Consolidation Loans combine several student or parent loans into one bigger loan from a single lender, which is then used to pay off the balances on the other loans. They also provide an opportunity for alternative repayment plans, making monthly payments more manageable.
Consolidation loansare available for most federal loans, including Stafford, PLUS and SLS, FISL, Perkins, Health Professional Student Loans, NSL, HEAL, Guaranteed Student Loans and Direct loans. Some lenders offerprivate consolidation loansfor private education loans as well. Some lenders, likeCredible.offer private consolidation loans. *Please be advised that the operator of this site accepts advertising compensation from companies that appear on the site, and such compensation may impact the location and order in which the companies (and/or their products) are presented.
Interest Rates – The interest rate on a consolidation loan is the weighted average of the interest rates on the loans being consolidated, rounded up to the nearest 1/8 of a percent. That interest rate is fixed for life. If the borrower has a mix of loans with different interest rates, the weighted average will be somewhere in between.
If you areconsolidating loanswith different interest rates, the weighted average interest rate will always be in between. Don’t be fooled if someone tries to suggest that this will save you money by getting you a lower interest rate. The interest rate may be lower than the highest of your interest rates, but it is also higher than the lowest of your interest rates. More importantly, the amount of interest you pay over the lifetime of the loan will be about the same.
No Cost to Consolidate – Aside from a slight increase in the interest rate on the consolidation loan, there is no cost to consolidate your loans. There are no fees to consolidate.
Under no circ*mstances pay a fee in advance to get a federal education loan or consolidate your federal education loans. There are no fees to consolidate your loans. While other federal education loans, such as the Stafford and PLUS loans, may charge some fees, the fees are always deducted from the disbursem*nt check. There is never an upfront fee. If someone wants you to pay an upfront fee, chances are that it is an example of anadvance fee loan scam.
Who Can Consolidate – Both student and parent borrowers can consolidate their education loans. Students and parents cannot combine their loans through consolidation, since only loans from the same borrower can be consolidated. But they can consolidate their loans separately.
Students can consolidate their education loans only during the grace period or after the loans enter repayment. Loans that are in default but with satisfactory repayment arrangements may also be consolidated. Students can no longer consolidate while they are still in school. Parents, however, can consolidate PLUS loans at any time.
Which Loans Can be Consolidated – Any federal education loan can be consolidated. You can even consolidate a single loan. There are, however, a few restrictions on consolidating a consolidation loan.
You can consolidate a consolidation loan only once. In order to reconsolidate an existing consolidation loan, you must add loans that were not previously consolidated to the consolidation loan. You can also consolidate two consolidation loans together. But you cannot consolidate a single consolidation loan by itself.
Note that when you reconsolidate a consolidation loan, it does not relock the rates on the consolidation loan. The consolidation loan is treated as a fixed rate loan within the weighted average interest rate formula used to calculate the interest rate on the new consolidation loan.
Repayment Plans – Consolidation loans provide access to several alternaterepayment plansbesides standard ten-year repayment. These include extended repayment, graduated repayment, income contingent repayment (Direct Loans only) and income sensitive repayment (FFEL only). If you do not specify the repayment terms, you will receive standard ten-year repayment.
Consolidation loans often reduce the size of the monthly payment by extending the term of the loan beyond the 10-year repayment plan that is standard with federal loans. Depending on the loan amount, the term of the loan can beextended from 12 to 30 years. The reduced monthly payment may make the loan easier to repay for some borrowers. However, by extending the term of a loan the total amount of interest paid over the lifetime of the loan is increased.
You do not need to pick an alternate repayment plan. We recommend sticking with standard ten-year repayment, because it will save you money. The alternate repayment plans may have lower monthly payments, but this increases the term of the loan and the total interest paid over the lifetime of the loan.
Repayment on a consolidation loan will begin within 60 days of disbursem*nt of the loan, unless the borrower qualifies for a deferment or forbearance.
