loan consolidation question...

grinnurse, RN · May 21, 2005

I am in the same boat but thankfully with less $. Once I graduated, I immediately started getting advertisements for loan consolidation and I don't know which ones are the best either. They didn't mention in the brochures whether or not you still get that 6 mo grace period or not. I am saving all of them until after boards when I can really concentrate on looking at them and deciding. Seems like the government offers some kind of consolidation program too. Might check out that area.

The loans are the first thing that I am going to take care of though. I only have just under 9k to repay and am going to "try" to have them paid off before Christmas. I have a friend who graduated in 2000 that is still paying on her loans the minimum 50 bucks a month. :uhoh3:

I will be watching this post to see the responses.

Congrats and good luck!!

EvinsAngel · May 21, 2005

I feel your pain...currently all of my loans are consolidated, but they were all gov't funds so I was able to consolidate with them. They will honor your grace period but I'm not sure if they will consolidate the private funds. I don't believe they do, but their website is http://www.dlservicingcenter.com. They should be able to answer all of your questions there. They're very good and I would recommend them over the companies that advertise the cheap consolidations just because the U.S. gov't will still be around in a year (but that's just my opinion). As far as consolidating the private funds...Washington Mutual Bank (I see that you're also in the NYC area) is very good for student loans...their website is http://www.wamu.com. Best of luck with your search and my advice is to pay everything off as soon as possible and ALWAYS pay more than the minimum payment even if it's just a dollar.

speedykicks · May 21, 2005

The rates on loans will be adjusted again at the end of June and rates are gonna shoot up - those of you thinking of consolidating need to do so now! Also, fixed rate loan cosolidations may be gotten rid of soon - all the more reason to consolidate now if you are even thinking about it. You can always pay more then your min. amount, but lock in those low interest rates!

I like Nelnet.com, btw.

RainDreamer, BSN, RN · May 21, 2005

I'm going through the same thing here and I was completely lost on where to start and what to do. So I went and talked to some people at my financial aid office at my University a couple of weeks ago. The financial aid officer recommended to go to the website http://www.salliemae.com and start there. When I got home after graduation I started getting tons of mail saying "we offer the best interest rate" and all that .... which I'm sure yall are familiar with! After looking into all those different companies that were sending me mail and looking into Sallie Mae I've found that Sallie Mae offers the best, and the financial aid people at my school highly recommended that company. So I sent for a thing from Sallie Mae and got it a couple days ago, filled it out and I'm starting the process of loan consolidation. Sallie Mae is only for the goverment loans though (Stafford, etc). But there's a place on the application that you can include the amount of $$ you owe in private loans and they take those into account to give you more time to pay it off and everything.

This company is letting me keep my 6 month grace period (one of the only companies that let you keep the grace period) ..... when I filled out the application I just put in the date of when I wanted to start paying them back (I put November, just to take advantage of my full 6 months, even if I decide to start paying early, at least I'll still have that cushion just in case). Even if you consolidate now you can still keep your 6 month grace period!! That's one thing I was worried about, so that's why I called salliemae to make sure, and they assured me that just because I consolidate now doesn't mean my 6 month grade period will go away. But you really do need to consolidate as soon as possible because the interest rates will go up after July 1st. The interest rates now are at an all time low, so it's good if we consolidate before they go up!

I have a bunch of loans through BankOne Education One (some which are Teri loans). Those loans I have to consolidate through BankOne (Chase). Keep in mind that these loans have a much higher interest rate, so when you start paying the loans back it'd be a good idea to pay more on these loans, rather than the government loans.

You're like me ... you have the gov't loans and the private loans. I asked if there's a way that I can consolidate the private and the government loans together and they is NO WAY to do that. I have to consolidate them separately. So that's how it'll be for you too ...... you'll have 2 separate monthly payments.

If you have anymore questions I'd be happy to help answer them ..... I'm still learning about all this too, but I've learned a lot just in the past few weeks of getting all this started for myself. Good luck!

Also, here's a good article I found

http://www.thefalcononline.com/story/4656

RainDreamer, BSN, RN · May 27, 2005

Have you had any luck deciding what to do? I hope it's coming together ok!

kwagner_51 · May 27, 2005

http://www.studentloanrepay.com/

This is the one I am using. I have over $51,000.00!!!

Hope this helps!!

__________________________________________

In His Grace,

Karen

Failure is NOT an option!!

KEVIN88GT · May 28, 2005

I'[m going to consolidate all my federal loans with ACS. I also have about 13k in private loans from TERI. Those I'll consolidate when I have a job because not too many companies consolodate private loans. When you have a job and a nice salary you're more likely to get a better rate.

Jess-RN in 2006 · May 28, 2005

Can you consolidate while still in school??? I keep getting more and more mail about it, but from what I understand, you cant really do it while you are in school. I still have a year to go in nursing school, and then I am going straight on for my BSN. Is it even worth it if it is possible? I've been wondering this...TIA!

MiaLyse, APRN · May 29, 2005

I feel your pain...currently all of my loans are consolidated, but they were all gov't funds so I was able to consolidate with them. They will honor your grace period but I'm not sure if they will consolidate the private funds. I don't believe they do, but their website is http://www.dlservicingcenter.com. They should be able to answer all of your questions there. They're very good and I would recommend them over the companies that advertise the cheap consolidations just because the U.S. gov't will still be around in a year (but that's just my opinion). As far as consolidating the private funds...Washington Mutual Bank (I see that you're also in the NYC area) is very good for student loans...their website is http://www.wamu.com. Best of luck with your search and my advice is to pay everything off as soon as possible and ALWAYS pay more than the minimum payment even if it's just a dollar.

Washington Mutual Bank (I see that you're also in the NYC area) is very good for student loans...their website is http://www.wamu.com. >>

Be careful. Washington Mutual has a *very bad reputation.

Kelly

RainDreamer, BSN, RN · May 29, 2005

Can you consolidate while still in school??? I keep getting more and more mail about it, but from what I understand, you cant really do it while you are in school. I still have a year to go in nursing school, and then I am going straight on for my BSN. Is it even worth it if it is possible? I've been wondering this...TIA!

Yes, you can consolidate while still in school but I don't know the specifics and what all it entails ... if you lose your grace period or not. If I were you I would call and talk to someone at Sallie Mae and ask them. I'm consolidating my loans now, even though I'm out of school but I don't want to start paying them back right now .... they are allowing me to consolidate now AND keep my grace period. Their number is 888/2-SALLIE (272-5543). Hope that helps.

KEVIN88GT · May 29, 2005

You dont have to repay the loans untill you get out of school (and even then you get a 6 month grace period). I dont see the reason to do it while you are in school.