Looking for advice on loan consolidation

[Kittamaru]

So, my wife just graduated and I'm only one more module away... and I was thinking - she has loans from two schools (two degrees as well), and I have loans from three schools (will have two degrees in the end)... how does one go about consolidating them? I saw some stuff via google but, well, I don't know what to trust or believe. We don't make a whole lot just yet as the job market... well, around here it sucks quite badly... but yeah... any advice is appreciated.

[nismothunder]

Student loans may be diffrent, but in this day and age it is very diffecult to combin your loans, the banks just do not want to leand that much money and if the loans are through one bank they will raise the interest or flat out refuse to do it.

 

Its not impossible but it is hard to do ( like combining a morgage and a second morgage, they will flat refuse in most cases)

 

A few years ago it was easy but not so much today.

[AndyC]

For the most part, student loans tend to be very low interest. You may want to keep them as they are. I'm not sure who you bank with, but a lot of banks offer free or low cost financial advisors. Maybe make an appt. to speak with them and see what they have to say. If you really want to combine them you will more than likely need to build up some credit or equity.

[MrT]

You can consolidate federal loans fairly easily but all you save is the time it takes to pay one bill vs. however many loans you have now. If you have private loans it's going to double your interest rate (usually) to consolidate them so there is no reason to. And you can't get rid of them. Ever. Unless you can file for bankruptcy and even then you pretty much have to prove that you can't afford to eat.

 

Federal loans can also go into an income based repayment plan which isn't so bad if you lack funds.