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Over
the course of your college career, you may end up taking out numerous
student loans. After graduation, consolidating your loans can help
ease the repayment process. By combining all your student loans
into a single loan with a single lender, you'll have just one monthly
loan payment. And, you'll find it easier to manage your debt.
Start
by filling out this form
How
It Works
Consolidation
loans often reduce the size of the monthly payment
by extending the term of the loan beyond the 10-year
repayment plan that is standard with federal loans.
Depending on the loan amount, the term of the loan
can be extended from 12 to 30 years. The reduced
monthly payment may make the loan easier to repay
for some borrowers. However, by extending the term
of a loan the total amount of interest paid is increased.
In
certain circumstances (for example, when one or
more of the loans was being repaid in less than
10 years because of minimum payment requirements),
a consolidation loan may decrease the monthly payment
without extending the overall loan term beyond 10
years. In effect, the shorter-term loan is being
extended to 10 years. The total amount of interest
paid will increase unless you continue to make the
same monthly payment as before, in which case the
total amount of interest paid will decrease.
The
interest rate on consolidation loans is the weighted
average of the interest rates on the loans being
consolidated, rounded up to the nearest 1/8 of a
percent and capped at 8.25%
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