Fed Financial
Can I consolidate my sallie mae loans after repayment begins?
I have sallie mae private student loans that go into repayment at the end of this month..does anyone know if I'll be able to consolidate after repayment begins or do I have to do it before? My credit score will significantly increase next month so it would be great if I could pay the loans for a couple months and then consolidate for a lower monthly payment/interest rate. I can't seem to find this information on their website. All help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Public Comments
- Most of the time, you must be in repayment in order to consolidate. Also,consolidating locks in the current variable interest rate you have. It prevent the rate fromflucuating on you. You do not have to consolidat to get a lower payment. Most have different payment plans. Interest rates just changed on 07/01/07, so I would make sure the current rate for this yeat 07/01/07-06/30/08 isn't considered "high". Otherwise you may wanna hold off. I worked for Direct Loans (Sallie Mae is the biggest and Direct Loans is #2).
- You can consolidate private student loans at any time, whether in repayment or not. The above answerer is incorrect - federal consolidation will lock the interest rate, private consolidation will not. Sounds like you're doing the right thing by waiting until your credit goes up before you consolidate - that should help you get a better rate.
