What is Student Loan Consolidation Program and How it Works?

It is common that students nowadays are taking more than one loans to further their studies in colleges or universities. And problems start to arise when you have to juggle between work and various payments to multiple loan agencies.Then you heard about student loan consolidation but what is it exactly?This is a simple loan repayment program where you combine all your outstanding student loans into one so that you only make one payment to a single loan agency every month. Let’s say you are holding 3 federal student loans and you are currently making 3 different payments with 3 different interest rates to 3 different loan agencies. By consolidating these 3 loans, it is seems that your outstanding loans are being paid off and you are now only require to focus in a single loan. This can significantly make your life easier.Currently, there are two student loan consolidation programs in the market and one of them is offered by the federal government and is known as the federal student loan consolidation. Some found that this program is more flexible because it requires less documentation and students are not subjected to credit check.The other loan consolidation program is offered by the private sectors like banks and credit unions hence it is called the private student loan consolidation program. Those who are not eligible for the federal government loan consolidation will most likely apply for this program.How does the student loan consolidation works?In order for this program to work, you will have to firstly file an application with your selected loan institution and wait for the approval. At the mean time, you can look into the different repayment plans offered by the institutions to see which plan you are most comfortable with.Before you sign the paper, make sure you understand and agree with all the terms and conditions. Remember to clarify with your loan agency if there is any hidden cost or extra fee involve. Surely you don’t want to find out last minute that you have to pay extra processing fee when you are close to paying up your loan. How about further discount or any incentive when you pay on time? You deserve to know.Once the paper has been signed, you should keep yourself update with the application status. This loan consolidation process should not take more than 180 days. If you didn’t receive any news until then, you will have to check with the loan agency to see what is the issue with your application. Should your application be decline, you will have to look for another loan agency.Once your application has been approved, the new loan agency will contact you for the good news and to discuss about the interest rate. It is possible to ask for better interest rate when you are consolidating your student loan with the private sectors but you might not enjoy the same privilege with the federal loan consolidation. This is because the interest rate offered by the federal government is fixed at the current low rate.