I want to consolidate my student loans and get a lower interest rate. Anyone know of a credit union or place that they recommend? My credit score is around 730 and I want to get my interest rate below 3% preferably. Thanks a lot!!
To help answer your question, how much left do you owe (if you don't mind me asking). This would help figure the best route to go.
Not to derail, but I would like to know this as well. How does one go about consolidating their student loans? I've got about 15k
Years back, I consolidated my loans. I was told at the time that Texas law dictated that the consolidated loan would have an effective interest rate equal to the weighted average of the loans being consolidated, even though those rates were a bit high for the market at the time. Anyway, I don't know if I was suckered at the time or if things have changed, but that was my experience. I ended up holding one low-rate loan out of the consolidation so I could pay the high-interest ones quickly and leave that one on a slow burn. Anyway, no credit union I can recommend.
Actually brother, this isn't too bad. Some students are 100K+ in debt for student loans. Be it that yours is less than 100K, you shouldn't have any problem consolidating it. I would check with a local credit union, or possibly your employer might have one?
If any of those loans are federal, it may be wiser to avoid consolidating them as they have very favorable protections built in for you.
I miscalculated, its only 45k haha. My highest interest rates are 6.8% which are unsubsidized and lowest is 3.4% which are subsidized. I just researched a little and a credit union had a interest rate of 7%. There are some other places that offer 4-8% variable interest rate but I don't to want to risk having it become 8%. Some fixed interest rates I saw were 5.8% which I might end up doing just to save a little. Hell yeah True they do have favorable protections but I don't think I'll have an issue with job security. I just want to get my interest rate lower and I plan I paying off my loans back within the next 4-5 years.
Wow... I feel pretty fortunate then. I think mine is 2.3%. I only have about $6k left so I'll be glad to get that stuff off my back.
I originally refinanced with Sofi, but just refinanced again to Earnest. Earnest had a better rate and better platform.
Use this link below and if you refinance through them we both get 200 dollars But seriously, I cut my rate from a 3.45 with sofi to a 2.19. (On about 30k) www.meetearnest.com/invite/stephen629
It is variable, but I wish I had known about that before paying my student loans off. I would have refinanced them and paid down my debts differently. At least I'll know to check when my wife's loans go into repayment.
Yup, I agree with this. You also are probably not going to find a credit union that can beat your current rate especially if you are trying to get to 3%
No. The interest rate was unchanged. I managed to extend my term, so I would have paid more in interest than I on my initial track if I didn't later extinguish it, but I resolved a cash flow problem in the short term. Cash is king. So, I didn't save money but I remained solvent. Later, I sold my house and bought another, and in so doing I sacrificed a little equity to extinguish the consolidated student loan. The net effect was to in effect refinance the student debt as a lower-interest 30-year mortgage debt, which again probably means more interest paid in the long run, but a more favorable cash flow structure in the interim.
Not sure I understand but you may want to look into a 10 or 15 year mortgage with historic low rates. If you run an amortization table between 15 year and 30 year mortgage, the interest variance will shock you. As far as student loans, try to pay if off as fast as you can with the debt snowball method. Look up Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman. Sorry man, cash is not king when you have debt.
