School Loan Consolidation

[6FeetUnder]

Right now, the interest rates on my School loans have gone to 8.60%... I know I can get better than that, I have a 746 credti score.

Has anyone had any good luck with companies for consolidating???
Can you please post rates and fees with the websites you are familiar with?

Thanks.

Chris

[fairy74]

I used Access (Kentucky Higher Education Loan Service)---not sure if these guys are just for law school loans or not (as that's all I have), my rates are 4.03% on a consoidation. I had looked into Wachovia (terrible, terrible, terrible) and also into the US Dept of Edu consolidation program (not so hot either).

[6FeetUnder]

Any fees? Customer service good? Do they have a website?

Chris

[MarianneJ]

You can try www.salliemae.com - I got a great deal when I re-consolidated with them last June (4.875% ;1% reduction in rate after 24 months of ontime pmts, and 3% principle reduction after 3 ontime pmts) , but I know rates have gone up since then.

I haven't had any trouble with them and we have been with them since 2002. My DH's loan I consolidated in 2002 is now at 3.125. I wish I could get those rates now.

ScholarPoint offered the same terms minus the 3% principal reduction. I only got offered that from SallieMae when I called and asked if they could beat ScholarPoint's offer.

[fairy74]

http://www.accessgroup.org is their website, the consoliation application form is on the website...Also I talked to a friend of mine who has them (she had a mix of grad school loans and undergrad loans) and they consolidate them all.

[debtfreeme]

I used VSAC (Vermont Student Assistance Corp) when i consolidate ears ago. I received my grad degree in Vermont. At that time they were talking about being able to eventually buy loans from other places. I am not sure if they do or don't know but the rates were great (around 3% then!) and have specials for 36 payments, when you consolidate they take 1% off the top to help you out, lots of good stuff. great customer services.

[6FeetUnder]

Thanks everyone for your help. I will be contacting some of these places to see what they can offer me. Anyone know of a website that compares these things, similiar to the credit card ranking pages??

Chris

[6FeetUnder]

Okay...

Apparently most of these places only consolidate FEDERAL loans. I have regular school loans through CitiBank. If I remember correctly, I did not quality for federal loans.

I have a really good credit score, (750ish) and I KNOW I can get better than a 8.60%...

Anyone have any other recommendations?


Chris

[MarianneJ]

I don't know if you can do better than 8.6% since you'll probably have to take a personal loan to consolidate them. Anyone else have any suggestions???

[6FeetUnder]

Originally Posted by MarianneJ

I don't know if you can do better than 8.6% since you'll probably have to take a personal loan to consolidate them. Anyone else have any suggestions???

Yeah, after calling a few companies, it sounds like you're correct. Private loans (boo) go off of PRIME with most companies. Since PRIME is at 8.50%, my 8.62% looks pretty good.

Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions, I appreciate it!
Just trying to get the "snowball" rolling a little faster!

Chris

[tinapbeana]

6feet: only thing i can think if is a low/no interest rate credit card which may or may not be an option for your. good luck in your quest!

[vishenda]

Credit scores are only a minor factor in determining the rate on a Student loan consolidation.
How a consolidation works is that it blends the rates of all your like student loans and combines them together.

For example, if you had $10,000 in student loans.
1 account is $2,000 and is currently at a rate of 7%
the other account is $8,000 and is currently at a rate of 9%. Your blended rate would be much closer to 9% than 7% because the amount of debt is higher at that rate.

Consolidations are intended to spread the debt payments over a longer time period.
You can only combine like loans as well. Stafford loans can't be combined with private school loans because they are not the same.

A GREAT Company is Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation.

They are for profit, but operate very ethically.