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Are there programs out there for married couples to consolidate their student loans? Currently my husband owes about $16k and I owe $7k in student loans. We pay $175 per month total in student loan debt. Can we as a married couple even consolidate them? Do they have to be through the same company? I'd like to pay them down faster but also have just one set bill for that but don't know what's available.
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Hi there, I think the rule of thumb is to maintain separate student loans. I don't really know the reason why, but I would suspect its for tax and and potential legal purposes.
Can anyone else chime in on this??? -
I believe the reason to keep them separate is that should one of you die the loans would die with you. If you consolidated them then the survivor would be on the hook for the full amount.Comment
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You can't consolidate them into 1 big "student loan" but you could consolidate them with a new loan (personal or HELCO or something).
I wouldn't do that though, it could get messy.
You should also start paying more if you can, that's pretty low for the size of loans you have (I pay $200/mo on $10,700).
Also, right now your CR has each loan separate (and helping history and such separate too). So combining them into a new loan would hurt you (new loan, lower AAoA... and joint accounts are usually not recommended for ANYTHING except a house).
If you are worried about not remembering them, add a calender reminder to your phone, set up an excel sheet with all your bills, make it auto pay (and some lenders offer a discount for this)...
hope that helps.Comment
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