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Student loan consolidation can have many benefits for the career minded student. With the prices of things going through the roof, going to college can be very costly. Many students don*t have thousands of dollars to pay their way through college.

This is why many college students use student loans to get themselves through college. When it comes time to pay back their student loans, it can be a real burden and a distraction from their career.

Before you sign up on the dotted line, you should know how to get the best student loan consolidation rate and plan for your financial needs. If you are tired of too many bills and monthly due dates, it just might be time to find the best student loan consolidation rate and plan that you can qualify for.

What Is The Idea Behind Student Loan Consolidation?

When a student first applied for several student loans from several different agencies and student loan providers, they each gave a different interest rate and term for paying back the loans. The idea of student loan consolidation, is to take all the different student loans and put them into one easy convenient loan. You then only have to make one monthly loan payment every month, instead of several loan payments every month over time. This saves the student both time and money. Having a lower interest rate and less checks to write every month are a couple of advantages of doing a student loan consolidation.

Credit Check Before You Get Student Loan Consolidation Rates And Payment Plans

The most obvious way to get the best student loan consolidation rates and payments, is by having great credit. It's easy to get great student loan consolidation plans with a credit score, also known as FICO, over 660. But, there are several ways to get the best student loan consolidation rates and payment plans.

You can do a simple online search on FICO and credit scores to find the information you need to check out your credit score. Knowing your credit information should be your first step to getting the best student loan consolidation rates. With knowledge, you will get the best student loan consolidation rates for your financial and credit situation.

Student loan consolidation rates and plans can vary from person to person. The loan rates offered will be based on your financial situation and credit. With a FICO credit score under 600, it can be a challenge to get a good student loan consolidation rate and plan in most cases.

7 Aspects To Consider With Student Loan Consolidation Plans

1. Lower Monthly Payments. Depending on your student loan situation and the type of lender you choose, you may be able to lower your monthly payments by up to 50%

2. Having Simple Loan Payments. By consolidating your student loans, you only have one loan payment per month and one check to write. This is very beneficial if you are writing several checks every month to multiple lenders.

3. Having Fixed Interest Rates. With some federal consolidation loans you can have a fixed rate for the life of your student loan. It's best to do research to see what the best interest rates and term you are eligible for. You can check online to calculate the interest rate on a new student consolidation loan based on the rates of your current student loans. You can then round up to the nearest 1/8th of a percent of the weighted average of the interest rates on your eligible student loans.

4. Extending Your Payment Period. You may have a lot of student loan debt. With federal consolidation loans you may be able to extend the payment term up to 30 years. It's a good idea to realize you will end up paying more interest over the life of your student loan consolidation. The idea is to get some leverage until your career takes off. You can focus on making money instead of several monthly loan payments.

5. In School Consolidation Programs. While still in school, eligible students can lock in a low rate. This would put you into repayment status, but since you are still in school, you are automatically put into deferment. The drawback of consolidating your loans while in school, is that you lose your 6 month grace period. The solution to this would be to request forbearance for up to 1 year on your student loan consolidation. Here again you can do some research and get more information online.

6. Lower Interest Rate. Student loan consolidation can save you thousands of dollars. You may be using credit cards with 10% to 28% interest trying to keep up with your bills. This can cost you thousands of dollars when you pay the minimum monthly payments on high interest credit card debt. Having a student loan consolidation may be your best option if you can get lower interest rates when consolidating your student loans.

7. New Interest Rates. With a new student loan consolidation, you may be able to get a much better interest rate. Interest rates are now at an all time low. You may have been paying on debt you built up from several years ago, at high interest rates. Things change over time in the financial industry.

Resources Online For Student Loan Consolidation Rates And Payment Plans

With today's Internet resources, you have an advantage when looking for the best student loan consolidation rates and plans online. If you take some time to do research on the process of getting the best student loan consolidation rates and plans, you may be able to save yourself the high costs on student loan consolidation.

Online website services can make it easy to see if you qualify. There are many tools and ideas online to help you get the best rates and plans available for your student loan consolidation needs.

Copyright 2005 Dean Shainin