Five Reasons Why Student Loan Consolidation is More Preferable

When you find yourself drowning in student loan debts even before you are able to seek employment and look for legitimate means to pay for your debts, there is one option available that can help you overcome these debts: student loan debt consolidation.

As with other debt consolidation programs, student debt consolidation services are offered by either traditional or non-profit debt consolidation companies. What loan consolidation does is it combines all your existing loans into a unified loan which will then be handled and managed by the lending agency or company. The funds from this consolidated loan will then be used to pay off the outstanding balances on the other loans. Private student loan debt consolidation operates in the same way as federal loan consolidation services available through various agencies (NSL, FFELP FISL, Perkins and HEAL, just to name a few).

If you haven’t thought of it yet, here are the top five benefits of student loan consolidation.

1.Extended loan term-This is one of the more important benefits of applying for debt consolidation for your student loans. Federal loan consolidation agencies, such as the ones mentioned above, can offer extended loan terms to stretch the repayment period. If you are not qualified for federal loans for whatever reason, you may consult with any company proving non-profit debt consolidation services as these tend to provide friendlier terms to their clients.

2.Fixed or lower interest rates- Federal Stafford and Federal PLUS loans, to name a few, generally offer fixed interest rates for the entire duration of the loan. As an important note, however, lenders warn against consolidating federal loans and private loans since, if this is the case, the higher interest rates of the private loans will be the one considered by the traditional or non-profit debt consolidation companies in computing for the new rate. Nevertheless, private lending agencies can also renegotiate the loan terms for you and bargain for lower interest rates for the previous loans you took out.

3.Lower monthly payments- With lower interest rates and extended loan term, the logical result will be lower monthly amortizations for the consolidated loan. In fact, depending on how much loan you took out to pay for the existing ones, you may be able to shave off as much as 50% from what you are paying if you added up the individual loan payments you have been making. With lower monthly payments, you can comfortably pay for your debts without sacrificing so many other things that you need for your new life as a professional.

4.Simplified payment process- Once all your debts are consolidated into a single loan, you will now only have to make one payment to the lending agency and leave the rest of the work to them. Now, you no longer need to juggle so many bills, schedules, and deal with harassing phone calls and emails from collecting agencies.

5.Increased credit score- This is, perhaps, one of the most important benefits of getting a student loan consolidation. While you are paying for your debts, you are also effectively working toward improving your credit score. This is because you are taking charge of your debts and are showing a committed effort to repay the previous lenders.