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The first step – Finding out about college loan consolidation (Page 1 of 2)
We might think that for a regular college student the main concern is to attend classes, study for exams and turn in the papers before the deadlines. However, this is not the case in North America. The students in the United States and Canada have to deal with quite complicated financial decisions throughout their years of higher education. The reason is that higher education in these countries is provided by private institutions, which offer quality education but at quite spicy costs. In these conditions, students and their families have to face tough financial decisions when they choose a college to attend. For most of them, the fees are too expensive so the first step is to try obtaining a full scholarship or partial financial aid. For the rest of the expenses, there is the widespread option of contracting a college loan.
Students can contract more than one college loan during their four years of college. If they also pursue graduate studies, it is likely that they will end up with a collection of college loans that they end up paying back for many years after graduation. It thus turns out that a college loan is not something you leave behind at graduation, along with all the other college stories, but it is a life-long commitment. The practice of contracting a college loan is so common that an entire business has developed around it covering financial and legal services for the loan contractors.
A college loan can be offered by either a governmental agency or by a private company that takes care of such financial services. If the student contracts all his student loans from the government, than he can use the option of college loan consolidation. College loan consolidation is extremely advantageous because it actually means replacing a whole set of different loans with various interest rates with just one loan having a unique rate. The main benefit of college loan consolidation is that it gives the chance to lock in the interest rate at its current value (the value at the time when the consolidation is made) thus offsetting changes in interest rates taking place over the next years, when the loan is being repaid. Nowadays, all recent graduates are advised to pursue college loan consolidation as soon as they can because rates for college loans are at an all time low and they will not remain so for too lone. Doing college loan consolidation now means that the student makes sure he or she will pay the same low rate for the following ten or more years, although interest rates for college loans may increase by 10% or more in this period.
College loan consolidation is most commonly done by recent graduates, who are starting to face the difficulties of starting to pay back the loans. Usually, during the college years, the government will subsidize the payment of the rates for students. During the first six months after graduation, young people can still be saved the trouble of having to think about college loan consolidation because they are given a grace period during which no payments should be made. The wisest of them start thinking about college loan consolidation in this time though. They consider alternative options and decide which scheme for college loan consolidation is most beneficial for them. College loan consolidation may be a tough decision to make, the financial packages offered include details that may be tedious to follow and understand. That is why recent graduates may end up postponing thinking about it. However, they are being pressured more and more to become responsible and do college loan consolidation now because of the low interest rates they should be taking advantage of.
VA Loans
A VA (Department of Veterans Affairs) loan is designed to assist the heroes who served in our armed forces and helped protect our country. Any retired soldier can obtain VA loans, even if they only served during peacetime. There are several eligibility requirements that you should know about when determining of you are eligible for a VA loan.
Retired soldiers who have served a certain span of time are eligible. The required period of time that you must be enlisted varies depending on whether you were active during peacetime or a time of war. During a war, eligibility is given after 90 days of service, but eligibility during peacetime requires 181 continuous days. Wartime and peacetime are actually defined as certain calendar periods. For more information, contact your local VA. Its important to note that if you were dishonorably discharged, you are ineligible regardless of the amount of time you served.
Some spouses are eligible for VA loans, too. If you are the spouse of a POW or a soldier missing in action, you may be eligible. Also, a spouse (who did not remarry) of a soldier who died while serving, or due to a service related disability, may be eligible. Contact a VA loan official to discuss your eligibility.
If you fulfill the requirements, contact a VA loan organization for a copy of Form 26-1800 (request for a Certificate of Eligibility) and fill it out. You local VA may be able to assist you in finding loans, but they wont respond to requests for eligibility forms. That must be handled through the actual loan organization.
You are also eligible if you are still currently on active duty, as long as you have served the required number of days (depending on wartime or peacetime). If you arent in any of the above categories of eligibility, you can become eligible after serving 6 years on Selected Reserve. This six-year requirement doesnt have to be consecutive. Again, a dishonorable discharge from the Reserves will make you ineligible.