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Sunday 5 September 2010

Student Loan Repayment Tips for the Life of Your Loans

It is often said that the most effective debt management strategy is to be debt-free. But, in order to pay for your college education, you may need to take out student loans.

Student loans are applied by many people these days. It is for the hope that student loans can greatly support their education. Well, that is primarily the purpose of student loans, but there are some instances that getting student loans is what lead people to be buried deep in debt. This is common among those who failed to repay their debts or those who actually escape from their obligations.

Now, planning for successful repayment involves a lot of considerations. The planning should start before you place and strike your pen on your first promissory note. Just as you are making a commitment to your career by way of investing time and money in higher education, you should also make a commitment to your financial future by way of effectively managing your student loans from the beginning.

Here are the most recommended tips and tactics that may help you handle your student loan debt effectively and repay the loans successfully.

Tip #1: Do Your Own Research

Always note that not all loans are the same. Some of them, such as the ones provided by the Indiana Secondary Market for instance, offer benefits during school as well as after graduation in the form of repayment incentives, while other do not. They will pay the 3 percent origination fee normally charged on Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans, and this process actually means more money for the books, school supplies and living expenses. And, after you graduated, there is a chance that you will be qualified for reduced interest rates especially when you ready your payments up on automatic withdraw. So, with the differences in student loans, it is necessary that you do your research before signing the first promissory note.

Tip #2: Pay Attention to the Mail

Typically, every borrower receives important information regarding the student loan he or she took out. The mail usually comes in before, during and after school. So, it is somehow important that you read all of the materials you receive carefully. In case, you have questions, the source of the materials is available to welcome you with your questions. Don’t hesitate to ask, and never ignore the correspondence or you may miss out a very vital deadlines or details about your loans.

Tip #3: Be Organized

When taking out student loan from a particular institution, it is always best to save all of your student loan documents and correspondences. This makes you aware of what exactly you’ve agreed, what is expected from you as a student loan borrower, and how much you have borrowed. At the start of the student loan process, you may find it unnecessary to keep all the documents, but when the repayment period is approaching, there is a great possibility that you may refer to some or all of these documents.

To makes things easier for you, begin by setting up an easy to use record-keeping system where you can store your student loan documents and correspondence. As you may know, there are a number of books and software products on personal finance to help you get started. Whatever you may use, whether file folders, binders, portfolios, or envelopes, it is a good idea that you set up one folder for every type of loan or account you have and keep the items sorted accordingly.

Here is what you should keep:

• Important documents like your student loan applications, promissory notes, disbursement and disclosure statements, as well as loan transfer notices.
• Copies of all correspondences between you and your student loan lender, loan holder, and/or servicer, including your school’s financial aid office.
• Addresses and telephone numbers of your lender, loan holder, and servicer. These must be maintained up-to-date.
• The name, the date and time of the conversation, as well as a summary of what you have discussed. These must be considered especially when you are speaking with anyone regarding your student loans as these may be valuable for future reference or clarification.

Also, when setting up your record-keeping system, be sure that it is comfortable to use. This means a system that you will find easy to maintain over the life of the loan. This record-keeping system must also be secured from theft or fire. Many experts also suggest that you should keep all your student loan related documents and correspondences until all the education loans you’ve taken have been fully repaid.

Tip #4: Be present at All Required Entrance and Exit Sessions

When you take out student loan, you will be required to complete student loan counseling sessions. This is often considered when you first obtain the loan and upon graduation. Also, it is worth noting that some schools these days offer this on-line and the sessions will not require a great amount of your time. However, they will provide you with a great deal of information on your right and responsibilities as a borrower.

Tip #5: Learn to Manage Money like an Expert

It has been said that if you live like a professional while you are in school, you will live like a student once you’ve finished your degree. In other words, it is important that you know very well how to handle your money while you are attending school. This will help you lessen the total amount you end up borrowing, and in turn, the amount you will responsible for repaying.
Here are some of the tactics that are worth considering:

• Develop realistic budgets for while you are attending school and even after you graduate. This will allow you to borrow not more than you need, giving you a great chance to repay your loans.
• Learn to live as cheaply as you can. Always remember that you are just a student. You will enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle once you’ve graduated especially if you lessen your borrowing while you are in school. Some of the most recommended ideas for how to be thrifty include getting a roommate, renting a movie instead of going out to the theater, as well as bringing your lunch from home instead of eating out. Be thrifty as possible.
• For any credit card bills you receive, try to pay the full amount due.
• Establish a budget for yourself and follow it. While you are in school, it is important that you know how to resist the urge of using credit cards or your student loan funds to purchase things that are included in your budget. Don’t just buy unnecessary things.
• If possible, explore work-study or other part-time employment. As often said, it may give you an opportunity for you to study or obtain valuable professional experience, other than help cover overheads.

Tip #6: Maintain at least Half-Time Enrollment

Considering a half-time enrollment is highly necessary in order for you to qualify for an in-school deferment. The half-time enrollment normally takes six credit hours. Regarding your school’s requirements for half-time status, see your financial aid officer.

Tip #7: Take Advantage of Tax Savings

Some of the student who takes out student loans qualifies for tax credits. To see your own status, check with your tax advisor. The credits are actually based on your qualified tuition payments, and they can help reduce the amount of Federal tax you pay. Now, if you are paying interest on a student loam, you may also be able to take a deduction on your Federal tax return for those interest payments. Therefore, to obtain the full benefit of the credits as well as the deductions, grab the opportunity of employing the additional tax refund to pay down your student loan debt, or perhaps to handle your educational overheads.

Tip #8: Repayment Tips
As you enter the repayment period, note that being aware of your student loan obligations is very crucial. This is where the student loan default usually happens. It occurs when you fail to pay back the loan as agreed or meet the other terms of your promissory note. The promissory note for each of the loans must then be referred prior to your graduation or before you leave school so that you know what your rights and responsibilities are in repayment.

Here is what you should do as you enter the repayment period:
• Send your education loan payments when due every month, for the full monthly payment amount or more. This must be done regardless of whether or not you receive a bill.
• Note and understand the repayment options provided by your student loan lenders. With some available options, there is a possibility that you can lessen the total cost of the loan by making a high monthly payment. Other options may even lessen your initial monthly payments and may make it easier for you to pay back your leans early in your career.
• Understand the deferment as well as forbearance. In case you need them, just learn to exercise your options.
• Remember that the loan consolidation and its repayment options have its pros and cons. So, understand them.
• Keep your school, lender or servicer informed of your whereabouts. Contact them immediately if you change your name or address; have questions about billing statements; have problems making your scheduled payment on time; or if you want information on or application for deferment or forbearance.
• Read, note and understand all the correspondence you receive from your student loan lender, loan holder, or servicer. And, respond them promptly if asked to do so.
For Further Information
If for instance you need further information regarding your student loans, always remember that the financial aid staff at your school is probably your most important resource. However, there are also some consult publications from federal and state governments, lenders and scholarship granting organizations, and financial ad guidebooks that are available from your local bookstore. They are great enough for you to start your own search.

The Right Period to Consolidate

In the government consolidation loan program, it is interesting to know that there are actually no deadlines connected to it. It is supported by the fact that you can apply for the student loan anytime during the grace period or even on the repayment period. But to consolidate student loans, some considerations must be paid attention. To consolidate student loans, you should know that it usually take place during your grace period. At this moment, the lower in-school interest rate will then be applied to estimate the weighted average fixed rate to consolidate student loans. And once the grace period has ended on your government student loans, the higher in-repayment interest rate will be applied to estimate the weighted average fixed rate. Given such process, it is then understandable that your fixed interest rate for government student loan consolidation will be higher if you consolidate student loans after your grace period.

And when you are interested to consolidate student loans, you should know that even of your student loans are already in repayment, to consolidate student loans is still allowed and beneficial. It is for the reason that when you consolidate student loans at this time, you already fix the interest rate on your government student loans while the rates are still originally low.

Conclusion

As presented, student loan consolidation can help most borrowers in many ways. But, it is still necessary to note that rates won’t actually stay low without end. In fact, they are so low now and the only place for rates to go is up. So, if you are on your way out of college, saving every cent you can in today’s tough job market is worth considering. And, regardless of the situation you are in to right now, consolidating your college loans is a practical decision.

Sunday 20 June 2010

The Collection Procedures with Defaulted Student Loans

Most of the guaranty agencies’ stringent collection procedures have successfully deterred student loan neglect. One of the supports for this claim is the steady decrease and current all-time low of student loan default rates. However, although the collections department is highly committed to assisting those who are in default and making repayment as simple as possible, the non-response in the borrowers’ side still opens up to one or more of the following collection approaches:
• Garnishment of Administrative Wage: Under the Higher Education Act of 1965, the Department of Education as well as the state guaranty agencies may require employers who employ individuals with defaulted student loans to take away 10 to 15 percent of the debtor’s disposable income per pay period. The garnishment of the administrative wage is actually a resort taken only when the debtor refuses to voluntarily repay his or her defaulted debts and may persist until the total balance of the outstanding debt is paid back.
• Treasury Offset Payments: Aside from administrative wage garnishment, the Department of Education has the right to request the Treasury Department to perform a federal offset against the federal income tax refunds as a way of collecting defaulted student loan debt. To simply put, the borrowers with loans in default status may forgo any federal tax refunds until he or she has repaid the defaulted loan.
• Legal Action: Litigation can be pursued by the Department of Education as well as state guaranty agencies as a means for collecting the defaulted loans. It means that if the debtor refuses to repay the debt voluntarily, he or she is subject to prosecution in a state or federal district court. The borrower is therefore sued for the outstanding debt as well as for the attorney and court fees. But, these methods are usually considered as last resorts, thus need prior notice of the proposed offset.
Preventing Default
There are several ways that you can make to prevent the onset of student loan default. It is just somehow necessary for you to place your interest and efforts on preventing it. Here are the possible ways that you can consider:
1. Make sure that you understand your loan options as well as the related responsibilities prior to taking out a student loan.
2. Simply make your payments on time.
3. If possible, inform your lender or service provider promptly about any of the possible adjustments that may affect the repayment of your student loan. In case you move or change your address, let them know. Also, make sure that they know about the name changes, which are very possible because of marriage; graduation or termination of studies; leaves of absence as well as transfers to another institution.
4. If certain financial difficulties are encountered, try to consider applying for a deferment or forbearance on your loans. Many experts often suggest that it is much better to defer your payments than to go in to default status. Along with this, ask your lender or service provider about the available options while you are still making payments, before you enter the default status of your loan. Always note that after you default, you won’t be able to get a deferment or forbearance anymore.
5. If for instance you are having trouble making your payments, try to contact your lender as they may be able to suggest an alternate repayment options for you. Some of the possible options include graduated repayment, income sensitive repayment, as well as income contingent repayment. Also note that the types of available repayment options currently depend on whether the student loan was issued under the FFELP or FDSLP or Direct student loan programs.
6. A student loan consolidation can be considered as another way for preventing student loan default. Combine all of your educational loans into one big loan as this gives you the chance to send your payments to just one lender. What’s more, you may be able to extend the term of the loan in order to lessen the size of your monthly payments.
7. Simply keep records regarding your student loans. If possible, try to back up copies of all your letters, canceled checks, promissory notes, disbursement notices, and some other necessary forms in a file folder. Just be organized.

Friday 11 June 2010

The Plus Factors of Consolidation

Student loan consolidation has a lot to offer. That is what many experts often say. To find out what consolidation has to offer, let’s read on.

Overall Interest Savings

Over time, the student loans you have borrowed have been assigned with different variable interest rates. Note that the key word here is variable. While the loan you received may have offered, say, 3.5 percent at first, the rate will actually go up as the interest rates go up. So, if you have two or more of these loans, there is a great possibility that you may have owed amounts at different rates, and these rates can rise and fall yearly. Considering that the interest rates have nowhere else to go but up, it is no doubt a safe bet that the debt you have accumulated will mount faster than it would if you consider a student loan consolidation.

By considering consolidation and remaining on your 10 years payment plan, it is possible that you can lock your interest at today’s current loan rates and save some bucks over the long haul. Aside from that, all of those loans that may have come from different lending companies or banks can be a burden to deal with. So, if you consolidate, it means that you only deal with one single company and one payment rather than several. Other than that, you have the great chance to receive added bonuses like payment and interest rate reductions in case you pay your debts on time over a period of months. These benefits are also possible to come if you have automatically withdrawn your monthly payment from a checking or savings account.

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Wednesday 2 June 2010

The Consequences of Student Loan

When the loan enters the default status, several consequences are connected to it. Some of them are mentioned below:
• The loans may be turned over to a collection agency.
• The borrower will be liable for all the costs associated with collecting the loan. This may even include the court costs as well as attorney fees.
• The borrower can be sued for the entire amount of the loan.
• The wages may be garnished.
• The federal and state income tax refunds may be intercepted.
• That federal government may withhold part of the Social Security benefit payments.
• On the credit record, the defaulted loans will be mentioned, making it difficult for the borrower to get an auto loan, mortgage and even credit cards. Note that having a bad credit record can harm your ability to find a job.
• The borrower’s chance to receive federal financial aid will now be impossible to happen until he repays the loan in full or make arrangements to repay what he already owe and make at least six consecutive, on time, monthly payments.
• Federal interest benefits will be denied.

Aside from the above mentioned consequences, there is also some other less-obvious consequences that are oftentimes omitted from consideration. One of those could be the rule that the federal student loan borrowers holding defaulted student loans are no longer entitled to any deferments or forbearances. Subsequently, there are some instances when the loan default may force the individual to consider or take a semester off. This must be taken due to his or her inability to qualify for federal student aid as well as to afford the cost of higher education independently.
What’s more, there is a great possibility for those borrowers who defaulted on their student loans to lose their professional licenses. For instance, the lawyers who possess defaulted loans may be subject to have their license to practice law disavowed. The doctors and certified public accountants would also fall into this category.
Lastly, the borrowers who just ignored summons for loan repayments will become liable for all fees associated with collecting the federally financed loan. This means that the borrowers will end up repaying their outstanding debt, plus up to 25 percent in contingent fees in order to satisfy the student loan debt. Note that this rule is actually consistent with the Higher Education Act as well as on the terms of most borrowers’ promissory notes.

Monday 31 May 2010

Student Loan Consolidation Defined

Student loan consolidation is typically defined as the process or the act of combining multiple loans into a single loan in order to decrease the monthly payment amount or elevate the repayment period. There are a lot of reasons behind it, and among those is money saving payment incentives, decreased monthly payments, fixed interest rates, and new or renewed deferments.

When we talk about college graduation, several promising life changes occur in our minds – potential careers, independence as well as new beginnings. However, although it means beginning of something, it still signifies something less enjoyable too – the repayment of student loans.

As you all know, the repayment of ample student loans can be off-putting for both students and their parents. It was found out by the Public Interest Research Group in the US that the average debt among student borrowers is currently in excess of $16,500. That large! The Associated Press also noted that graduates of public colleges and universities usually emerge owing more than $10,000 for their undergraduate years alone. Those who are in private institutions typically owe $14,000, while the graduate-level students often owe more than $24,000. What’s more for those studying medicine or law? For sure, they accumulate even more debt. And, the bad thing is, repaying these debts are even becoming more difficult for graduates in the midst of uncertain jobs and the recession.

With the interest rates in all student loan programs are now at record lows, there is no reason for the graduates not to consider student loan consolidation. It is often said that with student loan consolidation, students and graduates can save thousands of bucks in interest charges.

Now let us look at the things involved in student loan consolidation.
www.loansolution4student.blogspot.com

Saturday 29 May 2010

10 Essential Borrowing Tips

Now that you have pondered enough about your student loan with the things you have to consider before borrowing, as well as with the amount you need to borrow, I guess it is now important for you to look at the most recommended tips for borrowing student loans. Just consider the following:
1. Start by looking at the award letter given to you by your servicer. From the letter, figure out which need-based loans you have been qualifies for and for what amounts.
2. After looking at the full financial picture, such as the awarded aid, education cost, and family share, you should then consider settling on an amount that you actually need to borrow.
3. The rule is: never borrow more than you need. Always note that as a student loan borrower, you are not required to take the full amount of the loan you have been offered.
4. Don’t ever forget about student employment as an alternative for borrowing. Even though working at a job can seem like an extra burden for students, so is struggling with high loan repayments after college.
5. Apply for the student loan right away. This is very necessary especially if you want to ensure that the loan is approved as well as the money paid to the college before you have to make your first student account payment.
6. The key to successful application is to follow the loan application instructions carefully. Note that any mistakes you make will delay receipt of the funds.
7. When you are applying for a Stafford or Direct student loan, be prepared for the amount that is paid to the college to be less than the amount you signed for. Usually, a fee of up to four percent will be deducted from the student loan. This deduction occurs before the check is sent to the college of your choice.
8. If you already figured out the exact amount you are borrowing before any borrowing process begins, you should start keeping track of your student loan tab, which is what your monthly repayment amount will be after you graduated from college. There are student loan calculators out there than can do the math for you.
9. If instances occur that you find yourself needing more than the amount that’s been offered in your award letter, it is necessary to contact with a financial aid counselor before taking on an additional loan.
10. And, if you do take on an additional, unsubsidized loan, just consider making interest payments while attending your degree. The interest won’t be much and this will help you save money. If you delay or capitalize the interest payments, you will end up having to pay back significantly less than.
As mentioned, planning and thinking your moves for taking out student loans is very necessary for a successful borrowing. If you do consider what have been mentioned above, then there is no doubt for you not to attain your dream education, and even a successful career in the future.