Posted on 06 April 2009 by jackie.lane
College education is truly expensive. In fact, most students would probably not finish their degree without taking out a few loans.
The most expensive types of education are law school, medical school, doctorates, and master’s degrees. With these types of studies, you can easily accumulate loans amounting to thousands of dollars.
While attending school, it might be easy for you to forget that you’re accumulating debt. Most of these are made on academic deferment, which does not require payment while you’re studying.
However, these loans accumulate interest. Usually, your debt becomes a reality 6 months after you graduate. You must begin paying these loans right away even if you still don’t have a job.
As a doctor, you might be expected to start paying your student loans before finishing your residency. Also, lawyers are expected to pay loans even before taking their bar exam.
The best way for you to manage your debt is through consolidation. Lending companies can handle all your student loans and then give you one lump sum so that you can pay a reasonable amount every month.
Consolidation loans usually carry lower interest rates than your original student loans. Therefore, they are affordable and manageable. Paying these loans would also be convenient and hassle-free.
Posted on 30 March 2009 by jackie.lane
Student debts soared as college tuition costs rose higher than inflation. Although student loans can be your investment for the future, starting salaries of recent graduates cannot keep up with the rise in debt. According to Project on Student Debt, $19,800 is the average debt of about two-thirds of graduating students from four-year institutions.
Fortunately, you can lower your monthly payments with debt consolidation. This is very appealing to struggling graduates. In fact, there is a government program called Direct Consolidation Loan where you can combine your federal student loans in order to apply restrictions that cap interest rates.
However, if you have both federal and private loans, you cannot combine them under one federal consolidation loan. It’s also not wise to lump them together under one private loan because it will most likely increase your interest rates.
Moreover, you can miss out on the good perks of federal loans that could come very handy such as advantageous repayments, cancellation opportunities, and even forgiveness. Another benefit is this: the interest on federal student loans is tax deductible.
So if you really want to consolidate your private loan, you can do so with any institution. You don’t need to stick to the company where your loan originated. And when you compare the interest rates and do proper research, you could definitely find a company that’s suitable for you.
