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Guide to Private Student Loan Consolidation
Borrowing may be your only option to pay for your college education if you are not eligible for grants and don’t qualify for scholarships. The process of acquiring these loans can be simple enough that you allow the repayment period to begin before you calculate what that monthly amount might be. If your starting salary is less than you anticipated, you may need to consider private student loan consolidation to put your loan into a more manageable format.
Private Student Education Loans
Private education loan consolidation means private loans cannot be comingled with Federal education loans. If you borrowed money with a private education loan, you will need a private education loan consolidation. By doing this you will reset the terms of the loan which may reduce your monthly payments. Usually the interest is not reduced. But if your credit score has improved since you originally applied for the first loan, you may qualify for a reduced interest rate. This may be the case now that you have graduated and gotten a job in your chose profession. You may now be a doctor making a good income and if you’ve been paying your bills on time your scores may have improved 100 points or more, which would definitely qualify you for a better credit score and lower interest rate.
Check with your existing bank to see if your current loans can be consolidated into a lower interest rate loan before you take it to another bank. They may be willing to help you rather than lose your business. If they are not helpful, shop around and find another lender who is willing to give you a private education loan consolidation. When shopping for a private student loan consolidation check to see if the loan is fixed or variable. What are the fees, origination fees, etc? And are there prepayment penalties? You should be able to pay an extra amount that is applied to your balance after collection costs; late charges outstanding interest and principal have been deducted from the payment. Any additional money left is considered prepayment and will be applied to the loan balance. There should be no extra fees associated with prepayment in the original loan. You will have to determine if the private student loan consolidation has fees of this nature.
Private education loan Consolidation Lenders
The Higher Education Act of 1965, The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 and the amended Truth in Lending Act banned fees or penalties for early repayment of private education loans. The competitive institution did not charge prepayment penalties to keep the playing field even for all private lenders. Prepayment can provide a significant savings for the student. The total interest paid can be reduced by the extra payments being applied to the balance first and then the interest, ultimately saving thousands of dollars over the lifetime of a private student loan consolidation.
An EdSucceed Private student loan Consolidation through cuStudentLoans.org will provide loan consolidation for undergraduate students with debt of $7500 to $100,000 and graduate degree recipients with debt of up to $150,000 a 15-year loan. They have a 1.00% origination fee and a variable rate based on prime plus 1.5% to prime plus 4%. Your rate is based on credit and whether or not you select ACH payments. If you have a cosigner, you can release them after the first 12 year of on-time payments if other credit criteria are satisfied.
The student loan Network offers private college loan consolidation for a minimum of $10,000 to a maximum of $300,000. The repayment term ranges from 20-year for $40,000 or less to 30-year for above $40,000. The interest rate is based on 3-month LIBOR plus 5% to 3-month LIBOR plus 8.5%. The origination fee is also a range of 1% to 5%. There are no prepayment penalties and the cosigner is released after 4 years of timely payments and is based on the primary borrower’s credit improving.
Wells Fargo offers private education loan consolidation. They will consolidate a minimum of $5000 and up to $40,000 or up to $100,000 depending on the borrower’s credit. A 15-year term is provided with a variable rate. The interest ranges from prime plus 1% to prime plus 5.75%. The base rate is 3.25%. There is no origination fee associated with this loan. The rate is reduced.5% for automatic debit payments and the rate is reduced further for making 48 payments on time consecutively.
Currently, both Chase and Next Student have temporarily suspended their private student loan consolidation programs. Private student loan consolidations that are variable rate should be compared to a home equity loan with a fixed rate. If the comparison makes a home equity loan more attractive, and you own a home with enough equity in it to finance such a maneuver, this may be a better option than a variable rate loan.
Private Student College Loans And Federal College Loans
The primary difference in private student loan consolidation and federal loan consolidation is private loan rates are higher than federal loans even in consolidation. Federal loans and private loans cannot be mixed into the same consolidation loan. A loan that mixes several loans together often reduces the rate of one or two of the loans and reduces the payment giving the borrower more years to pay. This cannot be done when the loans come from different sources. Guaranteed Student education loans or federal loans with much lower interest rates cannot be mixed with private non-guaranteed loans with much higher interest rates in a private education loan consolidation.
The Consequences Of Default
Private college loan consolidation is there to provide more manageable debt repayments, preventing default or reducing incidences of default. Defaulting on a student loan could result in the IRS offsetting or keeping your federal or state tax refunds and wage garnishments. If you are a federal employee, they can offset 15% of your pay to repay Education loans. You may have to pay additional collection costs, legal action may be taken against you and the credit bureaus will be notified and your credit rating will suffer. Bankruptcy is no longer an option. Student education loans cannot be included in a bankruptcy filing. The only option for reducing payments of a private education loan is a private college loan consolidation. Your total loan term may be extended, lessening your monthly payments.
Useful Information About Student Loan Default
Some graduates fail to repay because adequate employment isn’t found after leaving school and causes student loan default. Others may have different financial circumstances that could hinder repayment, but there are naïve students who just ignore their obligation and do not fully understand the consequences of default.
DEFERMENT BEFORE DEFAULT
Before defaulting on a loan, deferment, also referred to as “economic hardship” is an option. Loan deferment is postponement of repayment. A borrower must request deferment from the lending institution that issued the loan.
Economic Hardship is only one of several kids on loan deferment, and it is available in one year increments if the student is able to prove through documentation that he or she has had a previous hardship deferment, is on federal or state assistance, or is in the Peace Corps.
If a borrower is attending school, is unemployed, or is in the military then he or she can also qualify for other types of deferment. This is a way to remain in good standing with your loan institution.
DELINQUENCY
Loans go into delinquency when students fail to send in payments on time and this can result in default, but delinquency is a kind of warning. For every one student that defaults, a minimum of two will enter delinquency. Delinquent loans are far more common than defaulted ones. They are not as serious as defaults; to but can nevertheless, result in future ramifications like the inability to obtain mortgage credit.
There are various repayment options available to borrowers, however most do not search for help until delinquency or default has already occurred. Contacting the lender before these issues arise is the best solution to avoid the consequences that come along with failure to repay borrowed funds.
The lenders will send notices by email or traditional mail throughout the period of nonpayment before default occurs, as well as when the loan is declared to be defaulted.
ABOUT STUDENT LOAN DEFAULT
A borrower is required to repay all loans, regardless of whether that person graduated from college or not. When obtaining a student loan, the borrower is required to sign a promissory note, which binds him or her to the terms of the loan agreement and by signing it, the student agrees to repay the funds in full.
Many students want to repay their obligations, but may be finding it difficult obtaining adequate employment after graduation, and this would be the best time to defer the loan, before default sets in.
Once the loan has defaulted, a person can begin enduring serious consequences. Most student loan defaults take place when the borrower withdraws from the college or university and ceases to return and work toward fulfillment of a degree.
Student loans are not able to be discharged through bankruptcy in most cases. After defaulting on your loan, there is the option of making a hardship petition. These hardship petitions have requirements that can be very difficult to fulfill. To meet hardship requirements, a student must be able to show that he or she has made a good faith effort to repay the loan, but if it has already defaulted then this can be hard to prove considering student loan defaults occur after almost one full year of nonpayment.
A person pursing a hardship petition must show that he or she will not be able to meet even the lowest standard of living and still be able to make lowest acceptable payments toward the debt. The person must be able to show that this circumstance will likely be upon him or her for the remainder of the loan repayment period. This could be the hardest evidence to prove, with the exception of persons who have had injuries or serious medical problems, or are homeless. If you are able to satisfy the conditions of the hardship petition, most times only a portion of the loan debt is forgiven.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEFAULT?
Once your loan has been declared to be in default, you are no longer able to defer it and you are no longer eligible to get any further financial aid until the full amount has been repaid. Once default sets in, the repayment period agreed upon in the original promissory note is then forfeited. The full amount is then due back to the lender.
The lending institution will turn over your case to a collection agency and you may then be responsible for any collection costs tacked onto your loan by the collectors. The debt can significantly grow due to collection costs.
If you are employed, an Administrative Wage Garnishment can be placed on you pay, and the employer will then send 15% of your wages toward repayment of the loan.
Your federal or state tax refund or both may be offset by the Department of Treasury. If this happens, you may not be immediately notified until after you have filed your taxes and are waiting for the refund. You may, then, receive a letter informing you of the allocation of the refund or refunds to satisfy your outstanding student loan debt.
Legal action can be taken against you and your credit suffer will definitely suffer tremendously. Persons with defaulted student loans do not qualify for HUD or VA loans and will not be accepted to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
WHAT CAN I DO TO PAY MY DEFAULTED LOAN?
The U.S. Department of Education’s guaranty agencies are all required to accept reasonable and regular monthly payments that are affordable to you. After six full moths of regular repayment, a student may be able to return to school with financial assistance.
The FFEL loan consolidation program or the William D. Ford Direct Loan Program is two programs that help with repayment of defaulted loans, and there is also a loan rehabilitation program for help with repaying your loans.