question about consolidating

[bw07]

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Two quesitons

1)Need some guidance here, I currently have Stafford loans from undergrad totalling about 15,000. The loans are through Citibank and are listed as four separate loans (1 a year) for a few thousand each. Is it a good idea to consolidate these? Another thread mentioned I would go into repayment if I did this but since I'm in med school, wouldn't they be deferred automatically or at least if i requested it? I don't know if it matters but I'm also receiving stafford loans right now in med school [a lot more, about 30,000 per YEAR =(]

2) Besides the federal loans, I took out a private loan - Bank One Education loan last year (first year of med school) to help pay off some credit card debt and supplement my summer since I'm doing research and getting paid very little. I had a cosigner (parent) and it's currently deferred with interest of course. Can this loan be consolidated somehow with or without my undergrad loans?

Thanks

 

[bw07]

anyone?

 

[mpp]

No, your loans will likely go directly into repayment, if you can consolidate them at all. Unless you have some direct loans, you might not be able to consolidate until after you are done with school. Why would you want to consolidate when the rate is so low anyway? The Stafford rate for next year is even lower than last year and if you consolidate they will be stuck at the higher rate.

Some private consolidators might consolidate your private loan (although the total interest rate would be higher and it might not be worth it since it would put your current low rate Stafford loans at a higher rate).

 

[bw07]

Thanks for the help mpp. So are you saying that if I did consolidate, I should wait until July when the new rates are lower...? I'm not sure what you mean by direct loans?

Does anyone know what I can do about the private loan?

 

[mpp]

You cannot consolidate while in school unless your loans are from a school that is a Direct Lender. Since you say your loans are Citibank loans, then your school is not a Direct Lender.

 

[bw07]

Gotcha, so basically don't worry about the federal undergrad loans until I finish med school... 👍

Is there anything I can do about my private loan? It's deferred until graduation. Can it be consolidated? can I prepay it while it's deferred without it going into repayment (It's for about 4000 and I'll probably have 2000 unused after this summer, was hoping I could just pay it down without it going into repayment)

 

[mpp]

You'd have the check the terms of the loan. You can prepay Stafford loans without going into repayment.

 

[mward04]

Kind of a follow-up question to this. If you have subsidized and unsubsidized loans, can you consolidate before you graduate? Obviously you would have to have cash on hand to pay for your tuition/living expenses. Also, would you go into immediate repayment? Thanks!

 

[mward04]

Never mind...I answered my own questions. Some loans you can consolidate before graduation and some you can't, it all depends upon your lender. Now that interest rates have gone down AGAIN (2.77% woo hoo!!!), I am going to put off consolidating for a year. At this lender, http://www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov/ you can defer repayment for 6 months once you've consolidated. Basically what these guys do is to buy your loan from your current lender. PLUS, you can still take out more loans after you've consolidated. So if you're close to finishing school or you will finish this next year, this is probably something to consider.