Loan Consolidation with Forbearance in Meantime

[Kris1]

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I'm an EM PGY-1 with my loans about to lose their grace period. I'm expecting a healthy monthly stipend though not for another month or two. When I get the stipend, I think I would like to consolidate my loans at a lower rate and start putting everything I've got into paying them off. Who is a good servicer and what kind of interest rate can I expect to get with consolidation? Also, will there be any ill effects by forebearing for the next two months until I start getting my stipend?

 

[claytonj]

Your interest rate would depend on many factors like your current credit status and the amount of your new loan. You may want to checkout the Business of Medicine that is featured at the top of this page. They are a non profit that helps students.

 

[dpmd]

If you are talking about federal student loans, the interest rate will be the weighted average of the loans you will be including in the consolidation. Some servicers in the past have offered incentives for on time payments, such as interest rate reductions and/or principal reductions. The main benefit of the consolidation however, is the extended repayment (30 yrs), and the convenience of a single servicer. The historical benefit was for people to turn a variable interest rate loan into a fixed rate loan, but my understanding is that all the new loans are fixed rate nowadays.

I couldn't even find consolidation info with my servicer's website anymore. They may not do it anymore. If you aren't getting any incentive besides the one for paying with auto debit you won't really be any better off by consolidating versus just going for an extended payment schedule.