The Four Types Of Direct Student Loan Consolidation

As a student, do you find it hard to repay your student loans? While student loans are great in that you and I will probably not be able to afford a tertiary education without it. On the other hand, it can be difficult to pay the monthly payments on time due to the high interest rate and other external factors which can challenge your wallet.

If you have a difficult time in repaying your student loans, you might want to consider a direct student loan consolidation.

So what is a direct student loan consolidation?

In essence, it is simply exchanging or consolidating your existing outstanding student loans with higher interest rates for one loan with a more manageable, fixed interest rate. The interest rate is determined by the average of your loans, rounded to the nearest 0.125 per cent.

A direct student loan consolidation is especially useful if you know you are about to default on your monthly student loan payments. A direct student loan consolidation can mean a new start since it is considered a new loan.

When you consolidate your student loans under a new loan, your existing loans will show up on your credit card as paid off, thereby increasing your credit score.

Before getting a direct student loan consolidation, you need to know the types of plans for repaying. There are four major types. You may like to investigate more to consider which is best for your needs.

1. Standard Repayment Plan

Standard Repayment Plan allows you a fixed monthly payment for up to 10 years depending on the amount you owe.

2. Extended Repayment Plan

An extended repayment plan allows you up to 30 years. Obviously, the longer the period, the less amount you need to repay each month. Do note, however that you will end up paying more as a whole if you spread your payment over longer periods of time due to interest rates.

3. Graduated Repayment Plan

Graduated Repayment Plan usually have a repayment period between 12 and 30 years. The main difference between graduated and extended repayment plan is for graduated, the amount of your monthly payment will increase every two years.

4. Income Contingent Repayment Plan

If you have a job, then this plan may be what you are looking for. The income contingent repayment plan set a monthly payment based on your gross annual income. Other factors include your family size and the amount owe. The repayment period is usually 25 years.

A word of caution, if you are close to paying off your student loans, then a direct student loan consolidation may not be suitable for you since you will be paying more due to interest rates over the long term.

However, if you have difficulty in repaying your student loans and it is still years away from being paid off, then a direct student loan consolidation may be the answer. Not only do you pay less interest over the long term but it can improve your credit rating as well.

How Bankruptcy Affects Student Loans

The vast majority of government student loans cannot be gotten rid of easily, even filing for bankruptcy will not resolve these debts. The only way that these types of loans can be taken care of in bankruptcy is if you can prove that they are a substantial hardship on you and your finances and this is a pretty hard ting to do in most cases, especially since the rest of your debts will be taken care of with the bankruptcy filing.

If you do wish to try to get your student loans discharged you will have to prove that there is no way you will be able to pay this debt according to the schedule that has been laid out, that even in time you will still not be able to pay it according to the same schedule and that you have tried unsuccessfully in the past. A good faith effort is necessary. This means that you have not tried lying to your creditors and that you are working as much as you can to get the money that you need but are still coming up short.

What can be discharged and what cannot can also fall directly onto the shoulders of the bankruptcy judge. If you are lucky and you get a judge that allows for these discharges then you might just get away without having to pay off these loans, or at least part of them. In many places it is left up to the judge to go with their own gut feeling.

Keep in mind that while it is true that lenders cannot be sending you bills to pay while you are in bankruptcy, they have to wait until it is over, that does not by any means mean that interest will not be accruing on your loan. And since you do not have to pay, most people don't and once they come out of bankruptcy they find themselves in a whole new batch of trouble than when they went in.

Student loans are flexible loans, they have many more options than some other loans out there. If you find yourself having trouble paying off your student loans let the lender know. Tell them exactly what the problem is and they will most likely be willing to work with you to get around it. If the plan and the schedule that you have set is just not a possible one for you to follow then talk to the lender about coming up with a new one. The thought of contacting lenders scares most people but it works, you are not going to get in more trouble, in fact what you are doing is heading trouble off at the pass. If you have defaulted on your loan you will even find such programs as rehabilitation programs that help you get you out of default. These programs are great, all you have to do is show your good faith effort by paying a lower amount for a set period of time. If you manage to stick to this it will show the lender that you can be depended upon and the lender can take you out of default.

Another route that many people take instead of bankruptcy is loan consolidation. The Direct Loan Servicing Center, working under the auspices of the Department of Education will give you several different options to choose from if you need some help to pay off your loans. Their standard plan is a great one, it is simple and it is effective. All you have to do is pay $50 each and every month until the balance is paid off in full or until 10 years is up, whichever comes first. There is another plan which will keep you paying for anywhere from 12 to 30 years. While this is a great option for those who just don't have much money at all it is one of the most expensive ones simply because 30 years of interest really adds up to a significant amount of money. These are just a couple of the payment plans that you can find available to you. If you are in financial trouble talk to your lender! So you might not be able to resolve your debt completely all at once, at least there are options out there that will give you some peace of mind.