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Consolidating Multiple Loans
By: Christopehr M Luck iSnare Expert Author
If over time you have accumulated multiple loans it may be wise to consider
consolidating those loans into one single loan. There are a variety of ways in
which this may be accomplished.
Student Loans
Multiple student loans must be handled in different ways depending upon whether
they were funded originally as private loans based on personal credit or as
federally insured loans. Private student loans may be consolidated in the same
way that any private loans are consolidated. Federally insured student loans
were placed with a private institution but they were guaranteed against default
by the federal government. This type of loan has strict guidelines about how and
when it can be consolidated.
A federally insured student loan cannot be consolidated with credit card debt or
any other kind of consumer debt. Private student loans may in some cases be
consolidated with federally insured student loans but doing so is highly
inadvisable. Once a private student loan has been consolidated with a federally
insured student loan it then falls under the same strict guidelines as the
federal loan.
Further, federally funded student loans will only be consolidated at an interest
rate equal to the weighted average of the rates on all the loans being
consolidated. At present that rate is capped at 8.25% but with all interest
rates on the rise, this cap may soon be increased. In addition, loans must be
consolidated within a certain time period after the student either graduates or
leaves school without graduating. Also, federally insured student loans cannot
be consolidated a second time unless a newly funded student loan is rolled in
with the loans that were previously consolidated.
Multiple Home Mortgage Loans
If your home currently carries both a first and a second mortgage you may want
to think about consolidating the two. This is especially true if your credit is
good and the interest rates on the current mortgages are more than two percent
higher than current mortgage rates. However, there are other factors to be
pondered when considering this type of loan consolidation.
Refinancing your home carries certain closing costs. In order to avoid having to
pay any out of pocket costs, these closing costs will be financed as part of
your new consolidated mortgage loan. You should examine the affect that the
refinancing will have on the cost you pay over the lifer of the loan.
Consolidating your home mortgage or refinancing that mortgage multiple times can
actually be more costly than just sitting with the current loans. This is
especially true if you will not be staying in your home more than three to five
years.
Multiple Personal Loans
You would choose to consolidate multiple personal loans for the same reason you
would consolidate multiple home mortgage loans; that is, if the interest rates
you are currently paying are significantly above the currently available
interest rates. Again, in order for a loan consolidation of this sort to be
viable, you must have good credit and the cost of the multiple loan
consolidation must not outweigh the savings you would accrue.
About the Author:
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