To Consolidate Or Not To Consolidate Your Student Loans
By Jeffry Evans
Find it hard to find unbiased information on student loan consolidation? Let me help with that. When I graduated from college, I had somewhere around $12,000 in student loan debt. Seeing how I would have multiple payments to different lenders, and fearing increasing rates over time (yes, your rate can vary depending on the loan type and the lender), I decided to investigate a potential consolidate student loan. But before I tell you what decision I made, let me give you a few benefits and problems with student loan consolidation:

Benefits

1. The ability to make a single payment with a single lender, thus reducing the headache of paying multiple lenders.
2. Most lenders offer a fixed rate of interest over the life of the loan.
3. Typically, consolidate student loan companies will offer a lower interest rate than many of your current student loans.
4. Lenders will usually offer a longer repayment period, thus allowing for a lower monthly payment.
5. Student loan interest is tax deductible, thus making a longer repayment period more attractive for tax purposes.
6. Some lenders will even offer an interest rate discount for good payers - more on this in a minute.
7. If you are struggling to find a job, many consolidation lenders will allow a deferment of forbearance, allowing you more time to acquire stable income, and may grant a lower interest rate for doing so, due to the lender accruing interest during the deferment/forbearance period.

Problems

1. Longer repayment periods. Yes, I know I mentioned it as a benefit above, but it can also be a problem. While longer repayment periods tend to reduce monthly payments, the overall interest paid over the life of the loan is more, sometimes much more.
2. Unwillingness to negotiate. During my repayment period, I called to ask if

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