In another posting, you suggested trying cfsloans for a student loan consolidation. I checked the site and they had an article by Jane Bryant Quinn. She said to try CFS, Sallie Mae, or the federal government through its Direct loan consolidation program. Do you know if the interest rates will be the same or do I need to shop? Also, my son is a little credit impaired due to his experience with PLATO student loans. Do any of these have credit requirements? Obviously I can find the answers to these questions myself, but I thought I would ask first. Thanks, Tom
I talked to CFS extensively about this last week. From what I understand, there is some type of credit ran on the PRIVATE student loan consolidation, but, because the program is so new, they aren't sure what the qualifications are yet. From what I understand though, if you have federal loans ONLY you should be able to consolidate without a credit check. Thats what Sallie Mae told me before. The problem I'm having is that 1 of my loans is private and the other is federal. So, I have to use a company that will consolidate both. Which one(s) does your son have? Private or Federal?
My son has both. The biggest total is Stafford, about $12,000. He has PLATO (private) at about $6,000. I have heard and read that the rates will go down July 1 so I will try to do this next week. Unless, the credit is a problem. I would appreciate it if you would post any more info you get as you go through the process. I caculated that on the PLATO loan, he could knock 3 years off the 10 year repayment schedule if he gets the lower rate. Any comments from others are appreciated.
Well, since he has a Plato loan, his best bet would be to go through CFS. As far as I know, they are the only ones that will do private consolidation. The rates are going down in July, so I would definetly wait till then....Also, if he had a co-signer then CFS would be more likely to take him I think
I looked at the web site you posted. It looks like they want about 8% + for a refinance. Better than some of the current interest rates. But, I saw in one of the posts last week that after July 1 it would be possible to get under 6% by going through one of the government refinancing services. Has anyone out there tried refinancing a student loan recently? I would like to hear about your experiences.
