What Types of Debt Can be Consolidated?

A debt consolidation program is sometimes necessary to help a person recover from his debts more easily and quickly. Nevertheless, not all types of debt can be consolidated. In this article, let's discuss the different types of debt that one can enroll in a consolidation program. But first, let us define what debt consolidation is.

Defining Debt Consolidation

Credit Solutions of America, Inc.There are two types of debt consolidation program. One is a debt consolidation loan wherein the borrower obtains a loan to pay off all his existing debts to his creditors. Afterwards, he will be subjected to submit a monthly payment to his loan consolidation lender for a lower interest rate.

The other type of debt consolidation program is where the borrower submits his payments to a debt consolidation company. In turn, the debt consolidation company will distribute his payments to creditors as needed. Here, debts with the highest rates are most likely to get paid first to avoid accumulating charges.

For credit card debt, getting a zero balance transfer credit card is another way to consolidate. In this case, a borrower can transfer his existing balances to a zero interest credit card to avoid the additional interest fees. This enables the credit card holder to save money and focus on paying off only the original amount of his debt.



Debts that Can Be Consolidated

Generally, any type of unsecured debt such as personal loans, student loans, medical bills, and credit card debt can be consolidated. These debts are not guaranteed and no collateral has been submitted to the lender. On the other hand, secured debts like mortgages and car loans are not eligible for a debt consolidation program. This is because lenders can use the collateral submitted to them as payment for the debts defaulted.

Moreover, you can consolidate your credit card debt without the need of debt consolidation agency. If your problem is a result of unpaid balances from different credit card accounts, you can apply for a zero interest credit card instead. Getting a balance transfer card is a lot easier than acquiring a debt consolidation loan. Once approved, all you need to do is move over your existing balances to your new credit card and pay off your debts within the zero interest time period.

With a debt consolidation program, the consolidation company would try to negotiate with your creditors to waive some fees or ask for new repayment terms. Most creditors are willing to waive fees or set new repayment terms especially if it looks like the borrower may consider bankruptcy.

When consolidating, it's important to make sure that you're dealing with a reputable and legitimate consolidation company. Take note, that some companies offering consolidation services may take advantage of your financial situation. It's important to check the company's track record and policies especially when it comes to submitting your payments. Check directly from your creditors whether they are receiving your payments from the debt consolidation company on time.

Finally, whether you choose to get a balance transfer credit card or apply for a debt consolidation loan, the key to being free from debts is to submit your payments on schedule. Once you've consolidated your debts, you need to make sure that you won't miss or delay a single payment to your lender.

Copyright © 2008 Consolidate4Free.com

What Types of Debt Can be Consolidated?

A debt consolidation program is sometimes necessary to help a person recover from his debts more easily and quickly. Nevertheless, not all types of debt can be consolidated. In this article, let's discuss the different types of debt that one can enroll in a consolidation program. But first, let us define what debt consolidation is.

Defining Debt Consolidation

Credit Solutions of America, Inc.There are two types of debt consolidation program. One is a debt consolidation loan wherein the borrower obtains a loan to pay off all his existing debts to his creditors. Afterwards, he will be subjected to submit a monthly payment to his loan consolidation lender for a lower interest rate.

The other type of debt consolidation program is where the borrower submits his payments to a debt consolidation company. In turn, the debt consolidation company will distribute his payments to creditors as needed. Here, debts with the highest rates are most likely to get paid first to avoid accumulating charges.

For credit card debt, getting a zero balance transfer credit card is another way to consolidate. In this case, a borrower can transfer his existing balances to a zero interest credit card to avoid the additional interest fees. This enables the credit card holder to save money and focus on paying off only the original amount of his debt.



Debts that Can Be Consolidated

Generally, any type of unsecured debt such as personal loans, student loans, medical bills, and credit card debt can be consolidated. These debts are not guaranteed and no collateral has been submitted to the lender. On the other hand, secured debts like mortgages and car loans are not eligible for a debt consolidation program. This is because lenders can use the collateral submitted to them as payment for the debts defaulted.

Moreover, you can consolidate your credit card debt without the need of debt consolidation agency. If your problem is a result of unpaid balances from different credit card accounts, you can apply for a zero interest credit card instead. Getting a balance transfer card is a lot easier than acquiring a debt consolidation loan. Once approved, all you need to do is move over your existing balances to your new credit card and pay off your debts within the zero interest time period.

With a debt consolidation program, the consolidation company would try to negotiate with your creditors to waive some fees or ask for new repayment terms. Most creditors are willing to waive fees or set new repayment terms especially if it looks like the borrower may consider bankruptcy.

When consolidating, it's important to make sure that you're dealing with a reputable and legitimate consolidation company. Take note, that some companies offering consolidation services may take advantage of your financial situation. It's important to check the company's track record and policies especially when it comes to submitting your payments. Check directly from your creditors whether they are receiving your payments from the debt consolidation company on time.

Finally, whether you choose to get a balance transfer credit card or apply for a debt consolidation loan, the key to being free from debts is to submit your payments on schedule. Once you've consolidated your debts, you need to make sure that you won't miss or delay a single payment to your lender.

Copyright © 2008 Consolidate4Free.com

Student Loan Consolidation Rate in Federal and Private Consolidation

Students and their parents can use student loan consolidation that will allow them combine their education loans into one loan from a single lender. That new loan - consolidation loan - will be then used to pay off the balances of the originating loans.

The process of consolidating student loans is similar to refinancing a mortgage. It's a great way to improve own finances as it gives the borrower a number of benefits, such as: lower monthly payment, lower interest rate, longer repayment schedule, lack of application fees and of credit check as well as deferment and forbearance options.

Not all of those benefits are available in every consolidation loan; which of them a borrower receives depends on whether he or she takes a federal or private consolidation loan. While both federal and private consolidations provide similar results with regards to lowering monthly payments and longer repayment schedules, there are significant differences regarding the interest rates and deferment and forbearance options.

In this article I will discuss the issue of the student loan consolidation rate and how it is determined in federal and private consolidation.

First of all, it's important to remember that usually it is not a good idea to include any of your federal education loans if you decide to take a private student consolidation loan. Why? For two main reasons. First, doing so may increase your effective interest rate and second, you will most likely lose a number of important borrower benefits, such as: flexible repayment terms, generous loan forgiveness, deferment, forbearance and cancellation provisions. In most cases, they don't come with private student consolidation loans.

Interest rate is always among the most important factors in every loan as it determines the cost the borrower pays to the lender for using the money being borrowed. The higher the interest rate, the longer the total cost of taking the loan will be. Also, getting a fixed interest rate is preferable to a variable rate, as it is just much easier to live with the fixed rate and not to worry that it may significantly go up and negatively impact your financial well being.

Many people believe that all student loan consolidations - both federal and private - result in a fixed-interest rate loan. However, it's only true for the federal student loan consolidations, but in most cases the private consolidations don't feature fixed interest rates. Because the private consolidation loans belong to the consumer loans, they are credit-based and have to carry variable interest rates.

To the contrary, all federal student consolidation loans carry a fixed interest rates, because they are taxpayer-supported. They are government-funded and policed by the Department of Education (ED). Some of them are also directly provided by the ED; they are called "Direct Loans". Those federal consolidation loans are based on government programs and not only the federal Direct Consolidation Loans (Direct Loans), but also the federal loans provided by private lenders under the FFELP (Federal Family Education Loan Program) follow the same formula for determining the fixed interest rates. That formula is simple - the fixed interest rate on a federal student consolidation loan is calculated as the weighted average of the interest rates on all loans that get consolidated. The result is then rounded up to the nearest 1/8th of a percent and capped at 8.25% (i.e. the federal loan interest rate can't be higher than 8.25%). The fixed interest rate means that it is locked in for the whole term of the consolidated loan; it makes the life of the borrower much less stressful than that of somebody that has to take a private consolidation loan.

On the other hand, interest rates in most of the private consolidation loans are variable - they change during the length of the loan, according to the changes in the base. Those bases differ from loan to loan, but the lenders usually choose one of these - either the Prime Rate or the 3-month LIBOR Rate. The second one has been significantly lower over the last few years, thus it's more advantageous for the borrowers. The lenders arrive at the final interest rate by adding a margin determined by the borrower's credit rating.

There are a few ways available to the borrowers to bring down the consolidation loan interest rate and they are available in both federal and private consolidations. For example, you can get a 0.25% instant rate reduction when you agree to have your monthly loan payments direct-debited from your bank account. Later on, you may also earn another interest rate reduction if you continually make on-time monthly payments for a certain number of months (e.g., 24, or 36, or 48 months).

Any interest rate reduction will usually mean thousands of dollars in savings, so try as much as you can to use all opportunities to earn those reductions and save a lot of money.

What to be Aware of When Considering Student Loan Consolidation - Recent Implications

Student consolidation loans are among the most popular refinancing loans as they make repayment of the education loans easier to handle. Those loans are in high demand because they offer important benefits. Some of those benefits are available with both federal and private student consolidations, but some come only with the federal consolidations.

It's important to know that private education loans can't be consolidated into federal consolidation loan, but there are private lenders - not too many, though - that offer private consolidation of those private student loans.

Private consolidation loans can include federal education loans, however, including those federal loans in a private consolidation loan is usually not desirable for a number of reasons. For instance, with private consolidation, you will lose important, generous benefits of the federal loans, such as flexible repayment terms and loan forgiveness and cancellation provisions. Private consolidation will often increase your effective interest rate and you will pay much more to serve your education debt - even though you'll get lower monthly payments.

For those reasons, it's recommended to seek federal consolidation loan first and only if you can't get one, look for a private consolidation.

However, private lenders aren't recently willing to consolidate student loans as they were some years ago. For two main reasons - first, the global credit crisis and second, the law passed recently by the Congress that significantly reduced the subsidies for providing education loans (including student consolidation loans).

The recent credit crunch debacle made the private lenders tighten their lending standards for the prospective borrowers applying for the student consolidation loans. The applicants need now higher credit scores and higher income. By the way, checking those is another important difference between federal and private consolidations. You will not be subject to any credit check and income-level test when asking for a federal student consolidation loan. On the other hand, it's an important part of the private consolidation process - your credit rating will have significant impact on the interest rate you'll get. Therefore, it determines the total amount you'll have to repay when you take the consolidation loan.

According to credit business sources, in order to be eligible for a private student consolidation loan and get an interest rate that will make the consolidation worthwhile, you will need a FICO credit score of 700 - at least 50 points higher than it was just a few years ago. Moreover, the private lenders require now your debt-to-income ratio to be much lower than 50%.

So what should you do if you really need to consolidate your student loans see the private consolidation loan as your only chance? Well, in order to improve your chance of getting one, you could use a co-signer, for example your parents, or somebody who has good credit rating.

Finally, it's important to mention here some drawbacks that the borrowers who take student consolidation loans face.

First of all, if your main reason for seeking consolidation is to lower your monthly payments, you have to remember that while your monthly payments will be lower (sometimes by as much as 50%) and your finances will be simpler because you'll have only one monthly payment, it will all come at higher cost. Why? Because you will have to be stuck with the loan for longer period of time, as the lower payments require longer repayment and the total amount of the interest paid will be higher.

Here are some other issues to remember. If you take the consolidation loan, your grace period will often be shortened and you may also lose loan discounts provided by the originating lenders. Also, you may have to repay a fee waiver or rebate that you got from those lenders. And, if you have a Perkins loan, usually it is better to leave it alone and not consolidate it as Perkins loans have important benefits not found in other loans and they would be lost in consolidation.

Student Loan Consolidation - How does it Work?

Student Loan Consolidation - How does it Work? Student loans are a great source of financial aid for students who need help paying for their education. Unfortunately, students often leave college with burdensome debt. In addition, they often have multiple loans from different lenders, meaning they are writing more than one loan repayment check each month. The solution to this problem is loan consolidation.

What is loan consolidation? Loan consolidation means bundling all your student loans into a single loan with one lender and one repayment plan. You can think of loan consolidation as akin to refinancing a home mortgage. When you consolidate your student loans, the balances of your existing student loans are paid off, with the total balance rolling over into one consolidated loan. The end result is that you have only one student loan to pay on.

Both students and their parents can consolidate loans.

Should I consolidate my loans? Loan consolidation offers many benefits:

-Locks in a fixed, usually lower, interest rate for the term of your loan, potentially saving you thousands of dollars (depending on the interest rates of your original loans) -Lowers your monthly payment -Combines your student loan payments into one monthly bill

In addition, consolidated loans have flexible repayment options and no fees, charges, or prepayment penalties. There are also no credit checks or co-signers required.

You should consider consolidating your loans if the consolidation loan would have a lower interest rate than your current loans, particularly if you are having trouble making you monthly payments. However, if you are close to paying off your existing loans, consolidation may not be worth it.

How will the interest rate for the consolidated loan be? The interest rate for your consolidated loan is calculated by averaging the interest rate of all the loans being consolidated and then rounding up to the next one-eighth of one percent. The maximum interest rate is 8.25 percent.

To figure your interest rate, visit loanconsolidation.ed.gov for an online calculator that will do the math for you.

How much can I save? How much you save by consolidating loans depends on what interest rate you get and whether you choose to extend your repayment plan. According to Sallie Mae, the leading provider of student loans in the United States, consolidating student loans can reduce monthly payments by up to 54 percent. However, the only way to reduce your payment this much is to extend your repayment plan. You typically have 10 years to repay student loans, but, depending on the amount you're consolidating, you can extend your repayment plan all the way up to 30 years. Remember that if you choose to extend your repayment term, it will take longer to pay off your overall debt and you'll pay more in interest. There are no preypayment penalties, so you can always choose to pay off the loan early.

Am I eligible to consolidate my loans? In order to consolidate your loans, you must meet the following criteria:

- You are in your six-month grace period following graduation or you have started repaying your loans -You have eligible loans totaling over $7,500 -You have more than one lender -You have not already consolidated your student loans, or since consolidation you have gone back to school and acquired new student loans

The following types of loans can be consolidated:

-Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans -Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans -Direct PLUS Loans and Federal PLUS Loans -Direct Consolidation Loans and Federal Consolidation Loans -Guaranteed Student Loans -Federal Insured Student Loans -Federal Supplemental Loans for Students -Auxiliary Loans to Assist Students -Federal Perkins Loans -National Direct Student Loans -National Defense Student Loans -Health Education Assistance Loans -Health Professions Student Loans -Loans for Disadvantaged Students -Nursing Student Loans

Where can I get a consolidation loan? You can consolidate your loans through any bank or credit union that participates in the Federal Family Education Loan Program, or directly from the U.S. Department of Education. The loan terms and conditions are generally the same, regardless of where you consolidate. You may want to check first with the lenders that hold your current loans.

If all your loans are with one lender, you must consolidate with that lender.

If you decide to consolidate your student loans, remember that you can only do so once unless you go back to school and take out more loans. Therefore, you will want to make sure you get the best deal the first time. The interest rate will be the same from all lenders, but some lenders may offer future rate discounts for prompt payment and a discount for having monthly payments directly debited from your account.

Can my spouse and I consolidate our loans together? You can consolidate your loans together, but it is not a good idea for a couple reasons:

-Both of you will always be responsible to repay the loan, even if you later separate or divorce -If you need to defer payment on the loan, both of you will have to meet the deferment criteria

When should I consolidate my loans? You can consolidate your loans any time during your six-month grace period or after you have started repaying your loans. If you consolidate during your grace period, you may be able to get a lower interest rate. However, since you will lose the rest of the grace period, it is a good idea to wait until the fifth month of the grace period before consolidating. The consolidation process usually takes 30-45 days.

This article is distributed by NextStudent. At NextStudent, we believe that getting an education is the best investment you can make, and we're dedicated to helping you pursue your education dreams by making college funding as easy as possible. We invite you to learn more about how to get Student Loan Consolidation at http://www.NextStudent.com .

Debt consolidation for self employed - Innovative handling of overgrowing debts.

Is every month like a constant struggle with bills payment piling up? Do you feel like not opening the bills? Are you thinking of ways to avoid it? If answer to any of these questions is 'yes' - then you are certainly heading for debt consolidation.

Debt consolidation offers great support to self employed while budgeting and making financial decisions. An individual who operates a business, or a profession as a proprietor, consultant, independent contractor, freelancers or someone in changeable employment - then you are a self employed.

Debt consolidation for self employed was traditionally considered expensive and difficult to obtain. With more than 15% of UK being self employed the perspective has changed. Self employed are a very financially viable class. The cases of self employed debt consolidation have become considerably high.

Does debt consolidation for self employed makes sense?

Certainly! A debt consolidation for self employed is similar to any usual debt consolidation. It consolidates the smaller loans into a single loan. Debt consolidation for self employed you can fuse unsecured loans, utility bills, medical bills, or any other outstanding bills into a single debt consolidation loan. This debt consolidation loans has lesser interest rate and one single monthly payment for all the loans. So instead of paying separately on every loan, you save money by paying on this low interest debt consolidation loan. The monthly payments are usually lower thereby making it possible for self employed to meet their obligation each month.

Debt consolidation for self employed is usually of two kinds - secured or unsecured debt consolidation. Unsecured debt consolidation will serve well for those self employed who can offer no security for their loan amount. Unsecured debt consolidation will have higher interest rates than its secured sibling.

Secured debt consolidation requires security (home, car, real estate etc). With home equity debt consolidation, the security is in the form of home. This brings better rates, lower monthly payments, convenient terms, and approval for bigger amounts. With secured debt consolidation, a self employed must be aware that he can affect the loss of his property in case of non repayment. Though that is the last resort. Self employed can use Debt consolidation for the purpose of recovering credit. When you make payments on time, it reflects in your credit. Since monthly payments are lower with self employed debt consolidation, you are less likely to miss your payment and therefore improve your credit.

How is debt consolidation for self employed different?

Debt consolidation for self employed differs with respect to documentation. A lender looks for steady income as proof of the return of loan. Self employed usually does not have any pay checks to offer and no regular income. And also no third party to verify income. A self employed in order to avoid taxation usually do not declare their complete income. Therefore, self employed debt consolidation depends upon income tax returns. Self employed should be ready to produce income tax returns for two years.

There are lenders who offer debt consolidation to self employed with limited documentation or no documentation. However, this is true to some extent but "no" or "reduced" documentation debt consolidation will be compensated by comparatively higher interest rates.

Is there a threat to debt consolidation for self employed?

The threat is usually in the form of the self employed revisiting old borrowing ways. Getting off debt can stimulate a spendthrift indulgence in a self employed. This can neutralize the whole purpose of debt consolidation. A self employed looking for debt consolidation should understand that debt consolidation is trying to address something - your money spending habits. If one can't take heed of this reality then they are only leading themselves to further debt condition. A self employed must see to it that no further financial risk are undertaken after debt consolidation.

Debt consolidation for self employed considerably reduces the monthly outgoings. This leaves self employed with free money and scope for improvement of lifestyle. This provides further boost to economic condition. More available income means either more savings for investment in industry and people in jobs. Debt consolidation for self employed is not an innovation in the loan market. However, it can offer innovative answers for your personal debt condition.

Types of Loans That Can be Part of Student Loan Consolidation Plans

As you are aware there can be several types of student loan consolidation for you.  Broadly however there can be two categories.  These are Federal Student Loan Consolidation Plan and Private Student Loan Consolidation plan for you.  Consolidation is made applicable to both types of loans. 

Stafford loans, private and federal, subsidized or not are prime subjects for such student loan consolidation.  You can also consolidate the HEAL, HPSL and Parent PLUS loans availed.  The PLUS loan includes the federal direct loans, consolidation loans, and direct loans.  Other loans that could be consolidated are Perkins Loans and Nursing Schools Loans.

About the federal and private loan consolidation processes

Federal loans as well as the direct consolidated loans cannot be consolidated once again without obtaining or including additional loans.  If you have already effected the student loan consolidation in respect of your undergraduate loans you can also add the graduation loans at later dates.  Since these are additional loans such loan consolidation shall be permissible.

You may also like to consolidate the private loans you had obtained as student.  Never ever try to consolidate federal with private loans that results in private consolidated student loans.  Such consolidation will deprive you of many benefits you could obtain with federal loan consolidation process.

Drawbacks of consolidating federal with private loans

Several drawbacks occur when you try to consolidate federal loans with the private loans.  Some of them are –

•    With federal loan consolidation you can defer payments if you wish to resume your academic career.  No such facilities are available under private loan consolidation plans.

•    Forbearance despite all economic hardship is not possible in case of private loan consolidation though permissible in case of federal loan consolidation. 

•    No income tax deductions as in case of the federal loan consolidation interests are available in private consolidation plans.

•    You have chances to be forgiven in case of federal loan consolidation that is not permissible under private loan consolidation plans. 

•    Like federal loan consolidation the military services, working as trainer in the economic development zones etc may not render you for any relaxation under private plans.

•    Private loans do not die a natural death in case of your untimely demise.  Your heirs and successors in interests would be responsible for repayment.

•    Private loan consolidation rates are variable while the federal loan rates are firm and often better.

Federal student loan consolidation should be your first priority

If you are going for college loan consolidation your best bet would be to consolidate your federal loans first. The federal loan consolidation carries the best student loan consolidation rate and will be highly beneficial in financial terms compared to the private loan consolidations.  Once you carry out your federal loan consolidation successfully it will boost your credit rating.  In result you will become eligible for much better terms and conditions going for the private loan consolidation at a later stage.