Student loan consolidation

[sheilajom]

I have student loans and I declined to consolidate them. The government interest rate is way better. At most you would save about half of a percent if you did even if you got a good rate. You won't save that much money by doing so. The payment will only be for a longer period of time and in the end you will have paid more. The government will work with you if you need a deferment or a lower payment for a short amount of time. Just call them and tell them what you need, they are very accommodating. Depending on how much you owe you could reasonably pay it off in about 5 or 6 years if you pay over the minimum payment. I think of mine like a car payment and pay according to that. The student loan will take around 10-15 years to pay off if you only pay the minimum payment. Consolidation will not change that, only maybe make it a longer time.

[Tillys_mom]

Originally Posted by sheilajom

I have student loans and I declined to consolidate them. The government interest rate is way better. At most you would save about half of a percent if you did even if you got a good rate. You won't save that much money by doing so. The payment will only be for a longer period of time and in the end you will have paid more. The government will work with you if you need a deferment or a lower payment for a short amount of time. Just call them and tell them what you need, they are very accommodating. Depending on how much you owe you could reasonably pay it off in about 5 or 6 years if you pay over the minimum payment. I think of mine like a car payment and pay according to that. The student loan will take around 10-15 years to pay off if you only pay the minimum payment. Consolidation will not change that, only maybe make it a longer time.

I don't think we would ever be able to pay it off in 5 or 6 years. I'm not even sure how long they are putting us on but before consolidation with all his student loans our payment will be $1,035 a month. With all our other bills we can't afford that. When my husband called the Department of Education they told him he can't do a deferment longer than the six months he is already in. I dont know if this is something new or not I would love to get these stupid loans paid off in 10 years but hubby keeps saying 30, (one of the many many reasons again to prove how our families view financing lol). I told him I don't want to be 50 and still paying on them, by then our son, (and maybe other children), will be out of college. My husband is all for live today then when you can't pay your bills worry about it then. I'm the planner. If I can see now that in six months we wont be able to afford to live I want to fix it now. LOL Men!

[Tillys_mom]

Originally Posted by For My Coby

It does seem that way at times. But the good Lord always provides for us when we have faith. My advice to you, as a young family, is to never turn on each other in money matters. Just a warning - that is going to be tough some days!

On a positive note, I love your (new?) tagline about the wag of a dog's tail!!

You're right! Even though I do have the worst luck I always seem somehow to manage. Thanks on the tagline. I've had it up there for a few months. I thought it was a cute saying

[Tiramisu]

We are paying off student loans for three of our children - one through Sallie Mae (last payment this month), one through Nelnet, and one through Bank of America. Good luck!

[FL Tink]

my student loans were 8% interest. when i consolidated i got locked in with 4% interest and my payment was lower. I was able at the time to double up on payments and finally paid them off. So just because you consolidate DOES not mean you will be paying more in the end

[sheilajom]

Originally Posted by Tillys_mom

I don't think we would ever be able to pay it off in 5 or 6 years. I'm not even sure how long they are putting us on but before consolidation with all his student loans our payment will be $1,035 a month. With all our other bills we can't afford that. When my husband called the Department of Education they told him he can't do a deferment longer than the six months he is already in. I dont know if this is something new or not I would love to get these stupid loans paid off in 10 years but hubby keeps saying 30, (one of the many many reasons again to prove how our families view financing lol). I told him I don't want to be 50 and still paying on them, by then our son, (and maybe other children), will be out of college. My husband is all for live today then when you can't pay your bills worry about it then. I'm the planner. If I can see now that in six months we wont be able to afford to live I want to fix it now. LOL Men!

They also have payment options that change the payment amount. I know I did this for the first few years that I paid mine. Mine wasn't near the amount that you have to pay, but I paid about 200 a month when I was supposed to pay around 350. They have many different options. You should call and talk to them and explain the situation. They have always worked with me on this. I got a deferment for a second time a while back for 3 months with out any reason for it. It was called a general deferment. Just talk to someone and don't hang up or give up talking until they help you lower the payment. They have many ways to do it, but you have to inquire about them, they sometimes will not tell you unless you ask. They also have income based payment options and income based deferment.

[ladybugg74]

Try Nelnet. Last time the consolidation rate was like 4%. You can only consolidate once.The deferred payment is only good for 6 months to give you time to get a job and money coming in and then there are those nice payments on student loans. I will be glad when mine is paid off.

[SladesMommy]

Glad you ask this question, I have a few loans myself I need to consolidate!

I saw on the view this past week and Suze orman was saying the worst possible thing to do was get a college loan from a bank b/c they can raise the intrest rate to 14%+ and there isn't anything the borrower can do about it.

Thank gooodness all my loans were gov't.

[Tillys_mom]

Originally Posted by ladybugg74

Try Nelnet. Last time the consolidation rate was like 4%. You can only consolidate once.The deferred payment is only good for 6 months to give you time to get a job and money coming in and then there are those nice payments on student loans. I will be glad when mine is paid off.

We tried Nelnet because that's where my uncle did his consolidation through years ago, but they currently aren't doing them.

[Tillys_mom]

Originally Posted by SladesMommy

Glad you ask this question, I have a few loans myself I need to consolidate!

I saw on the view this past week and Suze orman was saying the worst possible thing to do was get a college loan from a bank b/c they can raise the intrest rate to 14%+ and there isn't anything the borrower can do about it.

Thank gooodness all my loans were gov't.

We have both federal and private. Ugh! I know that on July 1st the federal loan interest is going to be going down.

[Baby Madeleine]

My consolidation was through Chase and my interest rate is 4%

[StewiesMom]

I consolidated mine through the Federal Direct Loan (gov't) and my interest rate went up significantly. I called to "unconsolidate" when I got my letter/statement in the mail and they told me that I had 24 hours after it took effect to reverse it. How was I suppose to call within 24 hours if it took 2-3 days to get to me in the mail? yuck