Consolidation of loans what makes student loan more attractive. With consolidation, you do not have to pay immediately. Student debt consolidation ensures you to pay later, when you are graduated or after the grace period. Another advantage of the student loan consolidation is to minimize the number of your loans, simplify terms and regulations related to your loans. Statistics show that up to $508 million Stafford Loan was consolidated in 2018. This number demonstrates how immense the consolidation is and the increasing popularity of loan consolidation. In our previous posts, we talked about Navient Loans, what to take into account before consolidating your loan, what kinds of loans can be consolidated and terms and conditions of student debt consolidation through different parties. Direct loans can be combined and additionally, PLUS loans are eligible for the consolidation. In this post, I will go through banks that help students with consolidation.
Brief introduction about debt consolidation
Student debt consolidation can be referred for Direct Loans and Private Loans. The philosophy behind loan consolidation is lowering your highest interest rate and extending the payback period. So if you have multiple loans and cannot afford to pay it, then consolidate it. But be sure to have a detailed look at every letter of the consolidation agreement. There are several lawsuits against banks or consolidation servers which were related to falsehood and misleading promises.
Generally, Direct Loans have subsidized and unsubsidized types that both of them can be consolidated. However, each kind has specific terms during the process, and interest rates are different. The interest rates for subsidized and unsubsidized loans were different until 2013. After 2013 the interest rates have been fixed to one number, but still, the procedure requires variable approaches in a way that to have different repayment plans and regulations.
Banks that help you for loan consolidation
Commonbond, ElFI, SoFi, Citizens Bank, Earnest, LendKey, Laurel Road, First Republic, Slash Financial and PenFed are the banks which lend for student loans. Each of them has different offers for students, and it is possible to pay an unusual amount of money for the same amount of loan. The Bank defines your interest rate, and there are fixed rates that you can be eligible.
Let’s talk about each bank individually.
CommonBond
This company is one of the pioneers in student loan refinancing. Their services can involve both types of loans, with a fixed interest rate and variable interest rate. The bank has a proper strategy in refinancing, including consolidation.
The company offers a variety of amount for loan refinancing, from $5000 to $500.000. The client also has a chance of 0.25% rate reduction. It works for autopay system. If you register your debit card and consent that your loan and interest rates will be automatically paid when it is time, the company appreciates this and reduce your interest rate by 0.25%. So you will not be concerned about paying 2.55% but 2.30% interest rate. By the way, 2.55% is the lowest interest rate the company suggests for his customers.
CITIZENS BANK
The student debt consolidation is offered by the Citizens Bank as well. Their options are more than other banks and financial stability of the Citizens Bank ensure every single of their client that they will not meet any fraud and burden during payment. The organization offers can be variable. Long term payment options, up to 20 years and both fixed and variable interest rate options make them stand out of the crowd.
And the application process is one of the simplest among its competitors. It will not take more than 2 minutes for applying, and one application form is enough for connecting you with all lenders. In the second step of your application, you should choose your payment strategy, and a variety of plans will be offered to you. The decision in this step will define your future loan payment plan.
The third step is the last, and here you will get surrounded information, a client-based approach in helping for your loans.
Student debt consolidation with Citizens Bank is more flexible in a way that the company could offer a 0.5% discount in interest rates. They say with the Citizens Bank you can save up to $2.500.
Lendkey
The LendKey is another company that helps students to pay their loans via a variety of consolidation and refinancing methods.
The company gathers money from community banks and some credit unions. The collected money then distributed to the students for their loan refinancing. The company offers loan starting from $5.000 to $300.000. Different kinds of discounts are available with the LendKey.
When it comes to refinancing options with LendKey offering the least payback of consolidation is five years and can rise to 20 years. Their statistics show that an average American borrow $30.000 from them for refinancing issues. The company ensures that any borrower will not be charged with an origination fee from lenders.
Elfi
The difference in Education Loan Finance is that their minimum amount of loan for borrowers is $15.000. The amount is higher enough, but it is only for a particular type of students such as doctors. The payback period can vary from 5 years to 20 years, and the lowest interest rate is 2.88%. For the fixed loans interest rates are 3.39%. This rate is the second best offer in the market and makes the company increase its shares and budget every year. Elfi’s call center receives a lot of positive feedbacks and plays an essential role in the process of being the favorite company of clients.
First Republic
It is one of the few companies in the market who offer the lowest interest rate. The company provides a higher amount of loans and at the same time higher requirements to pay this money back. For being eligible to First Republic’s student debt consolidation, one should have higher MAGI. But the trade-off is that you can save up more money. In their website, the company demonstrates that they require single payment in a month. Like most of the banks that received a higher social promotion, they ensure you origination free loan conditions. The company helps you with calculating your loan, connecting with your banker. After that, you fill out an application form, and everything is ready for your credit.
I will go through other banks briefly because in our previous posts we informed you different banks. For example, you can find enough information about the Earnest in the article where we explained what to do before student debt consolidation.
iHelp
This is another server that lends money that can be obtained from community banks. The lowest amount of loan is $10.000, and the highest is $250.000. As for many other respectable companies, the interest rate reduction policy is condemned by the iHelp. The company offers both private loans and loan refinancing. Fixed interest rates start from 4.0% for ten years of payback time and 3.25% for a 20-year loan. The company says that your interest rate is directly related to your credit or your parent’s credit.
There are many companies which provide student debt consolidation. In this post, we covered some of their most famous and with higher social rankings.
