Saturday, February 28, 2009

Consolidation for Private Student Loans: Basic Information

by Torrie Cantor

Consolidation for private student loans have become the best financial solution to self-supporting students. These student loans consolidation programs are available to help you refinance your student loans after graduation. But if you still have private student loans to refinance, then where do you go? Don’t worry. Now, there are many companies that offer private student loans consolidation as part of their programs.

Federal Student Loan - If you have applied for federal student loan consolidation before, but weren’t able to include your private student loans, then you’ve come to the right place. This article will give you a brief background on student loans consolidation, consolidation for private student loans, and how and where you can apply for one.

Student Loans Consolidation


One good thing about this is that with a student loans consolidation, you can save up to 50% of even more on the life of your student loans. This is because with it, all your student loans are bundled into a single loan with one lender and one repayment plan. You will be able to lock in a low monthly payment with a fixed interest rate for the life of your loan. All this without incurring unnecessary fees like application fees, origination fees, credit checks, income verifications, or repayment penalties.

Low Interest Rates - With a low interest rate and minus all these fees, you can really reduce your monthly payments. Not only that, it will also extend your repaying time for up to 20 more years.

Federal Student Loan Consolidation


You can easily lower your monthly payments for as much as 60% with federal consolidation loan programs. This is for applicants who have federal loans, such as PLUS and Stafford. However, in most cases, you wouldn’t be able to include your private educational loans for this. That is why you get private student loan consolidation.

Private Student Loan Consolidation


Then, there are private student loans. For those private student loans that you cannot include in a federal student consolidation loan, you can apply under the private loan consolidation program. This is so you can consolidate your eligible private education loans into one easy-to-pay loan at low rates. Depending on the company you choose, you will also be able to extend your repaying time up to 30 years. This will really help in decreasing your monthly payments.

How and Where you Can Apply for One


If you want to apply for private student loan consolidation, then all you have to do is go online. Now, there are many companies that offer online application that you can accomplish in just a matter of minutes. The requirements vary with the company you choose, so make sure you give this some thought. Others would require you collateral and a co-signor, while others would not. It really depends with what program you opt for.

About the Author:Learn more regarding consolidation for private student loans. Begin your school loans consolidation processing online.

Friday, February 27, 2009

ACS Student Loan Offers Everything You Need

By Rick Goldfeller


Most of us want to finish college. Typically, parents are the ones responsible for sending their children to college. But sometimes, finances can be tough. Some students who are not financially well-off are concerned about finishing their college education. Making it through college is very expensive. There are lots of expenses like tuition, books, allowance and others. You're very lucky if there are people who will support you all the way. How about those students who can't afford college education? Good thing, there are lots of student loans available from different lending companies. Borrowing is what most students do when they are in dire need of cash to pay off expenses.


They depend mostly on loans in order to get their degree. However, there are lots of student loans available around. You can either choose from private and government loans. If you are thinking of going to a private lending company, you better choose ACS student loan. ACS student loan is managed by Affiliated Computer Services Inc. which is well-known for outsourcing technology and business solutions. It is getting popular among students in U.S. because of its ease and flexibility. With the use of technology, application is much easier and faster. You can just visit their site and process your application online.


Necessary information will be asked from and you will just have to fill in the data. There is also a sample application form where it can be used as a basis in filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. The application form will determine if you're qualified for financial assistance offered by the company. What makes it attractive to students are the features of the loan. One can easily check the status of the loan, make online payments and change personal information. Almost all the procedures are done online. The monthly payment can also be processed online.


You will receive an email notification upon processing of your payment. That would be very convenient on your part. You don't have to go to the place of business of the lending company if you want to pay. With just a click in your computer, processing will be completed. In ACS student loan, you will also learn more about loan consolidation. If you're already in huge debt, you can consolidate it. The ACS' website will inform you of the benefits of debt consolidation. It also provides application form which can help you reduce your monthly payment. There are also various financial aid programs under the ACS family like Campus Based Student Loan Program, PLUS loans, Federal Family Education Loan Program, Nursing Student Loans and many more.


You have the choice on what loan to avail which is suitable to your need. The ACS student loans are somewhat similar to government student loans in terms of flexibility in application, repayment and consolidation. A loan calculator is also included in the ACS service. You will reap similar benefits from others like benefits of deferred payment, lower fixed interest rate, deferred interest, and tax deductible. The ACS student loan is simply all that you wish for a student loan.


The author of this article Rick Goldfeller is an underground Financial Analyst who has been successfully running campaigns for several wealthy clients. Rick finally decided to go public and share his knowledge and experience through his website http://www.finanzine.com. You can sign up for his free newsletter and join his coaching program.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rick_Goldfeller

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Advantages Of Getting Federal Student Consolidation

In order to live a decent life a person needs food, employment and also education. The latter is very important because it supports the other two by facilitating their needs. That´s why students must be constantly encouraged to pursue an education program despite the costs.

To support all that, the US Government decided to offer the students a consolidated loan also known as the “federal government student loan consolidation” that will comprise other existing loans into a single one.

The Federal government student loan consolidation program was recently launched by the US Government in order to help students to graduate and to continue with higher study programs.
The consolidated loan offers nominal interest rate and will support the student with financial problems. In many families the parents or guardians cannot afford to spend that much money on education and that should not affect the child.

After graduation the student finds a job and will start paying the federal government student loan using easy instalments. This is the best option because otherwise the student would have to repay different interest rates to several lenders a few times per month.

The loan can be repaid in a certain period of time established by the student. Even if the period can go up to 30 years, it´s important to understand that longer the time period greater the amount to be reimbursed.

The Federal government student loan involves no hefty loan processing fee and the student can pay the monthly instalments using flexible schedules. The fixed interest rate is the average of the total interest rates of all previous loans rounded off to only 1/8th of the percentage.
Even if a student has a bad history with default payments, he will still be eligible for the consolidated federal loan. Last but not least, there is no minimum limit for the loan amount.

So if you are having difficult repaying your various student loans, why not consider consolidating them into one government student loan.

[Article via Bad Credicity]

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Student Loans: Need more protection

Student loan industry need to be reforming in order to stimulate the economy. Student loans have been unprotected by the standard consumer protections. Looking back to 1997, Sallie Mae successfully lobbied Congress to amend the Higher Education Act and remove consumer protections. They only have interest in debtors defaulting on their loans. At last, the one who really benefiting are the CEOs and corporate officers of companies. The students just get rid off.

[The News Tribune]

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

FHA Foreclosure Loan - Avoid Foreclosure and Refinance Your Loan

With the growing problem of many people loosing their jobs and not being able to keep up with everything to include house payments. Many people are looking for alternatives to keep their homes and keep their families safe.

There is a way to stop foreclosures, for example, FHA is now offering people the opportunity to avoid foreclosure through potentially refinancing your loan. But, you have to be careful, depending on the way your home loan is set up, this could be difficult. The best thing to do, is to call your mortgage company to find out. The companies don't want you to loose your homes, far from it. In many cases the companies actually would rather help the lenders.

Check and see if your lender is working with FHA. See if they are working with FHA to help their lenders with the problems they are facing, many may not, but it is possible to see if FHA can put you in touch with a bank that may be able to help you. Some companies may have a special program like this in place. Do not avoid your company, the best bet is to see if they will work with you in this rough economic time that all of us are facing.

There are many websites that are offering specific information about your options. Your best bet is to make sure you jump right away to take care of all of your basic needs. Thus making sure you have everything covered.

Hector Milla runs the Stop Foreclosure Loans Help website, where you can get immediate assistance from professionals serving your state. An intelligent no-cost application will match you with seasoned and trusted specialists in less than 5 minutes.

Find stop foreclosure assistance today visiting http://www.StopForeclosureLoans.org

Monday, February 23, 2009

Finding Yourself A Student Loan Debt Elimination Program

When it comes to student loan debt elimination, most people tend to think that there really is no such thing. The thing is though, that while there is no magic button that makes it all go away, there are special student loan repayment programs that can help pay off your loan quicker then making your regular payments. These types of special student loan debt elimination programs work only if everyone is committed to the cause. If you are not serious about getting your student loan debt paid off then you will be in for a shock when the special plans are taken away from you.

You want to make sure that you make your student loan debt elimination payments on time every time so that the schedule works out. If you stick with the plan you should be looking at years being taken off of how long you were supposed to be paying in the first place. Simply make this a priority and then your student loan debt elimination plan will do what it is supposed to do. Make your payments on time like you are supposed to and you will see that you your debt gets eliminated a lot faster then you would have ever imagined it could be.

How To Get It Set Up

When you are finally ready to look into student loan debt elimination there is no better thing to do other then call your lender directly. See what they have to offer and compare it to other student loan debt elimination products or services that you have run across. There is nothing worse then thinking you are getting a great deal and then ending up with something that really was not worth your time. You will want to make sure that the student loan debt elimination plan or product that you get set up with is not one that is only going to hurt you in the long run.

Call around to all of the different places that can offer you a student loan debt elimination service and compare it to what your actual lender can do for you. The point of the whole thing is to be set up something that you can realistically afford and something that will truly bring down your remaining balance as quickly as possible. So get started doing some calling and research and before you know it you will be one step closer to total and complete student loan debt elimination.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

New Phase for Student Loan Market

As in my previous entry, the federal government will soon begin acting as a buyer of last resort for older student loans. Since announced in November, it set to begin in this month. It will aim to free up additional money to make federally guaranteed student loans, ensuring their continued availability.


According to the program, Education Department will buy the loans after 90 days of The Federal Financing Bank help. Education Department has announced an agreement with the Bank of New York Mellon.


[via]

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Student Loan Forgiveness for Alaskans

Good news for Alaskans, new legislation involved student loan that will help state residents to pay their loan.

The legislation:

House Bill 56: Graduates who stay in Alaska can get up to half the Alaska Student Loan Corp. loan forgiven. The longer they stay, the more they get forgiven. Sponsored by Reps. Beth Kerttula and Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage.
House Bill 58: Repays a portion of loans for people graduating in education, dentistry, nursing or biology. The longer they stay, the more is repaid. Rural residents get more than urban ones. Sponsored by Reps. Bill Thomas, R-Haines; Peggy Wilson, R-Wrangell; Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage; John Harris, R-Valdez; and Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks.

According to Rep. Kerttula, D-Juneau, one of several legislators who have introduced bills to fight brain drain from Alaska by paying or forgiving up to half of graduates' Alaska Student Loan Corp. loans – residents will need to pay the loan depending on how long they stay in Alaska.However, the state's last forgiveness program didn't pencil out for the loan corporation, according to Diane Barrans, executive director of the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

4 Important Facts About Student Loan Consolidation

When getting loans you should always understand what you?re getting yourself into before you sign up. So here are 4 important facts you should know about consolidating student loans.

Fact 1:

Same Interest Rates For Everyone At The StartAll federal student loan consolidation rates must start with the same rates that are suggested by Congress every year. Student loan consolidation companies are required to give everyone the same federal rates

Fact 2:

You Save Money On The BenefitsIf it?s your first time consolidating your loan then the real savings are in the benefits and discounts of signing up.

Standard benefit: 0.25% off your rate for using automatic checking account withdrawal.Standard benefit: 0.6% off your repayment rate if you consolidate in your grace period.Extra benefit: if you have more than $20,000 in federal student loans, 1.0% off after your first 36 on time payments.

Ok let?s start with a scenario, of $25,000 in federal Stafford loans and your rate before 1 July 2006 is at 3.37%. If you?re still in your grace period (6 months before your payments start only for graduates) you?re rate will decrease to 2.875%.

Automatic checking account withdrawal will reduce is further to 2.625% and after your 36th on time payments your rates will drop a further 1.0% to a new low of 1.625%. This is how the benefits of student loan consolidation really works and it really saves you a lot of money.

Fact 3:

Read The Fine Print Before You Sign Anything!Some loan companies will give you a list of borrower?s benefits for signing up with them. For example if you make 24 on time payments you?ll get 1% off which is great but in the fine print it?s only available for loans above $50,000. Statistically, only 17% of all graduates will have a loan debt this high so it?s not advised to sign up with this particular company.

Other companies give even better benefits like 2.5% off your rate but they?ll only give you a grace period of 3 days. That?s not going to work because what happens if your mail got delayed or worse you didn?t check your mail? It means that you?ll loose your benefits so be careful and always read the fine print.

Fact 4:

Good Customer Service Is ImportantSome student loan companies will do anything to make you call them but when you do you find yourself lost because some companies don?t train their phone staff well and they fail to answer simple questions. So when ringing up loan companies make sure they are well versed in their products and they know their products and rates. Also make sure that when you wait on the phone for a consultant, that you don?t wait too long like 1 hour because it could mean they are under staff or they are taking on too many applications at one time which means they might not always be able to take your call after you?ve sign up.

Conclusion


I hope these facts will help you in your decision and may you have a successful time finding the best student loan consolidation company.

Consolidate your student loans today and save up to 60% on your monthly repayments. Find out how you can start saving money and find out more about consolidate student loans.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Student Loans - Ensuring a Brighter Future Ahead

Higher education in the university gives students a chance to open up. They have a completely new world to deal with. Malcolm Forbes says, “Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” While basic education helps inculcate the values and beliefs in students, higher education illustrates what the real world is. While they taste the charm of independence, they also experience the bitter hardships that accost independence.

All their hardships start and end with money. Being away from parents, they will have to deal with a whole lot of financial issues. Besides the tuition fees, the students will have to make provision for rent, traveling expenses, food, books and entertainment.

These add up to a sizeable figure. The parents, already burdened with their own expenses, cannot be burdened any more. With the finances leading them to the edge, students are hardly able to concentrate on studies. Some may even contemplate suicide; while others may take resort to drug abuse.

A student loan can be a convenient option of sponsoring your studies. Student loans help the students pay off their tuition fees, along with the other living expenses, which includes lodging, books, food and other charges. The amount of loan advanced will depend on the actual requirement and the financial condition of the family.

Student loan is repayable only after one completes his/ her education and starts earning a minimum amount. The minimum earning has been increased from ₤10000 to ₤15000 with effect from April 2005. This means that until the student starts earning a minimum of ₤15000, the student need not pay the student loan.

The search for the student loan must go on simultaneously with the search for an academic course. This ensures that the student knows the amount of loan that he has qualified for. He can thus plan the expenses in accordance with his budget. Besides, some institutions require students to advance tuition fees within a very short notice. Any delays can result in losing opportunity of studying in a preferred institution or university. Prior search for student loan ensures that you do not lose upon an opportunity.

The amount to be repaid includes an interest element combined with the principal. Paying in cash would have ensured that no such extra payments are required. However, by not utilizing ones cash reserves for the educational expenses, you are able to use it for other important expenditures.

However, it is not easy to get student loans. Most lenders find students precarious because they are not in full time employment. Besides, banks have pegged the age limit for getting loans at 22, an age higher than the age of average students, thus disqualifying them from getting loans. Absence of credit history may also act as an impediment in their search for loans. Another reason, wrongly attributed to the age of students, is that while they take loans for educational purposes, the money is actually being squandered.

Nevertheless, there are banks and lenders who accept students as mature customers. They are ready to advance financial help to the students to sort out their finances. All student loan applications are to be routed through Local Education Authority (LEA). However, this may differ if you are undergoing different circumstances, like having dependants, bieng disabled, or engaged in some kind of social work.

Lenders will be ready to offer a better APR if the student joins a part time job. This will give a source of income, and a guarantee to the lender that the repayment will be made on time. Even getting parents to be guarantors to the loan will help getting best deals.

The student is bound to inform the student loans company or the local education authority about any relevant changes that may occur on his/ her account. these include change of name, course, national insurance number, or if the student plans to go abroad, and if the employment status changes from employed to self employed. Failure to inform the authorities about such relevant changes will incur penalties.

The loan is broken into a number of installments for convenient repayment. the repayments will start from the April following the completion of the course, whether or not the student graduates. For students who are employed and their earning is above the minimum level, the employer will deduct the repayment every month from the salary. The self employed people will have to make repayments through self assessment tax returns. Those who are employed abroad will be required to pay directly to the loan provider. Failure to keep up the repayments can lead to penalties.

There are a number of means available to the student nowadays to help them in their pursuit for higher education. It is the accumulation of skills through higher education which gives one a distinct identity. Not taking advantage of them would mean bieng one of the crowd, because there will be some who would grasp the opportunity.

Andrew baker has done his masters in finance from CPIT. He is engaged in providing free, professional, and independent advice to the residents of the UK.He works for the personal loan web site http://www.ukfinanceworld.co.uk for any type of uk secured and unsecured loan please visit http://www.ukfinanceworld.co.uk

Sunday, February 15, 2009

MBA Loan Crisis

Due to the loan crunch, international applicants to top business schools are panicking. They need to seek for U.S. co-signers to receive loans for their MBA education. Follow chat transcript on Business Week with Dan Thibeault, co-founder of Graduate Leverage, fields questions on the loan challenges facing international MBA applicants. He is anwering questions about what aspiring MBAs can do to turn their dreams into reality.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

How Bad is Student Loan Crisis?

Read article by Russell Bailyn on Seeking Alpha. He commented on current situation of student loan industry. He also discuss about the involvement of private student loan providers.

[via Seeking Alpha]

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Student Debt Consolidation Loan

Student Loan consolidation can be the best friend of any student who has just completed their course and graduated from their college or university. Most students who just come out of their college and universities find it very hard to maintain their monthly expenses as they have a bigger burden to repay their student loans taken out during their academic years and for that student who had relied on these loans heavily, consolidation can be an even better option.

Private loans normally have huge interest rates compared to that of federal loans and given the fact that a private loan repayment is hanging over your head when you are about to complete your graduation can be much more worrisome. Though a student can consolidate their private loan through a federal loan but that is somewhat impossible to get for the majority of students. However reducing the amount of monthly loan repayments can be a huge relief if the student acts accordingly to get the loan amount reduced or repayments period gets increased significantly by the lender company.

A cosigner is required with a private loan, though a student might not require a cosigner to consolidate their private student debt consolidation loans but having a cosigner can reduce the interest rate significantly to a lower rate and might even end up having a zero interest rate if the credit rating of the cosigner is above average. A lot of companies provide services of cosigner release benefits which means that if a student is able to make the payments on time as estimated in the contract then the cosigner will be completely released from the debt.

With increase in consolidation methods, many companies are providing automatic private loan consolidation offers with their private student loans. For an example some companies are providing borrowers with interest only payments which means that the amount of money paid as interest can get lowered and the actual loan can be consolidated. This allows the borrowers to save huge amounts of money over a longer period of time. Moreover many companies simply increase the repayment period by ten years or so which significantly lowers the amount of money to be repaid each month. However in most cases a borrower of a student loan is not penalized in case he or she is not able to repay the loan in time if it has been processed though a student loan consolidation plans.

Private student loans can be really worrisome for students who are about to graduate from their college and university. Moreover with the transitional phase of changing their career it can be more troublesome to any new graduates as they don’t get enough guidance on how to choose a new career. With tuition fees rising each year and more and more debt incurred during their college, private loans can be a huge burden on any new graduate student. A student loan consolidation plan can provide great relief for such student as it reduces the time of their repayment and allows the student to think more on their career goals.

Personal debt consolidation loan visit Debt Reduction.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

U.S. Said to Give $60 Billion Student-Loan Backing

The news I had read via Bloomberg on 29 Jan reported that U.S Treasury agreed to commit as much as $60 billion to shore up the market for student loans and help reduce the illiquid assets clogging banks’ balance sheets.


They will use Federal Financing Bank to provide a backstop for an initiative put together by Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley. The loan will be able to purchase existing and new student loans from banks, and issue asset-backed commercial paper to finance itself.


That effort, called the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, is scheduled to start next month (should be this month – February). Loans that are guaranteed by the Education Department’s Federal Family Education Loan Program are eligible for the effort.


For the full news, read it on Bloomberg.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Managing Your Student Loans Through Consolidation

by Darren Cason

Paying interest on several student loans every month, worrying about the upcoming payback on those loans, or seeing that your credit is lower now that you have all those loans on it from school is not a fun thing. It’s something that many people, fresh out of college, have to worry about, though. Thankfully, there is a solution in student loan consolidation. This solution has many benefits.

One of these benefits is usually lower monthly payments, since you only pay fees to one institution and since it’s usually at a lower interest rate and a better payment schedule. Student loans (and consolidations) are regulated and guaranteed by the government, so they have specific interest rates they must offer and specific payback schedules to use. When you apply for student loan consolidation, they usually consider your credit score without the interference of the current student loans, which means your score will be higher and get you a better rate too.

Other benefits can include electronic or automatic payment deductions from your checking or savings accounts, so you won’t forget a payment and you’ll usually qualify for a discount on your interest rate too.

In addition, if you haven’t yet made a payment on your loans because you’re still in your deferment (or grace) period on them, you can probably qualify for better student loan consolidation options than otherwise available. These can include better rates, easier processing of the loan, or even an increase in grace period before your first payment is due.

Often, the loans you received while you were in school are at higher interest rates than you’d get otherwise because the financial institution wanted to get the higher rate and you or your admissions counselor just wanted to get the tuition paid for. Now that you’re looking at those payments, you’re probably regretting those decisions, most especially if you are experiencing a poor credit situation. But there is hope and usually consolidation loans have lower interest rates than what you were given when you applied for the loans to start with.

Because of the government involvement in the rules and regulations of student loans, you could qualify for more options like lower rates, discounts, or even payoffs from grants and more.

So look at what you can gain by getting a student loan consolidation and reducing your payments, interest rates, and more, so you can focus on your new life now that college is over. Student loan consolidations are a quick way to get peace of mind, allowing you to focus on the new life ahead of you.

About the Author:
Seeking assistance on poor credit consolidation loans. Click here.

Monday, February 9, 2009

How Obama's New Plan Help You Pay for College?

President Obama’s economic stimulus package tends to focus on the economy’s most ailing parts — housing and employment — but if the president gets his way, families may see some relief in paying college bills, as well.

The package aims to spend $125 billion on education over the next two years. Should it pass, billions will be spent on education at every level, from early education and Head Start programs for underprivileged kids, to universities and college students seeking loans and grants.

For families with children heading off to college, the fate of the bill could make a big difference in how they fund next fall’s tuition bill. Read the answers to some key questions about the president's proposal on Smart Money.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Economic Squeeze: Interview with Columbia College's President

Ron Aiken form Free Times had done an interview with the Columbia College's President to get a feel for how the college is coping with the economic crisis.


You can follow the excerpt from the interview on Free Times.