Best rates for consolidating college loans

The typical student borrower receives money from federal loan programs every semester in school.

It often comes from different lenders, so it is not unusual to owe money to 8-10 separate lenders by the time you graduate.

Federal loans can be consolidated in the Direct Consolidation Loan program.

You combine all federal student loans into one loan that has a fixed interest rate.

You combine all your student loans, take out one big consolidation loan and use it to pay off all the others.

You are left with one payment to one lender every month.

default on their student loans and though the average repayment time varies by amount owed, it’s safe to say it’s probably going to take at least 10 years and might take as long as 30 years.

Members of the class of 2019 who took out student loans, owe an average of ,172 and their payments are just under 0 a month.

Refinancing student loans is similar to the Direct Consolidation Loan program in that you bundle all your student loans into one loan and make a single monthly payment, but there are important differences that you should look at before making a decision.Keeping track of that kind of schedule is complicated and part of the reason so many have defaulted.It’s also why student loan consolidation is such an attractive solution.That is a sizeable and unwelcome graduation gift so it’s important to know how to minimize the damage.If the money you borrowed was all federal loans, you can find easier repayment options by applying for a Direct Consolidation Loan.

Making one payment every month instead of many payments makes life simpler.