Thursday, August 30, 2007

How Do You Shorten Student Loans

Wouldn't you love to be able to pay a good portion of your student loans even before you leave school, which many students do not even consider while they are buried in books. It might require you to think outside the box with your student loans so you take care of your payments better than the average student.

I recently saw a study created by the National Post-Secondary Financial Program. I was not surprised to see that the results showed that nearly two-thirds of college students struggle to pay loans during school and they unfortunately graduate with a bachelor's degree and student loan debt. Then on top of that students leaving school with federal student loans have an average debt of nearly $20,000.

Wouldn't you rather put that money in a business, a car payment, or a down payment for a mortgage? I definitely would.

Even after you find an appealing student loan option and even if you take it still look for a better deal if you can. There are going to be times during your 4 years at school where you find the right loan with the right payment amounts and interest rates.

Search through the large list of non-profit and private student loans out there that are willing to offer loan consolidation that will ease your burden with debt. Be careful if you have a federal student loan because it is probable that you will see a hike in interest rates during your contract. That means more money, more payments, more interest, and more years.

The last thing you want to do is worry about more bills along with utilities, rent or a mortgage, car payments, eventually insurance of every kind, children bills, and really the list never ends. I was shocked to see all of the random payments that I didn't realize.

Student loan consolidation could help you make larger payments with fix rates and take chunks out of the principle. Where many students it could take 20-30 years, you may be able to get it done in 10 years or maybe even shorter. You will have to worry about a mortgage probably, don't make your student loan a 30 year bill too.

Consolidating student loans are possible for the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFEL), along with credit unions, secondary markets, banks, and plenty of other lenders will provide similar options. These are all worthy alternatives for you to take a look at during your undergraduate. I know many of you students are probably already getting tired of reading, but I wouldn't recommend it if it didn't mean more cash in your wallet and more time on your watch.

You will actually find out that many federal education loans are capable of being consolidated whether they are subsidized or not. Some of these include Stafford Loans, Perkins Loans, and Federal Nursing Loans. Whatever loan you may have, make sure to check your terms to see your rights and responsibilities.