Unsecured Student Loans - Secure Your Dream Upfront

Owing to getting study costlier every other year, there are many students across the country who are facing a hard time bearing up the cost of the expenses incur upon the studies. Due to falling short of the student financial expectation, many lending bodies have come forward to support the students' financially. There many forms of student loans in which unsecured students loans are gaining the financial ground. These loans are alternate options of the secured forms of the student loans.

Talking about the unsecured student loans, these loans are offered without any sort of collateral placing. However these loans are offered in keeping borrowers' financial capability and repayment capacity. Knowingly that unsecured student loans are some of the time prove to be detrimental at lenders' sides, lenders still willing to lend students the required sum of money.

Generally, unsecured student loans keep higher APR (annual percentage rate) as compare to other loans i.e., secured forms of the student loans. Facing the larger risk in lending money to students, lenders incur upon on higher interest rates in order to make up the insurance of the unsecured student loans.

The advantages of unsecured student loans are configured in such a way to pay off all the expenses of the studies. Tuition fee, computer fees, stationery, lab charges, food and lodging, transportation charges etc. are some of the added benefits of unsecured student loans. Apart from this, students who are in different debt tarp can too manage their debt by the act of debt consolidation under the provisions of unsecured student loans.

At present, many lending bodies i.e., private and government, are going in for offering unsecured student loans. However, for an instant processing and quick result, online method of has undoubtedly proved to be convenient tool. With the advent of online, the process of applying unsecured student loans has become rather simple and time saving. Henceforth, students have to fill in a simple application form, and rest of the time takes searching. The searching of a right lender which is very simple via online since just in click, there are innumerable sites of different lenders come to fore. Only the need lies here is of just going through the terms and conditions the lenders have planed to. Compare different loan quotes together and make your plan of unsecured student loans what suit your budget best.

Why Consolidate Student Loans

When you consolidate student loans the process is often long and sometimes difficult. Many students will find it confusing with obstacles that are tiring. For that reason is best to consolidate student loans as quickly as possible after graduation. For the most part, the student loan company will handle the difficult issues when you consolidate student loans. A student loan consolidation combines several payments into a single much lower monthly payment. When you consolidate student loans it makes life easier at a time when you are launching your career. With certain repayment plans, the student can easily budget out the payment each month to ensure that the loan is retired promptly.

When you consolidate student loans you not only lower the monthly payment, but budgeting your finances becomes much easier. The consolidation process can also potentially lower your interest rate, saving you significant money over the life of the loan. So don't get discouraged when you consolidate student loans, as the student loan company is always there to help.

When you want to consolidate student loans, the Internet is the best place to find information on repayment options. Many options are available to you when you consolidate student loans, so it is important to get as much information as possible to assure you get the best payment plan. Some payment plans even have a sliding scale to compensate for lower income when you are just getting started in your career.

Before you apply for student loan consolidation you should check out student loan forgiveness programs. You can qualify to have your student loans forgiven by:

1) Performing volunteer work:

If you serve for 12 months in AmeriCorps, you receive up to $7400 in
stipends plus $4725 for your loan retirement. Call 1-800-942-2677.

Peace Corps Volunteers can retire up to 70% of consolidate student loans Call 1-800-424-8580 or 1-202-692-1845.

Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) can earn up to $4725 in debt forgiveness. Call 1-800-942-2677 or 1-202-606-5000.

2) Performing military service:

The Army National Guard offers $10,000 of repayment funds its members.

3) Teaching in certain types of communities:

The American Federation of Teachers maintains a list of loan forgiveness programs for teachers.
Also contact your local school boards to learn which schools qualify for loan forgiveness

4) Medical and Legal service in certain communities.

Many law schools forgive the loans of students who serve in public interest or non-profit positions. Call Equal Justice Works 1-202-466-3686 or fax 1-202-429-9766.

The US National Institutes of Health's NIH Loan Repayment Programs repay up to $35,000/year of student loan debt for US citizens who are conducting clinical medical research.

The more you know about your student loans and the options available when you consolidate student loans, the better judgments and decisions you will make. Most students who do not want to do volunteer work can benefit when they consolidate student loans. If you have small, low interest rate student loans, it is best to keep them separate when you consolidate student loans to preserve the advantageous interest rate.

To consolidate student loans is a smart way of managing student loan debt. Study all the options on the Internet and make good decisions on how to pay back student loans. When you consolidate student loans it does not remove all the pain of repaying your debt, but it makes life more enjoyable while you do.

Tips On Paying Off Your Student Loan Consolidation

Student loans can be a long-term burden that can hang over your entire young adult life. Many students wonder about how they can pay back their student loans. If you have more than one student loan or are interested in loan consolidation, the following information may benefit you.

A consolidated student loan follows pretty much the same guidelines as a regular student loan. Your guidelines and payment schedule are provided by the lending institution. Your first payment is usually due 30 to 60 days after you're approved for consolidation of your student loans. You should continue to make your payments on your individual student loans until you receive acceptance or approval of your consolidation application.

Most institutions will provide you with a choice about how you want to pay back the consolidated student loan: standard payment plan, graduated payment plan, variable payment plan or extended payment plan. A standard payment plan involves a set monthly payment that does not change over the life of the loan. A graduated payment plan involves starting with low monthly payments and gradually increasing the payments until the loan is paid off. A variable payment plan will allow you to adjust the amount of your payments based on changes in your incomes and expenses. And finally, an extended payment plan gives you a longer period of time to pay off your loan, thus reducing the monthly payment.

Beware of consolidation lenders who charge a fee to consolidate your student loans and lenders who charge a fee for early repayment of the loan. There are plenty of lenders out there who are willing to consolidate your student loans without charging any fees. Don't sign any paperwork until you've verified that the lender has none of these fees hidden in the paperwork.

Finally, be aware that some lenders require a credit check before approving your consolidation application. This is standard procedure and nothing to worry about if you have a slightly below average or better credit rating. If your credit rating is on the low side, you should know that consolidating your student loan may improve your credit rating.

Student Loan Debt Solutions

The figures for students opting for loans are only going higher as each year passes by. Not only that; with the escalation in the cost of tuitions, the amount borrowed is also at an all-time high. But despite that, the list of student defaulters is low. This is due to the fact that today there are many solutions for student indebtedness and students are better-informed of how to implement these solutions.

The wisest solution is that of loan consolidation. A student can bundle up all the federal loans that may have been borrowed during the educational period into a single loan, with a single rate of interest. When a student consolidates loans, then the rate of interest locks in at the current rate and hence, the student does not have to suffer the rising rate in the future. Consolidation also saves the student from having to deal with more than one creditor.

Consolidation is a seemingly viable option, but the student must do some research to find out whether it would really help. Sometimes with consolidated loans, the interest reductions are not much and the student must think whether it is worth making the effort to get the loans consolidated. The Student Assistance Act of 1965 has facilitated students with huge loans to extend their tenures of repayment up to as many as 30 years. But though this gives an ease of repayment to the student, it will pile up a tremendous interest for such a long tenure.

The best option seems to be debt forgiveness. There are several socially benefiting organizations that the student can work with to get the loans forgiven. Students may work as doctors, nurses, teachers, or may join the armed forces or work in voluntary institutions such as the AmeriCorps or PeaceCorps to get their loans forgiven. The amount of loan forgiven depends on the period of service the student provides. However, the catch here is that the student must think whether working for a higher paying institution may help to get the loan repaid faster.

There is also an option of rehabilitating loans. After 12 monthly payments to the lender, the student may request the lender to sell the loan off to someone else. Once this is agreed upon, the student has 9 years to repay the loan. Filing for bankruptcy is a possible, though very difficult, process. To be declared bankrupt, a court must be ascertained that the student will not have even a minimal standard of living for a major chunk of the repayment period, were the loan to be repaid.

Student loans cannot be completely eliminated. Hence, students must try to repay them as soon as possible. It helps to take up a job immediately after graduation. There are students who are still unemployed when the grace period is coming to an end. This is a catastrophic situation. In fact, lenders provide discounts to students who manage to repay their loans on time.

Students must learn debt management techniques. Becoming aware of the sticky situation they are in often helps to solve the situation.

Am I Eligible For Student Loan Debt Consolidation?

As a student who has taken admission in college for the first time or as parents who are planning to send their child to college, you can't help but cringe, when you have to purchase textbooks worth thousand dollars or when you receive a bill for tuition fees. The rise in expenses associated with college education in United States has led to increase in demand for student loans. This has, in turn, increased the requirement for student loan consolidation services. Students, whether pursuing their studies in a graduate school or studying abroad have accrued huge debts, much beyond, what was considered reasonable, a few years back. Student loans have lower than normal interest rates and very flexible payment terms. This is because these loans are specifically meant for the people who are not employed.

But even with such low interest rates and convenient pay-back terms, many students may find it difficult to pay these loans as per the payment schedule. Student Debt Consolidation programs are customized to assist the students in managing their loans and thereby helping them to avoid defaulting on their debts.

There are debt consolidation agencies which are specially meant to manage debt problems of the students.

Basic Types of Loans

Student loans can be classified into federal and private. If you are one of those students who have taken both types of loans it is strongly recommended that you do not consolidate these two loans into one. Out of these two loans, only loans classified as federal can be refinanced as they are backed by the government. You should package all the federal loans into one and solve them before heading for the private loans. Private loans are mostly unsecured in nature therefore they charge interest rate which is higher than federal loans.

Criteria for Consolidation

If you would like to go for consolidation of your student loan, you will need to meet certain criteria. Firstly, it is required that either you should be out of the school or college and be in what is defined as the "grace period" of your loan or you must have already started repaying the loan in order to take advantage of student debt consolidation service. When you get in touch with a consolidation agency providing service to students, you must begin by asking them to get in touch with your creditors.

The agency will negotiate with these creditors and convince them to reduce rate of interest as well as your monthly payment. The repayment of your student loan has a direct impact on your prospects of taking loans in future, as is the case in any other type of loan. In case your student loan becomes more than 85% of total monthly income earned by you, it will be assessed as a negative score for any future loans. This emphasizes the importance of timely repayment of your student loan and its effect on your future decisions of borrowing money. Based on their evaluation of your financial position and repayment schedules, some debt consolidation agencies can qualify you for further debt reduction programs. These addition reduction programs assist you in many ways, most important of which is reduction in your interest rates. They also include savings made during grace period, automated direct debit payment and on time payments.

Beware

It is very important to state here that not all consolidation companies are genuine in nature. Therefore, you must apply to the consolidation company which is a famous company with credentials to support. Ignoring this advice may lead to substantial increase in your problems as such illegal companies will lead to higher debts.

Are Some Student Loans Better Than Others?

At times it becomes difficult to finance education from your own pocket or via scholarships. For that purpose you must go for student loans. There could be many choices of getting a student loan, depending upon your status and type of education. So, you should check all options available and to choose the best one.

Student loans are of three main types:

o Federal student loans

o Private student loans

o Consolidation student loans

Federal loans are the main source for educational loans. Private financial institutes provide these loans. They are better than private loans, due to their assurance from government and their lowest interest rate.

Credit scores are not accountable for this so almost all students can apply for them before going for any other loan. You can make delay payments, flexible credit requirements and they have longer refund terms. Federal loan is further divided in three major types. i.e.

o Federal Stafford loans

o Federal Perkins loans

o Federal Parent PLUS loans

o Federal Graduate PLUS loans

In further categorization of Federal loans Perkins are better than Stafford due to their lowest interest rate (i.e. 5% interest rate). Federal Perkins loans are only for those who are facing acute financial crises. They have no fee, a lengthy grace period.

On the other hand Federal Stafford loans are more suitable if you need college loan. It has six month grace period and flexible repayments with no fine. You should be declared poor from your school.

Stafford loan can be taken in case you already owe an educational fund. Its interest rate is 6.8%.There is classification of Stafford loan, i.e. if you need a long term and need based loan, and you want government to pay your interest during the school time or you want to request a grace period. In such a case Stafford loan will be term as subsidized federal Stafford loan.

In another case if you need long term and you don't fall under need based, with low interest rate, or you want additional financial support, then unsubsidized federal Stafford loan is best for you. Here interest will be paid by you. And if you are independent student then you should go for Additional unsubsidized federal Stafford loan.

There is another kind of federal loan termed as federal parent plus loans, they are better for the parents of undergraduate students, who depend on their parents and parents of independent students can't apply. For this kind of loans it necessary to check credits, they have flexible repayment options and can be used for saving money during repayments of another loan. Prepayment fine is not charged, no wages or security required, repayments can be postpone till 60 months along with the school time period of your dependent child.

For graduates and professional students Federal Graduate plus loans is a best selection and these loans are better than Stafford loans and Private loans for them. You can borrow complete cost of education, but credits are checked, they offer flexible repayments, no prepayment fine is charged, interest could be tax deductible. They could also be helpful to save money for repayments and could be taken with Stafford loans. You can borrow full educational expenses, until you receive some other aid. Fee is charged but you could get help from lenders and sponsors.

If you are attending a community college or a 4 - 5 year college and you are heading for your degree with adequate credits, then you can go for Signature Student Loan. In this type of loan interest rate and fee is variable depending upon the student credits, standard repayment duration is 15 years but can be extended up to 30years.

Now if you have good credits and you are a parent or working adult, graduate or even undergraduate and you own a social security numbers then you are suitable for Tuition Student Loan. You should give the poof that you are already registered as student at licensed institute.

In case your need is not fulfilled by federal Stafford loan or any other aid or scholarship then Signature Student Loan for Community colleges could help you. These loans have a variable interest rate, no prepayment fine and a grace period of six months.

If you are part time student looking forward for degree or postsecondary student and not looking forward for degree, then Continuing Education loan is best for you. In this loan repayments can be done up to 15 years, interest rates are variable and change every month.

For technical training, some sort of continuing education and online courses, Career Training loan is best. Its terms and conditions are almost same as Continuing Education loan only difference is that its fees are from 0% to 6.5%.

Student Loan Consolidation Calculator - Consolidation Calculation

It's time to consolidate your student loans and you want to know exactly what to expect. You can always contact a lender by phone to discuss terms and have them try to sell you on consolidating with their programs. You can visit your local banks and financial institutions to see what deals they offer. The easiest way to get payment information on your potential consolidation loans is by going online to find a loan calculator. There are a number of websites that have this feature and it is easy to use.

Knowing the Difference

When you are looking at consolidation you will find that lenders offer a variety of similar interest rates to attract borrowers. Small differences in percentages can make a big difference in payment so you need to know how much those little points will cost you. The student loan consolidation calculator takes into account your loan amount, percentage for interest and term for repayment.

Using the Calculator

You will need to enter the loan amounts and interest rates for your outstanding loans. Sometimes you will be able to enter the total amount of your loans combined to do this step. You need to make sure you enter your base interest rate for the consolidation loan. There is usually a section where you enter the duration for repayment so you can get a better idea of how much each installment will be. Finally, you click the 'calculate' button and get all the information you need.

You should be aware that the information from online student loan consolidation calculator. It is considered as estimates of the actual amount. There may be fees, charges or a change in rate that will affect your particular repayment. Your credit will also affect the consolidation loan you get if you are consolidating private loans.