College Loans - How to Avoid Paying Interest Rates For School Loans

College Loans - How to Avoid Paying Interest Rates For School Loans

By Mike Kohler

One of the worst decisions that a person can make when going to college is to take out too many college loans. They are easy to get and people can forget that later on, years or months later, they will have to pay them back. One of the things that accrue is interest. Here is a way to avoid paying a substantial portion of the interest.

When you go to get college funding, you will have many options. One of them is to apply for the Pell Grant which is generally given to all people that are at a lower income level. As long as you apply on time; you can get most or all of this funding.

If you do not qualify, your next best choice is to apply for scholarships. These are popular and useful, but can take a great deal of time to complete. The forms tend to be lengthy and most people do not have the patience to get them done and send them in for evaluation.

For those that need funding, but cannot get any right away, you can take out student loans. These are very handy. You walk into the financial aid office, and if you have completed the FAFSA on time, they will automatically know how much you will be eligible for.

The problem is that once you take out the loans, you do not realize that the interest, usually around 8%, is going to start to accrue as soon as you are out of school and sometimes even before.

The best way to save you thousands of dollars over time is to pay off the small amounts of interest that can be paid off early. This way, that money does not compound over time.

You will get these statements in the mail every month. Once you receive them, send in the few dollars that they are asking for. This way, you are up to date and your principle amount will remain the same.

Over all, there are many better choices than taking out a student loan, but if you are forced to, then make sure that you take care of the interest before it makes the amount you owe too large to handle once repayment begins.

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What Type of College Student Loan is Perfect For You?

What Type of College Student Loan is Perfect For You?

By Mike Considine

Now that you came to the conclusion a higher education is definitely in your future, you need to start looking into precisely how your planning to pay for it. While looking for student loans you are likely to discover both government loans in addition to private programs.

Each of those two groups, have a number of different types of loans to select from. It will require some time, however, it will likely be time wisely spent if you learn the differences concerning all of the types of programs being offered in each groups.

The very first type we'll discuss is the Federal loan programs being offered. Let's start with the Stafford loan. To qualify for this one your FAFSA application must verify that you have a financial need.

This is a Federal subsidized loan, but instead of borrowing the money directly from the government, you borrow from a tradition lender. With this program you are giving time after you graduate to get a job, before you actually need to start paying the money back.

The Perkins loan is another option that might be available to you.. To qualify for this loan the student most likely will come from a low income family and show a real financial need. What makes this loan one of the best to qualify for, is the fact that it is a low interest loan. Like the first option we talked about this loan also has a grace period before you need to start making payments.

The next type of loan we'll cover is the Plus loan, and it is available not only to the student, but to the parent of the student also. The families income will determine how much money is available to the student and the parent. Because these loans are available to both the parent and the student at low interest rates, they allow the family to contribute to the burden of paying for the child's education.

The next group we'll mention are Private student loans, and the terms of this type of loan are dependent on the lender. The problem with most of these loans, is they are given based on the students credit score, which most high school age students will not have much of a credit history. The signature student loan is available to those students with good credit or those with less than a good credit score may still qualify with a qualified cosigner. These loans should be the loans of last resort, and a student and their family should take advantage of any of the Federal loans or grants that they qualify for, before they apply for a Private loan.

If you are thinking about going to a tech or trades school, you could qualify for the Career Training Loan that is available from Sallie Mae. While the loan is given based on credit history, it is also available for on line courses which makes it worth looking into. The money from this loan could be used for educational expenses other than tuition. Sallie Mae offers flexibly payment plans with no early payment penalties.

The most important thing to remember is that you should start early and research all the different loan options that might be available to you and your family. The cost of a higher education means that most students graduate with substantial debt, so it is important to get loans with the best available terms.

Mike Considine has done extensive research on getting student loans and grants, and you can find the different Student Loan Types by clicking this link. This site is filled with free information on student loans and grantshttp://getstudentloanhelp.com/federal-student-loan-information/ Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Considine What Type of College Student Loan is Perfect For You?

Finding the Best Student Loan Consolidation Company

Finding the Best Student Loan Consolidation Company

By Joe Eitel

While student loans may be considered good debt, meaning that it can be viewed as an investment rather than a debt, they still provide quite a large monthly payment(s) each month. For many students and/or grads, the student loan debt may turn out to be very hard to manage; that's a situation where consolidating may benefit.

Consolidating all of your student loan debt

college debt into one loan has its good points and bad points. The benefits include smaller monthly payments and that it's much simpler to manage one loan than several. On the other hand, there are a number of potential negative aspects involved if you should decide to consolidate, including longer repayment terms and usually higher interest rates.

It's vitally important to weigh the good points and bad points in each case in order to determine whether or not consolidation is a good option for you.

Once you do your homework and finally decide on consolidation as the answer, how do you go about obtaining the best student loan consolidation? First off, you can opt to consolidate with any bank who offers consolidation loans.

This is a big plus because it enables you the ability to research any lender for the best interest rates. It's a good idea to begin your search by browsing the Internet for advice from other former college students who have recently consolidated. See which financial institutions they used and whether they're impressed with that particular lenders service and loan terms.

There are a lot of online consolidation lenders to choose from, so beginning your search for one can get a bit overwhelming. Concentrate your time and effort on reputable financial institutions, such as government lending programs (Direct Consolidation Loans) or nonprofit organizations that offer lending.

Compare the interest rates amongst the various financial institutions to find the lowest possible interest rate. Additionally, be on the lookout for incentives and interest rate reductions and be sure to take those into consideration when choosing a lending institution.

Don't make the mistake of looking solely at the amount of the monthly payment; look at interest rates, bonuses/incentives, monthly payment amount, and the number of years for repayment. Search for a consolidation loan which has the shortest number of months for repayment possible which you can afford. For instance, if you can afford a 20 year loan, pick that loan over a 30 year term that has a lower monthly payment. In this instance, you'd save a huge amount on interest charges by the time the loan is paid off.

After you have narrowed down your choices for a reputable student loan consolidation company, it's now time to choose one lender to finance the consolidation. Whether it be an online lending institution or a local bank you have chosen, you should be 100% sure that you understand all of the loan contract terms before signing it.

This would include that you must be sure you understand the payment due date, whether or not you forfeit any applicable bonuses/incentives for being late on a payment, late payment fees, number of months for repayment, early payoff penalties (if applicable) and other related information. Once you have covered all of this information and agree with all of the terms of the contract, you are now all set to sign the consolidation loan and not long after that begin paying back the consolidation loan.

Joe Eitel is an accomplished freelance writer who is an expert in the student loan consolidation field. If you'd like to learn more about how to consolidate student loans or other student loan related topics, visit:Consolidating Student Loans Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joe_Eitel

How to Secure Private Student Loan Consolidation

How to Secure Private Student Loan Consolidation

By Jimmy Jenkins Ray

Every student who is interested in continuing their higher education has to bear a lot of expenses which are not really easy on them. This is when they decide to look for some financial aid to back them up in their studies.

Since it is not easy for all students to secure government grants or grants form other charitable institutions, the next alternative if to resort to private student loans. Mostly a student may have more than one private student loan to repay which may be quite a burden on them. The best solution to this problem is private student loan consolidation after they complete their studies.

There are many benefits of consolidating all your loans. You will not have to repay many monthly installments as before. And the consolidated private loan comes with a reduced rate of interest as compared to multiple loans and you just need to make a single repayment every month after your loan gets consolidated.

It is not very difficult to secure a private student loan consolidation. They can be availed of by any student who has collateral security to back up the loan. As a private loan is not sponsored by the government, there will be some more criterion to be adhered to consolidate the loan.

They will need some verification about the income and credit history. Once these requirements are met, then you will be given consolidation without much of a hassle.

Anyway make it a point to approach only really worthwhile loan consolidation deals. You need to take some time and check out the different institutions which offer you such loans and attempt to secure the best deal possible with the lowest rate of interest and longest repayment period. This is sure to be extremely beneficial in the long run and can save you a lot of money.

Student loan consolidation is one of the most helpful financial aid available to the students. Click here to know more about student loan consolidation. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jimmy_Jenkins_Ray

How to Secure Private Student Loan Consolidation

College Loan Consolidation - You Solution To Student Loan Payback

College Loan Consolidation - You Solution To Student Loan Payback

By Wade Robins

For those students wishing to get a college education who do not qualify for scholarships and who cannot work or who can't work enough to cover their college expenses, student loans can provide an answer.

While borrowing money is never the ideal way to pay for anything, there are hundreds of thousands of people for whom a college education would have remained out of reach were it not for student loans. Even state colleges and universities can cost state residents upwards of $15,000 per year.

While student loans may clear the path to a college degree for you, you will eventually come to the end of that path and have to start repaying the loans. You'll also be at the beginning of your career, and probably have the expenses associated with setting up housekeeping on your own, funding your own transportation, and managing all your own finances.

Your starting salary may barely get the living essentials covered, and having those student loans hanging over you can keep you struggling for a very long time.

Benefits Of College Loan Consolidation

But there is help. College loan consolidation is one method of reducing the financial burden of those student loans. College loan consolidation will allow you to take out a single large loan with which you can pay off all your student loans, so that instead of having to make several payments each month, you only need to make one. And you may find that the monthly payment on your college loan consolidation is less than the total of those for your student loans.

A college loan consolidation may also benefit you in the form of lower interest payments, so that you pay down the principal more quickly than you would have if you continued paying off your student loans individually. Student loans are notorious for having varying interest rates, and the odds are excellent that some of yours will be costing you more in monthly interest charges than a college loan consolidation will.

The benefits of college loan consolidation are numerous: lower interest rates; lower monthly installments; a lower payoff amount; or possibly all three. Getting a lower APR means that the total amount of money you repay over the life of the college loan consolidation will be less than what you would have paid for your student loans.

The Single Payment Advantage

And it will save you the hassle of having to make sure, several times each month, that you have enough in your checking account to cover you upcoming student loan payment. If you only have one monthly payment, you can set aside enough to cover it at the beginning of the month and be done with it.

You can even make arrangements for your college loan consolidation payment to be electronically deducted from you bank account each month and forget abut the check writing altogether!

You can also find more info on School Loan and College Loan Consolidation. schoolloanshelp.com is a comprehensive resource to get information about School Loans. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wade_Robins

College Loan Consolidation - You Solution To Student Loan Payback

Student Loan Consolidation - Save Time & Money

Student Loan Consolidation - Save Time & Money

By Nate Cleveland

Is Student Loan Consolidation a Good Idea?

Consolidating your student loans can be a tricky process. What goes into it? Is it a better deal than what I am paying now? Can I consolidate quickly? Here's the scoop.

Consolidation Loans combine two or more student or parent education loans into one bigger one from a single lender, which is then used to pay off the balances on the others. Doing this allows you to pay one lender for all your borrowed money, simplifying your bill paying procedures each month. It is very similar to refinancing a mortgage.

Consolidation is available for most federal loans, including FFELP (Stafford, PLUS and SLS), FISL, Perkins, Health Professional Student Loans, NSL, HEAL, as long as many other types. Some lenders offer private consolidation for private education money you might have borrowed from someone other than the Federal Government as well.

Is this a good idea though? Other than making all your payments to one place what are the benefits? Generally, you aren't going to pay any more or any less in interest by consolidating, as the new loan takes a weighted average of your previous commitments to determine your new interest rate on your education consolidation rate.

According to FinAid.org: "The interest rate on a consolidation loan is the weighted average of the interest rates on the ones being consolidated, rounded up to the nearest 1/8 of a percent and capped at 8.25%."

If you don't save on the interest than, what's the point? The benefit, in addition to consolidating with one lender is that you can consolidate borrowed money with any lender, there is no cost to consolidate and you get access to better repayment plans than the standard education loans give.

For example, you can easily lower your monthly payments by consolidating educational debt by extending the repayment period a number of years, often making it an affordable monthly expense instead of a burden. Consolidation provide access to several alternate repayment plans besides standard ten-year repayment, as mentioned.

These include extended repayment, graduated repayment, income contingent repayment and income sensitive repayment. If you do not specify the repayment terms, you will receive standard ten-year repayment.

Those last two options are of particular interest for low income students with loans, single mothers (or fathers) with education loans and anyone who may be unemployed at the moment or working only part-time. Those payment plans will be more sensitive to your economic circumstances than the regular repayment plans.

In the end, education consolidation is often a quick and easy solution to lowering your monthly loan payments, reducing your debt and keeping your education expenses manageable.

For more information about education expenses, other cost saving tips and resources for college students check outhttp://www.scholarshipsformommies.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nate_Cleveland Student Loan Consolidation - Save Time & Money