The consolidation of loans allows you to lock the current interest rate in, otherwise the rate will continue to fluctuate as the economy does. Rates are set to rise on July1 to 6.54% for Stafford Loans if you are currently in school/grace period and to 7.14% for those of you in repayment. Right now rates are at 4.7% for in-school/grace and 5.3% for repayment. Consolidation will round your interest to the nearest 1/8 percent so in-school/grace consolidated rate will be 4.75% and repayment rate will be 5.375% (this is for loans borrowed after 1996, rates are slightly higher on loans borrowed prior to fall of 1996).
Repayment will also allow you to extend your repayment out longer than 10 years, lowering your monthly payment. Because of the large jump in interest rates it is highly recommend that students consolidate their loans by the end of the day today.
The Perkins loan may also be consolidated, it has a fixed (or locked-in) interest rate of 5%. So many students will opt to leave that loan out of the consolidation if the are still in-school so their interest rate isn’t made higher in the weighted average of loans and their interest rates during the consolidation process. You can run examples using loan consolidation calculators at http://www.finaid.org.
As the previous poster mention to consolidate with Direct Loans you can call their phone number 1-800-557-7392 or complete an application on their website http://www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov. To consolidate at the website you will need your Dept of Education PIN and the amounts borrowed for each loan (and whether they are subsidized or unsubsidized). The PIN can be emailed within 4 hours so if you request it now you can still get your application completed (www.pin.ed.gov).
You do have the choice of choosing another lender to consolidate with and their are many to choose from, it is typically easiest to go with whomever currently holds your loans. If you are unsure you can check at the National Student Loan Database website http://www.nslds.ed.gov. You will need your Dept of Ed PIN to acces this information. If you need to have that emailed within 4 hours, request a duplicate copy from http://www.pin.ed.gov
Remember you only have until midnight on June 30, 2006 to complete the application if you select to consolidate your loans
http://www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov/
The consolidation of loans allows you to lock the current interest rate in, otherwise the rate will continue to fluctuate as the economy does. Rates are set to rise on July1 to 6.54% for Stafford Loans if you are currently in school/grace period and to 7.14% for those of you in repayment. Right now rates are at 4.7% for in-school/grace and 5.3% for repayment. Consolidation will round your interest to the nearest 1/8 percent so in-school/grace consolidated rate will be 4.75% and repayment rate will be 5.375% (this is for loans borrowed after 1996, rates are slightly higher on loans borrowed prior to fall of 1996).
Repayment will also allow you to extend your repayment out longer than 10 years, lowering your monthly payment. Because of the large jump in interest rates it is highly recommend that students consolidate their loans by the end of the day today.
The Perkins loan may also be consolidated, it has a fixed (or locked-in) interest rate of 5%. So many students will opt to leave that loan out of the consolidation if the are still in-school so their interest rate isn’t made higher in the weighted average of loans and their interest rates during the consolidation process. You can run examples using loan consolidation calculators at http://www.finaid.org.
As the previous poster mention to consolidate with Direct Loans you can call their phone number 1-800-557-7392 or complete an application on their website http://www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov. To consolidate at the website you will need your Dept of Education PIN and the amounts borrowed for each loan (and whether they are subsidized or unsubsidized). The PIN can be emailed within 4 hours so if you request it now you can still get your application completed (www.pin.ed.gov).
You do have the choice of choosing another lender to consolidate with and their are many to choose from, it is typically easiest to go with whomever currently holds your loans. If you are unsure you can check at the National Student Loan Database website http://www.nslds.ed.gov. You will need your Dept of Ed PIN to acces this information. If you need to have that emailed within 4 hours, request a duplicate copy from http://www.pin.ed.gov
Remember you only have until midnight on June 30, 2006 to complete the application if you select to consolidate your loans