Longer repayment period: For federal student loans, your repayment period could go from 10 years to 30 years when consolidating your student loans. This makes your payments a whole lot more affordable every month, but it does mean you will pay a whole lot more interest in the long run. For private student loans, you may be able to get a longer term by consolidating several private student loans, but the same downside remains – a much higher overall cost due to more interest being paid over the longer term.
Securing a fixed rate: Whether you have private or federal student loans that have a variable interest rate, it might be worth it to consolidate those variable rate loans with a fixed rate loan. Typically, variable rate loans start off with an enticingly low interest rate, only to have your rate jump to a much higher interest rate later on. If that’s your situation, you may want to consider consolidating multiple variable rate loans with a single fixed rate consolidation loan.
Securing a fixed rate: Whether you have private or federal student loans that have a variable interest rate, it might be worth it to consolidate those variable rate loans with a fixed rate loan. Typically, variable rate loans start off with an enticingly low interest rate, only to have your rate jump to a much higher interest rate later on. If that’s your situation, you may want to consider consolidating multiple variable rate loans with a single fixed rate consolidation loan.
