Help with your Student Loan Debt

You have now graduated college and are seeking employment in the field of your dreams. There is only one big problem; you have student loan debt that you need to start paying. How can you get help for your student loan debt?

The first thing you should do is contact the lending company that you have your loan with; let them know that you are having problems with your student loan debt. There are a couple of different programs that might be able to help you with your student loan debt.
You might be able to get what is called a deferment for your student loan debt. A deferment can be used for students that are unemployed, still enrolled in school or have an economic hardship. What a deferment does is it temporarily delays your student loan debt for a certain amount of time.

Another program that you may be eligible for is called forbearance. This program will help those that are not eligible for a deferment. This program can delay your payments like the deferment or it can be used to reduce your monthly payments. In order to be eligible your student loan debt must be more than 20% of your gross income.

If you are not eligible for either one of the above programs or do not think that is what you want to do for your student loan debt, you may want to consider consolidating your loans.

How does a consolidating work with my student loan debt?
What happens is, the lending company that you choose will talk with every company that you have a student loan with, and then they will make arraignments to pay them something each month on your behalf. You will then pay the lending company one payment each month and they will pay your bills.

How can consolidating help me with my student loan debt?
* You can get a low fixed interest rate
* You can reduce your monthly payments because you are extending your student loan debt.
* One payment to one lending company each month.
* No fees for or penalties for prepayments.
* You will not be paying interest each month on each bill
* You will not have to talk with your creditors (The lending company handles it)
* It will protect your credit rating.

Are there disadvantages in consolidating my student loan debt?
Yes, there are a few reasons you may not want to consolidate they are:
* Getting this consolidation loan will extend the life of your loan.
* Your original repayment incentives are forfeited.
* You may not be eligible for deferment options.
* You may lose your grace period.
* You may pay more in interest in the long run.

If I choose to consolidate my student loan debt do I have different options and payment plans?
Yes, there are three major repayment plans available for your student loan debt.

Standard Plan
This student consolidating plan usually has a monthly payment of no less than $50 per month. This is the plan that most people are using today. You can also change from a standard plan at a later date.

Graduated Plan
This type of plan will help you with your student loan debt by allowing you to start out with low monthly payments that will increase gradually every two years. The repayment period is the same as the plan above depending on the amount of money you borrow. Again the interest will probably be higher since the loan is for a longer period of time.

Income Sensitive Plan
This plan is based on the amount of your consolidating loan and your monthly income. If your income decreases the monthly loan payment will also decrease, the same with increases, if your income increases so will your monthly loan payments. You will have up to 25 years to pay the loan any money left owed after that time will be released. You may still have to pay taxes on the money that was released.