The Consolidation Debate
Posted by Student Loan on June 13th, 2009 at 02:58am
Consolidation is the ultimate debt management tool, however is it rethe total ofy worth it?
As most of you already know consolidation is designed to diminish your monthly payment near extending out your loan term, but that also has an injurious effect. The extension of time also adds to your total repayment amount. So at bottom if you vesel afford your payments now it may not inhabit a malicious thing to keep the statues quo. However, the rolls of convert are ushering in a new reality that may hurt student borrowers.
Beginning July 1, the majority of families who hold federal Stafford, Grad extra or father PLUS loans will attain notices that their loans have been bought by the Department of Education, which may just mean the termination of your syrupy benefits.
Before the Department of Education started buying loans under ECASLA (Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act) in 2007, lenders offered positive discounts to borrowers to entice them to consolidate with their organization, but those discounts get dissolved when your loan changes zip codes and ends up with the DOE.
My bosom friend Tannaz was offered a .50 ACH discount a few years ago by her lender while my buddy Mark was offered a 2 percent discount off his remaining principal balance after making 36 consecutive ontime payments. But when ECASLA took effect, lenders who wanted their loans to be purchased by the Department of Education had to come to a halt offering almost all of those incentives.
If you listen closely you can hear the sound of the free sell crumbling. Hold onto something solid - that wind of change is about to hit Tropical Storm status.
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