cannot be counted toward your nine (9) payments. Once you have made the required payments, your loan(s) will be returned to the Direct Loan Servicing Center.

If you are a FFEL loan borrower:

To rehabilitate a FFEL, you must make at least nine (9) full payments of an agreed amount within twenty (20) days of their monthly due dates over a ten (10) month period to the Department. Payments secured from you on an involuntary basis, such as through wage garnishment or litigation, cannot be counted toward your nine (9) payments. Once you have made the required payments, your loan(s) may be purchased by an eligible lending institution.

If you are a Perkins loan borrower:

To rehabilitate a Perkins Loan, you must make twelve (12) on-time, monthly payments of an agreed amount to the Department. Payments secured from you on an involuntary basis, such as through wage garnishment or litigation, cannot be counted toward your twelve (12) payments. Once you have made the required payments, your loan(s) will continue to be serviced by the Department until the balance owed is paid in full.

Posted by nicod3mus at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Consumers Union is a Yonkers, N.Y.-based nonprofit thats asks the government, schools, and lenders to provide more and better information to the borrower. You would amazed at some of the quotes from their report.

According to the US News and World Report article these were some of the things said:

A sophmore in a two year school in Boston said, "You can just put (tuition) on your credit card, and you don't have to take out a loan."

A sophomore at a Los Angeles-area community college took out a private loan at 11 percent interest and was suspicious that there was "a catch" to the 6.8 percent interest rate for federal Stafford loans.

The Consumers Union report contributed to a lot of talk on Capital Hill regarding finacial aid and many journalists (including US & News World Reports) say that it contributed to the bill that comes into effect October 1st. The overall gist of the report is that students and parents are completely confused when it comes to financial aid, student loans, and student loan consolidation programs and stricter guidelines are in order.

Here's are links to the US News & World Reports article and the report from the Consumer's Union.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/070720/20loans.htm

http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/CU-College.pdf

Posted by nicod3mus at 05:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Imagine my surprise as I was browsing through documents related to the recent flurry of student loan and student loan consolidation scandals when I saw my bank in the list of institutions mentioned in a report by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chaired by Senator Edward Kennedy.  

Citizens Bank is cited several times for various questionable practices including giving Duquesne University in Pittsburgh $2,900 in 2006. This "marketing fee" is equal to 0.5 percent of outstanding private loans from the campus and violates the law as it gives an educational institution an incentive to recommend the bank for student loans and student loan consolidation.

Continuing to support the argument that Citizens was engaging in unethical and illegal activity there are internal emails discussing the offering of massages, free ice cream, and temporary staffing in order to receive preferential treatment.

There are many other accusations of wrong doings in regard to Citizens Bank but I personally am angry that it is MY bank doing these things that I despise. I am planning a call to the corporate office and my local branches just to let them know how I feel about it.

The student loan and student loan consolidation industry must be regulated. Human beings draw no line in the sand when pursuing the almighty dollar, even when the future of our society is at stake.

Posted by nicod3mus at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is a quick tip for those of you out there researching the student loan and student loan consolidation program options. There many, many things to consider when choosing which loan to apply for and this is just one of the small considerations. Check out the rest of the articles here to make sure you aren't missing anything.

TIP: When you apply for a student loan make sure that you can get a guarantee in writing from the lender that your terms will remain the same if your loan is sold to a different lender. This is the only way to be sure that you avoid the old bait and switch routine.

Again, this is just one little tip be sure to read the rest of the articles here if you are new to the student loan or student loan consolidation program game.

Posted by nicod3mus at 05:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

First off let me say that lenders that sincerely want to educate students on how to properly research and apply for student loans and student loan consolidation programs are doing students a great service. After all who knows the industry better. If a lender can give a seminar and represent their service in an honest and ethical manner then I have absolutely no beef with them and additionally I pat them on the back.

That being said these relationships are exactly the kinds of things that have bread so much corruption and scandal in the student loan and student loan consolidation industry. StuFund has an obligation to deliver unbiased informative seminars at expos like these because students are not coming to a sales presentation for StuFund. The students that attend these seminars will come under the assumption that they are receiving information designed to help them choose the right loan for them, not the right StuFund loan.

College alumni and administrators have been the subject of investigations for getting paid to steer their students to specific lenders and relationships like StuFund's with The Black College Expo are subject to the same ethical challenges. I know marketing and sales and if StuFund is sending salesmen that get paid commission to these expos then there will be problems. Never underestimate the almighty dollar.

Posted by nicod3mus at 04:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings says that student loan default rates fell from 5.1% to 4.6% since last year, a new historic low. She goes on to say that a record number of student loan consolidations contributed to the drop in student loan defaults.

According to Spellings the relief offered to victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

All-in-all this is just another sign that points to the fact that students are becoming wise to the benefits of a student loan consolidation program. Locking in a low interest rate, consolidating multiple payments, and lowering the total amount due monthly are the main factors attracting borrowers to student loan consolidation programs.

There are more reports expected soon from the U.S. Department of Education outlining specific details drilled down by state and institution. If any of them have any interesting information in them we will let you know.

Posted by nicod3mus at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The new law that we have talked about is considered by most to be a direct result of scandalous practices in the student loan and consolidation loan industry including paying for cozy relationships with school administrators and alumni under the understanding that they will direct loans to lender from their respective institutions.

There are many negative and positives and you can read some of our other articles covering the subject to get the details but all in all the law hits the middle class borrowers that do not qualify for need based assistance. Democrats are championing this bill and while I agree that our country's student's need help paying for education, I do not think that hitting the already struggling middle class is the way to do it. In one respect the bill has something in common with out failure of a welfare system. It does not reward those working and generating an income while attending school, after all someone working full time and going to college deserves to be able to pay their bills too don't they?

At any rate Terry Corbell at King5.com quotes Christopher P. Chapman CEO of ALL Student Loans as saying, “It is new borrowers who need to pay close attention; if they need a student loan, they will be better off applying well before the October 1 deadline.” I believe this to be a true statement and if you are seeking federal student loans then I would suggest getting your application in today.

Posted by nicod3mus at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The FFELP was fomred by an act of congress in 1966 and since that time has disbursed more than half a trillion dollars in federal student loans. The FFELP handles Stafford Loans, Perkins Loans, and PLUS Loans.

I chose to provide some information about the FFELP today because of the recent budget cuts that we wrote about a couple of days ago in this article. The FFELP is a monolith of educational funding in this country and cutting it's subsidy funding is unacceptable. While I fully understand that the student aid system needs some serious reform that is not what we are talking about. We are talking about budget cuts. If some type of reform bill included something to offset the subsidy funding cuts to the FFELP I would certainly read and consider it. Again this is not the case this time around. Below are links to our recent post discussing the FFELP subsidy funding cuts and a link to a great in-depth article describing the inner workings of the FFELP.

FFELP Subsidy Cuts:

http://allstudentloanconsolidationprograms.com/new_bills_could_cut_federal_student_loans_aid.html

Overview of the FFELP:

http://pr-gb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15493&Itemid=9

Posted by nicod3mus at 02:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

All of the best student loan consolidation companies have great customer service. Our Customer service award winner is EdFed.com. According to bloggers and students we talked to EdFed.com offers the shortest wait times for customer care calls and they even assign a specialist to your account that you can ask for by name. Sallie Mae was by far the worst lender when it comes to customer care.

The best student loan consolidation search goes to FastWeb.com. We found their search to be fast and effective. We could not find a search that took complicated financial situations into account, they all required contacting someone else. For, example: Divorcees with dependents on both sides won't be able to use one of the fast online searches to find loans for their children.

Another major attribute that all of the best companies share is honesty. It sounds pretty straight forward but you would be surprised how many lenders will lie to you to get you in the door. They know that once you are ready to go through the process the chances of you changing are pretty slim. If any agent of any lender misleads you walk immediately.

We hope that you find the best student consolidation loan for you on this page and please feel free to submit any comments or questions at the bottom of this page

Posted by nicod3mus at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Link Exchange: One of the most obvious options for collaboration would be a link exchange with any student loan consolidation or student loan blog or content site.

Topic Collaboration: Collaborating and discussing thoughts on issues regarding student loan consolidation or student loans. Examples include interviews, cross marketing of newsletters or lead generation vehicles.

Comment Collaboration: Partners can correspond and comment on each other's blogs through system's like technorati.

Feed Exchanges: we are open to discussing the possibility of exchanging RSS feed links with the right site or blog.

Contests, poll, and user interaction collaboration: We would explore the option of collaborating with any student loan consolidation or student loan site in any interactive exercise that could benefit our readers.

 All in all there are a million ways content related sites can work together to drive traffic and increase benefit to the reader. Please contact us if you are interested or have any new ideas.

Posted by nicod3mus at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

1: One of the most common mistakes people make when choosing a student loan consolidation program is not choosing a lender that they feel comfortable with. Your credit and financial well being are on the line and it is very important that you find a financial institution that does business in a manner that works for your. For example, Sallie Mae is a huge company and their wait times for customer care are very long while EdFed has a reportedly short wait time with a specialist that is assigned specifically to your account. While some people may be willing to trade the security blanket of a huge company for sub-par customer service others require a little more attention to feel good about their situation.

2: Realize that when you choose to utilize a student loan consolidation program you are lowering your monthly payment but also RAISING THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF THE LOAN. While I still advocate student loan consolidation programs in almost every situation many people do not realize that along with all of the benefits there are a few cons, this is one of them.

3: Most people do not know that timing can effect your student loan consolidation program. For example, if you consolidate before the expiration of your grace period then you can usually lock in lower rate and maintain your grace period or even have it extended. On the other hand if your grace period has expired and you are facing even the  possibility of defaulting on your student loans then lowering the payment and consolidating immediately could save your credit.

4: Be aware of any new laws coming into or out of effect. There is a new law before congress right  now that will lower student loan consolidation interest rates from 6.8% to 3.4% over the course of four years. It is obvious that being aware of any changes in interest rates and loan amounts could save you some real money.

Posted by nicod3mus at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The eStudent loan search tool is designed to be used by parents and students alike. This student loan consolidation program search tool is one of the best around.

The eStudent loan search tool starts the search by asking if you are a parent or a student. From a marketing standpoint I think  this is a great option. Many parents are pulling their hair out trying to figure out how to pay for their children's college education. With this tool parents and students can search for student loans and student loan consolidation programs. Another great feature of the eStudent Loan search tool is the comparisons and matching at the end. The tool matchs you to all of the loans that might fit your needs then compares them in an easy to read format that anyone can understand. Many of the search tools that compare loans aren't that easy to use and actually viewing  all of the data is very time consuming. If you are trying to find a way to pay for college then this one is definitely worth checking out.

Posted by nicod3mus at 04:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., says, "we are down to a handful of issues" and Senate Education Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., also expressed that a basic agreement had been reached. Kennedy went on to say that a loan auction pilot program was part of the current deal.

The bill will cut interest rates to 3.4% from 6.8% over the course of four years, increase Pell Grants to $5,400 at a cost of $11 billion, cap borrower payments to 15% of income, and expire in six years.

One student loan lender was quoted as saying, "we lost" in a CNNMoney.com article. Great news and thank you democrats for taking a step toward representing your constituency. There is still a long way to go but there is no doubt that our middle class needs help.

Read the full article at CNNMoney.com . 

Posted by nicod3mus at 04:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is a 6 month grace period that begins when a student leaves college or drops below half-time and if you graduated last spring August 30 was halfway through that grace period. Many recent grads do not know that if you consolidate your student loans before the end of the grace period you can lock in a fixed interest rate .6% lower. That may not sound like a lot but over the life of a loan it can really add up.

Many grads are concerned that if they consolidate their loans before the end of the grace period they will have to begin repaying them immediately. While this is the case sometimes many lenders can defer payment until the grace period is up and others can even give you a 12 month grace period. At any rate consolidating your student loans before the end of the grace period is a good idea.

Posted by nicod3mus at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The biggest benefit of a student loan consolidation program is the lowering of your monthly payment. If you need to lower your monthly student loan payment the a student loan consolidation program is your best bet. Depending on the balances and status of your student loans you can lower your payments anywhere from 15%-50%, 25%Q is about average.

Another huge benefit of a student loan consolidation program is the trading in multiple payments to multiple lenders for one payment to a single lender. Everyone knows how much of a hassle paying the bills is and the single payment benefit draws in a lot of applicants.

When you choose to utilize a student loan consolidation program you can lock in a fixed interest rate. This really appeals to financially minded individuals and can save you some real cash in the long run. The fixed interest rate of a student loan consolidation program can lock in a fixed interest rate for the life of the loan.

Keep in mind that when you consolidate your student loans you do not give up your deferment period. or subsidy benefits on any subsidized FFELP or Direct Loans.

Posted by nicod3mus at 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

These four agencies represent the Federal Family Education Loan Program and their response to these two new bills is pretty scary. According to them the two new bills would cut more than $17 billion in funding to FFELP lenders and guarantors that is used for Pell Grants and other forms of aid.

"The bills make substantial cuts to the FFELP by reducing special allowance payments, increasing lender-paid origination fees, and reducing loan insurance. A preliminary assessment of these cuts suggests that the program will be changed permanently,""Borrowers will likely lose many, and in some cases all, of the borrower benefits currently offered by lenders." -says the letter sent by representatives of the FFELP.

The representatives of the FFELP go on to say that the bills would hit the middle income students that do not qualify for the expanded Pell Grant assistance the hardest and would cut overall funding to the FFELP by a whopping 70% over the next 5 years.

My response to these bills is almost disbelief. In this day and age when college is increasingly difficult to afford for the middle and lower class we are cutting funding to the largest source of federal student aid in the country by 70%? As if the Bush administration hasn't cut enough already now our democratic congress is betraying it's constituency again. The Bush administration may care about education for the wealthy but they certainly do not care about education for the everyone else and our new congress is proving no different.

I am a middle class American and my children are 7,8, and 1. I have raised them to place education in the highest regard only to see my country tell me repeatedly, "We don't care if your children receive the education they deserve." I love this country and it's people dearly but I have not been represented in this government for quite some time. Tax cuts for the ultra wealthy, loopholes in tax law that allow corporations to send all of their money over-seas tax free, the increasing cost of education, the constant incentives to corporations to send jobs overseas, and the already insane cost of health care and health insurance are all factors that could drive me to leave the place I was born and the place I love. These new bills are just anther straw on the back of the middle class....I have no idea why this country cannot come to the realization that the middle class drives the economy.

Stop worrying about whether an elected official cheated on his wife, what religion he is, or if he made mistakes 20 years ago and get us someone in office that will REPRESENT THE MIDDLE CLASS. We have to find ways to raise the average level of education of the middle class so that they can make reasonable decisions about the course of this country. The lower the average level of education in the middle class the more they will care about political buzz words, mud slinging, and the issues that politicians talk about instead of the issues that matter. For example, you will hear Hillary Clinton and every other candidate talk about education. You won't hear a single soul ask them about this bill and they certainly won't offer up any information about it on their own.

Posted by nicod3mus at 03:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)