??? about student loan consolidation

[snowflakeluvr]

My daughter just graduated(early) from undergrad in December. Can she consolidate private student loans? And if so, how does she initiate that? I just spoke with someone from the federal program who says federal loans can be subsidized but her private loan amounts are higher so trying to get the ball rolling before interest rates rise. Any direction and help will be greatly appreciated!
Now she''s applying to grad school, job hunting and adjusting to home in a new city(we moved from Ohio to Michigan when she was a junior), so we are trying to tackle these issues to lessen the stress....

ps I heart pricescope! Such wonderful people who happen to own wonderful jewelry

 

[Shoopy]

Yes she can consolidate private loans.

I would call Sallie Mae first and ask if they could help out with the consolidation of private loans since they tend to have very low rates. She should also pay attention to her mail because a month or two before she is due to pay for her loans, she will start getting a TON of information from various consolidation sources.

If she is applying to grad school and will be enrolled before June, she can have her loans deferred until she completes grad school and she may find a better consolidation rate then. I would call and ask when they are expecting payment and if she can defer until she graduates from grad school.

Just as a side note, I have 2 private loans which are not consolidated. The interest rate I have on them is a lot lower than what was being offered for consolidation and have remained consistently low (it just decreased again). However, my loans can be paid through Sallie Mae so it may be different than what your daughter has.

 

[Octavia]

When you consolidate student loans, they average the interest rate of each of the loans in the consolidation. So your daughter may not want to bundle any high-interest loans she may gave with lower-interest ones, depending on the amounts of each loan (so, if she had $15k at 5% and $5k at 8%, the interest rate on the higher amount of debt would go up, and even though it would go down for the smaller loan, she might still end up paying more overall). I left one loan out of my consolidation after undergrad for precisely that reason. Definitely do the math before deciding what to do.

IIRC, interest rates are adjusted on July 1 of each year. But if she consolidates before graduation, she''ll get a better deal and keep her grace period. Things might have changed since I did it, though.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

The fiancial aid office at my school said that loan consolidations aren''t really happing any more? Is that not true? If they are I am totally relieved, but they seemed pretty emphatic.

 

[that_someone_special]

I did not consolidate my loans- they are as low as 1.88% (90% of them), and I think there is a 4% and one 8% (grr) , most of my friends that DID consolidate actually have much higher % than I do for some reason... I wonder why.

And.. I HATE sallie mae. They are awful. Pay those suckers off asap.