Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Consolidate your student loans now!

After graduating college, the majority of students will have two or more federal or private loans that they have taken out to fund their education. Having just finished school and looking for a career, the last thing a recent graduate needs is to manage multiple student loans.

Wouldn't it be great to consolidate all of your loans into one monthly payment, and possibly receive a lower interest rate?

Consolidating your student loan really just means combining all of the money you owe to different resources, into one loan from a single resource. You then only have to pay the one lender instead of trying to keep up with multiple lenders. The other upside to consolidation is the change to lower your interest rate. With multiple loans you will most likely have varying interest rates which will end up costing you more in the end.

Rates are constantly changing, going up and going down. With interest rates currently being tolerable, NOW is the time to consolidate. Go ahead and seek out a lender willing to consolidate your loans and make it happen. You will be relieved when you do and you will be able to spend your time thinking about the next big steps in your life, like finding your career.

One other benefit of consolidation is the chance to extend your payments. Some personal loans, not just mortgage loans, are able to be extended up to 30 years! While that is a very long time to make payments on your education, this will allow you to have a smaller monthly payment for now. After you have established a career and have a steady source of income you can then pay more than the minimum and finish paying off your loan faster.

Don't waste time and energy trying to pay off all of your separate loans at one time, consolidate!