Learn How To Consolidate Student Loans
When you’re carrying a lot of debt and want to know how to consolidate your debt and loans, American Consumer Credit Counseling (ACCC) offers free credit counseling and education around student debt consolidation. Our certified credit counselors can discuss all the ways to repay your loan and show you how to meet your financial goals.
ACCC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals and families gain control of their finances and start the journey out of debt. In addition to free credit counseling, we offer counseling around bankruptcy, housing and budgeting as well as a low-cost debt management plan.
How to consolidate student loans with federal programs.
At ACCC, our credit counselors are experts and will work with you to reduce or eliminate debt and can show you how to consolidate student loans in a number of ways. Depending on your financial situation and your financial goals, you may want to know how to consolidate student loans in order to reduce your monthly payment, or how to consolidate student loans in order to pay your loan off faster.
When you consolidate student loan debt, you pay off multiple existing loans by taking out a single new loan, enabling you to make just one payment per month. When the new loan has a lower interest rate than the average interest rate of your old loans, you’ll be able to save money on interest and pay your debt off more quickly. Alternately, if the new loan has a longer repayment period, you’ll be able to lower the amount of your monthly student loan repayment.
If you have federal student loans such as Direct, Stafford or Perkins loans, you may be eligible for a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan. If your loans have variable interest rates, you’ll want to know how to consolidate student loans to convert the interest to a fixed rate for the life of the loan, providing more stability and a lower monthly payment.
How to consolidate student loans from private lending institutions.
To consolidate private student loans from banks, credit unions or other lending institutions, you’ll need to apply for a new loan from a similar lending institution. Your ACCC credit counselors can help you determine ways to eliminate your debt, and show you how to manage your debt more effectively.
Learn more with ACCC.
