Finance 101

2006-10-17T20:20:00.000-05:00

How to Save Thousands on Student Loans Using a Loophole in the
Federal Consolidation Program

Author: Chris Studer

Most graduates don't realize until it's too late that there is a
loophole in the federal student loan consolidation program that
allows borrowers to lock in an interest rate that is 0.60% lower
than standard repayment rates. Each year's graduating class has
a unique opportunity to take advantage of this loophole before
it closes after the 6th month following their graduation. For
students in the class of 2006, November marks the last
opportunity to lock in their current low interest rate before it
increases.

Why consolidating during the grace period makes such an
impact on savings

The reason borrowers are able to save so much by consolidating
college loans during the grace period has a two-part answer.
First, the interest on a college loan during its six month grace
period is up to 0.60% lower than when the loan enters repayment
status. Add to this the current federal student loan
consolidation rate guidelines that dictate the rate of the new
consolidated loan using a weighted average of the current loan's
interest rates. Once college loans are consolidated, the lower
repayment rate is fixed for the entire 10 to 30 year repayment
period.

How student loan consolidation helps borrowers

If you miss the deadline, there are still ways to save with
student loan consolidation. One of the benefits that many people
say they enjoy most about consolidating student loans, is the
ability to extend the repayment term from the standard 10 year
period, up to as many as 30 years. By lengthening the repayment
period, monthly payments are dramatically reduced.

When payments are spread out over a longer period of time,
students will pay more in interest over the lifetime of the
loan. But many students say that without this option, making the
monthly payments on their student loans would be a larger burden
than they could shoulder.

By consolidating student loans and extending the repayment
period, borrowers can keep monthly payments low during the early
years of their budding career. Should they choose to do so,
borrowers can contribute larger payments as their salaries
increase in the future. Most lenders don't charge any
pre-payment penalties, meaning the choice about how long it will
take to pay back loans is entirely up to the borrower, no matter
how many years they spread out their consolidated loan.

Don't forget to factor in opportunity costs

Though it would be ideal to have no debt at all, this simply
isn't an option for most people. New grads face a steep uphill
battle. At this stage in life, graduates are juggling cash
between buying homes, launching businesses, and starting a
family. While a borrower could pay down their college loan in 10
years by paying $700 a month, rather than over 30 years at $258
a month, is it worth the opportunity cost?

For those earning enough to do both, the choice to pay off
college loans sooner might be more beneficial. But others who
are forced to make a choice about how to leverage a tight income
must decide what is in line with their ultimate financial goals.
Instead of being forced to save around the student loan
repayment, borrowers can choose a feasible monthly repayment
amount, and then determine the number of years required to repay
the loan at that amount using a student loan consolidation
calculator.

How to Save Even More with the PLUS Loan Consolidation
Loophole

PLUS loans, once only for parents of undergraduate students, are
now available for graduate students to fund their own educations
as a result of the Higher Education Reconciliation Act July 1st
changes. PLUS loans experienced a rate hike in July, from 6.1%
to 8.5% but there is a silver lining to this cloud through a
loophole in the Act.

Another one of the July 1st changes dictated that all
consolidated loans would have a cap of 8.25%, a quarter of a
percent lower than the rate of the PLUS loan. This means that
any parent or graduate that has a PLUS loan will lower their
interest rate, just by consolidating. PLUS loan borrowers can
choose to extend the repayment period like any other federal
student loan borrower to lower the monthly payment, but with
this loophole, even if they make no changes to the 10 year
repayment period, they will still save money just by
consolidating.

Just as before the changes, the process of consolidating federal
loans is still free and requires no credit checks and no
collateral. As always, federal student loan consolidation neatly
wraps up all outstanding federal loans tied together with one
fixed rate. So while the rate increase made big news last July,
there are still plenty of benefits and ways to save money by
consolidating student loans.

About the author:
ScholarPoint Financial, Inc. is a national online
consumer lending company specializing in student loans. We
believe in combining state-of-the-art technology with world
class service to help students and parents easily gain access to
data, become informed, and enjoy the process of obtaining a
college loan. Learn more about Student Loan Consolidation at

ScholarPoint.com

STUDENT LOANS FROM NEXTSTUDENT OFFERS AN ARRAY OF OPTIONS FOR

2006-10-11T19:24:00.000-05:00

Author: Jeff Mictabor

Article:
College student borrowers who need help to fund their college
education have a variety of options. Phoenix-based NextStudent,
the premier education funding company, offers a host of student
loan (http://www.nextstudent.com) options as well as advice for
borrowers who are looking to achieve their dream of a college
education.

NextStudent's highly trained Education Finance Advisers are
knowledgeable about the numerous student loan choices available
to students and offers education finance counseling to help put
students on the right educational financing track.

Prospective college students always are advised to begin with
scholarships, get as much free money as possible. Through
NextStudent's Scholarship Search Engine, student borrowers have
a host of available scholarships from which they can apply to
see if they qualify for free money. The search engine is free of
charge, private and updated daily so that students continuously
can inquire. Students also should check about scholarships
offered through other avenues, such as their college of choice,
local community companies and community religious organizations.

After scholarships, student loan borrowers then should look to
federal student loans (http://www.nextstudent.com) to help fund
their education. NextStudent offers competitive federally
guaranteed student and parent loans, or PLUS Loans
(http://www.nextstudent.com/plus_loans/plus_loans.asp). Along
with the set federal interest rate, the company always features
a host of aggressive benefits and incentives to help make
repayment both easy and manageable for the student.

Federal Student loans
(http://www.nextstudent.com/student-loans/student-loans.asp)
offered to college students include Stafford loans, which do not
require a credit check, and payments do not have to be made
until after graduation. Parents also can help to pay for their
children's higher education costs with a federal PLUS Loan -
Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students. Parents can take out
PLUS loans (http://www.nextstudent.com) and never have to dip
into their savings. The loans are not based on financial need,
so all parents are eligible, regardless of their income.

When scholarships and federal funds are exhausted, student
borrowers can turn to NextStudent Private student loans
(http://www.nextstudent.com/private_loans/private_loans.asp),
which are available to college students and graduate students.
They are unsecured, credit-based loans that are available
throughout the year for all related college expenses. They cover
up to the full cost of education, less any financial aid
received by the borrower.

Preapproval is fast and student borrowers can receive a
NextStudent Private loan in as little as five business days.
There are no payments until after graduation, no application
fees or deadlines, and funds are sent directly to the borrower.
Borrowers can apply for Private student loans with or without a
co-signer; however, NextStudent approves more loans with a
qualified co-signer. In addition, Private loans through
NextStudent typically are a better choice than credit cards
because interest rates are lower and the loans feature
money-saving repayment options.

About NextStudent

NextStudent, federal lender code 834051, is dedicated to helping
students and their families find affordable ways to pay for
college. NextStudent offers one-on-one education finance
counseling and has a portfolio of highly competitive education
finance products and services including a free online
scholarship search engine, federally guaranteed parent and
student loans, private student loans, both federal and private
student loan consolidation programs, and college savings plans.

The NextStudent Scholarship Search Engine, one of the nation's
oldest and largest scholarship search engines, is updated daily,
available free of charge, completely private - and represents
2.4 million scholarships worth $3.4 billion.

For more information about NextStudent and its student loan
programs, please visit the company's Web site at
http://www.nextstudent.com/.

About the author:
Jeff Mictabor is an enthusiast on the topic of student loan
issues in the news. He has been writing for the past 10 years
for a variety of education publications. He now offers his
writing services on a freelance basis.

Student Debt Consolidation Loan: Moving Ahead With No Strings

2006-10-11T13:19:00.000-05:00

Author: Marsha Claire

Article:
Student life, I know for a fact is the most exciting part of
life that most of us may want to relive. The fun, the
independence, the sudden shouldering of responsibility, the
freedom, the studying up to late hours and hard work put in to
build a promising future that one can depend on - are all part
of the same game. Students living away from home especially,
have great experiences to go through, but along with freedom
comes responsibility and that's something you cannot opt out of!
Meeting added responsibilities means different things for
different people, but let's talk about the financial aspect.
This could include renting out an apartment, funding your
education, paying basic electricity, gas and store bills, paying
credit card bills and several other regular expenses that may be
necessities or simply enjoyments. Most students can usually meet
these expenses by taking up additional jobs, with a little
financial support from their parents and most importantly by
taking loans. Education Loans, Credit Card Consolidation, Car
Loans and various Personal Loans have students as regular
takers. But moving into a career with such pending debt is an
impossible step because of the many financial hurdles you are
sure to encounter as you move ahead. It's time to consider
Student Debt Consolidation Loans.

Consolidating your student loans is a great way to overcome the
burden of debt from school or college. With Student Debt
Consolidation Loans, you combine all your pending payments and
outstanding loans into one large unpaid loan. This amount is
then repaid with the amount availed from the Student Debt
Consolidation Loan. Your instant debt-free feel can be quite
exhilarating, but the loan amount has to be paid in instalments.
However, this is not your responsibility any more. With Student
Debt Consolidation Loans, a great feature is that although you
are indebted to many lenders and have to make several cheques of
different amounts, to each of them, now, you need to make one
cheque of a single consolidated amount to your Student Debt
Consolidation Loan lender. He repays your prior lenders on your
behalf. You are therefore relieved of the burden of 'several'
debt and are now restricted to repay just one - the Student Debt
Consolidation Loan.

http://www.easy-debt-consolidations.co.uk
Student Debt Consolidation Loans are
great solutions that can make repayment so much easier, allowing
students to build their futures without a lot of preoccupying
thoughts of being financially indebted to many. However, to make
the most it, you need to choose the right Student Debt
Consolidation Loan, with the right rates and other requisites in
place.

1. Interest Rate:

A lower interest rate on a relatively big loan can save you a
lot of money of in the long run. Consolidating at a fixed
interest rate will let you keep the same monthly instalment
amount throughout the loan term. The best part is that there are
a few perks for students with respect to the interest rate:

*Some lending companies offer rate reductions for students
consolidating their loans while they are in their grace period
(A grace period is the time given to a student to seek
employment after completing education. Grace periods usually
last between 4 months and a year).

*Some companies even reduce your rate by one percent if you make
all of your payments on time for two years.

*Some directly deduct the monthly payments from your bank
account. Such companies reduce interest when allowed to handle
your finances this way.

Also remember: interest on federal loans is tax-deductible,
while private loans do not provide any benefit. Federal and
Private Loans are types of Education Loans. Student Debt
Consolidation Loans are further secured or unsecured, depending
on the presence or absence of collateral. The secured option is
commonly suggested if you have collateral and are looking to
borrow large amounts because of the lower interest rate and
longer loan terms.

When consolidating your Federal Student Loan or any Government
loan, contacting the agency that issued it may be a wise idea
because sometimes, it is possible to fully cancel the loan
without reimbursing the money. Make sure you do this before
consolidation since it is not possible to avail this facility
after that. You could also find out about the FFEL student
consolidation program. This loan program specially helps
students with multiple repayment schedules. When students do not
consolidate their student loan debt, this will result in the
inability to acquire future mortgages, car loans, credit cards,
and other kinds of credit in some cases. So choose wisely and
choose now!

About the author:
Marsha Claire is offering loan advice for quite some time. To
find Student Debt Consolidation Loans, Debt consolidation loan
bad credit, online debt consolidation loan, easy debt
consolidations please visit
http://www.easy-debt-consolidations.co.uk