Consolidating Student Loans At A Lower Rate


	Consolidating Student Loans At A Lower Rate

Tina Russo

4-30-2008 8:50 AM

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tags:

studen loan, federal loan, consolidation

Tina Russo says:

Here's a look at some of the challenges of snagging a low rate for student loan consolidation.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/c48f59c9-cb06-44b8-8486-e618ec25cf11/E00ED583-E36C-4AFB-B05C-8FAC4FB42469/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2008-04-28-student-loan-consolidation_N.htm" href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2008-04-28-student-loan-consolidation_N.htm" style="font-size: 11px;">www.usatoday.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2008-04-28-student-loan-consolidation_N.htm">When college alumni show up for homecoming weekend and hold forth about how much better things were when they were in school, it's usually the beer talking. But graduates who boast about the great deals they got on their federal student loans probably aren't exaggerating. As recently as three years ago, savvy borrowers who consolidated their loans were able to lock in rates as low as 2.88%.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2008-04-28-student-loan-consolidation_N.htm">In late 2005, though, Congress set a fixed rate of 6.8% for Stafford loans, the most popular kind of federal student loans. If you have federal loans issued after July 1, 2006, consolidating will no longer affect the interest you pay.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2008-04-28-student-loan-consolidation_N.htm">That doesn't mean the benefits of loan consolidation have completely disappeared. If you're graduating this spring, you may still have loans issued before July 1, 2006. Consolidating those loans, which still carry a variable rate, would enable you to lock in a rate below 4% for the life of those loans, says Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid, a financial aid website.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/E00ED583-E36C-4AFB-B05C-8FAC4FB42469/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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