Why Consolidate Student Loans?

The reasons to consolidate student loans far outweigh the reasons not to consolidate student loans. The best time to consolidate your student loans is after you graduate unless the interest rates are going to increase. Then it is in your best interest to consolidate your loans before the rate hike to pay less interest over the life of the loan.

If you have private loans and government student loans, you will need to consolidate them separately. The interest rate on the government loans is probably a lot less than the private student loans and there are other benefits that come with direct student loans that you will lose if you consolidate them together. They will all become private loans if you combine them together.

Here are some the benefits of consolidating your student loans:
• A locked in fixed interest rate for the life of the loan.
• The convenience of one monthly payment.
• Lower monthly payments.
• Payments can be deferred in cases of hardship.
• The loan is forgiven in the case of death.
• The interest may be tax deductible.
• Qualifying is not based on your credit score.
• There is no limit on the amount that can be consolidated.

You will have many things that think about and many decisions to make after you graduate from school, but one of the items you should have at the top of your list is to consolidate student loans. Consolidating your student loans will save you a lot of money over the life of your loan and give the convenience of having only one monthly payment.