Dean Said:

Does consolidating student loans impact your FICO score?

We Answered:

It should improve you FICO score. You have a pretty good score already though.

Sara Said:

Im consolidating my student loans will i still get my tax refund?

We Answered:

If your loan is already in default and the consolidation hasn't been completed, there is a very good chance that an offset has been applied against any refund you may have coming this year. You can call the Treasury Department to see: (800) 304-3107

The Department of Education should have sent you a notice if they intended to apply an offset, but if you have moved and either left no forwarding address, or your forward has expired at the post office, their obligation goes no further than notifying you at your last known address on file with them.

Milton Said:

Any ideas on consolidating student loans?

We Answered:

Your Federal Student Loans can not be consolidated with your Private Student Loans through the FFELP Consolidation Loan Program. In addition, if you were given the option to consolidate your Federal Student Loans and your Private Student Loans together I would not suggest doing so; if you did do this you would lose all your Federal Benefits on your Federal Student Loans.

You can consolidate your Federal Student Loans and your Private Student Loans separately though. If I were you I would keep in mind that July 1st is the interest rate change date every year, so it would be in your best interest to do so before July 1st. If you are interested in Private Student Loan Consolidation, I would wait until after July 1st when programs are expected to improve in that area.

One thing that you may be very interested in when dealing with your Federal Student Loans is; when you consolidate your Federal Student Loans together you not only lower your monthly payments, but you also reset your Deferment and Forbearance time to zero giving you a fresh 3 years of both. For more information please see the source below.

Seth Said:

What's the best program to use for consolidating student loans?

We Answered:

Sallie Mae

Todd Said:

Will Consolidating my student loans help my credit score?

We Answered:

Your loan won't show as paid off .. but rather as "sold to another lender". Also, the detail will also still show for the time you had a loan with them. (ie: payments late, highest balance, etc)

Your credit score will increase w/on-time payments ... not by changing the owner of a loan. Prior to consolidating, I was surprised to see just how many different lenders once owned my student loans -- though I took them all out from the same company. And all those sales amounst the lenders did not affect the credit score.

Ivan Said:

Does consolidating student loans relieve the cosigner of the original loans of the cosigners debt?

We Answered:

It might, as long as the bank she consolidates does not require her to have a cosigner as well. (It will).

Joy Said:

Question about consolidating student loans?

We Answered:

I believe consolidation is better both financially and for your credit rating. Financially, your monthly payments will be lower if you consolidate. The following is an explanation of how consolidating your student loans would affect your credit:

Student loan consolidation affects both your payment history and your outstanding debt, particularly in terms of number of loans outstanding. Federal student loans are often issued in subsidized and unsubsidized sub-loans, and new loans are issued each year. If you have only Stafford loans in college, you could graduate with 8 loans (4 subsidized Stafford loans, 4 unsubsidized Stafford loans) on your credit history, and those loans would have no payment information on them because you've made no payments (you were in school). Eight loans with no payments for 4 years doesn't look like responsible borrowing to a computer that processes credit scores. Remember - computers do the vast majority of credit decisions today, not living, breathing human beings. If you consolidate, those 8 loans are paid off and one new consolidation loan is opened in your name. Now you have a payment record on those 8 loans - and they're all paid off. Again, to the computers of the world, this looks great! As a result, your credit score will increase when you consolidate.