Loans

As a college student, you are constantly dishing out thousands of dollars towards various expenses, including tuition, books, fees, housing, food, cell phone bills, utilities, insurance and car payments. The list could go on forever. And, if you are like many students in America, part of your education is probably funded through private student loans.

There has never been a better time to consolidate your private student loans. Though the cost of schooling can cost thousands, EdFed is here to help you save thousands! This is because EdFed offers competitively, low interest rates and fees with our private student loan consolidations. Also, when you consolidate your private student loans through EdFed, you can save almost 50% off of your monthly bill!

Further Reduce Your Interest Rate

To save even more off of our already low interest rates, you can qualify to receive our borrower benefits. When you sign up to pay with our automated debit program you will receive an immediate 0.25% reduction off of your interest rate.

Three Flexible Repayment Options

When you consolidate your private student loans with EdFed, we offer you three repayment options to choose from, enabling you to choose the one that best meets your financial needs. Your interest rate stays the same, no matter which option you choose, and you have the freedom to change your repayment option at any time, should your situation change. Your payment options include:

* Equal Payments

This is the most common repayment option. In an equal payment repayment plan, both the interest and principal of the consolidation loan will be paid equally for the life of the loan. Your monthly payment will stay constant for the entire repayment period.

* Select 2/ Graduated Payments

The Select 2 repayment option enables you to make interest-only payments for the first two years of repayment. After two years, the payments will increase to include equal installments of both the interest and principal for the remaining term of the loan.

* Select 5/ Graduated Payments

The Select 5 payment option enables you to make interest-only payments for the first two years of repayment. During the third through fifth years of the loan, the payments will increase to include only a portion of the principal with the interest. When you enter the sixth year of your loan repayment, your payments will once again increase, this time to include both the principal and interest equally throughout the remainder of the loan.

EdFed Sets the Bar on Customer Service

EdFed’s customer service is second to none. When you call EdFed, an eager loan counselor will give you accurate, honest answers to all of your questions. We pride ourselves in our ability to provide the best support and service in the industry for you and your consolidation needs. Also, when you consolidate your private loans with us, we will assign a specific loan specialist to your consolidation. This will enable you to speak to the same specialist each time you call. This specialist will be familiar with you and your loan, so calling in will be more like talking to an old friend, rather than a stranger.

Easy Application Process

Applying for a consolidation loan through EdFed is a short and simple process. When you call to apply, one of our professional advocates will ask you a few simple questions and help you start your private consolidation application. It is that simple. We know how important your time is to you, so starting an application with us takes less than ten minutes.

Save Thousands!

When you consolidate through EdFed, you have the ability to save thousands of dollars to help you take the first step to financial freedom. From our low, reduced interest rates to our flexible repayment options, supported by the best customer service in the industry, EdFed is here for you.

Student loan consolidation can be used by student or parent borrowers to combine their multiple education loans into one loan with one monthly payment. As any student can take either federal or private student loans, he or she can also take a federal or private consolidation loan to make the education debt more manageable.

Both federal and private student loans offer significant benefits, but federal loans offer borrowers many benefits that don’t come with private loans; for instance: low fixed interest rates, income-based repayment plans, loan forgiveness and deferment options. While some private lenders may offer them too, it usually is associated with some strings attached.

For those reasons, every borrower should always exhaust federal student loans options before considering a private loan. The same advice applies to consolidating student loans – always look at federal consolidation loan first and only if you don’t qualify for a federal loan of it is not the right choice for any reason, and then seek a private consolidation loan.

It is important to remember that a federal student consolidation loan can’t include any private loan. Moreover, if you consolidate your federal student loan into a private consolidation loan, you will lose your federal borrower benefits mentioned above (unless you private lender tries hard to get your business and includes them in the offer).

There are important differences between federal and private student loan consolidation.

First of all, with federal student loan consolidation, you will have a fixed interest rate, while private student loan consolidations are credit-based, which means that your consolidation loan rate will not be locked – it will be variable. So, while you will not have to go through credit check in order to apply for a federal consolidation loan, you will need it to secure a private consolidation loan.

Student loan consolidation rates are determined differently for federal and private consolidations. The interest rates for federal loans are set according to a formula established by federal statue. It’s a fixed rate, based on the weighted average of the interest rates on each of your loans at the time you consolidate, rounded up to the nearest 1/8th of a percent and capped at 8.25%.

As private student loans are not funded by the federal government, they are subject to the terms determined by each individual lender (bank, credit union, other financial institution) and the market competition. In private student consolidation loans a borrower’s credit is the primary factor in the variable interest rate offered to the borrower. As the base for setting the consolidation loan interest rate, the private lenders most often use the Prime rate or the 3-month LIBOR Rate, to which they add a margin. That margin varies from lender to lender and is applied according to the borrower’s credit rating.

With regards to the interest rate on the consolidation loan, it’s typical for both federal and private consolidation loan to include 0.25% rate reduction for automated debit payments.

Repayment of federal student consolidation loans begins within 60 days of the disbursement of the loan, with the payback term ranging from 10 to 30 years, depending on the amount of education debt being repaid and on other debts owned, as well as on the repayment option chosen by the borrower. Private student consolidation loans can also have repayment terms of up to 30 years, although they have fewer repayment options. Usually, repayment begins 30 days from the time your private student consolidation loan is funded.

While the most important factors looked at when deciding about how to consolidate student loans are the interest rates, borrower benefits and the terms of repayment, there are also other significant factors, such as: fees or cost to consolidate, prepayment penalties, loan amount limits, customer service, etc.

There are no fees or application costs whatsoever for processing and providing a federal student consolidation loan. It’s against the law to ask for advance (up-front) fees for arranging a federal education loan or consolidating federal education loans. However, some federal education loans (e.g. the Stafford and PLUS Loans) may require some fees, but they are always deducted from the disbursement check. On the other hand, private lenders may charge fees for application and processing private consolidation loans. Some private lenders charge fees as high as 4% of the principal you owe.

Federal consolidation loan programs don’t require a minimum balance to consolidate student loans; some private lenders require a minimum balance before they consider a borrower’s application for consolidation. That amount varies from lender to lender, but usually is between $5,000-$7,500 in US-issued private education loans.

With both federal private consolidations, there are no penalties for prepayment – all payments in excess of scheduled payments will go directly to principal and that will help to repay your consolidation loan faster.

The application process for consolidation of private student loans differs from the federal consolidation. Sometimes applications for private consolidation loans may be easier to complete (often done online or over the phone). However, it’s worth remembering that federal loans usually have lower interest rates, borrower benefits and better repayment terms than private student loans. Moreover, federal applications for both original loans and consolidation loans require FAFSA, so with the federal consolidation, your application is already partly completed.