August 22, 2011

Loan Consolidation

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions when consolidating student loans? There are a lot of websites out there but not sure which ones are credible. I'd love to know what you all think before I start this process. Thanks! 

6 comments:

anorthowife said...

are you still in med school? because that's kind of key to this question. If you're not, then I don't know where you would go. but if you are in school, then you will want to speak with your Financial Aid adviser (we really got to know ours and i recommend you do too). at most schools, they require "Exit Counseling" before you graduate. Here you meet with the adviser and they tell you how to consolidate your loans.

When you graduate, you get an automatic, one time consolidation. It made a HUGE difference for us bc when we took out our loans, we got "locked" in at 8.5% (which was not horrible then). but now it'll be much lower (think 4s or 5s) bc of the economy.

So really, then answer is that you NEED to talk to your counselor. They have so many excellent resources out there and they can keep you away from all of the scammers and sharks out there.

Amanda E. said...

We pay a service to do all of it for us and I HIGHLY recommend them! The company is GL Advisor and website is www.gladvisor.com. A rep came to my husband's med school in the last few months of his fourth year and explained what all they do. The fees are VERY minimal (I think we pay $400/yr or something) and they will even do your taxes for you if you want which is a nice additional perk. When it comes to loan consolidation and IBR (income-based repayment, what we chose to do), it is IMPERATIVE that you fill out each and every form correctly and send them in quickly. Even missing just one step along the way can disqualify you for certain payment programs...ugh.

Bethany said...

This is our first year out of med-school (my husband is a general surgery resident at a program near Canton, Ohio). We had GL Advisor do an initial overview of our loans for free and then said they can consolidate our loans for an annual fee of $450. I know my husband is now getting a paycheck now but we all know a resident's salary is pretty small. And I know this is something we can do ourselves and would love to not have this as an expense. It is a tedious process and I'm sure there will be times where I'm ready to hand over the $450. But why is there an annual payment? Do you have to have them consolidate your loans every year?

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Christ said...

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Title Loans Utah said...

It is a tedious process and I'm sure there will be times where I'm ready to hand over the $450. But why is there an annual payment? Do you have to have them consolidate your loans every year? Title Loans Utah