Debt Management And Student Loan Interest

Student loan interest can now be used as a tax deduction on personal income tax returns, thanks to changes made the United States government and the IRS. New student loan interest rates went into affect on August 1, 2005, changing the previous one. This can greatly help students and parents at tax time.

Despite a federal government initiative to encourage higher education over the past few years, with the offer of deferred loans that include much lower rates than regular or private types of loans, and put off pay back until a student has completed their studies, the impact on new and existing loans is the same. Interest builds over time and interest is made on the balance, which will eventually include some of the interest, itself. The result is that despite less worry about finance during the educational period; the final balance is much higher than before, affecting students’ financial situations and income tax returns.

Initially the government offered a two-pronged opportunity to student loan candidates. The first is subsidized; whereby the government covers the interest until a student’s education is completed because the student’s need for financial aid is higher. The second is unsubsidized whereby the student is fully responsible for dealing with any interest on top of the loan. Private and other student loan creditors also provide a deferred type of personal loan, but the interest rates are higher, the loan is unsubsidized, not necessarily following the government’s strict guidelines, and the student is fully responsible again for paying interest upon interest plus the original loan balance. The private and other sectors have made a high profit industry out of student loans and unfortunately many students do not fully comprehend how interest upon interest works. In a sense, even though some most private creditors do follow government’s rules, debt management and credit counseling services do in fact aid their own profits instead of truly helping students by encouraging them to take out further loans to consolidate their student loan debts which costs students even more money. It is imperative for parents and students to be fully cognizant of their student loans’ conditions and terms, government or private, but most importantly students need to be managing their money by paying of interest as and when it is applied each month. In other words, loan payments may be okay to defer, but do not defer paying the interest.

Managing Your Money And Your Student Loans

If you have a number of outstanding student loans, you may want to consider student loan debt consolidation.  You will eliminate having many bills to pay on your student loans, and the total monthly payments can be significantly reduced as compared to the normal ten year payback option.  A special program called FFEL (Federal Family Education Loan Program)  allows commercial institutions, such as credit union,  banks and other lenders to grant debt consolidation loans for the purpose of consolidating educational debt.  In addition, the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program allows for the federal government to grant student debt consolidation loans.

The majority of federal education loans can be included in these programs,  whether or not they are loans that have been subsidized by the government.  These include the FFEL Stafford loans, Health Education Assistance Loans, Federal Nursing Loans, Federal Perkins Loans and SLS.  Note that private education loans are not eligible for the debt consolidation programs. 

If you need to find out whether your loan is eligible for a student loan debt consolidation, you should contact the appropriate Direct Loan Origination Center, Loan Consolidation Department. For instance, if you have a FFEL loan, contact a participating FFEL lender if you are interested in consolidating a FFEL loan.

You can apply for an educational debt consolidation loan even while you are still in school, as well as once you have graduated, left school without graduating, or reduced your student hours to half time enrollment or below.  If you have all of your student loans with one FFEL lender, you have to obtain your student consolidation loan from that same FFEL lender, except in the cases where the terms of an income sensitive loan are unacceptable.  If you want to be considered for the William D. Ford "Direct Student Loan Debt Consolidation Loan", you have to already have a Stafford student loan (subsidized or unsubsidized) that will be included in the loan consolidation, or have at least one FFEL program Stafford loan to be included in it. Again, this can be subsidized or unsubsidized.

How do you go about choosing an unsecured debt consolidation program?  The first step to take is to meet with a professional to advise you. He or she may be called a debt relief specialist, settlement specialist or client services representative.  This person will answer your questions about the loan.  The main thing about a debt consolidation loan is that it is intended to assist you, not make things better for your creditors.  The company you are working with will handle the negotiations; they are all finance and debt professionals.  This may not be the program for you, but it is worth looking at, and there are many unsecured debt consolidation programs that you can find out about, either by calling or by checking online.

Student Debt and Student Loans

The statistics show that more and more students are graduating from university with significant debt. The debt levels are growing year on year and many students will be paying them off for years after they graduate. It seems that the consumer addiction to credit and spending has effected the student population just as much as every one else. The fact that most students are not earning anything, and are living either on funds provided by their parents, or on money borrowed, they continue to spend millions each year.

These costs are spread over a variety of areas. Accommodation and other living expenses represent the largest portion of the expenditure. Added to this is travel to and from university, holiday and summer travel expenses, and entertainment. While students are generally financially responsible and not as out of control as many patents would have you think, they do continue to spend a huge proportion of their money on entertainment and socialising.

Employment
Many students will also be working part time during their studies. There are a lot of jobs available and finding one is not a problem for most students who genuinely want one. Employers recognise their flexibility and willingness to work unsociable hours and also that they will generally be happy to accept minimum or close to minimum wage. Therefore, while the jobs are there, they generally pay little, and students who work more than 10-20 hours a week are probably putting a serious strain on their studies and risking their future chances of success.

Most student debt is comprised of student loans. The student loans company based on eligibility criteria provides these. These loans are cheaper than credit that is available on the market from high street banks and have other significant advantages for students. Firstly, students will not have to start repaying the loans until they are earning a set minimum amount, currently around the £15,000 mark. Then there is also the fact that loan repayments are calculated according to earnings levels and are therefore always reasonably affordable. Students are giving as much time as they need to repay the loans and the interest rates, as said before, are very favourable.

Overdrafts
As well as these student loans however, many students will also have other forms of debt. Most banks are offering interest free student overdrafts of up to £2,000 and there are not many students who do not use this up pretty quickly. Then there are bank loans, store cards and credit cards. All of these represent a significant amount of debt that most students are living with.