Archive for the 'Advice' Category

How Does Student Loan Consolidation Work?

Sunday, January 17th, 2010
Ricky Lim asked:


Nowadays, the cost of higher education is getting more and more expensive. Some families may not be able to afford to send their son or daughter for further education. Getting a student loan will help.

There are 2 broad categories of student loans available. Government student loans and private student loans

Government or federal student loans are funded and administered by the US Department Of Education. It is classified under Federal Student Loans Aid Program. They have very few requirements other than you are studying in a US college or university. International students may also apply though approval is on a case by case basis.

Every year, the student loan aid program disburse nearly 60 billion dollars so it is a good choice for get a student loan from the government. Thus the interest rates are pretty low.

Private student loans are funded and administered by banks and other financial institutions. These lenders provide student loans at a higher interest rate compared to federal student loans. Some common student loans available are from Citibank and Sallie Mae

You are allowed to apply for both private and federal student loans for your education needs although I would not recommend it.

For some students who have a few student loans to repay concurrently, it can be a financial drain on their family finances. That is where student loan consolidation comes in.

Student loan consolidation basically consolidates all your student loans into one loan so that it is easier to manage and make payments. When you are getting a student loan consolidation whether from the government or the private market, your existing student loans are paid for and erased by the student loan consolidation lender. The balances are transferred to the new student loan consolidation. Thus you start a new loan and only needs to make a single payment each month.

There are many advantages to using student loan consolidation. The interest rates will be lower since it takes the average interest rates of your previous student loans. Thus due to government legislation, the maximum interest rate cannot be higher than 8.25 percent.

It becomes a lot easier to manage a single student loan and payment are easier. The repayment options are quite flexible. For federal student loan consolidation, you can opt to start repaying after you have graduated from school. There are also several other options.

Another beneficial side-effect of student loan consolidation is that it can also improves your credit score. Since you are effectively clearing all your old student loans and taking a new one, your credit score will increase and is important if plan to take other types of loans in the future.



Caffeinated Content – Members-Only Content for WordPress
Share

Debt Consolidation – Your Options

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
Lucy Bartlett asked:


Paying off various unpaid loans by taking out a fresh loan is called debt consolidation. Some alleged benefits are that debt consolidation provides a lower interest rate or a fixed interest rate.

An asset that is put up as collateral – in most cases this is a house – to secure a loan is also known as debt consolidation since putting up collateral results in paying a lower interest. The amount of loan can be discounted by debt consolidation companies. To get some sort of saving, a debtor who is prudent can shop around looking for consolidators. Discharging debts by debt consolidation is a tricky issue, and it is better to use this method cautiously.

In theory, the burden of credit card debts can be reduced by debt consolidation. Unpaid amount from credit card purchases or cash withdrawals carry a very heavy percentage of interest.

Very high fees are charged by debt consolidation companies, by making use of the benefits of refinancing. Find more info at http://www.online-bankruptcy-advice.info

The loans given to students in the United States carries the guarantee of its government hence these federal student loans are differently consolidated. The department of Education or any agency authorized by them closes the existing student loans in a Federal Loan Consolidation programme.

Recently, concerns were raised by the media about debt consolidation. The temptation to consolidate debt, which is unsecured debt, into secured one, is widespread among people. Due to the long period of the repayment programme, the total amount repaid is considerably higher even though the monthly payment is lower. In such circumstances, snowballing debt is a solution which is better than debt consolidation.

Through a payment settlement plan, unsecured debt can be modified into a secured debt, which is a better option.

Four different options are available in debt consolidation. The common features for all the four are a provision to roll all the small debts into one bigger debt. Based upon the situation, the option which is best, can be selected.

A debt consolidation loan is one option wherein money can be saved by a reduced monthly payment amount. The other benefit is the selection of a lower interest rate for the consolidated loan.

Credit counseling is the second option in which a third party helps to consolidate the debts. Instead of a bigger loan, one bigger repayment is made to the credit counselor who will take care of the distribution of the payment to the debtors.

Bankruptcy is the third option, which should not be a surprise. A part of the debts is repaid as per the new provisions of the law, which came into effect in 2005.

Debt negotiation is not actually a consolidation of debts. A third party calls for a negotiation with all the creditors, guaranteeing a portion of money due from the debtor who makes a regular payment into a special account, which will be handled by the debt negotiator.



Create a video blog
Share
SEO Powered by Platinum SEO from Techblissonline