Considerations for student loan consolidation

Sunday 4 May 2014

If you are a College Student here in the United States, chances are you are able to get by studying thanks to student loans which allow you to be able to enroll and pay up your college fees, but of course, you have to pay it up after you graduate, or if you have any means to earn even while studying.

The big issue here is that not all students are able to pay up on their student loans due to the high interest rates for the loans, and also the aggregate amount of the total loans which make it hard to pay them up too. This is the reason why the government’s FDLP, or Federal Direct Student Loan Program, allows for the student loan consolidation, which makes all loans into one singular debt and make it easier to manage for the students concerned.

This program was created as far as 1986, and it has helped out a bit in student’s debts since this type of consolidation allows for longer terms for payment as compared to the initial loans granted. The Students, or debtors, can even choose as long as 30 years if they want, though of course, this is not always advisable because the accumulated interest will really be high too.

student loan consolidation

Usually, the fixed interest rate that is put in the consolidated loan is the weighted average of all the existing student loans, but in order to control it, there is a cap set at around 8.25 percent. However, there are lots of factors that are to be considered if you go for a consolidated loan because there are things that are not carried over for the consolidated loans that are beneficial for some, like for example, the post-graduation grace periods, and the special forgiveness circumstances. Since you applied for a consolidation, everything is set back to zero, and there are only the rules of the consolidation to follow. It is not recommended for everybody as you can see, so be very wary when you want to go for a student loan consolidation.

It has its advantages though for those who know how to budget wisely or have a means to be able to earn the money back to pay up the loans. Since it is integrated, the monthly payment rates are lowered, and the pay time extended by as much as 30 years as mentioned above. You can also apply for restructuring at certain points to make the credit line much easier to handle. But of course, these things are possible if you are good at handling your finances, and if you are sure that you can earn enough to be able to pay up for a long period of time.

Overall, there are advantages and disadvantages of this student loan consolidation. But before deciding into entering into this, you should make a careful study and projection of your own income over the next many years to be able to determine if it will be beneficial or detrimental to your cause. If it is beneficial for you, then go ahead and take it, if not, then avoid it