student loan consolidation плюсы и минусы
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SpIDer
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student loan consolidation плюсы и минусы
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DanielMa
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Dear Students:
Many of you might be considering consolidating your federal loans at this time because interest rates are at an all time low. Consolidation can be very beneficial but there are some things to consider before consolidating your federal loans. Below are some answers to the questions many of you have asked:
What does consolidation mean, and why should I consider it? Consolidation means taking your federal loans, issued at different times and at different rates, and rolling them up into one loan with a single, fixed interest rate. The interest rate is determined by your consolidator based upon the weighted average of your outstanding loans. You should contact your lender to find out what that interest rate on your consolidation loan will be.
Should I consolidate? This is a question only you can answer. Different people have different comfort levels when it comes to consolidation. We can't predict what interest rates are going to do in the future. You will have to make the decision as to what will work best for you.
What is the current interest rate? From July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2005, the interest rate on federal Stafford loans for students who are in school is 2.77%. On July 1, 2005, the interest rate will change again, although notification of that rate change will be made in June.
What loans can be consolidated? Any federal loans, such as Stafford Direct, FFEL or Perkins loans. Private loans cannot be consolidated.
When should I consolidate, if I am going to do it? You may consolidate at any time, although we recommend that you wait until all of your loans for the 2004-2005 academic year have disbursed to ensure that they are included in the consolidation.
First and second year students can wait to consolidate until June (when the interest rates for the next year will be announced) to decide if consolidation is in their best interest.
Third year students will lose their grace period if they wait until June to decide. In order to retain your grace period in full you must complete your consolidation before your separation date from the Law School, which in most cases is the last day of classes of your last semester. If you consolidate after your separation date you will go into immediate repayment and forfeit the remainder of your grace period. If you consolidate while you are still in school, or still in your grace period (which expires six months after graduation) your interest rate will be 0.6% lower than if you wait until after that period. We recommend that you as a third year either consolidate in early April, before your separation date (if you think interest rates will rise), or wait until toward the end of your grace period in September (if you are betting on lower interest rates).
What is the downside? Anything I should be worried about? There are three areas in which you should pay special attention:
1. Interest rate: It may go up or down next July, and we won't know until June. Therefore, you could consolidate at this very low rate, thinking you got a terrific deal, and then the rates may go down even further. Once you have consolidated your loans, you cannot consolidate them again. Conversely, you may decide to wait and potentially be disappointed with an increase in the interest rates.
2. Lost Incentives: We know many of you are being encouraged by various lenders to consolidate with them, even though you may not have a loan with them. The University of Michigan is a direct lending school. If you have borrowed federal loans while attending here then your loans are serviced by Direct Loans. There is a 3% origination fee on these federal loans. Currently you pay 1.5% of the fee at disbursement. Due to an incentive offered by Direct Loans, you are not required to pay the other 1.5% of the fee unless you fail to make your first twelve consecutive payments on-time to Direct Loans. This means, however, that if you choose to consolidate through a lender other than Direct Loans you will not benefit from this incentive and the remaining 1.5% of the fee will be added to your loan total.
3. Loss of grace period: Please see When should I consolidate question above.
How do I consolidate through Direct Loans? You can complete your consolidation on-line with Direct Loans at: http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/borrower/bapply.shtml. or by calling 800-557-7392. If you have other graduate or undergraduate federal loans that are not serviced by Direct Loans you may be able to consolidate them through Direct Loans if you have at least one direct loan. However there may be reasons that this may not be advantageous for you. Please contact each of your respective lenders to compare relative strengths and weaknesses of each consolidator to ensure that incentives or benefits won't be lost.
Where do I go if I still have questions: Direct Loans or your other lenders are your best source of information. Direct loans has additional information at http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/borrower/bbenefit.shtml.
Sincerely,
Financial Aid
Many of you might be considering consolidating your federal loans at this time because interest rates are at an all time low. Consolidation can be very beneficial but there are some things to consider before consolidating your federal loans. Below are some answers to the questions many of you have asked:
What does consolidation mean, and why should I consider it? Consolidation means taking your federal loans, issued at different times and at different rates, and rolling them up into one loan with a single, fixed interest rate. The interest rate is determined by your consolidator based upon the weighted average of your outstanding loans. You should contact your lender to find out what that interest rate on your consolidation loan will be.
Should I consolidate? This is a question only you can answer. Different people have different comfort levels when it comes to consolidation. We can't predict what interest rates are going to do in the future. You will have to make the decision as to what will work best for you.
What is the current interest rate? From July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2005, the interest rate on federal Stafford loans for students who are in school is 2.77%. On July 1, 2005, the interest rate will change again, although notification of that rate change will be made in June.
What loans can be consolidated? Any federal loans, such as Stafford Direct, FFEL or Perkins loans. Private loans cannot be consolidated.
When should I consolidate, if I am going to do it? You may consolidate at any time, although we recommend that you wait until all of your loans for the 2004-2005 academic year have disbursed to ensure that they are included in the consolidation.
First and second year students can wait to consolidate until June (when the interest rates for the next year will be announced) to decide if consolidation is in their best interest.
Third year students will lose their grace period if they wait until June to decide. In order to retain your grace period in full you must complete your consolidation before your separation date from the Law School, which in most cases is the last day of classes of your last semester. If you consolidate after your separation date you will go into immediate repayment and forfeit the remainder of your grace period. If you consolidate while you are still in school, or still in your grace period (which expires six months after graduation) your interest rate will be 0.6% lower than if you wait until after that period. We recommend that you as a third year either consolidate in early April, before your separation date (if you think interest rates will rise), or wait until toward the end of your grace period in September (if you are betting on lower interest rates).
What is the downside? Anything I should be worried about? There are three areas in which you should pay special attention:
1. Interest rate: It may go up or down next July, and we won't know until June. Therefore, you could consolidate at this very low rate, thinking you got a terrific deal, and then the rates may go down even further. Once you have consolidated your loans, you cannot consolidate them again. Conversely, you may decide to wait and potentially be disappointed with an increase in the interest rates.
2. Lost Incentives: We know many of you are being encouraged by various lenders to consolidate with them, even though you may not have a loan with them. The University of Michigan is a direct lending school. If you have borrowed federal loans while attending here then your loans are serviced by Direct Loans. There is a 3% origination fee on these federal loans. Currently you pay 1.5% of the fee at disbursement. Due to an incentive offered by Direct Loans, you are not required to pay the other 1.5% of the fee unless you fail to make your first twelve consecutive payments on-time to Direct Loans. This means, however, that if you choose to consolidate through a lender other than Direct Loans you will not benefit from this incentive and the remaining 1.5% of the fee will be added to your loan total.
3. Loss of grace period: Please see When should I consolidate question above.
How do I consolidate through Direct Loans? You can complete your consolidation on-line with Direct Loans at: http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/borrower/bapply.shtml. or by calling 800-557-7392. If you have other graduate or undergraduate federal loans that are not serviced by Direct Loans you may be able to consolidate them through Direct Loans if you have at least one direct loan. However there may be reasons that this may not be advantageous for you. Please contact each of your respective lenders to compare relative strengths and weaknesses of each consolidator to ensure that incentives or benefits won't be lost.
Where do I go if I still have questions: Direct Loans or your other lenders are your best source of information. Direct loans has additional information at http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/borrower/bbenefit.shtml.
Sincerely,
Financial Aid
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thinker
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Если имеется тока один лоан, то консолидация фaктически означает перефинансирование под более низкий процент. Конечно это выгодно (особенно сейчас, когда процент низкий). Только в начале обратитесь за консолидацией в тот же банк, где у Вас этот лоан. Другие конторы иногда не могут перекупать student loans.
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