Most students need to take several loans because of the high cost of education which makes scholarships and grants not enough to cover all expenses. This is the reason why one of the most popular debt repayment options is student loan consolidation.Why consolidation?The main benefit is that you can cut your monthly payments in half, so if you want to spend or save for other things, debt consolidation is your best bet. You also get to have a fixed interest rate. This is a good thing if you time your debt consolidation when rates are at an all-time low. It’s a bad thing when rates go even lower and you are stuck with the same fixed rate.Can you get student loan consolidation for all types of college debts?Basically, all government educational lenders allow consolidation including SLS and PLUS, FFELP, Stafford, Perkins, HEAL, NSL and FISL.If you also have debts from private educational lenders, what are your options?One thing you must remember: do not consolidate your federal debts with your private debts.Private debts don’t have the same privileges as federal debts and combining them together will void these benefits.For your debts from private lenders, discuss your options with your creditors because consolidation of private bank debts depends upon the lender’s discretion.What’s the rate of student loan consolidation?The sum of all your accumulated college debts interest rates is added and the weighted average is computed. This is then rounded up to the nearest 1/8% with a maximum of 8.25%.Consolidated rate can either be lower or higher than your individual debts’ interest rate. You have to weigh your options carefully before opting for consolidation.
