Considering student loans consolidation?
When college debt is making your financial life too difficult, student loans consolidation may be an option.
In a student loans consolidation plan, you will consolidate student loan debt by taking out a new loan to pay off multiple existing loans. When the new loan has a lower interest rate than the average of the interest rates on the old loans, you should be able to save money on interest over time and/or lower your student loan payment. If your existing loans have variable interest rates, taking a new loan with a fixed interest rate can bring more stability to your financial situation. And having just one loan payment to make each month can help to simplify your finances as well.
But while student loans consolidation sounds like a sure-fire solution, it’s not for everybody. Unless you proceed with caution, you may end up actually paying more money or find yourself more deeply in debt – especially if you don’t address the financial realities that helped you get into debt in the first place.
When you want guidance to sort through your options for student loans consolidation and other student loan services, our financial professionals can help.
ACCC Can Help With Your Debt
At ACCC, we provide free credit counseling, free educational resources and a low-cost debt management plan that can help you pay off your debts and manage your money more effectively. As a nonprofit organization, our mission is to provide financial counseling to help consumers regain control of their finances and learn to avoid debt in the future.
Our highly trained and certified counselors can help you review all the debt options available to you. During your credit counseling session, we’ll work to get a detailed picture of your financial situation and then lay out all of the possibilities for managing your debt more easily. If student loans consolidation seems like the best option for you, we can provide advice and pointers that may help you choose among the many student loan consolidation companies available to you.
Alternatives to student loans consolidation.
If student loans consolidation is not the most advantageous option, our counselors may recommend one of the following:
- A new repayment plan through one of several federal student loan relief programs that can help you lower your monthly payment.
- A deferment or forbearance arrangement, enabling you to postpone or lower your payments for a period of time.
- Student loan debt forgiveness, typically available to people in the military, education, healthcare, community service and other high-need fields that are not as lucrative as working in the private sector.
Learn more at ACCC.
