How to Consolidate Student Loans at a Low Interest Rate

Are you overwhelmed by your student loans? This article will give you tips on how to consolidate your student loans at a lower interest rate, so you can lower your monthly payment.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Student loan paperwork
• Notepaper
• File
• Loan application

1. The first thing you need to do when thinking about consolidating your loans is to gather up all of your loan paperwork and keep it organized in a file. That way, when you need to find out information, you will have it on hand.

2. If for some reason you cannot locate your loan information, consult one of these websites:
   
   U.S. Government website
   
   http://www.nslds.ed.gov/SAStatic/PrivAct.asp
   
   National Student Loan Data System
   
   http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp
   
   Find out if the loans you have can be consolidated. Federally guaranteed loans can be consolidated, but most private loans cannot.

3. Decide who you are going to consolidate your loans with. If you only have federal loans, you can consolidate with the department of education. If you have a number of different loans, you can go to private lenders or Sallie Mae.

4. Compare interest rates. You only get to consolidate your loans once, so finding an interest rate and payment plan that makes you comfortable is extremely important.

5. Choose a lender and complete a loan consolidation application.

6. Fill out the loan paperwork. Remember to pay your current lender, as the new consolidated loan can take anywhere from 6 to 10 weeks to process.

7. Pay your bills ontime!